Suttha Muttha : A day in Bannerghatta

Monday was a holiday and we decided to go down to Bannerghatta and enjoy the wildlife and the safari.

We left Jayanagar 4^th Block at 10-30 a.m., in a Toyota Etios car. The car is small and compact yet spacious for a small car. The drive was smooth and though the Bannerghatta Road was bad in patches, it took us a little more than 40 minute to reach the National Park.

There has been some changes introduced since the last time we visited the park. The parking space for cars and two-wheelers has been separated from the BMTC bus stand by an enclosure. The BMTC bus stand has a complex which we could not check out as there were two small kids with us.

On the road to the parking bay, to the left there is a small amusement park for children, with giant wheel, horse rides, disco rides and a few other rides. The horse ride cost Rs. 50 and the other amusement rides cost you anything from Rs. 10 to Rs. 25. I think it would be better if the children first visited the amusement park and then went to the National Park.

The path to the park is still to be tarred. The mud path is not evened out and watch out for blobs of mud and earth which can trip you. On one side of the path is temporary shelters for shops selling everything from vegetables and fruits to toys and plastic items, cold drinks to confectionary items.

The path will take you to the entrance f the Bannerghatta Biological Park. Tickets for the safari, zoo, elephant ride are given here. Pay for your camera here. The fee for the zoological park is Rs. 60 and for the safari (this includes the zoo), it is Rs. 130 per ticket.

The safari is on the left side after you enter the Biological park. You may not have to wait for long time to board a safari vehicle as there are enough number of vehicles and the queue disperses fast.

The safari takes 45 minutes. You alight near the Butterfly Park. If you want to see the Butterfly Park, and I strongly recommend this, you have shell out an additional sum of Rs. 25 per person and Rs. 25 as camera charges.

When we went inside, we found the butterfly park practically deserted with just a handful of people. We had the place to ourselves and we enjoyed the beauty of the winged creatures for more than half an hour. It covers 10,000 square feet in all. I counted more than 20 species of butterflies.

If you are still game for seeing more animals, head down to the Zoological Park. Start from the enclosure housing white peacocks and just wander down the stone path. You come across the snake park, the crocodiles, birds and then of course the bears, a pair of ostrich near the Animal Hospital, leopards, deer, zebra and elephants.

You can hitch an elephant ride. Walk back and check out the museum and other animals like the hippo with its baby, Indian peacocks, parrot. Beware, there are a lot of monkeys and dogs around.

A new addition to the Bannerghatta Park is boating. There is a clothe banner put up on the leopard enclosure guiding tourists to boating.

Though there was a large crowd, the park being big, you can find isolated spots to eat and relax. It is only recently that Jungle Lodge and Resorts have started a hill view vegetarian restaurant near the Zoological Park.

The safari is the USP of Bannerghatta. Generally there should not be a problem sighting lions and tigers. By the way, this is the first lion and tiger safari in India.

Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) operate a nature camp inside the Bannerghatta Jungle. They offer a variety of packages, including nature treks and guided tours. You can contact them at

JLR ltd, Ground Floor, West Entrance, Khanija Bhavan, Race Course Road, Bangalore-560 001 Ph: 91-80-40554055 or the branch office at 2nd Floor, Shrungar Shopping Centre M.G. Road.
Bangalore, Karnataka, 560011.


91 - 80- 25597944 / 25584111 / 25559261 and 91-80-25586163. Their email ID is http://www.junglelodges.com The photos of the park, sarafi and butterfly park will be updated on another file. Here are some of the photos.