| Nagarhole National Park, also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park", is located 94 km from Mysore in Karnataka in Southern India.  It is spread between Kodagu and Mysore districts. Located to the northwest of Bandipur National Park, Kabini reservoir separates the two. The exclusive hunting reserve of the former rulers of Mysore, the park has rich forest cover, small streams, valleys, and waterfalls. It stretches over 640 km, protecting the wildlife of Karnataka. Together with the adjoining Bandipur National Park (870 km) and Mudumalai National Park (320 km), it forms the largest protected area in southern India. The place derives its name from Naga meaning snake and hole referring to streams. Set up in 1955, it is one of the best-managed parks in the country, with the office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests situated in Hunsur, about 47 km away from Nagarhole. The climate is tropical; summer is hot and winter is pleasant. The park has a healthy tiger-predator ratio, and tiger, bison, and elephant are much more populous here than in Bandipur. The park is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000 km), including all of Nagarhole National Park, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site. | Details | The vegetation consists mainly of moist mixed deciduous forest in the southern parts, dry tropical forest towards the east, and Sub mountain hill valley swamp forest. The main trees found are Rosewood, Teak, Sandalwood and Silver oak. The southern parts, near the border to Bandipur National Park are generally drier than the northwestern parts. Nagarhole has a quite big elephant population, tigers, leopards, wild dogs, and sloth bears are found in viable numbers. The large predators prey on a variety of ungulates, like gaur, sambar deer, chital (spotted deer), common muntjac, four-horned antelope, mouse deer and wild boar. Gray langurs, lion-tailed macaques and bonnet macaques represent the primates in the park. On the surrounding hills outside the park occurre Nilgiri tahrs and Nilgiri langurs. Nagarhole boasts a luxury wildlife resort, Kings Sanctuary Resort, Nagarhole designed for nature lovers and eco-tourists. The resort is only one hour from Mysore and 190 km or 4 hour drive from Bangalore. The wildlife safaris organised by the resort are excellent and among the longest safari drives in South India for over 3.5 hours in silent Gypsy vehicles. A good time to visit Nagarhole National park is around the year, unlike Ranthambore or Corbett. Since the weather is ambient and sighting is unique in each season due to migration of wildlife in search of water and food depending on the season. Except for Tigers, which are territorial and stay in the same range throughout the year. | Best Time to Visit | Around the year. | More Pictures |
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