My Travelogue: Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore

Bannerghatta Biological Park offers a unique opportunity for people of all ages to observe wild animals in an almost natural environment up close, which will help everyone appreciate the wild animals, understand the importance of their existence.

Zoo area: It houses elephants, hyenas, crocs, leopards, snakes and a variety of other animals. It has a hospital with experienced veterinarians to treat the animals. A laboratory has also been set up within the zoo campus exclusively to support the wildlife.

Safari area: It gives an opportunity to see the rare Nilgiri Thar, the beautiful Chitals, the majestic Indian Guars, Black Bucks and the Sambhars. It also houses the rare Asiatic lions and the endangered national animal - The Royal Bengal Tiger. In collaboration with the Wildlife SOS, the safari area also houses bears mainly rescued from circuses and the infamously famous dancing bears. All these animals have got a new lease of life to roam free in this protected environment.

The best thing in Bannerghatta is trek in herbivorous enclosures, where you walk to close to the animals. But at least a group of 10+ people needed. For this you need to get the permission from the zoo director. They will send a forest guide along with us and covers the major part of herbivorous section. They charge Rs. 75 per head for a short trek (2+ km) and Rs. 150 per head for a long trek (4+ Km). During the trek maintain pin drop silent to see more animals from a closer distance and try to avoid reaching close to wild bison's as few of them are aggressive in nature.

Timings:

The Zoo opens at 9 A.M and the Wild life safari starts at 10 A.M. The best time to go for safari is morning before 12 P.M, since the animals will be active before noon.

Our plan:

08:00 A.M – Reached Banner Ghatta and finished the breakfast.
09:00 A.M – Visited Zoo.
10:00 A.M – Grand Safari.
11:30 A.M – Trek in Herbivore region of the park.
01:30 P.M – Lunch break.
02:30 P.M – Visited Zoo again and photography.
04:30 P.M – Review of photos taken and .
05:30 P.M – Back to home

What needs to carry:

Small back pack,
Camera & Lens,
Umbrella (Protecting your camera gear if it rains).

Travel options:

BMTC bus service is the best travel option. The frequency of the buses is good.

For those who are travelling from Kadugodi / Whitefield to the national park, the best option is to take a daily pass in the Volvo which costs 75Rs. Then take the V335E or V331-A from the Kadugodi bus-stand to Marathahalli. Near the fly-over get down and take the V500C and get down at Jayadeva hospital stop. There you get the V365 which will take you to the park. Travel time on weekends is around 1.5 to 2 hours. The 500C actually starts from ITPL. So you may also board the 500C directly from the ITPL stop.
People who are from BTM layout can simply go to Hospital Jaydev flyover stop and can catch any G4 or 365,