Someone has truly said that by discovering nature you discover yourself. And this is how we feel for Kabini. We have been planning a quick one-day road trip somewhere around Bangalore where we can just relax. Out of many options that we had, we finalized Kabini, The Bison.
KABINI RIVER
Kabini is a tributary of river Cauvery which originates in Kerela, flows through Karnataka to finally go into TamilNadu. In Karnataka, it flows in between Nagarhole National Park and Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
KABINI’S CONNECTIVITY
- 250 Km from Bangalore
- 90 Km from Mysore
- 180 Km from Calicut
All these cities have major airports and railway stations well connected to all parts of India.
KABINI DAM
The dam was built on River Kabini in 1974. Looks more promising when the water level is good and gates are open.
KABINI WILDLIFE
Being in the center of Nagarhole and Bandipur, Kabini offers paranomic views, wildlife, nature photography, bird watching, etc. Nagarhole National Park is about to 643 sq km in area and is home to about 190 tigers, more than 250 leopards, and only 1 Black Panther.
KABINI SAFARI
In Kabini, you have 2 safari options to choose from
- Vehicle Safari takes you inside the Nagarhole National Park where you are in the jungle enjoying the wildlife.
- Boat Safari takes you in the river Kabini where you have Bandipur on one side and Nagarhole on the other. In this way, you can have a look at the animals that comes to drink water.
Both safaris are of approximately 3 hrs, morning 6 AM to 9 AM and afternoon 3 PM to 6 PM. Safari rates are approx Rs 1500/- per person.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
We can visit Kabini at any time of the year. Wildlife lovers should visit in summers as tiger sightings are better during that time. We enjoyed our monsoon visit.
HOW WE TRAVELLED
We started at 6 AM in the morning from Bangalore towards Bangalore -Mysore highway. Lots of highway widening work is going on as it is a very important tourist highway. It has lots of options for food joints, a petrol pump, public conveniences, etc.
We stopped for a breakfast break at Golden Tiffins around midway. It was a good decent stop to enjoy south Indian breakfast.
The state highway leading to Kabini has a different view altogether. Away from the cities, it was all lush green. You can see only farms and farms till where your sight goes. As being a monsoon season, the sky was cloudy. It felt as if there are only 2 colors grey and green.
After hopping and stopping en route to admire the natural surroundings we reached our resort around 12.30 PM. After relaxing a bit we relished our lunch. Shashank, their naturalist explained the area and around in every detail. Although in Kabini but we didn’t opt for any safari as we wanted to relax and enjoy the view.
Kids spend their time swimming. We also relaxed and laze around. We couldn’t go for the coracle ride even as it was very windy and raining heavily. The evening began with a bonfire which also lasted only for 2 hrs because of rain.
As we got up early the next morning for a nature walk to the nearby village in a boat where we saw bitter gourd, pepper, beans, and ginger farming. Saw herd of dears on the opposite side of the bank. Enjoyed our morning boat ride and came back to have our breakfast. Kids again went back to swimming.
In the afternoon we just took our car and went to the river bank and spend some there. Since it was monsoons, the rain was on and off. Had our lunch and started back to Bangalore.
Since we had the heavy lunch at around 3 PM, we only stopped for the coffee break. We reached our home at around 9 PM.
MORE ABOUT THE BISON RESORT
It is located on the banks of River Kabini. As soon as we reached our resort we were into a different world altogether. Its foremost beauty lies in the fact that apart from some areas it was entirely built with all-natural products, thus having a less negative impact on nature.
The whole property is spread across 5 acres of land. All around there were trees, plants greenery which makes you feel more relaxed and calm. Rooms were beautifully designed, simple yet elegant. They have 4 to 5 versions of rooms to choose from like Waterfront tents, Machaans, Bamboo tents, etc. All rooms are aesthetically designed.
Besides the view, the other facilities are a swimming pool, games area, library, bonfire, etc. They also have a small backwater sanctuary for the rehabilitation of horses and ponies which are abandoned all over. They also have an organic farm in that area.
Out of many resorts in Kabini, The Bison is the only resort overlooking a river and the national park in the background. The view from this place is amazing. I think my words are too little to explain about the beauty of this place which you can easily see from our pics and I really wish to visit this place once again.
GET CONNECTED
The Bison Resort, Kabini. For further details, you can visit http://thebisonresort.com
Also, you can reach the manager # Ms. Vaishnavi at 8296601455
TO SUM UP
Kabini is a beautiful place to visit and a very good combination of adventure and solace.
BEFORE YOU MOVE ON
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