Bannerghatta National Park Wildlife Safari pics - eNidhi India Travel Blog

Bannerghatta National Park Wildlife Safari pics

I don’t remember going to Bannerghatta National Park earlier. Guess I’ve never been there earlier. Don’t know how I missed out on this popular place just outside Bengaluru…

Went to Bannerghatta for a half day visit last Sunday. Went off better than expected. Sandeep had warned us that there’ll be a huge queue for the jungle safari. We reached there by cab+bike by 10.15 AM and the camp wasn’t that crowded. As we entered tiger safari area, our guide Keshav exchanged a few words with the driver. From their conversation I understood that during the last Safari the previous day, they couldn’t spot any tigers and visitors had to return disappointed. He was hoping that won’t repeat today and so did I.


Spotted a few wild bears, oxen, wild cow and other herbivore animals first and eventually entered into carnivore area where lions and tigers were housed. A lioness and 3 of her cubs were our first catch.



Our safari van driver, Venkatapati, turned out to be an excellent photographer as well. When the van stopped near some wild animals he almost snatched the camera from me saying he’ll take the photographs. :) I hesitated for a moment, but then gave him the camera, partly due to his enthusiasm and mainly because he had the most strategic place in the entire van for photography. While rest of the van is fully covered with mesh, only driver’s seat window had clear view, so from his seat he had better chance of taking a clear shot.


He turned out to be an good at photography too. Within seconds he figured out basic controls like wide, tele etc and started taking snaps. For example, below photo of the lioness yawning, it taken by him. After sometime I almost forcefully took my camera back, as he was doing all the clicking and I was just watching. Immediately he took camera from another tourist and continued his photography.


However, unfortunately I couldn’t get a clear shot of any white tigers. Spotted about 4 of the 5 white tigers in the park. One was extending its Sunday morning sleep on its bed (images below), the other was stationery with its back towards us (above). Two more were in cage, couldn’t get clear view of them for photograph.

Apparently even these animals have various groups within them and if left loose, they would fight among themselves. Hence they are let out one group at a time, while rest are caged.

Post safari, we came back to the zoo. Now the queue for Safari had grown into a fairly long one and we felt good that we came early. The range of animals there is fairly high. The zeebra below was hoping to get some food from visitors, but when I got a clear view, it refused to budge and I had to settle with a photo of its rear…
 
Most of the animals couldn’t be photographed well due to heavy mesh surrounding them. You better visit in person to checkout.

Sunday morning well spent. I’ll probably go there again, just to get different poses of those tigers and lions. BMTC has frequent bus service to Banngerghatta National Park (Route 365 from Majestic).

10 comments:

  1. I wanted to visit Bannerghetta for a long time, but have not done so.
    Why don't you go out of the van to get some clear shots. I am sure the animals would have got used to being photographed by now.. :P

    Ram

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  2. Shri - you are forgetting the basics again. The cunny people are all around to steal your photo. Pls to water mark with copyrights.

    Well, the drivers are made to learn photography tricks! I am sure they have the best exposure to wide range of cameras and how to take the best shot with their experience :) Great pics as usual. I haven't seen a white tiger @ Banneraghatta. Let me see if I would be lucky to spot any on my next visit.

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  3. I have had the same experience with boatmen, they are excellent photographers and one told me, he has handled 'eak se eak camera' when I hesitated giving him my SLR!

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  4. Those cubs are so cute. I have to take their shots... hope I am able to visit before they grow.

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  5. Ram, On your next Blr visit, do visit Bannerghatta...

    I would have got out of the van, but didn't want them to become conscious and pose for photos... I always prefer natural ones...

    Mohan,

    Thanks. Point noted. My lazyness...

    You're visiting my blog after long time. Understand you've been busy... Welcome back.


    Mridula,
    Where was that (boatmen)?

    Indrani,
    Hurry up.

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  6. @ Mohan: Mohan, you asked Shrinidhi to copyright the photos. If by copyright, you mean, all rights reserved, I think creative commons is a better option. CC is "some rights reserved", where one can reserve some rights like "cannot be altered/remixed", "non-commercial use", "use by giving proper back-links" etc. All of these can be controlled by CC attributes. Wikipedia uses CC. Most of the photos in Wikipedia can be reused directly or by giving proper back-links to the original author as per CC. So, Mohan, wouldn't it be nice if someone uses your photos, giving credit to you as the author and giving a proper back-link to your blog? What do you say Shrinidhi?

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  7. Nice photos Shrinidhi, especially the ones of tigers and lions.

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  8. Jack,
    Putting a watermark is only for our satisfaction. Those determined to copy will find a way around...

    Yes, creative commons in flickr is a better option, but I've not yet decided if I should buy a pro account there (crossing 200 photo mark)

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Appreciate your efforts and interests to comment. Comments may be moderated due to increased spam. Will ideally respond to comments within few days.Use Anonymous option if you don't wish to leave your name/ID behind- Shrinidhi

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