Mysore:  The safari start point at Bandipur Tiger Reserve has moved out of the core forest area as per the wildlife guidelines. This morning, the safari began at Melukamanahalli beyond 4 kilometres from the core forest area near the State Tiger Protection Force quarters. Over 300 people took the safari in seven buses and 5 Gypsy vehicles.

Henceforth, the safari will permanently start from Melukamanahalli and the Forest Department has made elaborate arrangements for this in a two-acre land. Visitors have to park their vehicles near the Melukamanahalli Gate and take the safari.

The new facility was inaugurated today by Gundlupet MLA C.S. Niranjan Kumar. Bandipur Tiger Reserve Director T. Balakrishna, ACFs Ravikumar, Paramesh and Nataraj, RFO Srinivas, DRFO Shivakumar and others were present.  

Change in safari timings

As the new location is 4 kms from the earlier safari start point, the Department has made some changes in the safari timings to factor in the distance so that the actual safari timing of one hour is not disturbed. Half-an-hour has been added to the existing safari timings. The early morning safari will henceforth begin at 6.15 am and will end at 7.45 am. (see table for details). The new safari point comes under Gopalaswamy Forest range.

As per conservation guidelines

The safari start point has been shifted as per wildlife and conservation guidelines. The earlier safari start point was located inside the core area of the forests. On an average, over 400 tourist vehicles would enter the core area to take the safari and during weekends and holidays, the vehicle population would double or treble.

This apart, tourist buses travelling on NH-67 (now NH-181) that connects Karnataka to Tamil Nadu that cuts through Bandipur Tiger Reserve stop at the ticket counter for tourists to use the rest rooms. All these increased pressure on animals and violated the wildlife guidelines. Hence the decision has been taken to move the safari point, said Forest officials.  

New facilities

At the new set up at Melukamanahalli, the Department has arranged drinking water, washrooms, e-toilets, ticket counter, vehicle parking, chairs and canteen services.

Though no new buildings have been constructed, a temporary ticket counter has been set up and internet connectivity and Wi-Fi connection have been provided. Permanent structures will come up at Melukamanahalli and there is a Rs.8 crore project for that, said officials.

People who stay in cottages near the old ticket counter will get into safari vehicles from the old reception area.

There are 5 VIP cottages, 17 cottages with two beds, 1 cottage with 4 beds, three dormitories with 20 beds, 9 beds and 10 beds each. All the private resorts who take tourists on safari as part of their holiday package must come to Melukamanahalli safari start point.

GPS tracking

Also, the Department has reorganised safari routes to prevent overcrowding of vehicles inside the forest. Earlier, safari vehicles used to travel on one or two routes.

But now, there are five routes and on a single route, there will be a maximum of four vehicles during peak hours.

All the vehicles are fitted with GPS (Global Positioning System) device to check haphazard movement of safari vehicles.

Though there are norms that the safari vehicles should ferry tourists only to the places mentioned by the Department, drivers have been violating the rules. Now the drivers have been warned not to go beyond the prescribed schedule.

High revenue in May 2019

Bandipur Tiger Reserve gas earned revenue of Rs.1,35,00,600 in May 2019 compared to May last year when it earned 1,08,00,000 in May 2018. This revenue jump of Rs.27 lakh is surprising as there was a notion that tourists may not come to Bandipur due to the recent forest fire that destroyed thousands of acres of forests.

In all, over 21,854 visitors and 3,640 children visited the Tiger Reserve in May this year. In addition, 27 students and 130 foreigners visited the park.