Sunday, June 19, 2011

Trip to Kabini River Lodge in Nagarhole National Park

A few days back we did a "first-time" ever trip.
What was special about this trip? My parents, my in-laws, my younger sister and her husband, her mother-in-law and the 3 of us -  S, N and I went on this trip. This was the first time ever we all went out and spent time together. I had a lot of apprehensions and anxiety about how it would turn out. But much to my surprise everybody clicked well and we had a great time :)

We went to Kabini River Lodge, one of the many resorts operated by Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd. It is located on the southern border of the Nagarhole (Rajiv Gandhi) National Park in Karnataka, India. The place was beautiful and lush green after the rains. Surrounded by nature it was very peaceful and relaxing. 

We stayed for one night and the package included 3 meals from a buffet, the entry fee for the national park, the jeep and boat safari and camera charges too. The rooms were in a colonial style structure and had beautiful gardens all around. The resort was once the hunting lodge for the Maharajah of Mysore.

The rooms were very spacious and had high ceilings. There was a lovely veranda outside the rooms looking onto a lush green garden. There were tyre swings and benches across the resort. The resort takes you out for jeep safaris and motor boat safaris. It is located on the banks of River Kabini and so the location is perfect. The river is very tranquil and calming.


On the jeep safari we saw elephants, including a tusker. According to the forest officials a tusker is a rare sight. It was drizzling when I took the picture below.


We also saw many herds of spotted deers.


Some vibrant peacocks.


and langoors, wild boars, nilgais, vultures,  and a teenie meenie turtle.

The boat ride was less eventful because of the rain. But we managed to see a baby tusker, kingfisher birds(the guide very aptly named them the "Vijay Mallya" birds), cranes, ducks and a variety of other birds (whose names I do not remember).


The resort has climbing nets where N and the adults had loads of fun! They have coracle boats for a ride if you would like to try something different. They also take you on nature walks around the resort - it seemed to be a big hit between older kids and adults too.

Some of the food items could have been better in terms of taste. Other than that the service was good, the rooms and sheets were neat and clean, bathrooms well stocked and the staff was helpful. If you are going there with little ones I would suggest you carry your own stuff for snacking in between meals and something to drink too. There is nothing around close by where you can shop for quick eats. But there is a mini fridge in most of the rooms so you can keep your own stuff in.
Overall I would rate the resort a 7/10 and the whole experience an 8/10. Feel free to write in to me if you have any questions or need other details about the place and to & fro journey.

17 comments:

  1. The place looks so serene and beautiful...and you took very nice pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. superb!...the snaps are postcard-like..very well taken..one more place added to my must-visit list..:-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have been wanting to go to this place for such a long time.. seeing your lovely photos makes me want to immediately start planning :).

    Thanks for the hints about snacks for kids too - really important to know for parents with young children :).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Neha! The place was very calming and beautiful with pretty colours all around. A photographers delight as they say :)
    Thanks Uma! There was a group of professional wildlife photographers around so maybe that helped with the pictures ;)
    Thanks for dropping by Aparna. With young ones around it is always better to have more than less :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. awesome clicks, very nice place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for dropping by Nayana!

    ReplyDelete
  7. beautiful post Simran...clicks are fantabulous...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks Nisha!! I am still an amateur photographer and there is loads to learn.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely pix. And hey we were there coupla years back. We went after the monsoons though and the lake was full. We saw three elephants swimming across the lake, it was sunset time, and was one of the most awe-inspiring sights I have seen in my life.

    And yes the nets are superb - we were literally on top of the water since the lake was so full!

    ReplyDelete
  10. OH !! what a lovely place... *sigh*.. I'm longing to go off for a while.. Love the peacock picture.. inspiring... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Choxbox! I agree it is a beautiful place. The greenery after the rains makes the place all the more beautiful.
    Thanks Patty! You should come down to B'lore with the girls and we could all go for a mini-blogger meet *wink wink* The colours of this peacock and a few others we saw were vibrant and awe-inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi, I came across your blog when searching for more information related to Nagarhole/Kabini river lodge. We plan to take a trip end of July/early Aug. Could you give some details about how you booked the transportation? And also about hotel booking. They have their booking thru some other site, so not sure if the rates are right. Also do you know when the park will be closed (sometime in July is all I know). Thanks for your help.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello AB,
    Sorry for the late reply. We went by our own cars so didn't have to use any outside transportation. We booked the resort online via the Jungle Lodges and resorts website (you can google that). The rates are perfectly ok. We called the resort and confirmed. Unfortunately I have no info about when the park closes. Hope that helps!

    ReplyDelete
  14. A lovely place and you have clicked some beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing. Might visit this place sometime in the near future. We as a family love exploring nature and have been to a few places which are lush with greenery. A treat for the eyes.PK

    ReplyDelete
  15. Amazing and useful article. Thanks for posting this. It’s useful and useful. Keep up the excellent

    Resorts in Mysore

    ReplyDelete
  16. hi,Last week I have been visited to bandipur resorts and kgudi resorts njoyed
    this summer with my kids a lot,planed to visit next summer holidays too.

    ReplyDelete
  17. hi..thanks for the post.Are you planning any holiday trip with family.i will suggest you the places br hills resort and also near by place k gudi resort..its a nice place to enjoy with family..do visit..

    ReplyDelete

What do you think? I would love to know!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...