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.
