‘Bandhavgarh has an undulating landscape with around 32 hills some with flat plateaus and overhanging cliffs. Some perennial streams and rivulets crisscross this park creating fertile vegetation on the riverbanks. The area’s combination of hills, rivers and valleys, meadows and marshes has created a unique biodiversity evident in the varied luxuriant vegetation. Bandhavgarh’s forests are generally of the moist deciduous forest type. The sheltered valleys are covered with moist evergreen Sal forests, while the drier slopes and plains are covered in mixed forest. Dense tracts of bamboo are scattered throughout the valleys. The Chakradhara and Rajbehra meadows are two major meadows of this park.

Former hunting reserve of the Maharajas of Mysore, Bandipore today hosts a sizable population of Indian Elephant, Gaur and other mammals. It forms a continuous forest zone with Nagarhole, Madumalai and Wynad. The terrain of the park is undulating with rocky hills and valleys interspersed with meadows and seasonal watercourses. The reserve consists of southern tropical moist mixed deciduous and southern tropical dry deciduous forest types.

The ecosystem diversity is manifested in the variety of fauna like tiger, leopard, wild dog, jungle cat, Indian civet, common and stripped neck mongoose, black-naped hare, sloth bear, monitor lizard, Giant squirrel, crocodile, chital, sambar, muntjac, mouse deer, chausingha, wild boar, jackal, striped hyena. This park also boasts of over 200 species of birds including commonly found Peafowl, Grey Jungle-Fowl, Pompadour Green Pigeon, Honey Buzzard, King Vulture, Greyheaded Fishing Eagle, Brown Hawk Owl, Bay Owl, Malabar Trogon, Nilgiri Flycatcher, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Little Spiderhunter, Nilgiri Flowerpecker.

Bandipur (865 Sq. Kms) was setup by the Mysore Maharaja in 1931. It has mixture of sub tropical moist and dry deciduous forest and scrub land in the Nilgiri foothills. The wetter areas support rosewood, sandalwood, silk cotton and jamun. It is the first park in the south India to be chosen for the project Tiger scheme. You should easily spot gaur, chital, elephant, sambar, flying squirrel and four horned antelope, but tigers & leopard are rare. Also good variety of birds can be seen here.
Best Season: June-Sep, Jan-Mar.

Air : The nearest airport is at Bangalore which is 204 km from Bandipur.

Rail : Mysore is nearest railhead, a two and half hour drive.

Road : 220 km from Bangalore; 65 km from Mysore; 80 km from Ooty.

Tour Packages of Bandipur National Park

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