Unleash the wild, let the big cats ‘Roar’

Situated in Southern India, Bandipur National Park, also known as Venugopala Wildlife Park is one of the most exquisite and picturesque national parks of India. Bandipur Tiger Reserve was formerly known as the Bandipur National Park. The name is derived from a village called Bandipur where the administrative unit of the Tiger Reserve is located. Once a private hunting reserve for the emperors of Mysuru transformed into the Bandipur National Park and then Tiger Reserve. The National Park was brought under Project Tiger in 1973 and established as Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

During that time amongst the nine prominent Tiger reserves in the country, it was one of the major tiger reserves. To mark 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9, 2023, visited Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The primary tiger reserve in the country and a part of the Nilgiri forest range, Bandipur Reserve is located amidst the surroundings of the high Western Ghat Mountains on the Mysuru-Ooty highway in Karnataka. It is about 80 kilometres from Mysuru city and on the route to Ooty.

The Tiger Reserve is located partially in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar District and H.D. Kote and Nanjangud taluks of Southern Karnataka namely the Mysuru District. An eco-conservative tiger reserve Bandipur shares its boundaries with Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the south, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in the south-west and the Kabini Reservoir on the northwest side separates the Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. And hence, these three national parks along with the Bandipur Tiger Reserve create India’s biggest and largest protected area ‘Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve’ with a total area of over 5520 sq. km. The northern side

of the Tiger Reserve is surrounded by a human-dominated landscape with villages and agricultural lands. Dr. Ramesh informed that apart from a huge number of tigers there are 200 total leopards out of which 150 leopards stay inside Bandipur and a great sum of wild dogs can also be spotted. As a unique initiative, the forest department of Bandipur is imparting training to tribals. Dr. Ramesh said that without depending on the forest with 56 days of lantana craft training these people can earn their livelihood with pride. So far, two women’s self-help groups have been trained with 20 members in each group. These tribals learn to make a variety of furniture items and beautiful products with the stems of the lantana plant and sell these products at safari points where tourists come every day in good numbers. To sensitize especially local students and people from adjoining villages about the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and its wildlife, the other initiative is the “Bandipur Yuva Mitra” program. The Union Minister for Environment Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav launched the initiative in Bandipur on Jan. 3, 2023, and flagged off the first batch of students’ safari. Dr. Ramesh described the program in detail and said that the program is based on the learning-by-exploring approach. These trained Yuva Mitra or eco-volunteers of Bandipur with an aim to conserve wildlife will create further awareness among the community, and will also develop a cordial wildlife-people relationship that will help to resolve wildlife problems with any conflict that occurs between humans and animals. The program includes field visits to forests, wildlife, and the forest ecosystem. Under the initiative, students and local people from the adjoining villages are taken to Bandipur; officials provide them with classroom sessions and free food, and finally, take them for free safaris. The program connects the participants through the ‘teacher to student, student to student, students to parents, parents to the community’ approach to address conservation and forest issues. Dr. Ramesh said, “The target is to prepare 15k students and 1000 teachers in a year. So far 1100 students have been sensitized and become Yuva Mitra of Bandipur. The trained volunteers have been given eco-membership volunteer cards. We want to develop a feeling of ‘My Bandipur’ among these people that it is their own region and they must take care of the area. These people in the future will protect the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and support us in our various forest activities.”

It is to be noted that the national park was formed by including most of the forest areas of the Venugopala Wildlife Sanctuary, established in 1941 and was spread over only 90 sq. km. at that time. Later in the 1980s the area was enlarged and extended over an area of 874.2 sq. km. After including some nearby reserve forest areas, the Bandipur Tiger Reserve presently holds control over an area of 1036.22 sq. km. with 872 sq. km. core area and the rest as the buffer area. It is pertinent to mention that the core is noted as a critical area and the buffer is a peripheral area to foster co-existence with local people while ensuring the protection of the National Park.

Other natural inhabitants of the forest that can be seen in the reserve are sloth bear, chital, gaur (a type of bull), sambhar, chital, mouse deer, four-horned antelope, wild boar, jackal, panther, Malabar squirrel, porcupines, black-knapped hare, and birds like jungle fowl and green pigeon.

In the end, it would not be an exaggeration to say that a visit to Bandipur and nearby reserves is a treat for every wildlife and nature lover.