So the folks and I decided to head off to Nagarhole instead of the usual Bandipur-Masanagudi-Mudumalai outing. The last I had been to Nagarhole was a long time ago. But having been on an awesome trip to Kabini (same range as Nagarhole) after that I was quite sure Nagarhole'd be a nice place to visit this time around. I wasn't disappointed.
 
It's about 5 hours away from Bangalore and about an hour and a half away from Mysore on road. The closest town to Nagarhole is Hunsur. The drive is quite neat – not too many hassles and the road is good for the most part. In Nagarhole, there are only two places you can stay in (Jungle Inn and King's Sanctuary - this one's a near 5 star thing) other than the government dorms which are inside the park. The area isn't as commercialized as Bandipur or any other forest area down south, so you'll have to rough it out a tad - in the sense, be prepared for no electricity throughout the night, eat whatever they cook, flies, insects, rats in your room etc. (same applies for the slightly posh place of course minus the electricity bit). We stayed a night each at both places and I had no complaints with either. These lodges are just outside the entrance gate/checkpost of the Park - so if you've driven down you can take your car inside the range, which is what we did. The gate is open from 6 in the morning to 7 in the evening. There are government dorms at Murkal (which is well inside the forest) where you can stay in, but I hear you have to book a month in advance.

The forest department office is about 25 KM from the entrance towards the interior – the drive there is fantastic! Once there, you can:
a) Hop onto the forest dept. bus which takes you into the forest. The charge is 100 bucks per head.
b) Take your own vehicle inside, accompanied by an official who'll serve as your guide too. The charge is about 500 bucks.
The merits of option b) are much better indeed. For one, you don't have annoying people with you who have no interest whatsoever in wildlife and are just there to make noise and try to look out for 'lions'. Also, you can take your own sweet time inside, stopping wherever you want. But the main problem that arises here is whether the car you drove in can handle the dirt paths. Hence for a cool sum of 600 rupees per head, the Jungle Inn guys arranged a jeep for us with a guide/driver. We went into core forest three times around - twice on the bus, and once on the jeep. Obviously, the latter experience was the best. One of the bus journeys was horrible - filled with some very ignorant and idiotic people. On the whole, we happened to spot a lot of awesome flora and fauna.

I always get a kick out of going into the forest. Even on the main roads (which are deserted most of the time) – entering them is absolute bliss, especially early on in the mornings. If you keep your eyes open and your mouths shut, you can spot tons of creatures. Lots of fare for the butterfly watchers and reptile fans too. One of the first things we spotted as soon as we entered the park was a Crested Serpent Eagle – as majestic as ever. Further down I happened to sight some cool birds - Common Hoopoe , Indian Roller , Indian Peafowl , Black Rumped Flameback Woodpecker and a pied Kingfisher . We caught sight of the Malabar Giant Squirrel too, one of the many we’d see. Mind you, this was just on the drive to the core forest.