Saturday, December 8, 2007

26-Dec-2004 Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore

26-Dec-2004

Even since I started living in Bangalore, I used to hear about Bannerghatta National Park. I used to stay in JP Nagar, Jaynagar 9th Block. All these areas are very close to Bannerghatta Circle. Whoever had visited the place during this period, always complained that there is nothing to see in the National Park. Hence I never had any desire to visit the place.

When Janhavi was small, we decided to visit the park to show her different animals. One day we started with our sister's family in their car. Either one can take their own vehicle or they can travel by BMT city buses. There are buses from Majestic, KR Market. All these buses should converge near Bannerghatta Circle.

8:00 AM Started from house
We started early from house so that we could avoid some rush. However we did not reach early enough to beat the traffic. We took Outer Ring Road from KR Puram and reached Bannerghatta Circle via Silk Board. Bannerghatta Road was not in a good shape.

10:00 AM Reached Bannerghatta National Park
After parking the car, we got the tickets for safari. We had to wait some time in the queue. When our turn came, we were in a caged vehicle with some openings to view the animals.

11:00 AM Safari
The safari started. There were different sections for different animals. To my astonishment, the animals were in wild and we were in a caged vehicle. I liked the idea. Instead of seeing caged animals, it is always better to see animals in open and ourselves in cage.

Enough protective arrangement was made in the park so that animals cannot escape from their respective sections. The animals were fed their respective diets again from caged vehicles.

In this manner, we saw bear, deer, tiger, white tiger, stag, lion.

The safari ended in one and a half hour approximately.

2:00 PM Lunch
We sat in a garden. This garden was crowded. There we had our lunch which we carried from house. People were moving around without any order. Children were playing in the garden. After resting in the garden for some time, we started to see other sections.

3:00 – 4:00 PM Different birds and animals
There are different cages and enclosures all over the garden. Various animals and birds are kept inside these cages.

We saw many different birds, deers, zebras, hippopotamus, monkeys, snakes, and cheetah. Unfortunately I cannot click a photograph of an animal beyond the grill. The prime object becomes secondary in the picture and grill messes up with the photograph.

5:00 PM Started back home
After we were satisfied, we started back home.

Afterthought
Public places are not maintained properly in India. Authorities contribute their part. But the citizens are also to be blamed. They do not behave orderly. The authorities have nothing at stake if things change. Morever they cannot bring in the expertise required to do their job. If run properly, all these places can be like Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. They can contribute to the revenue for the government.

Do not go by hearsay. Staying so close to the national park, I always thought this is not a place to waste time. But once I saw it, I appreciate it. I respect the biodiversity more now. And I am more worried that our future generations will be able to see less and less of all this.

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