Bandipur National Park

Here we are at the Bandipur National Park. When I read about this part of the trip I was looking forward to nice hikes in the woods to go along with the jeep safaris in the evenings. I was sadly disappointed to find out that hiking is not permitted in this park. The park is part of a large area of protected forests for the recovery of the tiger population. It makes sense that hiking in tiger territory would be considered dangerous, especially with small kids. We are staying in a mountain lodge way out on the edge of the park. We have a stunning view of the mountains from every window of our cabin. There's not much around here except for small villages. Many of the villages were established by the government to resettle the forest dwellers, another attempt to encourage the recovery of the tiger population. The tigers have been hunted to brink of extinction by poachers. Many of the tiger reservations in other parts of the country were completely devoid of tigers. Slowly they are making a come back and being reintroduced to the forests throughout the country. Our chances of seeing one on the jeep safari is pretty small because they are very shy animals who avoid human contact. Also, they have plenty of food in the forest so there is little reason for them to wander out here. We have seen elephants, Indian buffalo, spotted dear, monkeys, and lots of birds. This morning the lodge road was loaded with fresh leopard tracks. Leopards come to the villages frequently to eat stray dogs and cattle. The people here say that they are a very dangerous to have wandering around. We have one more jeep ride into the forest this evening, maybe we'll get lucky!