A Jungle Retreat - Kabini. Review on Rajiv Gandhi National Park

I wanted to surprise my wife on our fifth wedding anniversary by taking her on a road trip to a remote location for a unique experience. Started browsing the net and hit upon a jungle lodge in Rajiv Gandhi National Park, by name Kabini River lodge. Their website made me very curios and eager, to say the least.

Contacted their Bangalore office and was taken back when they quoted 4000 Rs per night.Started to wonder whether a remote jungle lodge was worth this stiff tariff (in may 2001). I was skeptical about value for money, but went ahead and booked myself for one night (starting from 12.00 noon on day one to 11.00 noon the next day) in Kabini and another night in B.R. Hills (subject of a previous review).

The colonial style Kabini river lodge is on the outskirts of a small village by name Karapur; located on the eastern edge of the Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary (which is the more popular name for the sanctuary). It is about 80 kms away from Mysore. A not so difficult 3 hours drive from Mysore on the Mananthavadi road. The drive from Mysore passing thru the Kabini dam is very impressive. The last 15 kms of the drive is thru the National park and we are not allowed beyond dusk.

We had a bad start; met with an accident on the outskirts of Mysore. An 8 year old girl darted across the road without notice and in spite of me braking hard, was hit by our front bumper. By the time we took her to hospital and made sure she (and everything else) was ok, it was 2 pm.

Their evening safari starts at 4.00 pm and since we would not be able to reach before 5 pm, we called Jungle lodges and explained them about the mishap and requested them whether our booking can be postponed. Unfortunately; they were fully booked on the following days. Cursing our bad luck, we went ahead with our travel towards Kabini.

We were pleasantly surprised on reaching Kabini as they had a jeep waiting specially for the three of us (my wife Kalpana and kid Sanjana) to take the jungle safari. Looks like their Bangalore office had called and ensured they did this for us because of the delay. We were very pleasantly surprised by their attitude towards the customer and from that moment, I became a fan of Jungle lodges and resorts who run this place.

We immediately jumped into the jeep and went into the forest. Within 10 minutes of driving, we were inside dense forest and we spotted our first game of the day; a very rare Sloth Bear (once in a month or lesser chance here). These folks have wireless communication on their jeeps and they immediately talk to each other about spotting of game. In less than 2 minutes 4 jeeps came from various directions came to view the Sloth bear.

We then went further inside towards the Kabini river and our jeep was parked on the banks. Wow!, we saw herds of elephants coming to the river bank for water and fun. We could not count; may be around 50 to 60 elephants. Our closest elephant sighting was from around 20 ft. We also spotted many small herds of Gaur (Indian Bison) and innumerous spotted deer – Chital. We roamed around in our jeep further sighting monkeys, peacocks and barking deer. It started getting very dark and suddenly a lone tusker started chasing us, reminding that it is his territory.

We returned back fully satisfied to the lodge. We had booked ourselves a cottage by the Kabini riverside. The cottages were very ethnic and elegant. They had basic amenities like electricity & mosquito nets (no A/C and TV anywhere in the lodge). They were fully furnished with wood and had big clean toilets. Their food, served on the river banks around a camp fire was excellent and their service was extraordinary.

They had a waiter allotted for every two cottages to give you personal service. They have a well stocked bar. You could spend hours together in the balcony of the cottage enjoying the sound of the water flowing 50 ft from you, with a glass of beer (with your beloved by the side). What more do you need ? This was heaven in the middle of a jungle.

After a sound sleep, we were woken up 5.30 am in the morning to be ready for the 6 am jungle safari. This time around it was a ride on an elephant’s back for half hour and another half hour coracle ride(a saucer shaped boat made of bamboo). We sighted more elephants and more bisons.

After all this, we came back to the room and freshened up. A big brunch was served from around 9 am. We spent an hour or so on a tree top tower and on the hammocks. Soon it was time to leave (11.00 am). We cursed ourselves for not booking one more night in this beautiful and rustic 54 acre campus. We vowed to come back again. (should come up with a suitable itenary!!).

Our only sore factor was that we could not see the TIGER (which still continues to elude us), considering the fact that this place has the best probability to spot tigers in South India.

You also have the option of staying in rooms with bathtubs (in the bathroom) or also on tented cottages by the river side which are even more rustic than the cottages.

We had a wonderful experience and were able to appreciate why the British Tatler’s Travel Guide has chosen this as one of the top 5 wild life resorts in the world. (I still remember the 24 hours we spend there by heart!!).

Over all even though you spend 2000 Rs per person per night, you will leave the lodge fully satisfied with fond memories (the price includes lunch, dinner, brunch, evening safari, coracle ride and elephant safari; except for the beer)

There is another very good resort by name Jungle Inn, run by a small family on the outskirts of the forest from the Hunsur side; which offers a similar package at slightly lower prices.

Spend a week end….