Ragihalli Betta trek

Shankar gave me a call and informed me that the Gurukula team would be heading to Bannerghatta National Park(BNP) for a trek to Ragihalli betta. It was close to 7 years since I last visted. One memorable place where, I had spent a night camping. The experience then was very exhilarating. It was the first time ever I had ventured into a jungle. It was with the same Nataraja Gurukula people we had been there then. I wanted to revive those nostalgic memories. One would seldom get such opportunities. Also it was quiet a while since I had been to a tiger safari. So thought could take some pics with my digicam. We were to rendezvous at the BNP gate on Saturday evening.

Post noon on Saturday, Prarthana, Shoba, Abhishek, Shankar and I set upon for a short ride to BNP. In no time we were there much ahead of the scheduled time of 1730 hrs. Mala maam, Momili maam, Munielgappa Sir, Pallavi and Rupendra happened to join us after a short while. On the way to Tiger safari, just behind the butterfly park is Mr. Suresh's farm. He had invited us to come down for an over night stay and for a trek to ragihalli betta. With all intros done, he was showing us the place and then we heard some kind of roaring. Mr. Suresh said that's the roar of a lion. All our faces lit up listening to him. I just rubbished what he said and didn't give much importance. He offered to take us to the rehabilitation center where these lions were given shelter. His farm is just adjacent to that center. We chose to see it immediately and proceeded that way. A lion was seen first, I couldn't believe my eyes looking at the massive creature in front of us. Entering inside the center, the guard took us to one of the buildings which had cages. 6 cages were in a row, 3 on the right and 3 on the left.

I just entered and looked at the left side and saw a huge lion. I was dumbstruck viewing at the magnificent beast at such close proximity. The lion in the second cage was even bigger and the third one had a lioness. They were enjoying their supper. We were glad to see them. They were just a few inches away from us. It was just a gate which separated us. Slowly we moved on to the right side to have a look at the other cages. A tiger stood there majestically staring at us. His head was huge, his paws massive and his coat vibrant. I had no words to say but to admire his beauty and valor. The next cage too had a tiger in it which was busy munching his meal and he was least bothered of our presence.

Prarthana, Abhishek and I headed to another building further down to have a look at the other cages. As we approached, one lion started roaring and soon the rest of them joined. It was deafening as all the 6 lions roared in chorus. What a welcome!!!. As we entered, one lion looked at us and opened his mouth wide open and yawned wondering it's the same old humans. The lions and lionesses were more gigantic than the ones which we saw earlier. They made our day! Soon the rest of the team joined in to have a look at the beasts. We thanked the guards and returned to the farm. The roaring continued in the background. Unfortunately, I could hardly take any pictures because it was already evening.

Upon returning, we were discussing about the wild cats which we saw and realized that Munielgappa sir and Pallavi never saw those tigers which were in the cages on the right side of the first building. They really missed it even though they were very much with us. Vivek joined in by 2000 hrs. Around 2200 hrs in the night, we headed for a drive towards Ragihalli village hoping to spot some wild animals. To our bad luck, we didn't spot any animal, not even an elephant. Probably we were little early or there could have been a probable migration of animals to a colder place for its being summer. However I happened to see a mongoose and a hare, thanks to my torch. We returned to the farm with disappointed faces.

Briefing session started almost immediately on our return. Had to get up early in the morning and be ready by 5:30 am so that we could have an advantage of time and we could be there early by noon. All retired to bed, some in the farm house, some in the car and some on the top of the jeep. One mosquito was enough to disturb my sleep as no repellant worked that night. I just felt I had closed my eyes just then, when I was woken up in the morning.

At 6 in the morning we started our walk towards Ragihalli betta.  Munielgappa sir knew the forest in and out as he had been here many a times since childhood. He took us by road which leads to the tiger safari. We reached one of the watch towers at Udaga bande, adjacent to a road. Shankar and my brains started digging out memories. We had camped here half night after the night navigation. We took a deviation from there and got into the valley as we spotted the elephant tank. The water was filthy. I really wonder how we managed to swim there 7 years ago. But it did look clean then.

The dried thorny bushes and shrubs kept us busy throughout as we had to scrape through a lot to cross. Many of us were still with scratches and thorns on our soft and tender skin even though dressed with full sleeves T-shirts/shirts. It was a scorching Sunday and the water we carried wasn't helping us much to quench our thirst. Every now and then we had to take a sip to maintain the hydration levels in our body. The sun was as usual sucking out all our energy.

Munielgappa sir took us to a bear cave which was some 30 meters long. Without a torch it was difficult to navigate inside. Initial plan of having breakfast inside the cave was shelved as it was pitch dark. We climbed up those huge boulders on top of the cave and then settled in for a yummy refreshing breakfast with a beautiful view of the range in the west. Bottles and bottles of water and juice ran through our food pipes which hardly helped us beat the heat.

Gathering our things we started climbing up the hill. It took about some 30 minutes for us to reach as we were already at the base where we had our breakfast. Once we reached on top of the hill, we went around looking at places and recalled our camp days. We had spent a night here when it rained like hell, which we will never fail to forget. The top of Ragihalli betta gives you a 360 degree view of the entire range if you walk around a little. The entire BNP can be seen. A while later we descended towards Ragihalli village which falls on the North East side of the hill. It was an easy walk as it was a bridal path. An hour later we hit the road before the village. People in one car and a tractor were kind enough to drop us till Bannerghatta circle which was around 8 kms away from where we happened to walk back to the farm house. The water melon pieces were damn relishing as they quenched our thirst finally. It was time to return and we started heading back.

Getting there: Bannerghatta National park is around 30 kms away from Bangalore city with very good bus services. Prior permission taken with the concerned authorities would be helpful during.

More pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sunilbabuvk/RagihalliBettaGkl#