I wanted to have a birthday trip for as long as I can remember and a birthday week-end could bring my wish to reality; so, with a little bit of pre-planning Kabini was the prefect weekend getaway.
Kabini is a wildlife reserve near Mysore and is a part of Nagarhole forest; it is primarily known for its well-preserved tiger reserve. This is a smaller area of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve and is essentially named after the Kabini river flowing through it; the river attracts most of the wildlife and you are most likely to catch a glimpse of elephants and big cats at most of the waterholes.
We set out at 4am on Saturday, the one way to get pas the annoying Bangalore traffic; that paid off as the greatest advantage once we hit the mysore road; with the sun rising in the background and couple of filter coffee breaks, we reached our destination, The Red Earth by 10:30 am. A little bit of a background on booking stays at Kabini; staying on the banks of the Kabini River is the key feature of this place and you would find multiple resorts situated across the banks; therefore I would have lost out on the view had I stuck to a local homestay option instead of staying at one of these resorts.
Cottage at The Red Earth
We were warmly received and escorted around the property before we got checked in our cottage stay. Its high time now that I introduce the ideology of this resort; it is primarily created to restore and promote the local culture, food, produce, flora and fauna; therefore everything in this resort is either recycled or bio-degradable; everything from purified drinking water, to re-usable glass bottles, to the luxurious cottages made of the amber coloured earth and thatched roof, upto locally produced bath towels. They have a full-fledged museum showcasing the skills of local artists and craftsmen and an adjacent store selling some of the goods at quite a nominal price.
Private jacuzzi
Room layout at The Red Earth
The resort houses a large expanse of bamboo gardens and other dense flora while the bamboo forest open onto the banks of the Kabini river. After exploring the gardens bays of the property and a much needed decompress in the warm Jacuzzi, we headed out for high tea and the famous sunset. The spread was beautifully set under a gazebo overlooking the beautiful orange sky reflecting on the river water; we could hear the cacophony of hundreds of birds wrapping up their day and heading home; the soft motion of water overflowing the banks reassured another forgiving day. The sky turned from pink to purple as we sipped on hot coffee and ate veg samosa, also sided by some locally baked biscotti.
Bamboo garden
Sunset at the Kabini banks
The weather began to get chilly as soon as it grew dark; a large bonfire was lit and we were all accompanied toward the amphitheater; the hotel authorities invite local dancers to showcase the regional folkdance forms every evening. I was quite thrilled at the arrangement and the dancers wore elaborate costumes and danced to the tunes of Yakshagana scripts while narrating a scene from Mahabharata; they danced with full vigour and merriment and while I was almost engrossed in their performance, I saw one of the inmates showing her phone around, with a tiger’s picture. Man, it got difficult to concentrate post that.
After the 50 mins of brilliant recital we were craving food and the dinner spread at The Red Earth was just what we wanted; an elaborate banquet of local cuisines prepared in traditional recipes with home grown spices and presented in conventional earthware and containers made of gun metal. Fish was the king of the buffet that day and we tried out numerous traditionary amalgamation of flavours and recipes along with a generous feast of vegetarian food and meat; needless to say the dessert was on point too.
A post dinner walk was the need of the hour after the lavish meal; we also booked ourselves for the early morning safari the next day as the tiger was prime on my mind.
We were woken up sharp at 4am to get ready for the safari; we were asked to drive down to the Bandipur tiger reserve boom-barrier from where we would be taken inside the national park in a safari bus. We were happy to see a large number of wildlife photo enthusiasts accompanying us for the ride; they typically occupied 2 seats each, one for themselves and the other for their 500mm lens, Boy! That’s a huge lens; I could hear the tigers roar already!
As the journey began, we spotted a copious number of deer; they were timidly scaling the forest in search of food and water and sprinted away into the bushes quickly, as they heard the hum of the engine. “Wow! I am suuuuuper lucky, 5 mins into the jungle and we spotted deer already”, I gloated to myself; and proudly advised Pradeep to hang out with me more often. Some of us took pictures of few exotic birds while others caught mischievous monkeys in action; I kept a firm cognizance on 2 photographers carrying their 500ms lens; they were the deal. The bus slowly moved to couple of watering hole; the guide even highlighted that the tiger had left at a couple of places, noticing a couple of fresh footprints on the mud; another few rounds, a few more herds of deer and a bison, but no sign of the big cat. We crossed paths with a few more safari jeeps, one of them even confirmed a tiger sighting; however, by the time we approached the tiger was gone. We took a few more rounds inside the reserve for the next 2 hours or so, but in vain; Sigh! I guess I was not lucky enough 😉
Only a hearty breakfast could have healed my disappointed soul; the buffet at The Red Earth was on point. We met couple of other inmates during the meal who had caught a glimpse of the cats while the rest of us lamented. 😊
After a quick visit to the gift shop from where I picked up some bottles of diffuser oils; we bid adieu to this beautiful experience and a birthday well spent, eating, chilling, making merry and most importantly; travelling. Even though I didn’t get to see tigers, nevertheless, I am all the more motivated to do more jungle trips and hoping to see a tiger in the jungle one day.
Expense Summary
Trip duration - 1 day
Car - INR 2,500 (Self driven car with 15kms mileage)
Stay - INR 14,500 for twin sharing rooms per night
Food - INR 2,000
Basic expense total - INR 19,000 for 2 people
Additional Expense
Safari Ride - INR 250 per head
Additional expense - INR 500
Recommendations
Plan and visit during the non-rainy months. Visit - The Red Earth's website for bookings
Do try out the fish curries here in this location as they are really fresh from the river water