After a span of 5 years, a few of my college friends and I planned to go for a short trip. After several suggestions on what would be an ideal place for a one day trip, we finally decided on visiting the Nagerhole National Park en route the Kabini River and Irupu Waterfalls, since we were told that summer was the best season to visit national parks. Initially there were six of us who were interested in going for the trip, but as in most trips, last minute changes cut down that number to three.

We started from Bangalore at around 5 PM on a cool (comparatively for a summer day) Friday evening. We had booked our stay at the Jungle Inn- an economical resort in Nagerhole. The journey was supposed to take only 4 hours but thanks to a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere AND our confused yet adamant driver (who always claimed he knew the way and resisted asking for directions, till he got completely confused), we lost our way once in a while and reached the resort only by 11 PM. The hotel manager, realizing we were from Kerala, arranged for one of the staff, who knew Malayalam, to cater to our needs- not that we had many demands at 12 in the night!

The next day, we got up at 5 AM to get ready for our jungle safari. The resort was located right at the fringe of the Nagerhole National park and and was surrounded completely by trees and plants of all kinds. At 5 in the morning, the only sounds I could hear were the chirping of birds and the crackling of leaves, as the birds moved from one tree to another- I could already feel the tranquility of the jungle; the peace I felt was overwhelming. However, we were disappointed when we were informed by the resort that we were only allowed to tour the periphery of the jungle as the jungle authorities had closed the doors for public to enter into the jungle, due to a recent forest fire. The driver drove us around for around two hours, during which, we were only able to see some wild elephants, deer and monkeys roaming around in their natural habitat.

After this tour, we drove further to see the famous Irupu waterfalls. It was a long walk from the entrance to reach the falls, but we were really excited. At the falls, we spent around half an hour clicking pictures, watching the water tumbling and cascading against the rocks and generally enjoying the breathtaking experience. The water was cool and refreshing. We felt that we should have spent more time at the falls, when we finally made our descent, on our way back to the car.

Our next destination was the Kabini river. We had a hard time trying to find a coracle ride but thanks to the negotiation skills of one of my friends we managed to get one. It was the first time I was sitting on a coracle and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was definitely better than a normal boat ride. The guy who rowed the boat knew Malayalam and he had explained to us, about the local life of the people surrounding the river. Their main occupation included fishing and catering to tourist-related services.

Finally it was time for us to start our journey back to Bangalore, but not before we ensured that we had a spare tyre, so that we don't get stranded like the day before. This trip was truly a memorable trip albeit a very short one to experience all the attractions these spots had to offer. Here are some of the clicks taken by one of my friends , who is also an aspiring professional photographer..:), during our trip