The Untouched Paradise
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| Kabini River |
This place is conveniently situated far from the madding crowd — at the same time you are in the lap of luxuries at the Orange County Resort.
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| Orange County - Row of Huts |
After a tough job of reading more than a dozen reviews of about dozen wildlife destinations, it was pretty easy to choose Kabini for its remoteness and enchanting beauty. After choosing Kabini, zeroing down to Orange County Resorts was not a big deal. An ideal eco-friendly resort located in pefect location.
Kabini River flows between the two National Parks, Nagarhole and Bandipur, both located in Karnataka. The resort is at the banks of this beautiful river, Kabini, bordering the Nagarhole National Park. As with most of our Indian NPs, this place is also famous for the majestic Tiger. The naturalists assured that there is a healthy number of tigers in the park.
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| Boat Safari in Kabini River |
Apart from tiger, other abundant wildlife here include: Leopard, Wild Dog or Dhole, Asiatic Elephant, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer and Nilgiri Langur. We also spotted a Mouse Deer!! Kabini is also home to a variety of beautiful birds. Though we were only keen on spotting the elusive beast (Tiger), we couldn’t help spotting rich variety of birds. We are not very familiar with the bird names, but here's a list of few: Kingfisher, Seven Sister birds, Eagle, Osprey, Bird of Paradise and our very own tiny friend Sparrow!. The season was very dry, so the forest was not lush green with beauty as one would imagine.
Early morning when you wake up and see the river, the first thing that comes to your mind is “Ah! Paradise found!!”
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| The Tusker |
Orange County Resorts (OCR) is a group of eco-friendly resorts with two resorts in Coorg and Kabini. They are yet to expand with a plan for 10 more resorts based in Kerala.
The cottages are based on a tribal theme. The tribes, called Kadu Kurubas native to this forest, are the inspiration. The cottages are called Hadis. The hadis are huts made of mud, wood and straw; these are not just huts but luxurious cottages with Jacuzzi / Swimming pools, Coffee Maker, LCD TV, Four Poster bed, Mini Bar and a luxurious bath. Each hadi has a living room and an air-conditioned bed room with attached bath.
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| Huts and River |
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| Bedroom |
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| Jacuzzi |
Early morning, when you laze around with a cup of coffee in the balcony, you can find a lot of sparrows ad mynahs singing and playing near the hut. The resort's interest in eco-friendliness is reflected from the undisturbed nature and the friendly birds — one can hear the lizard making sounds frequently. The tribal-like chimney for placing lights is worth a special mention.
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| The Chimney Light |
One can take a route from Mysore to reach the resort. Mysore is the nearest city at around 90 KMs from the resort. The road to the place, especially the last 40 KM might be very bumpy but its well worth the travel.
Once you land in the place, instantly you feel at home with the courteousness of the staff, warmth of the surroundings and the comfort of the resort. The food is served at the restaurant as buffet. The food is sumptuous and we were very happy with the quality, quantity and variety of the food. The chefs are very friendly and they'd be very glad to serve you anything you need.
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| The Bath Area |
There is also a common swimming pool facing the river. The guests can have their snacks near the pool. This place is called Sunset Point — and you can enjoy the beauty of the sun setting over the banks from here. There is a silent and scenic place in the resort — the Reading Lounge, right near the banks of the river. You can have a cup of coffee, enjoy the scenery of ducks and birds and go through the books on wildlife. Your trip is incomplete if you miss this secret heaven.
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| Reading Lounge |
The Resort arranges Jungle Safari, Boat Safari and Elephant Safari at extra costs. The Jungle Safari is very adventurous and we had a chance to meet a wild tusker right in front of our jeep, crossing the road.
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| Tusker in front of our jeep |
We were lucky to spot a cute Malabar Giant Squirrel sleeping on a tree! Along the way, there were herds and herds of friendly spotted deers. The only thing we were a little unhappy about the trip is that we couldn’t spot a tiger in spite of taking the Jeep Safari twice. May be we were not lucky this time!
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| Monkeys |
The sound of the forest is very thrilling, especially around the ending time in the evening. This sounds are made by an insect, cicada, calling its mate. During the second jeep safari, the naturalist stopped the vehicle at the bank of the river, the number of wildlife was amazing: herds of spotted deer, a couple of wild boars, an eagle, some peacocks and a lot of colourful birds. The feeling was heavenly when our driver served cool drinks.
The boat safari was arranged in the morning at 7. This is a unique experience and a must-do! Misty morning and the bird life give you a memorable experience. Notable spotting includes crocodiles and eagles.
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| Boat Safari
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There’s nothing much to talk about the Elephant safari which was just a round inside the resort on the resort elephant. The wildlife movie is an hour long movie on Nagarhole NP. It's worth watching it. There is also a Bird Watching / Nature Walk for keen bird watchers.
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| Coracle Ride |
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| Wildlife Show Arrangements |
Tribal dance was very enjoyable and you can follow them and dance. They served sweet potato with wild honey (tribal recipe) after the tribal dance — very yummy!
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| Tribal Dance |
We went for the Tribal Village Visit with a tribal person working in the resort. The tribes seemed happy and content with only meager basic facilities in their life.
Finally, we had the satisfaction of enjoying our vacation 100%, being eco-consciouus at least for a short while. It's a nice relaxing place with cuckoos and mynahs around — much better and complete compared to our buzzing city life.
The resort is a bit on the higher end in terms of cost (although service is spotless) — once in a while is all right for us. All in all, a trip well worth the time and money!
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| Time to Say Bye! |
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