In a bid to reduce human disturbance and pressure on forests, a long-pending proposal to shift the safari counter at Bandipur to the forest periphery has been revived and is set to materialise in the next few months.
The proposal was first mooted about 10 years ago in the wake of burgeoning tourist density stated to exceed the carrying capacity of the national park.
The safari counter at present is located in the core area amidst the Forest Department’s guest houses and dormitories, which provide accommodation for tourists camping in the national park. The counter will be shifted to Melkamanahalli where the Special Tiger Protection Force quarters is located.
Conservator of Forests and Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve Ambadi Madhav told The Hindu that the process has been initiated and a master plan is being prepared for the new facilities, which is to be located on the forest boundary at Melkamanahalli, which is located on the same route (Gundlupet-Ooty).
This will obviate the need for tourists to traverse nearly 5 km inside the forests to reach the safari counter. But what is significant is that the move will reduce congregation of hundreds of people waiting for safari at the counter, which is in the core area and help mitigate anthropogenic pressure on the forests.
Mr. Madhav said the safari counter will be shifted but the safari route through the jungles will not change as it is demarcated as a tourism zone. The safari route in Bandipur has a route length of 110 km, against which 60 km is being put to use, he said. The national park — spread over 874 sq. km of which 10% is earmarked for tourism — is part of a larger Bandipur-Nagarhole-Mudumalai-Wayanad landscape that together harbours around 570 tigers as per the 2014 estimates. In addition, Bandipur harbours elephants, leopards, dholes apart from a good density of prey animals.
The decision to shift the safari counter is on the lines of a similar move made a few years ago at Nagarahole where tourists had to traverse almost 25 km through the forests to reach the reception counter.
It was shifted to Veeranahosahalli gate near Hunsur and Nanchi Gate near Kutta, which slashed the movement of vehicles through the national park. But Bandipur being the midpoint on the route to Ooty, the same impact may not be visible as most tourists going to Ooty, Gudalur and so on would still pass through the core area.
But it will definitely prevent congregation of large number of people and vehicles in the core area.
However, there is no proposal at this juncture to shift the dormitories and guest houses located in the core area and wildlife activists have called for relocating the tourist facilities as well to further reduce tourism impact on ecology.
