Bannerghatta National Park

Visit to Bannerghatta National Park

4 teachers and 7 students of BGS NPS had visited Bannerghatta National Park regarding Project SEARCH and British Council Project.  The main agenda of the day was to make children aware about the importance of conservation of flora and fauna - the biodiversity of the nature for the benefit of the future generation in addition to the conservation of the gene pool of the endangered species of wild animals of the country.

It is a popular tourist destination with a zoo, a pet corner, an animal rescue centre, a butterfly enclosure, an aquarium, a snake house and a safari park. It houses a wide variety of birds and animals, and is especially known for its tiger and lion safari. Boasting of an exquisite variety of flora and fauna, the park treated the children. Young Students and teachers started of with the wild safari.

First we entered the Herbivore Safari. The vegetation in the safari is more favourable to the herbivore animals round the year as large number of fodder species like bamboo and anogassius intermitted with vast extent of foreshore area of the water bodies. The animals found in the safari were Gaur, Sambar, Cheetal, Barking Deer, Black Buck and Nilgai. The entire area was barricaded with stone wall along with the additional support of solar power fence and Elephant proof trench.

Next we went to the Bear Safari. The forest area is planned to be planted additionally with varieties of fruits yielding trees to create natural habitat for bears. Presently there are 78 bears which are housed in this facility. The Safari area is provided with peripheral open moat. The outer wall of the moat is embedded with stone slabs all around in order to prevent the sloth bear escape or to avoid tress pass of any other free range wildlife into the safari. 

Then the lion Safari..    
 The identified groups of animals are only allowed into safari on a rotational basis regularly for the benefit of visiting tourists. Presently there are 32 lions (17 male and 15 female) which are housed in lion safari.

Last we went to the tiger Safari. Presently there are 36 (20 male and 16 females) normal tigers and 6 (4 male and 2 female) white tigers which are housed in tiger safari.

We had the thrill of wilderness and wildlife with the feeling of being in the midst of the forest and wild animals. We passed through the picturous hillock Mattubunde giving us an opportunity to have the inspiring and breathe holding panoramic view of the landscape of the broken chain of hillocks and valleys with lush green forests. 
After the Safari we went to the Butterfly Park.

The three dome structure housing the conservatory, museum and the multi-media center. The first of these, with a transparent polycarbonate roof was designed as the ‘butterfly conservatory’ with a landscaped garden. The huge dome shaped structure with 10,500 sq feet of landscaped garden would provided all possible habitat requirements including host plants and house butterflies throughout the year.

The conservatory leads into a museum that will provide information through dioramas with their host plants etc., which leads into audio visual dome here we were projected a documentary movie on butterflies which again leads to the breeding and rearing room were we saw the different breeding process involved.

After visiting the safari and the butterfly park, the learnt the formula to know the age of a tree by measuring the circumference of the trunk and dividing it by 6. The answer which they get is nothing but the age of a tree. Students found different ages of tree.

Then Sambhrami conducted a session there for the shopkeepers regarding Project SEARCH.

Children enjoyed a lot there and promised to conserve the environment.....