Nagarhole was once the Maharaja’s reserved forest and became a national park in 1955. Covering gentle hills bordering Kerala, it includes swampland, streams, moist deciduous forest, stands of bamboo and valuable timber in teak and rosewood trees.
The Kabini River, which is a tributary of the Kaveri, flows through the forest where the upper canopy reaches 30m. In addition to elephants, the park also has tiger, leapord, gaur (Indian Bison), dhole (Indian Wild Dogs), wild cats, four-horned antelopes, flying squirrels, sloth bears, monkeys and sambar deer. The park is also bird watcher’s paradise. Many varieties of bird include the rare Malabar trogon, great black woodpecker, Indian pitta, pied hornbill, whistling thrush, green imperial pigeon and also waterfowl and reptiles.