Travel Tales - Banerghatta National Park

Wondering why write a travel story on the local "Zoo" ?? Well... some outings are just worth a memory.. irrespective of the destination. Our visit to  the national park was one of them. 

Bengaluru Climate is at its best from past few weeks with Cloudy sky,  light drizzle every now and then, and cool breeze through out the day. It's totally worth a long drive or an outing. So last Saturday, as we were finishing our breakfast, Viral proposed to visit  the Zoo. I, as usual, was little sceptical because it was a "sudden plan" and then there were chances of rain and thunderstorms. But the climate was too good to miss out on an outing. Also, Zoo seemed to be the right choice considering Aarav's interests in animals.

So quickly I finished my house chores as Viral kept Aarav occupied. I packed the necessary stuffs for Aarav and in about 2 hours we were ready to move. It had to be a comfy casual outfit  to complement the windy climate. Where Viral wore simply a t shirt and jeans accessorised with woolen cap and shades, I chose sweat-top over jeggings. I dressed up Aarav in sleeveless t-shirt under a hoodie paired up with cargo pants and his woolen cap. Zoo requires a lot of walking around. Hence we three were in our comfortable sneakers. Additionally we carried the Pram, Umbrella, Water and some snacks that even Aarav could eat. 

   

Banerghatta National Park is 14 KMs from my home. Not that far and nil traffic made the drive even more wonderful. Here, take a glimpse of the climate that day . This was shot at around 2.30 pm.

We passed by the place where I spent important and memorable 5 years of my life. Administrative Management College. Moments from my BSc and MSc days held on to me for a while (just like it does every time I visit Jayanagar and gali of my hostel). We crossed couple of international schools that got added up to "Aarav's School List".. Soon we were at our destination and we were Very hungry. The place has lot of options ranging from Street food and chaats, to proper family restaurants. They also have budgeted resort and lodges if one wishes to stay there. It was almost 3pm so we went for Chaats which was a quick one. While Viral was buying the tickets, I saw the sign board on the entry gate that read "Closing - 5 PM" and "Tuesday Holiday". Then I just spoke to Aarav "2 hrs are good enough for our stroll... hai na beta?" I don't know what he understood but he gave me a tight hug. 

When we entered the Zoo, we saw two queues. One lead into the Zoo while the other to the bus going for the Safari ride. We followed the former and started our stroll. 

As we stopped by the cages to show him the animals, Aarav looked more sleepy than excited and instead was watching two dogs running around. He did find the variety of colourful parrots interesting though and identified the Lion, Tiger, Giraffe and the Deers. But looked like he enjoyed walking on his own (instead of the pram ride), playing with the  leaves and branches lying on the pathway and ofcourse the ice cream.                                    

 
 

 

The two hours came to an end and it felt just just enough. We were not feeling tired at all to be honest.

Once we exit the Zoo, there are  stalls in a row that sell aatractive toys, hats, soda, mangoes, berries and roasted corn. We had two slices of raw mango smeared with the spicy red chilli masala , one roasted corn and a soda. We picked one bubble toy for Aarav which he already dropped before we got back into our car. 

So as the sun was setting down and we're driving back home, we just felt lucky as it did not rain at all and unlike other weekends, we enjoyed a beautiful climate, spent some quality time which was all simple but still a Saturday to remember and cherish.