Masinagudi Tourist Guide - Rich and Famous Hill station of South India

Masinagudi Tourist Guide: Overview

Masinagudi is a beautiful hill station located at Mysore-Ooty highway right next to Mudumalai Wildlife sanctuary. Masinagudi is rich and diverse as far as plant and animal life is concerned but the specialty of this region is wild life enthusiasts. It is one of the most preferable Wildlife Sanctuaries places in South India as proportion to other in the wildlife sanctuaries state. The sanctuary is divided into 5 ranges – Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota.  It is a part of Mudumalai National Park and Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary. There are residing so many kinds of wild animals like Tigers, Wild Elephants, Grey Langurs, Flying Lizard, Sambar Deer, Wild Boar, Ungulates, Pythons, Reptiles, Spectacled Cobra, Red Giant Flying Squirrel etc.

What is unique in Masinagudi and Why?

Masinagudi is nothing less of a paradise as it is abundant with an enthralling visual beauty. This makes the place popular among Nature lovers and travel passionate. There are 3 places  to visit nearby Masinagudi which are Bandipur National Park, Ooty & Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta.

Why you must visit Masinagudi

You must visit Masinagudi where you can explore the exotic flora and fauna that prevails here. From the perspective of a tourist, Masinagudi is nothing less of a paradise as it is abundant with an enthralling visual beauty. This makes the place popular among Nature lovers and travel passionate. There are 4 reasons to visit Masinagudi which are

Mudumalai National Park

Bandipur National Park

Ooty

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Suggested Itinerary

Day 01: Arrival at Coimbatore airport or railway station and proceed to Masinagudi (113km/2.5 Hours)

Arrival at Coimbatore airport or railway station and proceed to Masinagudi. Upon arrival check into hotel and you may have lunch at same hotel. Later get ready to visit Bandipur National Park for Evening Jungle safari which starts by 03:00 pm and end at 05:00 pm. By the evening come back to hotel and overnight stay with dinner at Masinagudi hotel

Meals: Lunch and Dinner

Day 02: Madumalai wildlife tour

Early in the morning you will visit Madumalai national park for morning elephant jungle safari which starts by 06:00 am and end at 8:00 am. After safari you will come back to hotel and have breakfast. Rest of the day free at your leisure and overnight stay with dinner at Masinagudi hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 03: Departs from Masinagudi to Coimbatore

After breakfast check out from hotel and proceed to Coimbatore airport or railway station for onwards journey. Tour gets end with lots of memory

Meals: Breakfast

Hotels in Masinagudi

Standard Hotel: Kings Wild Retreat – TA Rank (3.0) – Certificate of Excellence

Deluxe Hotel: Safari Land Resorts - TA Rank (4.0) – Certificate of Excellence

Luxury Hotel: Dhole's Den Bandipur - TA Rank (4.5) – Certificate of Excellence

How to Reach Masinagudi

By Flight: The nearest International Airport is Coimbatore Airport, roughly 123 Kms from Masinagudi. Coimbatore Airport is well connected to the places in India and abroad such as Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bangalore.

By Bus: A number of tour operators ply buses to Mudumalai. These buses terminate at the Mudumalai Bus Standthat is also called the Vimalagiri Bus Stop. Masinagudi is well connected by road from neighbouring districts. The road from Calicut passes through the towns of Manjeri, Nilambur, Vazhikadavu, Gudalur, Mudhumalai, Thepakadu and finally Masinagudi.

By Train: A train can be taken from Bangalore to Mysore. Masinagudi can be reached by hiring a taxi from Mysore.

Best time to visit Masinagudi

The best season to visit Masinagudi is the winters and the onset of summers. The favourable months to visit the place are between Octobers to March.  Masinagudi is verdant and the hills all around look absolutely beautiful. The winter season in Masinagudi, from November to February, experiences temperatures ranging between 19 degree Celsius and 32 degree Celsius.

Places to visit in Masinagud

Masinagud is a famous region of Mysore and Ooty. It located just on the border of Karnataka and Tamilnadu (Other side of the border being Bandipur National Park). There are some nearby places of Masinagudi which is very famous and visited by every tourist

Bandipur National Park: Bandipur National Park established in 1974 as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger, it is a national park located in the south Indian state of Karnataka. It is the most prominent national park known for its varied wildlife boasting different biomes in the dry deciduous forest. It is considered as one of the best managed parks of India. The park stretches across an area of 874 sq km with a great objective of protecting the endangered species like tigers and elephants in this region along with protecting and restricting the over-usages of the sandalwood trees in the reserve area. It’s a home to around 70 tigers and over 3000 Asian Elephants as well as other animals like Dhole, Gaur, Sloth bears etc.

Madumalai National Park: Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, just 20 Kms away is widely famous as Mudumalai National Park and has some interesting places to visit. This Sanctuary includes several bird species like Bulbul, Parrot and its flora consists of various trees such as shrub and swamp, moist mixed deciduous Sal, Teak, Moist teak forest, and Bamboo. The sanctuary received its name from the word ‘Mudumalai’ which means ‘situated on the first hill’. The five different ranges of this sanctuary are the Kargudi, Thepakadu, Masinagudi, Mudumalai and Nellakota. The tropical evergreen forest, shrub and swamp, moist teak forest, moist mixed deciduous, dry teak forest and secondary grassland form the topography of the sanctuary.

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta: Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, is a hill (betta in Kannada) located in the Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka, at a height of 1454 m India and is extensively wooded. It is also the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park. It lies in the core area of the Bandipur National. Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta  is a small hill, in the core zone can be accessed by a small road through the village of Hangala north of the national park. Gopalaswamy Betta (betta is hill in Kannada) located inside the forest is a popular trekking spot. Atop the hill is a temple of Lord Venugopala Swamy built seven centuries ago and a travellers’ bungalow which remains locked now and belonged to the Ruler of Mysore.

Ooty: Ooty, is also known as "Udhagamandalam". It’s been rightly titled as the as Queen of Hills. Ooty, the headquarters of The Nilgiris district is one of the famous hill stations in India. Ooty is situated in the Nilgiri hills, also known as The Blue Mountains. It is unknown whether this name comes from the blue smoky haze given off by the eucalyputus trees that cover the area, or because of the kurunji flower, which blooms every twelve years giving the slopes a bluish tinge.

Recommended Hotels in Masinagudi

Standard Hotel: Kings Wild Retreat – TA Rank (3.0) – Certificate of Excellence

Deluxe Hotel: Safari Land Resorts - TA Rank (4.0) – Certificate of Excellence

Luxury Hotel: Dhole's Den Bandipur - TA Rank (4.5) – Certificate of Excellence

Bandipur National Park Safari Cost

The diesel jeep can accommodate up to 6 people per safari – Rs. 2000 plus entry fee of Rs. 200 per person

The Petrol jeep can accommodate up to 6 people per safari – Rs.4000 plus entry fee of Rs. 200 per person

Elephant Camps: There is an elephant camp in Masingudi forest managed by the forest department. The elephant camp boasts of 29 pachyderms that are trained and cared for by the forest authorities. The Elephant Training Camp, which trains the wild elephants with the help of local tribes Kurabas, is under the Forest department. It is a scenic beauty to watch the tamed elephant bath in the river and to be scrubbed fresh by their mahouts. The mahouts will then exhibit the various commands the elephants can comply with. This can be vividly portrayed by making elephants execute some mock logging operations.