Daroji Bear Sanctuary, Hampi, Karnataka India

 This bear sanctuary offers the welcome diversion for the tourists, tired of monotonous dilapidated structures in Hampi. The whole of ambience teems with deciduous trees punctuated by clusters of shrubs. To watch the herds of sloth bears, tourists can climb up an observation tower. They are also required to be armed with a binocular to catch the clearer view of the bears from such a height. This place also is known to house bevies of disparate birds, butterflies, amphibians and reptiles. The most appropriate time for this travel would be between the months of August to April. 

 Located in a scrub jungle with rocky outcrops and caves, the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary is devoted to the protection of the Indian Sloth Bear. Home to a large number of freeranging bears, the sanctuary also has hyenas, wild boars, pangolins, porcupines, jackals and leopards. Other denizen include star tortoise, monitor lizard and rock agama.   Visiting Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary had been on our long standing wish list of places to visit, but it somehow never materialized. Thus when the Sloth Bear Foundation announced the Karnataka birders meet on 15-16 December, we knew we couldn’t miss this opportunity. The intent of the meet was to increase the awareness of the place and to let people experience the wonders it has to offer.  

 The trip did live up to our expectations and probably a lot more. The rocky terrain of Daroji provides an excellent habitat for the Sloth bear amongst other animal and bird species. It also provided fantastic photographing opportunities. We got to meet and interact with a number seasoned bird watchers and naturalists. The group was very diverse both in terms of the age of the participants as well as their bird watching experience.