Ranganathittu Wildlife Sanctuary located in the Karnataka situated in southern India. The total are covered by the sanctuary is 67 sq.km. It is hardly 20 km from Mysore city or the Vrindavan gardans and is a very good tourist place. People who live here normally use and understand English, Hindi, and Kannada. Located on the bank of Kaveri River and is formed with a combination of six small islands. During monsoon these separate islands get a great amount of water insects which attracts birds to this sanctaury. The status of the bird sanctuary was taken in 1940. It was established by Dr.Salim Ali during his survey of birds of Mysore. For nature lovers and bird watchers and even wildlife enthusiasts the place is a paradise. The huge number of birds attract a lot of tourists at this place. As per the official records during the year 1999 and 2000 there were 2,02417 domestic and 2,080 foreign tourists visited the sanctuary.
The best time to visit the Sanctuary is June to November. The temperature never goes to extremities at the sanctuary. The temperature remains between 23°C to 29°C throughout the year. When southwest monsoon peaks in karnataka with heavy to very heavy rainfall in the month of June it is accompanied by waterlogging and mild floding in this area.
It is a pleasing place to visit even though it lacks a sprawling area. The thing which attracts the people here is the important Asian nesting and breeding ground for migratory birds from all across the earth. In the past some different types of birds have come to the place for breeding some examples of such birds are spoonbills, open bill storks, darters, white Ibis, little cormorants, egret, heron, partridge, river tern, stone plougher, snake bird and other exotic bird that fly to the sanctuary in large groups. The officials have traced the origins of some of these birds and found them to be from siberia, Australia and even North America. As per records in 1999 and 2000, 1,400 painted storks visited the sanctuary. And always can be seen the local inhabitants like kingfisher and peacocks.
Migratory birds choose islets in the river to lay their eggs and now even the authorities have created additional islets so as to make more birds lay eggs and breed. The birds starts coming to the sanctuary in December every year. The migratory birds stay here to lay eggs and breed and finally move out of the sanctuary with the little ones in August to come back again in the following year. Tourists can visit the islets using the boats available at the sanctuary and have a look at the trees filled with beautiful birds of myriad varieties. The person who rows the boat can guide about the exact location as where the birds may be spotted. It is also an excellent picnic spot on the bank of Kaveri river.
Near to the sanctuary is attractive town of Mysore and the garden city of Bangalore.
The sanctuary is on Bangalore-Mysore highway. So to visit here one can opt any one of the two locations to visit the sanctuary. The nearest railway station is Mysore which is 18 km from the sanctuary. And the nearest airport is Bangalore which isan International airport and is 125 km from the sanctuary.
There are three riverside cottages for accommodations available at Ranganathittu. Tourists prefer to stat in Mysore which is nearby. As this is the nearest place where other facilities and communication is also available like Post, telegraph, fax and telephones and even te internet cafes are also there and the place is only 20 km from here.
