This route, involving a trek of about 22 kms in two days, is not only rated as a difficult one but offers a good chance of sighting wild elephants. Our team of four embarked on a trekking outing along the Jodigere–Bylore route that traversed the Punjur and Kollegal ranges. For the trekkers though, the Forest Department has devised the specific trekking routes that go by the name of Mystery Trails. Incidentally, the forests have also become a rather safe destination for those who wish to wander in them be it for research, relaxation or adventure.
Gladly now it is a thing of the past and the elephants seem to have earned a respite. The decline of tuskers set an imbalance in the male–female ratio thereby jeopardising their survival. This was reason enough for poachers led by forest brigand Veerappan to make hay by killing the pachyderms mercilessly for their valuable tusks till recent years. The sanctuary, named after the temple of Biligiri Ranganathaswamy on the highest point, is said to be the second largest corridor for elephants with the movement of over 1,000 elephants through it. The BRT wildlife sanctuary sits snugly in this landscape of rolling grassy hills and shrub land and is the home of the wild, particularly the elephant. As the Ghats of the west and east merge in the south eastern part of the state, a rich wildlife corridor has taken shape naturally. The varieties of tree and plant species are also diverse enough with some rare and endemic ones. The hills are thus bedecked not with evergreen rain forests but with dry deciduous jungles, grasslands with intermittent patches of sholas which are quite suitable for most of the fauna.
These hills don’t see ample rainfall with monsoons draining most of its rain over the lofty mountains in the west. While the endless range of Western Ghats extend along the western coast of Karnataka, a similar line of hills, often disconnected, run along the eastern side of the Deccan plateau forming the Eastern Ghats.
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