Jungle goes dot com! Launch of the new JLR website

Elephants, Bisons and Leopards are some of the many residents of Karnataka's jungles.

Want to know about the leopards and the tigers, the elephants and the jackals, the sambhar and the drongos, the crested serpent eagles and the cuckoos that are sighted in the lush (as yet) forests of Karnataka? Click on to www.jlrexplore.com for the almost daily updates of sightings by guides and trackers.

Experienced naturalists also post photos and articles on the visually appealing blog started by the Jungle Lodges and Resorts Limited (JLR), the State-owned eco resort chain. JLR has also its revamped website www.junglelodges.com/.

Aptly enough, the launch was a showcase of wildlife documentaries. The first was about the Indian River Tern, a species of fresh water birds which breed in an island in the Bhadra River in Chikmagalur district.  Shot on the River Tern Lodge, a JLR property on the river bank, the film told the story of the terns from the time they come to nest on the island, till their departure during the monsoons, when the river floods their temporary homes. The second film was about the Indian Sloth Bear, a fascinating breed of nocturnal bears, native to the Daoroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary in Hampi. The film was shot in the Sloth Bear Resort, which borders the sanctuary.

Indian River Terns nest on an island in the River Bhadra.

Indian Sloth Bear. 

There were two more short films, one on the K Gudi Wilderness Camp in the Billigiri Ranganna hills, and the other on the Om Beach Resort in Gokarna.

Tourism Minister RV Desphande launched the new website and Arvind Jadhav, Additional Chief Secretary launched the blog on December 20 at the ITC Windsor Bengaluru. Amur Reddy, Managing Director, JLR, hopes that the new revamped website will help attract more guests to their various properties, given that tourists do extensive research online before booking hotel and holiday packages.This website is meant to act as a single touch point to visitors and impart much needed information to nature enthusiasts.

The setting sun as seen from the River Tern Lodge.

By Subhalakshmi Roy/Raintree Media Features

All images from www.jlrexplore.com and www.junglelodges.com/