OOTY
Availability can be limited, so check current safari timings and booking rules before you go. Sightings aren't guaranteed; this is a reserve, not a zoo. As of 29 April 2026 tourist vehicles are not permitted on the shorter Kalhatti Mountain Road, so confirm the permitted route and leave a generous buffer; an overnight near Masinagudi gives you both morning and afternoon windows.
The forest here was already known as 'Mudumalai' when the British government leased it from the Raja of Neelambur in 1857 for commercial logging, with large tracts declared reserve forest in 1914 for systematic timber extraction. An area of about 60 sq km was formally established as Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in 1940, making it the first wildlife sanctuary in South India; it was enlarged in 1977, folded into the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, upgraded to a national park in 1990, and declared a tiger reserve in 2007. Safaris depart chiefly from the Theppakadu range office.
