Visit your National park

Spend your next vacation close to nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the urban space. The moment we think of spending a day in a verdant valley, we are reminded of exorbitant expenses charged by those fancy resorts and retreats.

No you do not need to shell out a fortune for this. Just make a trip to the
nearest National Park. Let me illustrate the typical expenses involved in such a short trip. Here is the estimate on the expenses for visit to Bannerghatta National Park from Bangalore.

Expenses:-
Zoo entry Rs. 60/- ~
Grand Safari   Rs.150/- ! (16km in jeep/bus)
Butterfly Park Rs. 25/-   (New addition)
Elephant ride  Rs. 60/-   (extra to be paid inside park)

Short trek     Rs. 45/- * (1 hour)
Boating        Rs. 50/- # (30 min)
Travel         Rs. 50/- ^
---------------------------------------------
Total          Rs.440/- $ (per head)

Optionals:
Photo camera   Rs. 25/- 
Video camera   Rs.200/- 
Guide fees     Rs.400/- (for whole day)

Foot Notes:
~ - Book e-ticket online ref-3
! - (Tiger & Lion, Bear, Herbivores)
* - Nature walk through forest of bio-park: 
    bison, chital, sambar, black buck, crocodile etc.
# - can take an entire boat for Rs.250/-
$ - excluding food purchases (carry water)
^ - either BMTC day pass or car fuel per head are similar for a group of 6 people

References:

1. http://bannerghattabiologicalpark.org/tariff.html
2. http://wikitravel.org/en/Bannerghatta_National_Park
3. http://bannerghattabiologicalpark.org/ticket/

Huge expense only further dissuades us from appreciating what we are putting at stake in the relentless pursuit of comforts provided by the industrialized economy. I firmly believe that people's indifference towards their habitat is a direct consequence of their ignorance. So a big part of the efforts by people funded movements like Greenpeace in conveying the emerging understandings on the impact of human activity on our ecosystem could be addressed through such low cost trips. So national parks situated close to urban spaces saves money for such green movements as well. Of course, the implicit assumption is that the volunteers from these movements take part in such treks as tour guides infusing the message of conservation.

Enjoy your $green$ vacation..!