When it comes to traveling into the nature & wild i am always geared up. The joy get doubled to share the experience with friends around me. Late Friday afternoon coffee chat at office brought in an idea to travel out,by 9 PM it developed into a Night safari. Friday 11:40 PM we started from Bangalore to do a Night safari in Satyamangalm reserve and then drive to Mudumalai.
Night safari is not possible in Bandipur – Mudumalai road as its closed from 9 PM to 6 AM. We took Kanakpura – Kollegal route and reach Chamrajnagar around 3 AM from there we took the Satyamangalm road which has the Forest range till Timbam.
We were looking forward to spot elephants however the upwards ride we only spotted few sambar deer and wild boar, so took a detour into the side roads and went till it felt safe no luck so far. While returning back we came across a majestic sambar deer and as we inched down the road we saw a female and young elephant. Took a u-turn and went back the young one was not happy with us being there so it did chase us out from there.
We started towards Bandipur happy after seeing an elephant. We entered Bandipur forest range around 6:20 AM with loads of deer on either side of the road till Mudumalai. We booked the van safari at Mudumalai as we waited we were greeted by a peacock.
Van safari into the forest turned out to be boring as we just saw the repetitive deer and peacocks. Santosh did manage to get some good sleep there 😉 It was 8:30 AM and we had finished our jungle safari after few minutes of discussion we took the route towards ooty.
After the dizzy drive we reached Ooty did a quick refresh & breakfast. Drove towards Kodanad to enjoy the view and green tea estate.
Spent few sometime in Kodanad before we started back to Bangalore via Metttupalayam, Hasanur. Took this route so that we could again see elephants after Hasanur.
We reached Hasanur around 7 PM, as we drove we saw few elephants was not able to stop so went some distance before and tried taking a u turn as we did we came in line with a majestic tusker. Immediately I quit the process of taking a turn and went the other way. After a Km we took a turn and came back to see them this is where we realized that for almost a Km there were more than 30 elephants in groups.
After spending few minutes watching them, started back to Bangalore. Reached Bangalore around 11:40 PM had some hot masal puri at Gandinagar and closed the 24hrs trip clocking 810Kms.
7616 KMS , 13 Days, 9 States and One Awesome Road Trip !! Snow – Solang Valley, Himachal Pradesh Sand – Sam Sand Dunes, Rajasthan Salt – Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Lepakshi a small village located in Andhra Pradesh, 120 Kms from Bangalore. Lepakshi Temple was constructed by Vijayanagar period (1336–1646). Main attraction is Veerabhadra temple & Lepakshi Nandi.
November 2015 Drive Way : Bangalore (Cessna Business Park) – Hebbal – Kodikonda (AP) – Chilamathur – Lepakshi (back in same route) Distance : 296 KM
Weekend was there and it seems there was nothing to do much, which called in for a day trip. As everyone around had their plans for the weekend the changes of hitting the road looked slim until late Friday evening when one friend called in to check if the plan was still up. Friend suggested Lepakshi, which was in my Travel list so we fixed it for the Saturday’s ride.
After some sleep was ready around 6:15 AM. Cleaned the XUV interiors and headlamp unit as i made a mess last night changing the headlamp bulbs. Around 7:15 meet Vinayak at the office and started towards Lepakshi. After the outer ring road, we stared to do a decent speed with the good NH 7 road. Our plans for breakfast was for a small homemade style so we skipped all the known restaurants, almost half an hour of search and with local guidance we managed to reach a small eatery.
Soon after crossing the Andhra Pradesh border (this is soon after the RTO check post) took the service lane and turned left. This stretch of 16Kms is manageable however you would feel the discomfort as for the last 100 kms you were on NH7 which is good.
Lepakshi village greets you with the Lepakshi Nandi. There is a small pond close by which has lots of lotus.
After spending almost an hour around Nandi we drove to the Temple which just few hundred meters away. Veerabhadra temple is wonderful place and let me stop here as to make way for the pictures to speak.
Hiking is something long forgotten, been someone who always had a travel itinerary were you can drive all the way. This was to be changed, so after few rounds of talk we plotted a weekend plan with some walking to do. We set off to Mukkali, Kerala 61 kms from Coimbatore so to admire Silent Valley.
December 2013 Drive Way : Coimbatore Thudiyalur – Anaikatti – Agali – Thavalam – Attappadi – Mukkali (back in same route) Distance : 120 KM
Our plan was to take the Sairandhri Trip which was a guided day trip into the Silent Valley National Park organized by the Forest Development. We started at 8:20 AM from coimbatore with few stops for photos and breakfast ( usually its just Tea/Coffee) reached Mukkali base camp around 10:45 AM.
Being a long weekend place was buzzing with tourists, due to this Sairandhri Trip was sold out. We tried our best to negotiate with the officials however all the bus/jeep had been occupied hard luck. Advanced booking would have secured us a trip.
Must say the officials were very supportive and helpful, they did give us an option Karuvara Trekking which is a 5kms trek into coffee estate & reserve forest to reach Karuvara falls. We did want to do walk but 5kms did sound too much, however to test us we went for it.
We paid Rs.450/- after few minutes a guide accompanied us. We slowly stared the walk of course we stuffed water bottle, cold drinks and eatables. Road turned muddy and no time we were in a single footpaths steadily climbing. Few minutes in the trail guide stopped and pointed a spot in the slope and asked do you see the snake. Oh gosh !! one by one did say yes, I did not which is good sacred of snakes.
20 minuets past we climbed a steep cliff to reach a road. First thing came to my mind was the movie Darling Darling Darling climax were bhagyaraj would climbing a hill to suicide and on reaching the top he would see a road and people walking. I intervened the guide and asked him we could have driven. He smiled and said we would be deviating and there is almost 1:30 hours more into the wild.
Next 30 minutes was into coffee estate and small villages. With one and half hour into the trail we were already exhausted. We walked passed a small falls and we took a much needed break. All along the way there were good scenic valley and loads of flower.
After almost 2 hours we reached Karuvara falls its was splendid. Water was so cold. Spent some good time goofing around before we started the decent. Reached base camp at 3:30 Pm and drove back. On the way back at Anaikatti we stopped at a resort and went crazy on the food.
We had a couple of fail attempts to reach Upper Bhavani Dam due to bad weather conditions or work ( Yeha I don’t know how office calls reach even without cell reception) so we set off on a Sunday determined to reach the place.
Upper Bhavani Dam Travel Tip
Upper Bhavani Dam is different from the Avalanche eco safari trip, to be precise this the other end. Public restricted access to this place is via Manjoor – > Thaishola. You would be stopped by police after Korakundah tea factory as they only allow limited tourist each day, please talk your way through.
Once your past this you could drive up to EB guest house and then need to walk down to the Upper Bhavani Dam approx. 1 km downhill.
Our Trip
March 2013 Drive Way : Coimbatore-Karamadai-Geddai-Manjoor-Thaishola-Korakundah-Upper Bhavani Dam (return on same route) Distance : 260 KM
We started around 6:30 AM to kick start our trip we had tender coconut and kept moving. We took our favorite route Manjoor via Karamadai -> Geddai. Usual routine in this road had to stop at two check post give the details talk for some time and get our way. Once you start up hilling the valley cheered us.
We reached Manjoor around 10:30 AM. Dive did slow down with the numerous stops to enjoy the nature. We had tea, bought some snacks and moved towards Upper Bhavani Dam. Moving forwards wasn’t easy with the picture perfect tea gardens. As we crossed Thaishola we spotted a bunch of Nilgiri langur.
Around 11:30 AM we reached Korakundah and was stopped by police, initially he was not willing to let us move forward. After few mins of talking he advised us not to throw garbage especially plastic and return back quickly.
Reached Upper Bhavani Dam guest house parked the car outside the gate and walked downhill towards the Dam. Oh boy it wasn’t an easy uphill from the dam to car.
While returning we came across a sambar deer barking it was for sure paranoid. People from car before us stopped to let us know that there is a leopard, hard luck we were not able to spot. Reached Coimbatore for dinner.
7616 Kms , 13 Days, 9 States and One Awesome Road Trip !! Snow – Solang Valley, Himachal Pradesh Sand – Sam Sand Dunes, Rajasthan Salt – Great Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Day 1 – 1100Kms: Coimbatore, Sathy, Chamrajnagar, Nanjanagoodu , Srirangapatna, Nagamangala , Sira, Hiriyur, Davabgere, Hubballi, Belgaum, Kolhapur, Satara, Pune
Day 2 – 570Kms: Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Vapi , Surat , Ankleswar, Barauch, Vadodra, Ahmedabad-Vadodara National Expressway 1
Your out of luck with going back in time however you can bounce back to place which is close to your heart. Once such place is Devala, lived here back in ’99.
Estate road is closed for public so as we entered we came across the estate jeep, as I slowed down to explain was surprised to see the manager recognising me which a warm gesture. Give us the way to explore.
Driving on the lone road is apart from words, we pulled over for photos we heard someone shouting at us. We looked at them and they were saying that elephants are there come back. Now I feel home sweet home, I felt as if the whole place was stuck on time. We quickly got into the car and drove straight up got to say this is not an easy road to bump into an elephant on its blind curvy roads as its small and deep on one side. With the shaking leg oh yes didn’t I tell you if I encounter an elephant on the next corner it’s going to nasty, this is the same zone in our past my dad had few deadly encounter with tiger & elephants.
With my heart pounding took the turn and lucky or unlucky nothing over there. Was not ready to visit the bungalow for various reasons, so did a circuit around the estate road.
Stopped for photos as I started narrating various incidence that happened in my childhood.
