The time for yet another short holiday arrived. The last one was in August, but it seemed quite sometime back. I get excited right from the time, we finalize a place, the entire process of doing some research on the place, bookings, packing etc everything enlivens me. This time the place was Bandipur and we decided to stay at Country Club Wildlife Resort. This would be the first trip to a wildlife resort and were looking forward to some wildlife sights, roars at night etc.
Set off from Bangalore at around 6.30 am on a foggy January morning. We deviated from our usual breakfast stop and had our fill of masala dosa, chow chow bath and filter coffee at Shivalli, just next to KFC on Mysore Road. No more stops and we reached Bandipur by 1230. The staff was welcoming and very hospitable and were led to our studio accommodation. The rooms are decent, with a sprinkling of the flavor of the nature, with paintings of wildlife in the rooms and come equipped with a fire place, which alas is not operational. Quick lunch and some sleep, we were ready to step into the pool.
It was Saksham's first time at the swimming pool and he was not very comfortable, the water being quite cold. Anyways hope he gets to love water eventually. Later on we spent sometime watching a wildlife movie, which is shown every evening at the resort, played some Table Tennis (after a long time.. evoked memories from school), warmed ourselves around the bonfire and retired for the day.
The next morning we were supposed to be going for a trek\nature walk to the nearby Mangala dam. But then, it turned out to be too cold to venture out without sweaters\woolens. Its gets pretty cold in the wild, we knew, but thought we could brave it out, we could not :(. And moreover weren't we supposed to be on a holiday? So why wake up early???? Seeing the better side. The day was spent in some countryside exploration, there are a couple of villages near the resort and the afternoon was for the much awaited jungle safari.
There are two options for safari, either with the Govt that charges Rs 300 per head for 45 minutes + Rs 1000 for any digital camera or the resort arranges it with the Jungle Lodges and Resorts and charges Rs 1000/- per head for 2 hrs. We went in for the second options, all in hopes of sighting some wildlife. The bus spent 2 hours or a little more than that, but guess the wild animals sniffed out the presence of some city dwellers lurking around and decided to act pricey. So we had to be contented with hordes of deers, sambhars, a lone elephant, a mongoose and lots of monkeys. Well morning safaris have better chances they say... but then you got to wake up early. The safari timings are 6-9 am and 3-6 pm.
Next day was turn to go to Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta housing the Krishna temple, which is believed to be covered with Hima(snow) all through the year. The place was chill even at 12 noon with cool breeze blowing in. The temple is accessible only between 8 am -4 pm, as it is said that there is presence of wildlife on the road during other time. This place is a nice drive of 25 kms from the resort.
Other places that one could visit from Bandipur are Mudumalai forest which has a wildlife safari on a elephant back(18 kms) or Ooty which is around 75kms away.
So as all good things come to an end, this holiday too came to end but not without an cherry on the icing, which came in the form of scrumptious Jowar roti meals at Kamat Lokaruchi on our way back. And planning for the next trip begins!!!!!!!!!!!!
*All photographs courtesy my dear husband
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| Accommodation at Country Club |
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| @ the pool |
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| Tree House |
The next morning we were supposed to be going for a trek\nature walk to the nearby Mangala dam. But then, it turned out to be too cold to venture out without sweaters\woolens. Its gets pretty cold in the wild, we knew, but thought we could brave it out, we could not :(. And moreover weren't we supposed to be on a holiday? So why wake up early???? Seeing the better side. The day was spent in some countryside exploration, there are a couple of villages near the resort and the afternoon was for the much awaited jungle safari.
There are two options for safari, either with the Govt that charges Rs 300 per head for 45 minutes + Rs 1000 for any digital camera or the resort arranges it with the Jungle Lodges and Resorts and charges Rs 1000/- per head for 2 hrs. We went in for the second options, all in hopes of sighting some wildlife. The bus spent 2 hours or a little more than that, but guess the wild animals sniffed out the presence of some city dwellers lurking around and decided to act pricey. So we had to be contented with hordes of deers, sambhars, a lone elephant, a mongoose and lots of monkeys. Well morning safaris have better chances they say... but then you got to wake up early. The safari timings are 6-9 am and 3-6 pm.Next day was turn to go to Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta housing the Krishna temple, which is believed to be covered with Hima(snow) all through the year. The place was chill even at 12 noon with cool breeze blowing in. The temple is accessible only between 8 am -4 pm, as it is said that there is presence of wildlife on the road during other time. This place is a nice drive of 25 kms from the resort.
Other places that one could visit from Bandipur are Mudumalai forest which has a wildlife safari on a elephant back(18 kms) or Ooty which is around 75kms away.
So as all good things come to an end, this holiday too came to end but not without an cherry on the icing, which came in the form of scrumptious Jowar roti meals at Kamat Lokaruchi on our way back. And planning for the next trip begins!!!!!!!!!!!!
*All photographs courtesy my dear husband
