Far away in the hills

As the travel bug begins to itch, the  search for newer destinations begins. This time around we settled for a known destination only to enjoy the beauty of monsoons.  It was Kodaikanal.  After exploring many wildlife destinations continuously this was exciting and different.  We had visited kodai on for our honeymoon and revisiting the place after 11 years seemed nice. Also this journey meant travelling on some new roads, the best part of the entire trip according to me.

The white building is Country Club

Kodai is a good 450 odd kms from Bangalore. We took the Bangalore Salem route and subsequently turned right to reach kodaikanal passing through karur, namakkal and dindigul and then the climb to Kodai. The ghats section to reach Kodai spans for around 45 kms and takes a little more than 2 hrs. However the roads bends are not as much as Ooty and they can be easily negotiated. The road conditions throughout right from Blore to Kodai is excellent. 

We chose to stay at Country Club Valley Vista Kodaikanal situated a around 5kms from Kodai.  To reach this place, take a left turn before you reach the main town. The signboards are not very evident. This is a village called Shenbaganur. The roads leading to the resort are quite narrow for 2 vehicles to simultaneously pass by. However,  once you see the views available from the hotel, you are bound to forget everything about the distance from the town.

Service and other facilities at the hotel are nothing to boast about. The food is also pretty average. They arrange for some activities during the day like fishing, trekking night safari etc, but charge exorbitantly for the same.

The charming Shenbaganur Museum

About the sights at Kodai, the usual hill station staples like a lake, a couple of falls and some view points are on the tourist circuit.  We did not do much sight seeing,  except for a couple of sights like the pillar rocks, upper lake view, walking around the lake etc. Cycles on hire are available, it is nice to cycle around the lake. Shenbaganur Museum was something I loved, its settings appeared out of the world. It felt quaint and lovely.Being far from the city did not allow us to do more though we had our own vehicle.

View from our resort

 However,  just sitting by the window of our room and watching the clouds gather in and move away was a great experience by itself. The roads near the resort pass through the villages and it is a good place for some long walks, not knowing where the roads lead to. An occasional vehicle passing by could seem a disturbance given the tranquility of the place. Mesmerising and a kind of haunting sound wafts through the air, caused by blowing of wind trees? I really do not know the right name of that tree, but in Kannada,  its called Gaali Mara,  so just going in for  a translation.

One great find there was a great eat-out place called the Cloud Street. When your taste buds appear tired of the usual south indian fare and crave for some pastas, steaks, hum

Upper lake view

Pillar Rocks

mus and pita bread, wood fired pizzas, this is the place to be. I just loved their lemon cake and expresso, one of the best that I ever had. They are open for breakfast too. Closed on mondays.

Kodaikanal is a small hill station, but there is much to explore outside the city. Couple of trekking tracks are available, which could be explored. Overall a nice place for a short holiday.

Midst of wilderness

I started my blog to make my treasure my travel memories, but off late, I have become to lazy to write my travelogues. So let me write this one, as the memories are fresh enough.

 

  Of all the trips, road trips excite me a lot. For me it is not only about the destination,  it is also also about the roads that I travel on. I would never like to take the same route again and again. I am bored of the Blr Mysore Bandipur road, having travelled many times on that route. This time around, it was a new route, we were going out of bangalore through kanakapura. We were off to BR Hills, a serene, less explored wildlife destination. It is at the confluence of the eastern and the western ghats.

An eco friendly bin

Our Loghut 

Finally we decided to make a visit to the Jungle Lodges and Resorts. This resort is situated right in the middle of BR Tiger Reserve. Built it the most nature friendly way from wood and very less of concrete. It felt really adventurous and thrilling to stay there and to be able to hear all sorts of wild cries, especially at nights. K gudi (kyathadevarayana gudi) wilderness camp runs on generators in the evenings and there is power only between 6pm and 6 am. Lanterns are placed at all the cottages, to scare away any wild animals and to show you way incase of a power failure. It is a great sight to see hordes of deers roaming around freely within the campus. Also there is a forest department elephant camp right next door. Kids love to see the mahouts bathe and clean these huge animals.

Indian Gaur

A safari stopover

Nature's artistry

The resort runs a safari into the Jungle twice a day, morning 6 and evening 3. Sighting of animals is a matter of pure luck. The naturalist kept mentioning of seing a tigress with her cubs just 2 days back, but we had to be satisfied with just a bear and many many birds. Well, bears are also said to highly reclusive and sighting is more difficult. Jungle lodges also took us to the famous Biligiri Ranganatha temple situated around 10 kms from the camp. All along the way, the drive, the naturalist provided us little snippets about nature around, birds, animal behaviour etc.

The elusive bear, we had to maintain our distance

Crested Eagle

The biligiri Ranganatha temple is  a quite temple, dedicated to the lord balaji. Its location gives a great view of the forest below. I was reminded of the Himgiri gopalswamy betta located near the Bandipur forest. Just at the foothills is located the Girijana vikasa kendra specially built for the upliftment of the Soliga tribals. Its a good place to buy some forest products like amla and sogadu sherbets , shikakai (soapnut) powder etc.

I would be really wrong not to mention about the impeccable service offered by each staff of the resort. They take good care of their guests. I hear this is a norm at all Jungle resorts. Worth every pie you pay. Food is also good, with good variety.

Water trickling down at Barachukki

You have two routes to reach this place, one via Kanakapura taking you through Malavalli, kollegal , br hills and K gudi or one through Mysore taking you through Chamrajnagar.

Lot of attractions dot the road through Malavalli,  Shivanasamudra, shimsha, Gaganachukki

and Barachukki falls to mention a few. We visited the Barachukki falls, however summers are not a ideal time to visit these falls. There was hardly any water in the falls.

This was one of the shortest holidays that we have done, but a very fulfilling one.