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.

Wildlife calling

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.

Accommodation at Country Club

@ the pool

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. 

Tree House

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