Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Travelogue Approved

Great stuff. Waiting for the full travelogue now

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]


Thank You Monk for the quick approval

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Day1 [Hyderabad - Dhadwad-Hubbali]

Me , dad & my friend started our journey from our meeting point which is a fuel bunk at 5:45am. Soon we were in the outskirts of the city , when the weather became bitter cold , all of us shivering in the chilling cold. Also at places , the fog was so dense , we were riding at 30 - 40 kmph. Overall the journey was very enjoyable with excellent tarmac (Hyderabad - Bangalore highway). We stopped by for a quick breakfast after which the road conditions overturned.

We said the good roads a good bye at Bhootpur . After that , roads conditions kept deteriorating.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

We chose the route via Raichur , it was a headache overall.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Tragedy Strikes


Things were running just fine , as we road through the broken patches of Raichur, I felt a need to hydration and signaled to stop aside for some quick hydration. It was a turn , named "Saat Mahal", I hear a loud thud from behind. .. I look behind to see a Karnataka State bus has dashed my dad off the road Dad and bike lying on the ground.

I was shocked , ran to pick him up , but was relieved to see him get up by himself. I understood , he was not heavily hurt. Then our blood started to boil , we pulled the bus driver off the bus , people gathered around watching the show.

That idiotic driver was not ready to accept his fault and the lady conductor kept supporting him. Our agitation was soon overpowered & outnumbered by the locals.

The locals stood against us only due to the fact that we did not speak the local language & because our bikes were Andhra Pradesh registered.
The bitter side of India was clearly visible , with people practicing communal & regional discrimination , one starts to fell like an alien inside their own country.

I dialed up the police , who were reluctant to come down to the spot. The police asked us to come down to the police station. By the attitude , we could clearly make out that the police was not going to help us by any means.

I asked dad whether he wants to go back home or move further. After sometime , dad said he feels fine and that he wants to continue with the trip. I was not very happy with his decision though. His riding gears look most of the beatings and he just had a sprained ankle & a slight cut on his palm.

We stopped at Koppal for lunch at a hut shaped hotel beside the highway. I kept re-ensuring whether dad was feeling ok or not.

After sometime , we started off .. and it got dark by the time we checked in a Hotel in Hubbali Dhadwad. We got painkillers & ointments for dad , had dinner and went to bed.

It was a BAD DAY.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Nice stuff. Sorry to hear about the accident though.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Good start but unfortunate incident. Gears really come handy, protects us, to be safe in a greater way. Hope Dad should be fine mentally there after, nothing much physically injured.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Thanks guys

There is no second opinion about the usefulness of riding gears. My Dad has a lucky escape. He was only sad about the damage of his motorcycle

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Hubli - Dandeli [Day 2]

We started late , around 11 am from hubli and within 2 - 3 hours , were in Dandeli town covering up a distance of 90 kms. We had yummy breakfast at a small restaurant and then asked about "Kulgi Nature Camp" , "Barchi Chowk" , "Jungle/Farm stays" etc. We were wandering around the dense forest and decided to visit a place called"Ganeshgudi". We came across few farm stays who were charging hefty for tent stays.
On the way we noticed a small restaurant named Idli Cafe , enquired about stay and finally after some bargaining got a place to pitch our tent. The cost was a little high but considering the remoteness of the location , we thought it was justified.

This Place is at a distance of 15 kms from dandeli town.
The exact coordinate of that place is - 15.316912,74.566997
Name of the farm stay - Dandeli Jungle Stay

We then rode down to Ganeshgudi for some amazing water sports , though we could not do the white water rating.
We took a boat ride and a "Jacuzzi bath". Thoroughly enjoyed and as it started to get dark , rode back to the jungle resort.

Pitched our tent and then interacted with two bikers from Poland , who were riding across the country on rented Royal Enfields. ... Also there were 4 engineering students who had ridden down from Belgum.

We had a great time sitting around the camp fire , the moon & stars in the clear sky and constant animal sounds around. We had a good time together. There was always some movements and sounds in jungle around which constantly made us realize we were not alone.

The owner of the resort told us stories of his confrontation with Tiger & Elephant. We also came to know that the forest was full of wild animals of all sorts.

It only made us a little nervous as we were supposed to stay in our tent in the night. :P

There was absolutely no network in anybody's mobile phone , so me and my friend went on to the highway to make few calls. We felt pretty nervous due to absolutely no light anywhere and dense forest all around. The bike's headlamp was extremely reassuring.

We had a yummy dinner and went to bed.
In the night , we could hear constant peculiar sounds of animal movement. It was an amazing experience.


Just before reaching Dandeli


The restaurant where we had a brunch.


One of the farm stays who had tent stays , but a bit costly.


tourists doing white water rafting.(12 hours prior bookings mandatory)






Jacuzzi bath






Tent pitched

Entering our resort after a small ride around the jungle for making calls home.

Trying to light up a camp fire



Moonlight

Camp fire

Dinner



Inside the tent

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Wonderful story bro!!! Kudos Keep riding, clicking and writing more & more

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Nice and inspiring stuff.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Very nicely done, hats off to your dad and since the bitter part is over early, the entire ride should have been sweet waiting for the full travel log....

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Thanks a lot bro

Thank you .. rest of the log coming soon

Thank you bro

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Dandeli [ Day 3 ]


This day started with a lazy morning , after which me and dad walked up the hill adjacent to the jungle resort to make few calls. There was barely any network at the resort. Then we had a yummy breakfast of idli , bread omlette & chai. ... After that we started off for a jungle trek. It was an amazing experience walking through dense forest. The two dogs of the resort , escorted us all though the way. We had a guide named Dinesh who gave us sticks to walk and also showed us the way.

He also caught a crab from a narrow stream and taught us how to lock the claws of a crab without killing it.

We thoroughly enjoyed the safari. Also 4 other members residing with us in the resort were trekking with us.

We trekked our way to the highway and started walking back towards the resort. All of a sudden , we saw a Jackal crossing the road. It dissapeared in the forest even before we could click a photo.


Me & dad trekking

crab caught by our guide


The trekking group




The Dog[Jimmy] who was escorting us all the time making sure no animal is around.




My friend Harish


beautiful flowers that caught our attention in the forest




our guide showed us how to survive in a forest without water. Cutting a bamboo stem and drinking water that drips out of it.


A nest


The only animal we could capture on camera

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Dandeli Continued [ Day 3]

After the Jungle trek , me , my friend & our guide Dinesh set off to visit "Supa Dam" , "Sintheri Rocks" , and bath in a river. The journey to sinteri rocks was almost never ending , through dense , remote forest with no mobile networks. It was taking so much time to reach that i almost gave up and asked our guide to go back.

But the wait was worth , and Sintheri rocks was really an amazing place. Tall hills , caves & water , what a combo.

After that we rode to Dandeli Town , had lunch and then went to the river bank to cool ourselves down.

Then we dropped our guide in Dandeli & rode back to the resort. It was dark and the ride through the dense forest was really breath taking. All the stories of tigers & elephant confrontation were running through my mind.

In Dandeli , I got mobile network & internet , as soon as I opened my watsapp , messages flooded in. I also came to know many members of xbhp Hyderabad were worried as my phone was out of reach since last two days. :P

That night , me , dad & my friend sat around the camp fire. All other guests of he resort had left.
We had dinner and went to bed in the tent. Next day we were to start early.












The Sintheri Rocks entrance













Water full of fishes













The jungle Farm stay ... during the night



----consecutive posts auto-merged-----



For people who visit Dandeli

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Beautiful set of pictures!

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Thank you bro

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Ride back home [ Day 4]

We started off late at around 7am , plan was to start at around 5am. The initial ride was pleasant and chilling till Haliyal . We decided to go via a longer route to avoid bad roads near Raichur & Mahabubnagar . We rode via Ballary. Ballary town was exrtemely hot. Also saw the huge steel plant (JSW). however the road conditions were below average , full of speed breakers. We were heavily frustrated & tired. We reached Gooty at around 5 pm. Took a break in a good dhaba on the Bangalore - Hyderabad highway and kept riding towards Hyderabad.

As it got late night , my nightmares started coming true .... SLEEP ATTACKS
I had to pull off and do exercise beside the highway , to keep my heart beat fast. And the exercise did work. We finally reached home at around 1 am in the night. We already had dinner in a road side dhaba. I was so tired that i just fell on the bed and dozed off instantly.

Total Distance - 1500 kms
Approx cost per head - 5000 Rs









----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

If you visit Dandeli , you can contact Dinesh who was our guide. He knows many in and around places that one might like to visit.

Re: Father - Son - Friend .... Explore Dandeli [Karnataka]

Another nice log comes to an end!