Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

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Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

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Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

Thanks for the approval...

Here is the details of Day 2

Saturday, 13th June, 2015


Rafi's alarm did its assigned job well and I was forced to open my eyes by around 5.00 in the morning. Others were in deep slumber snoring to their heart's content. To make things faster, I got out of my bed and started pulling others also out. Our plan was to start moving at least by 6.00 - 6.30 AM as we need to cover approximately 200 Kilometres to Bandipur before noon which includes a ride through ghat section and a climb of 27 hairpin bends on the way. Slowly, others also emerged out of their blankets. Two bathrooms and 9 guys were sure to take some time for everyone to finish their morning chores. After the shower, Me and Rahul Nair put on our riding gear to transform ourselves to an alien look and carried our luggage downstairs. It was then we made a shocking discovery. A lift is operating from the ground floor to the 3rd floor. Though we will have to carry our luggage from the ground floor to the parking lot in the basement, carrying it through the narrow stairs could have been avoided. As we loaded our bulls with luggage, others also joined us, one by one.


By around 6.45, we left Nirmal's apartment and proceeded to the nearest petrol pump with Nirmal leading the way. The previous day, we had filled only sufficient amount of petrol to reach Coimbatore from Kochi. Petrol cost in Coimbatore is Rs. 6/- less than that of Kochi... which means one litre of Petrol is free when you fill your tank. Nirmal's friend - Jithin joined us there and it turned out to be a reunion for Rahul Nair an Jithin. They were classmates in college and it was quite an unexpected meeting.


Once all the machines had had their tummies full of Petrol, we steered towards the nearest vegetarian restaurant thinking of ways to fill our tummies next. It was a typical vegetarian restaurant and we seemed to be one of their first customers. Here also we were greeted by thick clouds of smoke from the dhoop. Since many of the usual dishes were still not available, Our hungry tummies had to get satisfied with the feast of Idlys and Ghee Roasts topped with hot steaming tea. After the breakfast, We started our ride by around 7.45 AM from Saravanampatti. I made sure that my hydration pack is filled to its brim before starting off.


We had a brief stop before Annur on our way to Sathyamangalam(Also known as Sathy). Annur is on the north eastern suburbs of Coimbatore. I took out my action cam and mounted it on my helmet to capture the scenic beauty and the wonderful road that lay in front of us. Sathyamangalam, being on the southern side of the Western Ghats offer enough greenery to rejoice your eyes. Sathyamangalam town lies close to Karnataka Border geographically. The Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary and Tiger Reserve acts as a corridor in between Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats and connects Billigiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Sigur Plateau, Mudumalai National Park and Bandipur National Park. Sathyamangalam forest rose to its fame associated with the name of Veerappan. For more than a decade, the Indian Bandit ruled the forests of Sathyamangalam and challenged the state governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Indian Border security paramilitary forces. He started as a smuggler of sandalwood and ivory and later grew his activities to killing elephants for ivory. He started killing people who opposed him including police officials, forest officials and informants. Abducting Kannada Actor Rajkumar and H. Nagappa, a former minister of Karnataka for ransom brought him to National attention and made him one of the most wanted criminals in India. Finally he was killed in an encounter in 2004 by Tamil Nadu Special Task Force.


We passed a small village in Sathy and crossed a bridge over Bhavani river on our way to Chamarajanagar. The river was dry over there after the summer. After few stops in between, we entered the ghat section. The curves were beautiful as if they belonged to a voluptuous lady and the machines started embracing them like a lover's hand moving up the hairpin bends. Others went ahead of us as me and Rafi stopped to change the memory card of my action camera. I changed its position to the handle bar as I had difficulty in monitoring if the recording is turned on or not while riding. It was hard to press the buttons of the camera when it is inside its armor. If you are wearing gloves, it's even more harder.


After manoeuvring our machines to climb all the 27 hairpin bends, we were greeted with a straight stretch of excellent road to Chamarajanagar. We stopped in between for clicks(My first stop for photos in the trip). We passed Dhimbam and Hassanur in between on our way. After riding for quite some time, we noticed a Sunflower field to our left. Indicators on the left side of all the bikes glowed in unison and we took another break there. It was almost 11.30 - 11.45 Am and we were hungry by then. I took out my camera and feasted over the beautiful sights in front of me. The light was pretty harsh as it was near noon. I concentrated more on taking candid photos of others. A mango vendor came our way with yummy mangoes in a basket and we ate up 3 kilograms of mangoes in one go. After spending 30- 45 minutes there, we moved towards Bandipur National Park.







On our way, we crossed Chamarajanagar and Gundulpet to reach Bandipur. We could see few resorts to attract tourists on either side of the road. Bandipur is not a densely populated area. A very basic village could be found in the periphery of the forest. By the time we reached there, I had emptied my hydration pack and had mugged up 2 litres of water. We passed the National Park entrance and headed towards the Safari Booking Counter. Our first aim was to book the Jeep for Safari before anything else. We were disheartened by the official in the counter. He announced that all the jeeps are already booked. We can opt to take safari in Buses. Though they call it a Bus, it is a smaller version of it... with a capacity of approximately 15-18.


We left Rafi, Sharath and Joby there and returned to find an accommodation. Before the trip itself, I had done a thorough research on the resorts and lodges available nearby and had zeroed on a resort - Vana Vihar. The staff at Vana Vihar comprised of a man in his late 40s, a lady and a younger guy. The younger guy seemed to be smart enough and told us that 2 rooms which could accommodate 4 persons are available for a price of Rs. 3500/- each. All of them understood only one language - Kannada. Nirmal and me finally negotiated the price to Rs. 3000/- per room including an extra bed in each room. We ordered our lunch and headed towards the room to get our luggage there. Nirmal was happy to see a small swimming pool there and was keen to jump in then and there.


After getting out of our riding gears, we came back to the restaurant in the front and had our food. The yellow colour fried rice they served felt yummy because of hunger. Anything they served would have felt tasty at that time as we were burning with hunger(Don't ask me about the mangoes now). Post lunch, we moved to the forest office from where the safari starts. At the gate we were stopped by an official and he explained the basic etiquettes to be followed inside the park.. Like Stay together in a group, Don't Over speed or make noise... Like that.


We could see a herd of deer near the forest office. My camera's shutter got busy for some time. We joined Rafi and gang who were waiting in the queue to take the tickets for Safari. The evening safari starts at 3.00 PM. We got our tickets and boarded the Van(Sorry - Bus as they call it). We occupied seat numbers 1 - 10 leaving only few seats for outsiders. Few other wildlife photographers were also there in our Bus. They were talking to the driver before the safari started. I think they might have even given him a tip to take us to the most possible areas where we could get the sighting of a wild animal. The bus went on through the road towards Mudumalai for few minutes and turned right to enter the forest. Different Safari vehicles were taking different tracks all connected inside the jungle with muddy tracks. We were able to sight Sambar Deer, A Stag and a herd of Gaur. In between it poured heavily and the sky became dark taking away the available light to shoot. Still I managed to have some clicks before the one hour safari came to an end.











The rain had subsided by then and as we had nothing to do in the resort, we decided to spend some more time near the forest office. I took out my camera and started clicking candids. Soon I was in demand and my fellow riders started posing in front of the cam asking for more. The weather was getting cold and we warmed ourselves with a cup of tea before leaving the park. The helmets of all of us were tied together with a luggage lock on my bull. Except for few helmets, all others were soaking wet. After squeezing out as much water as we could, we moved out towards our resort. On our way back, we stopped for tender coconuts and the place had a wonderful panoramic view. Though there was not much light available at 6.30 PM, I tried to capture it with the help of my tripod.

Our host asked us to order food in advance so that they get enough time to prepare it and we placed the order on reaching the resort. The evening was pretty eventful with jokes, chit chats and loud yells... By around 9.00, we had our dinner. We were served chicken which seemed to came from a salt pan and everyone had to struggle to have it. Few of the guys went to the pool to wash away the tiredness of the ride while I decided to stay indoors and check the videos taken during the day. In between, I had to face power cuts one or two times which seemed to be a result of some issue with the fuse for the building in which we were allotted. I went out to complain about it and the younger guy whom we met at the counter came and fixed it.


The road to Mudumalai from Bandipur is open to traffic only from 6.00 AM and I wanted to enter it as soon as it opens. The chances of getting a sighting is high early in the morning. Once they see vehicles, animals tend to hide inside the jungle. If my teammates don't sleep early, leaving early would not be possible... By around 11.00 - 11.30 PM, I somehow managed to pull all the brats out of water and get them to bed. I dozed off to sleep thinking of the eventful day that passed by.


Total distance covered for the day – 219 kilometres

Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

Some photograph have come out really beautiful

Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

Beautiful photographs, waiting for more.

Re: To the lush green woods of Bandipur

Beautiful captures there!