One of our friends had stayed at
InnTheWild resort in Masinagudi, and we decided to book a room at the
resort.
We left Bangalore around 7 am on a
Friday morning. We took the Mysore road till Mysore, and stopped at
Kamat Yatrinivas for a yummy breakfast. Once we reached the outskirts
of Mysore, we took the ring road that connects to Nanjangud, without
entering the Mysore city. We usually stop at the coffee day located
just before Gundulpet. We stopped for a quick coffee break this time
also at Cafe coffee day.
We entered our favorite part of the
road journey, the forest area :) We drove thru the Bandipur Tiger
reserve and just the drive in the serene forest, with fresh air
blowing in our faces, birds chirping continuously was enough to make
us smile. The Bandipur Tiger reserve becomes Mudumalai forest at the
border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
I know it is strange, but I could see a change in the greenery as soon as we entered the Mudumalai forest area. The freshness and beauty continued here as well.
After Mudumalai comes the Masinagudi town. From the center of the town, we had to take a deviation to our right and drive for around 6km to reach the Singara Post. Private vehicles are not allowed beyond this point as it is forest area. We parked our car at Singara Post, and hopped onto a jeep that was sent by the resort.
And our adventure started from
here, the ride was very very bumpy, and we had to hold on tight to
not be thrown off :) We were in the middle of pure nature. My mom
especially was super glad once we reached the resort.
We checked-in at the reception
area, where we were briefed about the place. The resort did not have
any fences or compounds. It opened into the jungle. We were told not
to walk around at night, and were asked to keep the lights outside
the room on, thru out the night. It was around 1.45 by the time we
reached the resort. So we quickly freshened up and came to the
restaurant to have lunch.
The food was amazing. Since it was
a weekday, only 2 other rooms were occupied. So we were served at our
table, and we had a wide variety of food. The weather was slightly
chilly, and after our drive we hungrily gulped down the hot soup and
food which was super yummy. Each meal during our stay was followed by
desserts.
The kids quickly ate, and were
running around, exploring the place. We sat outside in the sun for a
while before returning to our room. There are 4 kinds of rooms
available at the property. One tree house, one tree top, few tribal
homes and jungle shacks. We had booked a jungle shack for ourselves,
and it turned out to be the best room, as the room was towards the
end of the resort, right by a lot of tall trees.
The weather reminded me of the
saying "if you don't like the weather now, wait for five
minutes", a saying that is popular in western countries. It used
to be sunny for 5 minutes, and then it used to start raining in the
next 5. So the weather was PERFECT! Very pleasant. While everyone
rested in the room, I sat outside watching the clouds cover and clear
the mountains directly in front of us. I could hear and see lot of
birds flying. Just when the kids woke up, we had our first sighting!
Of a gorgeous big deer with huge antlers, staring directly at us, a
few feet from our room. We were too excited and it ran inside the
bushes after looking at us for a few seconds. There was no end from
here. We spotted lots and lots of deer grazing and walking around
near the bushes in the forest right opposite our room.
We could hear a lot of peacock
calls and we saw a few peacocks running around. The atmosphere
demanded us to order hot masala tea. After enjoying a nice cuppa, we
spent some time taking in the nature.
Soon it was time for dinner. We had
an elaborate dinner, with hot soup to begin with. After a hearty
meal, we started to head back to our room. The resort was very dimly
lit. As we were approaching our room, we saw that our room was
surrounded by hundreds of deer. And as soon as they saw us, all of
them ran a few feet away and just stared at us. It was like a movie,
hundreds of eyes looking at us in the dark from just a few feet away.
We were mesmerized by this, all night the deer were near our room. We
could hear a lot of sounds in the night. We finally said good night
and hit the bed.
We all had a good night sleep. At
around 5.30am the next morning, my older one wakes me up asking me to
listen to the morning birds with a big grin on his face. I felt so
proud! :D
Both of us sneaked out of bed and
started running from window to window to catch the deer. They were
moving from one end of the resort to the other and slowly
disappearing. By the time it was bright outside, we had woken
everyone in the room. We sat outside looking out for animals and
listening to the morning chirpy birds.
While the kids were brushing, I was
looking outside thru the window, and I saw 2 big ears flap and I was
shocked because it looked like an elephant! I ran outside excitedly,
but I could not spot the same again. After a short while, the resort
person came by and told us that there is a elephant near by, we
walked a bit and saw 2 wild elephants!!
And a peacock walked past us and
went near the elephants. And all of a sudden the peacock opened his
feathers, and DANCED!!! It was one of my dreams to watch a peacock
dance as I had never seen one. I was too excited, and I guess the
peacock was as well as he danced for a while, and later he started
calling out and flew onto the small pump house. A peahen joined the
peacock and they both sat there. Thee elephants were right behind the
pump house, busy eating.
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| The peacock sitting on top of the pump house |
We walked around for sometime, and
got ready for breakfast. After a yummy breakfast, we strolled back to
our room. We freshened up and stepped out to explore.
There is a 'tree house'
accommodation at the other side of the resort. It is around 30 feet
high up on a tree. It is a cute little place, overlooking a lake and
ideal for 2 people. We walked past it and went near the lake. The
area was beautiful. There was a platform with a roof on a tree top
that we could climb and sit and watch the lake and the forest area.
We all climbed up the steep steps and enjoyed the view from the top.
There was not a soul to be seen. We did not know what animal would
jump out of the thick bushes. We got down and walked back to our
room.
We saw few wild boar near the room
and many peacocks kept walking by. Soon it was lunch time and we went
to the restaurant to have lunch. Since it was a Saturday and more
people had checked in, it was a buffet spread. We LOVED the tomato
soup.
We sat on the benches outside, sun
bathing for sometime. Everyone took a quick nap, while I enjoyed my
"nature time" sitting outside. There were so many birds
that were flying around. I missed our DSLR, this trip made me want to
start using the SLR camera again :)
We ordered masala tea in the
evening. And we walked to the lake again. It was a picture perfect place, so we sat near the lake enjoying the nature.
All of us were excited and looking forward to the night safari. We were ready by 7.30, the jeep came to our room at 7.45 and we hopped onto it. A and kids sat in the front as it was an open jeep safari and kids could not stand and hold on. So mom and I stood at the back holding on tight. Though we did not see any animals other than deer, the whole ride was amazing as it was in the middle of the jungle. I was scared as it was pitch dark except for the headlights that shone in the front and the torch light that our guide used to spot animals. I used to turn back to see the dark jungle, there was no way of knowing if an animal was right next to us!
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| Deer footprints |
All of us were excited and looking forward to the night safari. We were ready by 7.30, the jeep came to our room at 7.45 and we hopped onto it. A and kids sat in the front as it was an open jeep safari and kids could not stand and hold on. So mom and I stood at the back holding on tight. Though we did not see any animals other than deer, the whole ride was amazing as it was in the middle of the jungle. I was scared as it was pitch dark except for the headlights that shone in the front and the torch light that our guide used to spot animals. I used to turn back to see the dark jungle, there was no way of knowing if an animal was right next to us!
We were ready for dinner after the
safari, we ate and sat near the campfire. It had gotten chilly and so
it was warm and cozy near the fire. A and kids were singing watching
the fire :)
We headed to the room and got ready
to sleep.
We got up early the next morning
and sat outside. There was no other sound other than the hundreds of
birds and few animals like deer. It was definitely like soulful music
to ears!
We went for a small walk and came
back. Had a heavy breakfast and sat on the benches sipping tea.
We walked and sat near our room
enjoying the sounds and view before we got ready and packed.
We took the bumpy ride back in the
jeep to where we had parked our car. We saw many bison crossing the
path.
We started our car drive back to Bangalore. It was a beautiful journey, with good roads and scenery all along. We saw langurs, lot of deer and a wild elephant along the way. After the forest area of Mudhumalai and Bandipur we came across the gorgeous sunflower fields. We had to stop and walked in the fields. The sunflowers were so beautiful!
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| Wild elephants |
We stopped for a quick lunch at
Organic Mandya and continued to reach Bangalore by evening.
It was an amazing trip and we all
felt refreshed.
