Bandipur - An Experience With Wilderness !!

Another weekend comes by and the rainy weather and gloomy sky is calling us to the wildernesses. I got the green signal from my bunch of travel boys. We made a quick call to Mr.  Mahinder Singh and we were got availability in the Tiger Ranch, Bandipur. It is Rs. 1510/- per head with Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Camp fire. I had to transfer Rs.1900/- online to pre-book. Watch the numbers that were mentioned and when asked, the owner says it’s got Vaastu attached to the numbers. This is the place where the Movie “Jungle” was shot by Ram Gopal Verma and the crew had stayed there for 45 days to shoot.

We left at 3 AM from Bangalore and reached Mysore with 2 halts for tea at 6AM. I counted 47 speed breakers till Mandya and 64 till Mysore. This brings about a good time loss on the way.

For breakfast, we dropped in to a very old joint near the Mysore Zoo, inside a lane by the Commissioner’s House in Mysore. The name of the place is Mylaari. Fresh crispy Dosa and tasty idly was served with coconut chutney.  We left for Bandipur at 7 AM. The road after Nanjangudh is all torn down. Trees have been cut to extend the 2 lane into a 4 lane highway. The entire stretch has been diverted with constructions due to which evening we lost more than 90 mins in an average. We reached Bandipur at 10:30 AM. A sigh of relief took over once we were at the gate that says- Welcome to Bandipur Tiger reserve.  We got into a roadside tea stall and refreshed ourselves with some hot coffee.

We started our drive through the forest and on driving deep for 10-12kms; we reached a junction which says take left for Serai, Country Club etc. We tool the left and went another 8-10kms and took a small trail to the right and off roaded for another 4 kms. There was Tiger Ranch right in front of us.

Wild and basic is the mere look of the place. Tiger Ranch is adventurous and unattractive to look at but extremely hospitable and managed well. We were shown our room with 15mins. They were huts built with metal sheet and thatched roofs with clean European washroom. The hut has beds, good blankets, bedside tables, racks in a form of bare necessity and comforts of sofa and center table to add on. This was one of those first time experiences one has with basic requirements and adjustments. Nothing was inconvenient however; there was no sign of the slightest material luxury anywhere. As we sipped our cold drinks in the sit out, we were all looking forward to the evening.  We freshened up and got ready for the lunch. Lunch was at 1 PM and immediately after lunch we rested for 2 hours.

At 4PM, when the dark clouds started gathering together, we left for a drive into the forest. The best part of the Tiger Ranch is that it is situated deep inside the forest and is among the few places that are located into the wilderness. While driving through Bandipur and crossing the border of Karnatake to the Mudumalai forest, we spotted deer’s, nilguy, bison’s, mongoose, peacocks, common monkeys, black faced langur, various birds and a solitaire elephant striding past the path into the forest. We were spellbound and at around 7PM we reached the kutte after the Mudumalai forest and at the start of masinagudi town, after the temple, in the right is a small tea stall that sells coffee made of malai. Since that was in our checklist, we shared our amazement and held around for half an hour over a cup of coffe. We started back and reached our homestay around 8PM. It had started raining profusely by then and hence the campfire was cancelled. We sat at the sit out and kept a watch on the eyes of the deer’s and the forest wolves that were sparking beyond the electric wire and making us shiver. We were hoping for an elephant to show up though. The owner of the resort sat with us and as always, we talked about the incidents and the difficulties and the beauty of the life in Tiger Ranch. At 10:30PM, the dinner was served. Food remained simple yet extremely tasty and once we were done, at 11:30PM, all lights were switched off and every room was given with a LED lamp and asked to get inside their respective cottages. The forest guard sits outside with a torch and monitors the huts all night.

We spoke for sometimes, locked the doors and got into the blankets listening to the rainfall on the thatched room and the far barks of the dears and the monkeys. The cicada noise was constant all day and night along with frogs, wolves and some other animals. It was an amazing feeling and none of us were aware who slept when.

Next day early as 6AM, we are awake with the jumping and screeching of the monkeys over the huts.  Morning tea was served hot and we lazed in the sit out for a long time. The sky was gloomy and it was still drizzling. We sat outside in the lawn around the wet ash of the born fire that was not lit up last night. We had a lazy breakfast, freshened up and left The Tiger Ranch at around 11AM. Lunch was on the way and we took a de-route from Bandipur – Chamrajnagar – Malvelli – Talkadu – Kanakpura and Bangalore. Though the distance turned out more by about 50kms, we are happy to avoid the Sunday evening traffic and speed breakers of Mysore Road and take the beautiful, scenic and picturesque road instead. We reached Bangalore at 10PM.