Volunteers Training Program (VTP)

Sometime last year (2013), I got an opportunity to attend the Volunteers Training Program (VTP) conducted by the Karnataka Eco-Tourism Development Board (www.karnatakaecotourism.com) in association with Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR - www.jungelodges.com), a week long extensive program with theoretical as well as field sessions to train an individual as a eco-volunteer to assist the forest department in their various activities.

Course content: A diverse course covering all aspects of forests, wildlife, conservation, role of photographers and much more that enables an individual to grasp what happens on a day-to-day basis and what are the challenges than an forest department employee faces and the field sessions like walking the beats along with the forest guards helps you gauge the amount of hard work they put in to conserve the forests and wildlife.

Sitting in air conditioned rooms and blasting out the keyboards on the laptops, we post, like, dislike, comment, share and are very critical of any happenings related to forests or the staff or the tigers or elephants etc.. It's only when you get out on to the field, get in the shoes of a daily wage watcher, eat what they eat and sleep where they do (cut off from their families for months together), you realize how important their role is and how important they are to conserve of what is left today; It literally strikes you in the face the harsh, raw realities that they go through day in and out.

We had various topics that we were briefed on and I'll list out some that I recollect...
> National Parks and Sanctuaries
> History and Role of National Parks
> Mammals  - Introduction and Classification
> Birds - Identifying them
> Reptiles and Amphibians
> Lesser Fauna
> Life in an APC
> Tracks and Signs
> Role of a Eco Volunteer and Expectations
> Tools of the trade

We had talks too by various personalities ranging from park directors to botanists to conservationists to wildlife experts and let me list few that I can recollect
> Role of a Wildlife Photographer and Ethics
> Photography as a tool for Conservation
> Nature Inspires
> Taxonomy of Plants

> NTCA protocols and guidelines
> Wildlife Protection Acts and Schedules
> Man-Animal conflicts
> Wildlife crime
> Poachers and their operative methods
> Initiatives so far

Field sessions
> Walking the 'beats' along with the forest guards on their regular routine
> All about Camera trapping
> GPS tracking
> Bird watching and notes

It was an eye-opener for me and an opportunity to learn many new things (that I never knew) and improving on knowledge of many other facts and at the end committing ourselves to help the department in their various activities and protecting/conserving what we are left with.

To sign up to be a Ceritified Volunteer, please follow this link.


coming up next: Interesting learning's and what are we doing as volunteers now...

Bike Ride to Bandipura

 

A famous quote:

“There are two types of people in this world, people who ride motorcycles and people who wish they could ride motorcycles”.

It’s not about speeding above the 3 digit mark, its not riding like there’s no tomorrow, it’s not a speed rush; it’s riding… and riding a bullet. The feel you get while riding a bullet is next to none and definitely can’t be expressed in words here. The engine roars to a start and the thump you feel is something only you can feel :)

Coming back to the post, I wanted to take the bullet out on a long drive (well, this was to be my first long drive on a bike with more than 150cc capacity) and with an eager buddy, Guru, more eager to accompany me on his Rx, we made a quick weekend dash to Bandipura covering about 500kms in 2 days. Incidentally, this was our 2^nd bike ride to Bandipura, the first being a double ride on his Rx sometime back.

http://adventureanytime.blogspot.in/2010/04/bandipura-bike-ride.html

I was a speed fanatic some years ago, but with age come wisdom and with that wisdom, I control the urge to speed and ride within safe limits. The bullet is a rider’s delight, a perfect recipe; it shall behave as you want it to and responds in sync with your pulses. I love riding and that halves the tiredness you feel and the urge to ride keeps you moving.

We left early to reach Bandipura by afternoon, but as it was destined, the Rx had a bad puncture near Bidadi and getting a person to do it took nothing less than 5 hours! A regular stop for Bidadi Thatte Idli became an unending wait for the mechanic to turn up. A rare day, when the mechanic failed to turn up at his regular time and by the time he came, there were about 10 customers from the entire town waiting for him! Argh! From there, there was no stopping me and the bullet and I only stopped next at Mysore city (Columbia Asia hospital circle) and Guru was wondering where I had vanished! Another of my habits is that I never attend calls nor sms while riding unless I feel it may be something important, if so I pull over and take the call. In short, I never realized the vibration of the cell and had completely missed his calls. After a super quick lunch at Kamat café, Mysore, we went ballistic on the road towards Bandipura with the only stop for ATM at Gundlupet. The road all the way from Bangalore to Bandipura is in good condition for 95% of the stretch with a few small bad patches in between.

We took the customary safari bus ride by the department to get the feel of the wild. Being summer, it was dry, hot and humid. The deers, peacocks, jungle fowl, gaurs, and boars were all there and were waiting for the first showers of the season. We stayed at the Vana Vihar (http://www.vanavihar.com/index.html) right opposite to Bandipur Plaza, our regular place of stay. The cottages look good for families to stay and the food is decent enough; don’t expect anything extraordinary, but better than the food at Bandipur Plaza. Next day another customary safari ride (this time a jeep ride with the Jungle lodges) and we got to see a young tusker chipping away at a tree for its bark repeatedly. The weather was dry and so was the forest, forest fires happening in some places, scarcity of water and dry throats, its tough for the animals and the monsoons are eagerly awaited. Very few waterholes survive the summer onslaught and some are filled by the department to beat the heat and the bigger ones shrink to quarter their size during the summer months.

But, it felt good to be back in the forest and enjoying the magpie robin’s show at every nook and corner, on every branch and stump, the peafowl’s in group waiting for the rains, the jungle fowl cuckooing everywhere, the faint alarm calls of the sambar deer or the barking deer far away hinting of a predator movement, the 7 sisters or the jungle babblers babbling all around, the numerous birds who can only be heard but not seen owing to the dense canopy and growth, the fearless wild dogs who run, chase and eventually eat their prey when still alive, those tense moments when you wait without luck for a cat to stride out from the rustling bushes, a monitor lizard on the tree, a star tortoise having lost its way on the jeep track, the hoopoe’s and mynah’s sharing the same trunk of the tree, those elusive raptors soaring high and mighty, the crumbling of branches indicative of a tusker nearby, a ton of black mass revealing itself as a lone gaur giving you a quizzed look, you blink and miss the elusive barking deer; the barks, grunts, and whoops of the silver coated hanuman langur’s high above, the wonderful win-win co-existence of the deer’s and the primates, the sounds of the bamboo cluster or the trees made by the howling winds, the eerie silence you encounter in the middle of a jungle – well, I can just go on and on… :) The joy of being in a forest can only be felt, not said!

After an eventful stay, we were on our way back home on the bike’s and starting mid afternoon, we reached Mysore pretty fast and early maintaining a decent speed and riding single lane. After a heavy lunch, Guru started feeling the tiredness, hampering our ride back and taking numerous breaks to stretch. Finally, reached home before dusk set in and hit the sacks right away recounting each and every moment of the wonderful journey we undertook.

Wild Bandipura (Part III)

Well, Part II will appear as a guest post in one of my favorite blogs, you people need to wait for that for some more time... Let me quickly jump to the next phase of my adventures at Bandipura National Park :)

After the boys left, had an intense birding session and finally had to rush to catch the bus to Dharwad from Ganeshgudi and just made it in the nick of time. Carrying two heavy bags, one with all the equipment and the lappy and the other with apparels and shuffling b/w buses was a big task to accomplish. All along it was just one song playing in my mind -
Musafir hoon mein yaaro,
Na ghar hain na tikana,
Mujhe toh bas chalana hai,
Bas chalte jaana hai!


Similar song in Kannada-
Ellige Payana, Yavudo daari,
Ekangi Sanchaari, Ekangi Sanchaari!


After a heavy dinner at Dharwad, I traveled to Mysore bypassing Bangalore in the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus service, well the ride was pretty decent and comfortable. Sleep walking into the Mysore bus terminus and after a cold face wash and breakfast later, boarded another bus towards Ooty to alight at Melkamanahally check post (Bandipur National Park entrance) where the property of JLR (Bandipur Safari Lodge) is located. I would be here for the next 4.5 days only to roam the jungles, eat and sleep, solo.

After a warm welcome from the staff, inspite of the long journey and sagging shoulders, I was feeling energized just because I was there where I wanted to be :) Probably, for the first time, I had carried books to read (EH Aitken's 'A Naturalist on the Prowl' and Kenneth Anderson's 'Nine Man-eaters and One Rogue'). I never wake up to the alarm ringing at home and finally it snoozes getting tired..., well here I didn't require an alarm to wake me, my senses were sufficient and I never missed the time all the days :) Such wonderful things happen when your mind, body, heart and soul are in the place they want to be. Waking up early, safari ride, bfast, break, lunch, break, safari ride, snacks, dinner, sleep was all that I did but the excitements of each day made it interesting. Due to an unforeseen cyclone effect, the weather was cloudy and rains were happening on and off dampening my spirit. Well, all that in my mind was 'Why the rains when I had to be there?' :)

Spotting Deers, Gaur are quite common in Bandipur and you get your share of them more or less in all safari rides. The first safari passed off peacefully w/o much activity in the forests and just as we were heading back to the resort, saw a big sloth bear passing just beside the main road in twilight. So far never been lucky with bears and it continues... Overnight rains were quite heavy and early morning the situation was more or less similar from which I believed would be a wet outing in the jungle. Good things do happen and in a span of 15 minutes, the entire cloudy weather cleared up and the sun shone like there was no tomorrow. Just as we entered the jungle and within minutes I could see a bright flash against a tree basking in the golden sunlight! It didn't take much time for us to realize it was indeed a 'Tiger' basking in the sudden sunlight available.

Just as we moved towards him, he moved inside off the track into the field keeping a watch on us sitting, rolling, sleeping in the shade of a tree. Every now and then he would raise his head, look around, gaze and us and again go back to his slumber. I was so excited that the first few beautiful frames of him were all shaken (I realized this only after few days).  If my readers recollect, just in the last post of Bandipur I had mentioned I was due for a long tiger sighting and the day had arrived. The beautiful, bold male that we were seeing is about 14 months and one from the successful litter of the current reigning queen of Bandipur, Gauri (You can see her in my Bandipur post of 2009 crossing the track).
-> http://adventureanytime.blogspot.com/2009/08/bandipura-wishes-coming-true.html

Tigers are generally elusive and especially cubs are more so shy and they avoid humans like hell but this little young chap was all grace and confidence and his stare so charming you just could not take your eyes off him. We enjoyed his company for the next 20 minutes till he decided enough was enough and walked away into the bushes probably to join his siblings there. 45 minutes later roaming other parts of the jungle, we came back to the same place to see him again basking under the sun and he was around again for the next 25 minutes with us seeing him roll, stare, doze and finally walk away not to be seen again. Along with me in the jeep was an ace photographer from Mumbai Vedwati Padwal along with her family and we thoroughly enjoyed the show but I thoroughly missed my boys during this.

Back at the resort, it was the hot news for the day and we enjoyed the discussions thoroughly. Wonder what happened next - the clouds and the overcast conditions were back and the next 2 safari's were literal washouts in spite of no other vehicle other than ours roaming the jungles in the morning and evening. That is luck and when it decides to leave you, you are just left nowhere!


Next, in my 5th safari, one cloudy evening just as we entered the park, Kiran, the driver shouted Wild dogs and so my luck continues with their sightings every time I'm in a jungle. It was a pair and probably searching for their pack and they kept us company for the next 30 minutes until we decided on the insistence of other people to jeep to move ahead. Wild dogs or Dhole's are very relaxed once they find the vehicles are no threat to them and they stick around for a long time till you are bored. In this scenario, asking the driver to leave them and move put me in jitters as these kind of opportunities are few and far.

So far, tiger, elephants, gaur, sloth bear, mongoose, deers were all sighted and the missing link was the leopard and to say I have poor luck with them is not untrue! Finally after extended stays, in my last safari at Bandipur, just about the time we had to leave the park got a chance to see the leopard crossing the road in a fraction of a second. All that I could manage was a shaky image of the ghost crossing the road, yet I was happy and content on seeing it in the first place. I know my time will come and the lady luck will smile upon me... :)

Meanwhile in all the dull safari's, birding was opportunistic and soon I realized the variety I could see and the list grew longer and longer much to my surprise and mind you all this from the moving jeep. Also was nice meeting Thomas, Vineet and others and had a good time with them.

Finally, time to leave with GB's of photos, heart-full of memories and with little intent to go back home. Rested for the night at Mysore and was back at home early next day thus ending my mega trip covering Ganeshgudi and Bandipura.


Travel partner - ever dependable KSRTC - www.ksrtc.in
Stay partner - Jungle lodges & Resorts - www.junglelodges.com


Bird checklist -
1 Oriental Magpie Robin

2 Yellow Wagtail

3 Jungle Fowl

4 Peafowl

5 Indian Roller

6 White Breasted Kf

7 Pied Kf

8 Hoopoe

9 Jungle Babbler

10 Common Flameback Woodpecker

11 Lesser Flameback Woodpecker

12 Streak Throated Woodpecker

13 House Sparrow

14 Scaly Breasted Munia

15 Rose Ringed Parakeet

16 Plum Headed Parakeet

17 Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

18 Spot Billed Duck

19 Common Coot

20 White Ibis

21 Spotted Dove

22 Laughing Dove

23 Brown Fish Owl

24 White Breasted Waterhen

25 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

26 Darter

27 Blue Faced Malkoha

28 Ashy Drongo

29 White Bellied Drongo

30 Racquet Tailed Drongo

31 Pond Heron

32 Red Wattled Lapwing

33 Indian Grey Hornbill

34 Eurasian Golden Oriole

35 Bay Backed Shrike

36 Long Tailed Shrike

37 Large Cuckooshrike

38 White Browed Fantail

39 Common Iora

40 Rufous Treepie

41 House Crow

42 Jungle Crow

43 Hill Mynah

44 Jungle Mynah

45 Common Mynah

46 Brahminy Mynah

47 Green Bee Eater

48 Common Hawk Cuckoo

49 Black Kite

50 Brahminy Kite

51 Black Shouldered Kite

52 Crested Serpent Eagle

53 Short Toed Snake Eagle

54 Malabar Starling


Wildlife -

1 Hanuman Langur

2 Bonnet Macaque

3 Black Naped Hare

4 Spotted Deer

5 Sambar Deer

6 Barking Deer

7 Grey Mongoose

8 Stripe Necked Mongoose

9 Wild Boar

10 Wild Dog

11 Malabar Giant Squirrel

12 Indian Gaur

13 Elephant

14 Tiger

15 Leopard

16 Monitor Lizard

17 Garden Lizard

18 Tortoise

19 Indian Rock Python

20 Water Snake (Un Id)

More photos on my FB pages here and here :)

Something from Bandipura

Some images from Bandipur National Park

Meet the monitor...

Sambar stag deer - nice that we saw more numbers than any of our previous visits

Jungle fowl - Yet to get a decent capture of this, well i've missed 'n' number of chances!

Well, the story of the tiger we saw but still didn't see!

As our hired jeep approached a narrow road in the jungles of the Bandipur National Park, with the surroundings in absolute silence, and no soul nor sound on the track, we had to stop to allow the approaching jeep to pass by. The drivers exchanged pleasantries and with the passage of information posing the question "Aakade enu illa, eekade? (no sighting in that part, what about this side?). A minute passed by and the other jeep passed over to scan the other areas of the jungle. As we had to ascend an elevation, the jeep started moving slowly and in a moment of shattering silence, the driver excitedly screamed - sir, tiger nodi tiger! (thoughts of our good luck and a hope for a nice pose enveloped my mind as my eyes struggled to locate the huge stripes ahead of us, but just could not figure out where it was!) After moments of disdain, finally my eyes landed on that majestic beast hurriedly darting away into the bushes ahead of us with me getting to see the tiger from the stomach to the hind legs as it entered the bushes to the right of us (still no sounds and complete eerie silence in the jungle, i'm still surprised). But the tiger (not sure of the gender) was an hulk and majestic and it was all that we were entitled too in the safari ride. The next 90 minutes of ours went from excitement to disappointment as we tried to track where the tiger could have gone, rounded up the entire area couple of times, but as it turned out to be, we had nothing to cheer for!

Its been an year since our last sighting and this one was more like a trailer show for us, hope we are due for a full movie soon and I personally hope its 'very soon' :)

Bandipur - Mudumalai - Masinagudi - Gudalur

Well, an unexpected trip and with all the luck in the world heaped onto us. Joshua invited me to join on this adventure he had embarked upon with his brother Ajith who was back home for his holidays. I could not say no to him as he has been of immense help to me, still I could not commit instantly due to some problems, finally I agreed on joining the brothers on this trip. For those who dont know, Joshua is my colleague cum friend cum wildlife guru cum birding shishya... We travelled in Josh's flaming red Zen to Masinagudi with plan of visiting Bandipur, Mudumalai parks and Josh's estate @ Gudalur. We had arranged for our camping at quiet corner in Masinagudi. Josh is only keen on wildlife and a bit in photography; so this trip was only for wildlife, wildlife and wild life...

We took off for a day on Friday and reached Masinagudi late Thursday night to catch on some sleep.

Day1: I have been through Bandipur many times but never got a chance to go on a safari ride there. So this was my first safari ride here and also my first joint adventure along with Josh and Ajith. The safari ride started in a cramped forest department bus and so did our excitement levels... Half an hour into the ride, just as the thought of seeing nothing special crossed our mind - someone seated in front of me shouted Tiger, Tiger!!! Immediately all 70 legs on board sprang and jostled near the windows for a glimpse of the royal Bengal beauty. Many people dont know how difficult it is to spot a TIGER in the jungles here in south (I know some people who are still waiting for their luck even after so many years roaming the jungles). I forgot to zoom my camera properly, hands were trembling and somehow managed to peep out of the window and get a shot or two of the majestic beauty trapped in the camera and in my eyes for ever. The photography was not so good as I was seated in the last seat and the tiger was seen in front of the bus and the window next to me was sealed! The majestic beauty was an adult female (named Gowri); as she saw the bus she stared upon us with a no nonsense casual disdain look (as if to say I dont care who you are), neither was she perturbed nor disturbed and after walking next to the bus for a few steps vanished into the bushes after giving a final disdain look towards us.

It was / will be a memorable sighting (the first of the TIGER) for me and for josh too (this being his first in south india). He started praising me because he thought with me joining him, lady luck started favoring us.. but you never know it may be the other way too...

After the morning safari rounds we came back to quiet corner for some rest till evening. In the meantime we paid a visit to the rehabilitation centre @ Masinagudi run by an NGO (who takes care of all deserted, wounded, limp animals that include dogs, cats, monkeys, horses, donkeys, camel etc...) We did four safari's in a day at Bandipur... (other than the first round, for all other rounds we got the first 3 seats as the ticket issuer became familiar with me). Overall in all the 4+4 safari's @ Bandipur and Mudumalai and Masinagudi put together over 2 days we spotted the following mammals and birds: Tiger (Panthera Tigris) Sloth bear Sambar Deer Hanuman Langur Asian Elephants (many) Mongoose family Spotted Deer Wild Boars Indian Bisons (a herd of about 25) Malabar Giant Squirrel Indian Hare Mouse Deer Hyeana (still under speculation - no photographic evidence) Jungle Cats Pack of Dholes Indian Civet ---- Peacocks (numerous) Peahens Jungle Mynah Bee eaters Indian Robin Pied Bush chat Red Whiskered Bulbuls Spotted / Laughing Doves and many others...

Day2: We had a slightly different plan for the day - after the first 2 morning safari's @ Mudumalai we would go to Josh's estate @ Gudalur (he had some work there) and then again return back for the evening safari's. The safari rides @ Mudumalai didnt let us down as we got to see the Dholes, Mongoose family, Elephants, Sambar during the rides. On the last safari @ Mudumalai, there was absolutely no sighting except the Spotted deers, so the driver allowed us to get down and view the Moyar falls (this comes along the Circle road safari route). Imagine in the jungle, on a safari you get off the bus and walk to the nearby viewpoint to spot the majestic falls. This was completely different than the one I had seen the last time near Moyar village. Its the same river that gorges down @ different places creating majestic sights.

The experience @ Josh's estate @ Gudalur was also wonderful with me getting wonderful birding oppurtunities along with Ajith who was my guide cum encyclopaedia as we roamed around the estate. The estate is full of tea and coffee plantations (last heard at a particular rocky terrain porcupines are resident here and wild elephants frequently visit this as well as the neighbouring estates). We were served to a delicious meal cooked by the resident cook there (he was more than happy to serve us and Ajith in particular as he had come after a long time).

Some mammals and birds that we spotted in the Gudalur estate were: Malabar Giant Squirrel Malabar Flying Squirrel (first time for me) Racket Tailed Drongo (another first one) Red Whiskered Bulbul's Velvet Fronted Nuthatch Scarlett Minivet (male & female) Flame backed Woodpeckers Common Iora Shikra Crested Serpent Eagle

We left the place with me continuously harassing Joshua to allow me for a few days @ the estate. Me and Ajith did what all possible to get near to the Malabar squirrel and the Flying squirrel just flew away just above our heads. After the evening safari's @ Mudumalai we were back @ Quiet corner for the much required rest.

Day3: Being Sunday and just half a day at our disposal, we went on trekking early in the morning around Masinagudi accompanied by local guides who know the place in and out. It was a good trexperience and we almost bumped into wild elephants twice. (Luckily they didnt notice us, so we could slip away easily). Now trekking / walking is banned in the jungles by the forest department. On our drive back after a heavy meal at Kamat, Mysuru we visited the Ranganthittu bird sanctuary and hired a boat all for ourselves for 500rs.

What we got to see here is as below: Open billed Storks Spoonbills

Night Heron Stone Plovers Indian Cormorant Grey Heron River Tern Snake Bird and colonies of Bats.

After this Ajith went back to Mysuru enroute Kochi, Me and Joshua drove back home to Bangalore. It was a wonderful experience with loads of luck on our side and some good sightings. We were only not lucky to sight the Leopard and the Black Panther. Aslo we undertook drives along the Moyar road and the Singara road (where we saw the Civet, Mouse deer, Hare and the controversial Hyeana). Last time also on a similar night drive I had spotted the leopard along with my friends. Another first was that since I bought a car this was the first time I was a passenger and not the driver. Overall a wonderful weekend trip it was and looking forward to many such adventures with Josh. Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta (G Betta)

The first reaction i got when i said that we are going to Himavad Gopalaswamy betta was " 
Where is this place?? ". 


Not surprised because G betta is completely ignored and not so famous as its neighbours in bandipur, mudumalai and nanjangud. G betta is located in the range of bandipur forest area and its a pukka wildlife spot mixed with devotion as there is a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna atop the hillock. 


Its located in the Chamarajanagar district at a height of 1454m and is the highest peak in the Bandipur national park. Dense fog is predominant here and hense the prefix "Himavad" and the temple of Venugopalaswamy (krisnha) which completes the name `Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta`. We got to know about this place through friends and wanted to visit there to just hop around. Our initial plans was for 2 days with trekking to this place from the base and so on but finally everything got cancelled and we dropped the idea of going with the common dialogue "yavaga time agutho hogona bidu, next time nodona bidu maga". 


17th May 2008: Saturday afternoon 3:30pm me and raja were casually chatting, both held up with work and were discussing about visiting G betta, suddenly decided on visiting the place and to be back by the next day evening, to summarize we had just 30 odd hours for around 450 kms and to be back...


Called up our other partner guru and asked him to be at my house my 5pm, and he readily agreed!!! as ever. Called our other kulla partner Manoja -- and he was in office !!! - asked him to push off from there and be ready by 5pm, so within 10mts of casual talk we had decided to visit Gbetta in my beloved alto spending the night at mysore. So as planned hours before, picked up guru and manoja as usual was late, delayed all the more by 30 mts, then picked up raja on the way and finally left bangalore by 6pm, crazy fellows that we are... The only thing which was disturbing us was the absence of our cameras, we had NO cameras with us, only our mobiles to suffice... Raced off to mysore road, filled up the tank at ioc and left to mysore in search of a sound sleep. Reached mysore by 9:30pm after dinner at haripriya hotel in mandya and started searching for a place to settle down.. and lo behold....... "man proposes god disposes" -- proved itself again to us because we could not find any vacant rooms/lodges to stay.. and the places we found were demanding 1200 rs only for the night stay!!!!!


No idea why the prices were so high that weekend, after the dissappointment at mysore, decided to try at nanjangud which anyways was near to our destination. Finally found a place in nanjangud and laid down quietly after a tiring day.... 


18th May 2008: Left the place as early as 4:30am because still we had around 50+kms to cover. Still yawning drove slowly (rather the road after gundlupet is in a very bad shape)... moving further ahead of gundlupet, you find a big arch at the right side (when coming from mysore).. indicating the path to G betta. This is the entrance to the peak.. and the arch is for the temple atop the hill. Sunrise time, empty roads and no cameras.. sigh!!!!.. We could see cloud cover everywhere... and still clicked some photos using our mobiles stopping our vehicle right in the middle of the road without a soul to be bothered of. Again after driving for a few kms, reached the checkpost beyond which entry is only allowed between 6am and 5pm as its a prime wildlife habitat (more explanation for this later). Ours was only the 2nd vehicle to be going in that direction... we were there quite early and it turned out to be a perfect timing for us..... 


The roads are tarred upto the peak to help devotees reach the temple, but its so steep that you cant push your vehicle in 3rd or 4th gear as it just wont move ahead. My poor alto was cruising in 2nd gear and on 3rd started struggling.... the road doesnt look so but it is so.... and to add to the excitement we found lots of fresh elephant dung all along the path making us look out at every turning whether there are elephants ahead of us, luckily we came across none.. Steep and also the roads are narrow with hairpin bends we were wondering if night driving was allowed here, and if you face elephants (u will face) along the way, there are NO ESCAPE routes......... (thankfully so entry is not allowed after 5pm). After few more kms up the winding road, reached the top where the temple is located. There is a guest house there (it was closed for renovation but now reopened... and you can stay there overnight with permissions from the forest department). The temple opens only by 9 or 10am (curse me for my poor memory)... and we were searching for a place to freshen before visiting the temple. Found the guesthouse caretaker at the right time and he arranged everything for us "in the open bathroom"... ah what a lovely natural feel !!! Made the customary temple visit, listened to the history of the temple and came back praying for the good of the world. Came out and ventured behind the temple to view the lovely sight it offers.... Being on top of the highest peak in the range offers an unardulent, beautiful lush green view of the surroundings. The farther you see, the more greener it turns with hillocks in between and clouds playing hide and seek all day long. No wonder its called Himavad G betta. We saw a group of enthusiasts some distance away also admiring something, we joined them only to realize they were admiring a herd of elephants grazing on another hillock to the left of us... (the peak through which the roads are created.. made us wonder what if we had encountered them on the roads... that was a huge herd)... Got a good sighting of 2 adults and a calf which came close by.... we were rueing the fact that we had no cameras to capture all these wild moments, still it was one of the best wildlife sightings with lots to see around (and practically without spending anything).... spent quite a considerable amount of time admiring the valley and the surroundings topped up with the wildlife.. Didn't venture out too deep as we were warned about wild animals around.. 


As the sun rose, it was getting hotter and hotter, realized we had nothing much more to do, so decided to drive back and also pay a visit to Bandipura par and drive back home. As it was afternoon, not much of acitivity at bandipura, went around the museum there - i think hardly anybody notices it, rested for some time in the cool grass seeing the tamed baby elephant and the boars playing around. Time to pack up..... left bandipura and after few kms... the road is worse upto gundlupet (i have already been thrice on this stretch in the last 6 months, and i have seen absolutely no improvement.. Hope this changes before my next sojourn on this route !!!). Lunch break at gundlupet, had a spicy meal and then started our way back to bangalore with the regular pit stops now and then. Reached outskirts of bangalore by 6pm (but reached home only by 7:15pm, curse the traffic that piles up rapidly after bidadi...). 10pm : i was wondering what all we went through the last 48 hours and i had to be in office the next morning... the way life just goes on............................... The series of phots say it all........ (all with our mobiles only !!!)

 

(1)the mysuru palace at night... (2)valley view... (3)our palace on wheels...

 

(1)sunrise view... (2)posing on the way to gbetta... (3)the valley view from behind the temple...

 

 

 

(1)..(2)..(3).. posing with the valley as the background...

 

 

(1)..(2)..(3).. posing in front of the gbetta temple... 


Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!