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 :)

Bandipura - Wishes coming true!

May 1-3 2009... Just after the previous week trip to Nagarahole, this time it was Bandipura calling... and till date this has been one of our most wonderful, luckiest adventures in the wilderness! As usual we were stuck finding no accommodation at Bandipura (the FRH were as usual out of reach for the common man and the resorts are all very pricey…), finally we stumbled upon a resort called “Tiger Ranch” near to Bandipura. Well we had no idea what place this is and how good it is and the information on the net didn’t help us too much as there were mixed feedbacks on this. As we are all only male group, we decided to give it a try and reserved a cottage for 1 day over the phone (after seeing the place, we decided to continue for the next day). We left home by about 6 and reached Bandipura at around 11. Just after the office building @ Bandipura, a road cuts to the left wherein you need to travel for about a km and to the right you will find a board indicating the route towards Tiger Ranch and Ambuja Farms. Well there are no roads here and its virtually a mud path all the way down till Tiger Ranch. This place is an isolated area surrounded by jungle on all sides and you get a real good feel of staying in the jungle by putting up here. As only few guests were there, it was fine. Food was okay and after lousing around for some time we left for the evening safari to Bandipura. May Day and you expect lots of crowd and we could hardly manage tickets for the bus safari. The safari ride was infused with rains for some time and sightings of the Crested Serpent Eagle, Sambar deer and a pack of Wild dogs relaxing in the sun. Got the Jeep Safari booked for the next day morning and we lazed around the forest office for some time till dusk and went back to the resort. As it had rained earlier, it was a virtual mud slide everywhere for my Alto unable to grip the surface and few harrowing moments (it’s a city car and these things happen if you tend to use it like an SUV!) What shocked us all the more was the loud music and partying at the resort as the darkness engulfed and there were more guests also who had driven in! The cottages were fine (sufficient for bachelors and families please stay away!) for our requirements and we instantly decided to check out the next day after living through the evening atmosphere. There are 4 rounds of the Jeep Safari of 2 hours duration each conducted by the Forest Department @ Bandipura costing about 1300/- in total and you can book only if you can speak well and they prefer not to book rides for people who visit there for more of a picnic rather than passion! The 8 am Jeep Safari ride yielded sightings of Wild dogs again with some distant tusker sighting and the ever normal Sambar and Deer’s & the Stripe Necked Mongoose. No great luck this time too. Scouting for a place for the day we stumbled upon “Hotel Bandipur Plaza” just on the outskirts of Bandipur National Park (i.e., just before entering the park limits when driving from Gundlupet). We booked a cottage for 4 for 1300/- for the stay and then went back to the resort to check out and bid goodbye. The poor sightings of morning dissuaded us from taking the safari rides in the evening and so we decided on paying Mudumalai a visit in the evening. Realized after reaching there that the park was closed for census activity and we came back to Bandipura after a drive till Thorapalli. After lengthy discussions on hiring the jeep again or not, finally decided on booking the Jeep safari the next day again scheduled for the 8am ride. The cottage at Bandipur Plaza was sufficient for us to spend the night. We were up early next day with plans of a bus ride before the jeep safari and we managed to book the 6:45 am bus ride in midst of the big holiday crowd gathered. Langurs, CSE, Stripe necked Mongoose, Deer’s, Sambar and a few minutes later just near the Wesley road junction we could see many jeeps parked and lo behold! A leopardess was making its way down from a tree!! Still in the moving bus I could hardly manage still shots of the beauty, nevertheless what a start for the day! (We got to know that the leopardess along with her cubs was chased by a pack of wild dogs and they had climbed up here, but the cubs were missing!). A few meters’ down the road we found the pack of wild dogs too (Wild dogs are lucky sightings for us as in each and every place we get to see them while many people hardly get the chance!). All excited and charged up, we were again amidst the greens in the jeep ride passing by the same place where we saw the leopardess with faint hopes of her comeback but with no luck. 30 minutes into the ride and finally along the same Wesley road (Kambarlikalar junction) we saw a female elephant with her calf trying to cross the road. After 10 minutes with them and just 5 minutes down the same road we could sense something moving behind the bushes… and instantly realized it was a Tiger as we could slightly see the bright golden orange coat of the beauty. To our delight and surprise we also realized there were cubs around. We had to avoid a few jeeps and the buses by moving ahead and came back to the same place and then started the waiting game! Ahead of us was Mr. Krupakar’s jeep (the same person who has shot the “Wild Dog Diaries” and was once kidnapped by Veerappan along with his companion Mr. Senani!). All of us excited, sitting on the edge of our seats, praying no more disturbances occur, sensing one of our best wonderful wildlife moments just near and the environment suddenly vibrant, all eyes literally popping out … the wait was nearing its climax! Realizing the tiger moving, the other jeep raced ahead and we stopped a little behind and the Tigress peeped on us right in between the 2 jeeps to check how safe it was to cross the road! Sensing no danger at all the queen slowly walked across giving us a lifetime sighting so close by and then followed the little bundles of joy one after another joining their mom ahead. Full credit to the jeep driver Sunil who spotted the little ones first and ensured we got to see the family together. 20 minutes and all over the surroundings was back to normal telling us these are regular things happening, its only you people find it exciting! Leopard, pack of Wild dogs, Elephant with calf and now a Tigress with her litter of 4… What else could we have asked for? We came back to the reception office and as soon as the news spread, there were many people wanting to have a look at our lucky sightings and also popped a few questions like? Were you not scared seeing so close? What if they had attacked?... (Who has the time to think about these questions as we wait for that perfect moment when you get to see these majestic beauties up so close, and they maintain their distance until and unless provoked!) Still with the excitement soaking in, we checked out of the hotel and our way back till home were discussions only about the same! Hope this luck continues in the future too… Our sightings included all of these: Crested Serpent Eagle; Black Kite; Brahminy Kite; Brahminy Mynah; Chestnut bellied Nuthatch; Rose Ringed Parakeets; Peacocks; Indian Roller; White breasted Kingfisher; Green Bee Eaters; Flame backed Woodpecker. Common Langur; Sambar deer; Chital; Stripe Necked Mongoose; Elephants; Wild dogs; Leopard; Indian Tiger. Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve - Chandrapur - Maharashtra

Tadoba calling..... I'm just back from the jungles, TATR - the pride of Vidarbha and.... This was the first signboard we came across and how true it turned out to be..

3 days / 30 hours in the jungle / 6 junglee trips and countless minutes of patient waiting and prayers... still the tigers were elusive in showing themselves up.. We had to be content with only the loud calls / roars very close to us... Still we had many firsts on this adventure, good close sightings of many species which are very elusive here down south and meeting of a good person working towards the conservation of the TATR (Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve), Mr Shalik Jogwe, an fellow INWian and a wildlife enthusiast.

The options to reach Tadoba are:

1. Take a flight to Nagpur from Bangalore and from there 4 hours on road to Tadoba.

2. Sanghamita Express (except Fri - train no 2295) - 9am departure - alight at Chandrapur station - 20 hours journey.

3. Jaipur Express (Thu & Sat only - train no 2975) - 1pm departure - alight at Chandrapur station - 20 hours

4. Ypr-Gorakhpur Express (Thu only - train no 5016) - 7.30an departure - alight at Chandrapur station - 23 hours.

5. Bagmati Express (Fri only - train no 2578) - 9am departure - alight at Chandrapur station - 20 hours.

The best option would be this....

6. Rajdhani Express (Mon-Wed-Thu-Sun - train no 2429) - 8pm departure - alight at Balharshah station. You need to book tickets upto Nagpur (3ac / 2ac only) but alight at Balharshah when the train stops for change of men and machinery (cleaning / guard change / staff change -- The stoppage here is as confirmed from the Railway station master at Balharshah). From Balharshah its an 20km drive to Chandrapur. This saves almost 5 hrs journey time.

With expectations high and soaring, our group of 4, Me, Raja, Guru and Nag boarded the 9am Sanghamitra express on a 20 hour long eventful journey. Travelling by train itself is a pleasure where you get to see variety of people - different languages, different styles, different beliefs and ethics, some very vocal, some sober, some funny, some irritating and the continuous chai-biscoot-samose walas and the state wise enunchs who do anything for money... and travelling for 20 hours was itself something to be remembered (none of the others had travelled such a long distance in a train except me....). We had few college students as our companions who were travelling without confirmed tickets!! but were sitting in our compartment. We had no idea of Shalik whom we would be meeting for the first time and with that anticipation ended our day... all of us hitting the berths...

Alighted at 5:30 am at Chandrapur railway station, Chandrapur is a small sleepy town nestled somewhere in Maharastra enroute Nagpur. Few minutes later Shalik arrived alongwith Praveen (our gypsy driver for our entire sojourn to be).. in an open white maruti Gypsy. After a brief introduction, knowing the unknown we boarded and gypsy and had to travel another 25 kms to reach Mohurli where our booking at MTDC resort was done by Shalik.

The ride took of well and 10 minutes later started the real catch - we were literally shivering in the cold! These gypsies have raised back seats with absolutely no cover and the early morning cool breeze hitting straight onto your face... All of our sleep vanished and we were jostling for cover and our faces literally ice cold. As it was past 6am when we reached TATR, we rode straight into the park for our 1st safari ride of the trip.

Long train journey, Chilly ride and now we were at the gates of the TATR with high anticipation - things were moving fast and the first signs of fresh tiger pug marks at the entrance raised our curiosity and everyone was looking everywhere for those elusive stripes! But as the poster above read, luck is all that matters and we had no idea where had we left our lady.

TATR has three main zones: Mohurli / Tadoba and Kolsa. Mohurli is the place where the resorts are and the entrance is located... A little further inside is the Tadoba range and further inside is the Kolsa range. There is a FRH at Kolsa also. Its almost about 30-40 kms these forests spread across and there are villages inside the park too and the road leading them passes right through the buffer zone. The advantage here at TATR is its open throughout the year (however few routes are not accessible during rains) The forest cover is also amazing with bamboo shrubs across one part, open fields, dense growth, dry open lands, prominent lake inside TATR, many artificialy water bodies created for the summers, hill ranges of Tadoba... it amazes as the landscape changes on your every turn...

Our 3 days stay there gallopped with only eating / safari ride / sleeping, gobbling our days...

Morning 5:30 am for the safari ride, back by 11am, breakfast / 1:30 pm lunch and rest / 2:30 pm evening safari starts, out by 7 pm / 8pm dinner and rest. Being in a jungle has its own advantages... as you have no distractions whatsoever.

Accommodation / Food:

We stayed at the MTDC resort @ Rs.900 per day (rates vary per season) and food cost extra. Currently stay options are limited at Tadoba to MTDC resort, Resort Saras and Tadoba resort. Still it was a good and comfortable stay at the MTDC. The FRH at Kolsa is also available with prior permissions.

Food is prepared at MTDC resort itself with prior notice (as also tea/coffee before the morning safari rounds). Comfortable / clean rooms are the highlight at the MTDC however food is a tad pricey.

Safari and Timings:

The park is closed on Tuesdays.

Entry time is from 6am to 9am (exit by 11am) and 3pm to 5pm (exit by 7pm).

Private vehicles are allowed inside with a forest guide. Camera fee / Safari fee / Guide fees etc.. are charged that are nominal.

An ideal safari round would be for about 4-5 hours with rounds around Tadoba and Mohurli region.

For more info see this link.

Other info: Good birding options around the MTDC resort too.

Patience is a virtue.

Certain behaviours are expected of visitors visiting the parks, please ensure that and stop acting wild!

Respect and care for the nature.

Park Charges and Rates: See this link.

Well our Tadoba adventure ended with no tiger sightings (all along we could hear only the growls / snarls all around us but could not spot them owing to the dense growth) but other wild life made their presence felt..

1. Indian Gaurs 2. Barking Deer 3. Sambar 4. Marsh Crocodiles 5. Antelopes and Spotted deer and the avians were not lagging behind...

1. Green Pigeons 2. Asian Paradise Flycatcher 3. White Eyed Buzzard 4. Greater Coucal 5. Treepie 6. Plum headed Parakeet 7. Indian Robins and the normal Drongo's, Egrets, Storks etc...

Well those who are interested in visiting Tadoba and savor its beauty can contact Mr. Shalik Jogwe who would be more than happy to arrange things for you.

His contact nos are: 93720 69911 / 94203 03020

Email: sljogwe@gmail.com / tadobatiger@gmail.com

Websites: http://tadobatourism.blogspot.com/

http://tadoba-tiger.blogspot.com/

http://tadobapictures.blogspot.com/

Pictures will follow......

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Masinagudi - Into the woods...

It all started with our failed attempts of getting accommodation at Bandipur lodges maintained by the government for the last week of June just before when Bandipur is closed for monsoon in the months of July and August. Once again it was my mallu friend Joshua who came to our rescue and suggested Masinagudi as an alternative. Till then we had no idea where this place is! Masinagudi is rather a quite, secluded place at the foothills of the Nilgiris on the way to Ooty from Mysore. In a way its good that Masinagudi is not so famous as its neighbor so that the nature as well as the wildlife has enough space to themselves. This place is a pure wildlife hotspot (the luckiest ones even get to see tigers here) with good sightings of wildlife and numerous birds to keep one busy and on the tenterhooks, and added to this the pristine Moyar falls is quite ecstatic. Here cheap accommodations are difficult to find until and unless you know some place because it’s infested only with resorts and resorts. This time again, our help came in the form of Joshua who arranged accommodation for us at a rather secluded place right on the fringes of the forest, just what we wanted and thus started another of our adventure tales. 20th June 2008: Left Bangalore rather late in the night with uncordial notes ringing at all our homes for opting the night driving in our car; this was the best option for us as we could reach early in the morning and save precious morning time by this. The route to Masinagudi is itself a pleasure to drive for wildlife enthusiasts; after the bad stretch after gundlupet, took a much needed break at the CCD outlet at gundlupet,

at the CCD outlet, gundlupet

the road smoothens up and it’s a cruise right up to Theppakadu (mudumalai) through Bandipur. From here there are two paths, going straight leads to Ooty via Gudalur, and turning left from Theppakadu leads again to Ooty through Masinagudi with the much talked about 36 hairpin bends. Unluckily we couldn’t spot anything till Theppakadu because of the pitch darkness or rather due to our lack of knowledge of observing wildlife in the dark. As we turned left from the Theppakadu junction, our first sightings were in the form of two huge gaur bulls (forget 6 pack, they had 12 pack abs) staring right into our faces grazing on the bunds on the sideways of the road. The road on this stretch is narrow compared to the other highway and infested with wildlife as we realized later.

early morning views @ masinagudi

We reached on the scheduled time and checked in by 6am, quickly got ready for the forest trek organized by the hosts with guides. Its such a pleasure that you step out of your backyard and you are right in the forests and you often get to see many wild visitors right in your backyard. So almost all resorts / home stays here organize treks into the forests with the help of local villagers as guides who have this uncanny knowledge of what is what and can blindly take you through the terrain without getting lost in the wild. All five of us were excited for the forest trek and in spite of a sleepless night to our credit, we were all charged up and raring to go. The forest patch was dry and quite bald and we could spot langurs and sambar deer with numerous birds but luck still eluded us as we could not spot the biggies and we lost the trail of the wild elephants that we were trailing. The only solace was at a waterhole inside the jungle where we could spot footprints of many a wild animal which made everybody start guessing which is which!

pug marks found @ the waterhole - during the forest trek

Still, this being our first wild trek, we realized a lot of things of what to wear, what to carry and the most important thing “Silence is golden”. We spent the afternoon making a quick dash to the reserve forest area at Anekatti, which is accessible only with prior permission;

monster lizard at anekatti reserve area

later in the evening we went to Theppakadu hoping to get into the last safari, but as our bad luck continued, there was already a long queue and we had to return back without any safari ride for the day. So we just drove along the Gudalur route and luck started favoring us; we could spot quite a few huge bisons and many peacocks along the way.

peacocks, gaur @ masinagudi; evening view of masinagudi

Dinner at the rest house and then we had the option of driving along again or just retire for the day. Young blood, always wanting more and always willing to take chances and with no fear of roaming the jungles in the night we set out for the night drives with the hope of catching something big and wild. Well wildlife can be spotted all around Masinagudi – on the way to Theppakadu, Gudalur, Bandipur, just about every other road. We were recommended the Moyar road and the Singara road by Joshua, which as we found out was indulged in eerie silence and absolutely cut off from the rest of the world. We took the Singara road first, this roads ends up at a private estate and all along the way is pristine forest, we went ahead driving slowly, our car headlight being the only source of light. We spotted a male tusker having dinner just beside the road; with no mood to confront him in the jungle, we moved ahead till we reached the fringes of the estate, we turned back and passing by the same tusker reached Masinagudi. Now we took the Moyar road, this road leads up to Moyar village that is around 10kms away and we can cover as much distance as we want. 4kms into the road, without spotting anything, we were disappointed and turned around to our way back to the rest house, but the lady luck was reluctant to send us just like that, because the next 5minutes of sighting was all that we were waiting for anxiously from the time we reached Masinagudi. Just on the fringes of Masinagudi as we were inching ahead, we could see something big crossing the road right in front of us. Long tail, hefty body, spots all over, we instantly recognized it was a leopard which we were seeing and in a quick dash it crossed over the road and vanished into the bushes. Those few seconds of wow was all that we required keeping us in high spirits for our entire trip irrespective of what was to unfold the next day. Came back to our resting place in high spirits and were eagerly waiting for the next day's events to unfold. 22nd June 2008: Early morning we had two options, another trek in the forests or safari at mudumalai, we chose the latter as the forest trek the previous day was unfruitful. We could spot herds of deer along with many birds on the entire stretch from Masinagudi to Theppakadu.

deers, hoopee, peahen enroute theppakaadu

@ mudumalai (theppakaadu)

The deer’s cross the road in such a systematic way; two of them stand at either side of the road keeping guard until the herd passes from one end to the other and when they sense any vehicle coming, they back off into the bushes with the herd; surely they have a lesson for us on basic road sense. Being a Sunday, the safari at mudumalai was full with many people coming over, still the sightings were good with herds of deer, elephants, wild dogs, wild boar and many peacocks to see; still the big cats eluded us.

tusker family @ theppakaadu; posing near mudumalai forest office; tusker on roadside,masinagudi

roadside tusker encounter @ masinagudi

Even the safari route inside the Mudumalai Park is quite different from the others with dense green forest cover and the jeep track winds through the forest. We started to chug along the path back to our resting place for the much-needed breakfast, some way ahead we found a huge male tusker bringing down branches at the roadside. We stopped and luckily he was very quiet and went about his munching activity even in our presence. We gave him company for almost 15-20 minutes with occasional vehicles stopping and passing by, till a van full of guys came along and started shouting in excitement irritating him. We sensed trouble and moved ahead; later all that we heard was a loud growl from the tusker that made the guys scamper for cover! After the sumptuous breakfast, we went ahead to our next destination Moyar falls on the same stretch of the Moyar road where we had seen the big cat the previous evening. Here permission is required as the viewpoint is in the reserve forest area and wild animals are sighted very frequently here.

@ the reserve moyar falls & group photo @ the hosts place

The place was entirely empty (maybe because of the permission); we sneaked in and had to walk for about 15 minutes till we reached a dead-end; Phew! From there it was a majestic sight of the falls that is in between the woods. Milky white water falling like crystals in between the green cover of the forest area and the surprising thing was that rains were yet to start; still this waterfall was in all glow. We rested there for quite a long time, satisfied our appetites with n number of photographs and left with no mood at all to budge from there. We came back to our nest, bid goodbye to the hosts and started on our way back to home only to realize we were running out of Petrol! Ouch! The nearest bunk was some 30 kms away; we somehow managed to reach there with heavy rains accompanying us and then trudged on our way back to Bangalore taking the same route by which we had come. Recently read a news article stating Masinagudi area will be declared a buffer zone as it is on the fringes of mudumalai sanctuary; that means less human interference. Well, that’s good news for wildlife but what about the people who are surviving purely on this? Quick notes: Distance: Approx 250 kms from Bangalore Route: Bangalore - Mysore - Gundlupet - Bandipur - Theppakadu (mudumalai) – Masinagudi - Ooty Accommodation: Plenty of resorts available (info on the net) Ideal time: All round the year except monsoon season Food: Mostly included in your resort packages, otherwise smaller hotels available at Masinagudi. Petrol: No bunks at Masinagudi (Essar bunk is now defunct), nearest is either Gundlupet or Thorappalli. Tips: Respect nature, maintain silence in the forests, don’t irritate the wild animals, conserve forests and leave no traces of your visit behind. Wear light colored clothing during treks / safaris, avoid bright colors. Drive slowly when driving through the wildlife zone (from gundlupet up to Gudalur). care for the nature and the nature cares for you!