I went to Calicut on 15/8 morning and returned on 17/8 morning. I usually go once every 2 months-ish, and this was a weekend trip in that series.
My plan was to start from home at Marathahalli at around 5:30 AM, but since my son was participating in some of the Independence Day activities in my complex I had to stay back for a while. Plus I had to visit an ATM, so all told my trip proper started only at around 6:30 AM. By then there was quite a lot of traffic from Silk Board till all the way to Kanakapura Road, but once I crossed Metro it thinned out and beyond the NICE Road interchange, there wasn't much traffic at all. I pretty much drove non-stop to Malavally where I had my first tea break; then I turned into the town from its south edge.
The roads inside Malavally town were broad with proper dividers, I was impressed. I took the left turn near the post office to Mysore Road. A couple of km down this road and I was out of town limits. Overall, clearing the town took less than 10 minutes.
The Mysore Road from Malavally (SH 33) is quite similar in surface quality and width to our friend Ch. Nagar-Gundlupet Road (SH 81) - with two additional points of consideration: (a) it has speedbreakers till about 10 km from Malavally at the entry and exit points of all villages, and (b) it has a bit more traffic. The main town in between - Bannur - has practically no road surface at all; just a mess of slush and gravel and dust. Once I was about 15 km shy of Mysore the surface smoothed and the road widened; then it was good to drive on. I passed through this stretch when the day's Independence Day activities were nearing completion; I stopped at two schools to watch the flag hoisting ceremony and sing Jana Gana Mana with the kids. :-)
At Mysore I continued towards the south side via the Zoo and the Mall of Mysore; joining the southbound NH 212 and almost immediately leaving it to turn into JLB Road. The road to HD Kote and Mananthavady (SH 33 continuation from Mysore) is a left turn about 2 km into JLB Road; it has a big roundabout at the junction. Go under the Mysore-Ch. Nagar railway line near Ashokapuram and cross the Mysore Ring Road and you are out of city limits on the way to Kerala.
Traffic on SH 33 in this stretch is minimal; once you are out of commuter country of Mysore the road is practically empty. There are a few speedbreakers here and there, but nothing to worry the alert driver. The road quality is awesome (8m wide, at a guess - comfortable for two buses to pass each other). I saw several KL-SRTC buses on their way to Mysore - probably from Thalassery etc.
Handpost Junction came after a while (I had stopped for breakfast in the meantime). It is a bit of a traffic mess but only for a short distance (maybe 300m). As we know, left is Begur (NH 212), right is Hunsur and straight is towards Kerala. A couple of km beyond the junction is another Y split - it is easy to take the wrong turn here, as the natural contour of the road is towards the left arm of the Y and the SH 33 continuation is the right arm.
The Y junction:
Kabini River flows serenely - there are a number of resorts here:
The Great Indian Pleasure Tripper was here:
The next thing to look for is the arch across the road announcing the Tiger Reserve and WLS. Soon, you will find the permanently closed road into the forest, and the forest bypass road that turns left. The bypass road has been relaid recently and is a beautiful road; except for 2 stretches - 400m and 200m as per my odometer - which are still flat but jerky (no potholes). At the end of the bypass you go through a boom gate and then you merge with the true alignment of SH 33. Now you are inside the forest proper.
View of the bypass road immediately after the turn:
Additional views of the bypass road:
One of the stretches on the bypass that has not been relaid:
The road within the forest is very narrow (4m-ish) - for long stretches, two cars can barely pass each other. I drove mostly with my driver-side ORVM folded in. The KeSRTC driver drive as though the brake is yet to be invented, so you need to take care of your own vehicle. The road quality is good (no bumpiness) but progress is slow due to near-infinite supply of marked and unmarked speedbreakers. If you are lucky you can spot some animals (I saw some deers and langurs). At the end of it, you will see the thank-you messages from KA government, a bridge that separates KA and KL and Bavali village. I stopped for tea again.
Road inside the forest:
This sort of a traffic calming device is seen inside the forest, in addition to speed breakers:
The KA-KL border, looking from the KL side:
Beyond Bavali it is KL-side forest road till Kattikulam, where the road from Gonikoppal merges. There was one local politician screaming into the microphone, "we will not allow anyone to meddle with India's secular fabric" - wanted to stop and ask him if he (or the party he represented) had any clue what secularism meant. Didn't, but proceed through somewhat thinner forests towards Mananthavady. This is where I made my only mistake.
A little bit before Mananthavady, I saw this board that said "left - Mananthavady Bypass (towards Kozhikode)". I stopped and asked someone too. But this was this road:
https://goo.gl/maps/4xse0 which made me miss the turn to Tharuvana. It was quite an uneven road too - thankfully, it was only about 7 km long. It merged with the regular Mananthavady-Kalpetta road near Panamaram, and then it was quite good all the way till Kainatty and beyond.
A word on NH 212 status - beyond Kalpetta till Vythiri, NH 212 has developed large-ish potholes (1 ft in diameter, 2-9 inch depth). These are separated by quite some distance in most cases - which in itself is a bad thing, as they arrive when you are least prepared. Beyond Vythiri till maybe the 2nd hair pin bend, road quality is quite bad. Onwards till Calicut, it is bad only at certain spots which you need to be prepared for.
For me, the door-to-door distance was 365km which is about 10 km less than my usual route (via Ch. Nagar and S. Bathery). I was at Mysore around 9 AM, Vythiri at 2 PM and home at maybe 4 PM. The 5 hours for about 170 km in between (Mysore-Vythiri) is not because of any deficiencies in the route; it was caused by my own choices.
I took the same route on my return; but this time I didn't meander or slow down. I started from home at about 5:30 AM and was at the NICE Ring Road junction at around 1 PM (I took the regular Mysore-Bangalore Road this time) with a fuel break at Kalpetta and a breakfast break at Kattikulam. I didn't want to pay the toll on NICE Ring Road so went inside; then asked Google Maps to take me home. It took me via Uttarahally Road to somewhere near Khoday's on Kanakapura Road. Seems to me the distance was quite a bit less compared to what I usually take - NICE+BETL. This is the route:
https://goo.gl/maps/Qlbhf. I was at home by 2 PM for a late-ish lunch.