Life should not be measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments and places that take our breath away"
Monsoon has always been my favorite season starting from the long walk in the rains wearing knee-high gum boots and a long plastic raincoat to school through the forests of Borivali, Mumbai (yes, it could have been categorized as a jungle back then) to my monsoon drives every year as documented partly here (
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-temples.html).
The initial plan was to drive to Rajasthan particularly Pushkar but that got shelved. Then, I was torn between the HVK fans monsoon drive which promised to be a grand affair or a lonesome twosome trip with wifey to the interiors of Karnataka…. I settled for the latter!!!
The very fact that I deliberated over the choice of destination till the last moment meant that I was not able to make any bookings…just called a few places, confirmed availability and hoped that the Rain Gods would allow us to reach there.
I just can’t get enough of the rains and this year God has thrown the kitchen sink at us....so off we went towards the Western Ghats in the trusted Xylo. This is the story of a wet wet wet holiday!!
The first stop was Bison River Resort in Ganeshgudi, Dandeli around 650 kms from Mumbai so had an early 1am start and made our way to NH 4 in some moderately heavy truck traffic. Once on the expressway it was smooth sailing till Pune after which there are umpteen diversions to accommodate construction of over passes and flyovers which have damaged the roads till around Satara..It was smooth sailing after that and we reached Kolhapur city by around 7am, had a quick breakfast and moved on towards. Belgaum where we had to enter the city to make our way to Khanapur. The GPS on wifey’s Xperia SL guided us ably and threw us out of the city in no time.
Early morning on the NH4
Tararani on her steed!!
The real drive started after Khanapur….acres of verdant countryside rolled by culminating into dense forests at Ganeshgudi. The last few kms after Ganeshgudi to Supa dam and onto the Bison resort were particularly amazing with narrow roads rolling through all shades of green.
NH4 near Belgaum
Verdant countryside after Khanapur
'Twain shall not meet'
Ganeshgudi Forests
The rain was incessant all the way through but we made it to the resort by 1pm, Bison resort is nestled on the edge of the Kali river and has lots of options for adventure sports. A sumptuous lunch was served by 2 after which we went down to the river for some kayaking and splashed around in a spot called “Natural Jacuzzi”. Essentially, it’s a rapid created by the river falling over rocks at one end of the resort and believe me, it’s a good experience.
View from the room at Bison river Resort
Kayaking in the Kali Nadi
The Kali Nadi from Bison River backyard
Natural Jacuzzi!!
The predator...
And the victim
Cottages at the Bison River resort
Coming back to our room by 6pm, we had nothing much to do except roam around the resort listening to the roar of the rapids, watching the monkeys and listening to the plethora of jungle sounds all around us. Had a leisurely dinner and crashed for the night.
Another rainy day and another wet drive through the dense forests beckoned as we made our way to Sathodi falls. The lady in the GPS was sulking due to loss of network and we had to rely on a detailed map made out to us by the manager at Bison. The route from Bison is through Bapail – Potail – Kulgi – onto (Haliyal-Yellapur road)- onto (Hubli - Karwar road) for around 65kms.
The road branches off towards Sathodi from a small archway named Mysore minerals after which it’s a 25kms edge of the seat drive. There were lots of fallen trees along the route which were culled in the middle to make way. The last 6 kms are unpaved and with the rain still coming down, were slushy as well. Luckily we didn’t face oncoming traffic and could make it to the parking area.
Enroute to Sathodi falls
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Shooting...A fight scene being shot enroute to Sathodi Falls