5th November 2022, 01:00
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V Prelude The last time I'd been to Holiday Kerela was in circa 2008, which, also happened to be my Honeymoon! And like any true blue Bhp'ian would imagine, that was an amazing road trip, spanning 3.5 full weeks covering Cochin-Alyppe-to-Kumarakom houseboat -Periyar-Munnar-Cochin (We flew from Mumbai to Cochin from where my sis lend me her cute li'l spanking new Wagon-R!) Those were the days! Incredible memories made with my Girlfriend-turned-wife -turned-Business partner! What really added to this was the 'road-trip adventure' element and the sheer feeling of 'independence' that comes with it! Truly a liberating experience when you have the currency of time with you to spend it along with your sweetheart, the way you want it, at your will! That, was by far, our best road trip, ever! Cut to the times, when we are blessed with a daughter, who is as much in love with the idea of hitting the road, as we are! When she was 3, we happen to go on the Mumbai-Surat-Jodhpur-Jaisalmer-Mumbai track (in our Civic, which we still dearly miss!) And our daughter just absolutely surprised us both with her love to be on the road with four wheels!  While we've said Goodbye to our beloved Civic, we've not said bye to road trips at all! Besides the countless small sorties to different places within Maharashtra, we've had 2 memorable Mumbai-Udaipur road trips in our CR-V, and both with amazingly different experiences. In fact, I'd go on to say that a road trip is when you truly get to observe and reflect on how time flew by as you see your child enjoying the trip, entirely different from the last time she was with you in a similar setup! Of course, this is especially true for the younger ones who just grow up in the blink of an eyelid! Cut to the contemporary times, when we knew that we were terribly late to plan anything for abroad, for our annual Diwali vacation plans, especially when the world is hitting on the tourism space with a vengeance. Having said that, we were a Lil lethargic also cus we knew that just like the last year's Udaipur trip, we may end up making another road-trip plan this year too. Kerela and its butter smooth roads were on my mind for long, to explore in the super comfortable and very reliable 'V'. The added factor of pleasant weather, lush green terrains post rains, and a mild chill in the wind, especially in the hilly regions were really tempting propositions for me. While the Mumbai-Kerela trip in a car, with a family, may sound overwhelming to some, I had a clear hunch that we, as a family, should be able to pull off Mumbai-Wayanad without any major sweat. Before I could even plan my detailed itinerary, I ended up booking two of the major stays of my trip - 1. Mountain shadows resort (Link) in Wayanad and 2. Jungle Safari Lodge - Kabini River Lodge (Link) While there are lot many resources available about the Kabini River Lodge, and how amazing they are, on TBHP itself; Not much is available about the 'Mountain shadows' resort, which is a blissful place right inside Vythri, surrounded by jungle and a tranquil private island resort which is magical, to say the least! We had 10 days in total starting from the 21st of October to make the most of it. And so a simple plan was drawn which looked like this - Day 0 - Head to Pune to Meet Relatives. Day 1 - Start Early Morning - Target reaching Davanagere by 8ish. Stay over in a decent place via instant booking. Day 2-* Start early to Reach Mountain Shadows Resort (Booked) by Noon. Chill in the resort. Day 3 - Chill in Resort. Day 4 -* Local sight Seeing. Day 5 -* Head to Kabini Rover Lodge (Booked), and spend a night there. Day 6 - Checkout after Morning Safar. and Head to Mysuru*- Local Sight Seeing, and spend the night there. Day 7 - Head back via the same route or the Belgaum route(?) Day 8 - Reserve Day. Day 9 - Stay over in Belgaum, or head back to Pune*if not taking the Belgaum route. Day 10 - Head from Pune to Mumbai. I'm thrilled to reflect back that despite a few people saying this is over-ambitious for a 10-day family trip, this actually panned out pretty well...The only alteration in the plan was that we stayed in Mysore for 2 nights instead of one as we wanted to explore more of the city. And then we eventually took the much-hyped 'Coastal Route', which to my mind can be totally avoided since the expressway route is just perfect to glide on! The essentials were all done and dusted with wrt car preps: 1. Wheel alignment and balancing - Checked. 2. All fluid levels - Checked 3. Low Beam + Foglights upgrades - Checked 4. Tank-full before we start off - Checked. 5. Essentials that are always in the boot (inflator, puncture repair kit, vacuum cleaner, Sanitiser, spare headlights) - Checked. And so the trip Begins! Day 0 - Head to Pune to Meet Relatives. There's nothing much to be 'explored' per se when you've traveled to Pune a zillion times, especially on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Mind you, this was just right before Diwali, which means a thousand things were to be done at the business front before you can finally call it a 'Holiday'! Though the original schedule was to leave by 11:30 the 'last-minute cancellation of the office delivery person made us push our plan by a few hours. We finally left by 2:30 and reached home by 7. Distance Travelled: Approx 172 kms Day 1 - Pune - Kolhapur - Davanagere - Chikmangaluru - Sankleshpur Total distance - 515kms; Time taken - Approx 9 hrs.  We were in the car by 4:45 and that really helped us big time! This is a carpet of a road. A great one if you simply want to just hit on the straight stretches with almost zero traffic, for you to test your machine and its prowess! I drove without going too overboard but it's difficult to keep things lesser than a hundred and forty-somethings on such roads! We knew that this is going to be a longish day, and were a Lil extra cautious at the start, but the sheer quality of the road and the average pace it gave, coupled with the advantage of the time we had ensured that we really really enjoyed this cruise. Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures of this stretch, as I was behind the wheel and the other two ladies were simply in no mood to shoot but to savor the scenery with their own eyes. There aren't many food stops, but the ones that are there are pretty good ones I presume. We stopped at this place, which was flooded with cars at around 7, a place called 'Manas Family Resto and Lounge', and the food was amazingly good. Had really fresh breakfast which just energized us and 'woke us up' for the real start of the journey. And then came the first lesson - Just after we started, we saw an accident happening right in front of us, a ford Figo got sandwiched between two trucks. A young couple on a Holiday, thankfully both the guys came out unscratched but the car was severely damaged from both the front and the rear. What's the Lesson learned? Practice 'Defensive Driving'. I got down to quickly offer any help that I could. Thankfully both of them were not in any major shock and were having their composure. I spoke to them and eased them out by giving them some water and snacks. Thankfully there were more people around to help and they were able to arrange for the insurance backup vehicle. The road all through is an absolute breeze, and we were munching all the way through the course. By 2'ish we just stopped at the only Cafe Coffee Day we saw en-route at IOC Chatra Fuel Station Hubli. Another tank up - on fuel and on coffee, we continued our journey.  I had made several options in my mind, depending upon the 'tiredness' of not just mine but of the other two members, to either halt at Davanagere or if we can really get a lil adventurous to aim straight for Chikmangalur so that we can ease out tomorrow's journey to reach Wayanad comfortably. We all surprised ourselves, we did not just go for Chikmagalur, but we went for a place that one of our relatives recommended which is 70 km further ahead from there, en route to Wayanad. The place is called 'Rain Tree EcoStay'. Except for the last hour of the ride, where google maps really really goofed up to show us the correct routes (despite the very cooperative resort manager trying his best to explain it) the rest of the ride was just AMAZING! By the time we reached the resort and it was really dark and foggy. We had already changed our routes twice because google maps was taking us through really tiny almost abandoned roads. The manager also advised NOT to follow google maps however the language barrier ensured that we weren't very clear on which route to follow. The locals were really helpful in listening to the manager and guiding us on the way. We were relieved to be there after an hour of the ordeal, driving through the curvy (but super smooth) roads at night, all alone, right in the almost-jungle-like environment! The learning? Do NOT rely on google maps always however, always make a Clear plan that is vouched for by a local. The Villa allotted to us was cozy and a good spread of barbeque was awaiting us, but we were just too dead tired to enjoy it all. Only when we woke up in the morning, we could appreciate where were we -       This indeed was just a trailer of what was to come! We quickly had our breakfast as the idea was to stick to our plan of moving at a quick pace towards our first, most awaited destination! The breakfast was simple but amazingly fresh - Aloo parathas, Poha, Omlette + toasts with super crisp coffee! followed by the last set of pics   Last edited by pineapple_ameet : 5th November 2022 at 01:03. |
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5th November 2022, 15:00
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V Day 2 - From Sankleshpur to Mountain Vythri, Wayanad (Mountain Shadows). The below picture sums up the morning's refreshing drive from our first resort to the main target for today! Beautiful,curvy roads, lush green terrain, amazing weather, great company and a smooth machine to drive...  The whole winding route, eventually converged into a hill after crossing through a small town...and with a blink, we were in a gorgeous FOREST...and in the forest...there are no Roads, right?!  we found our perfect photo spots...   And after a 5 kms 'slower than a slow cycling race' run, we were finally there in the Resort... Pics can't really do justice...you need a drone here to capture the sheer beauty this place holds...maybe next time!   View from the Balcony   The whole resort boasts of very lux villas built to give you amazing views of wayanad lake wherever you view it from. This is adjacent to Banasura Dam project - The largest earthen Dam in India, Second Largest in Asia. It also boasts of the largest solar panels on a waterbody in India. A huge tourist attraction, which we decided to visit on the third day after our checkout. The speedboats were quite a sight from our hotelroom balcony and we made sure we plan for that too... here's a view of the resort that you catch from the speedboat   and here's the view of the speedboat from the balcony of hotel room:            The place is just so full of visual delight, specially if you're in a mood to just soak it up, and then some more!       Day 3 - Pretty much a continuation of Day 2. We really enjoyed this memorable stay. The staff is very warm and courteous, The spa wasn't operational as yet, which was a lil bit of a downer considering we're in Kerela, the land of great massages...the food is decent and the service is pretty good overall. I'd definitely recommend this one. The weather allowed us to go for activities like cycling, playing basketball/football in outdoors, by the lake side...absolutely magical experience.    Last edited by pineapple_ameet : 5th November 2022 at 15:28. |
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5th November 2022, 20:59
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V Day 3 - Lazy Checkout from the Hotel, Visit to the Banasura Dam One final tour of the property before the checkout... and just like that we said bye to Mountain Shadows The forest was ready to say 'come again' with its lustrous hues -  We headed again for a boat ride before we head to our final destination for the evening... The Banasura dam is a full-fledged tourist destination, with an entry ticket of 40 bucks per head. once you enter, you can either walk for about a km. or can take a paid van (which had a long que). We walked through the picturesque site towards the Boating Site  Our timing was such that the boating window was closed for the lunch break. After an hour of just lazying around the huge waterbody, and after another round of a great speedboat ride we decided to save time and took the Zipline down towards the entry! You won't miss anything great if you won't go for it, however for us, we ended up taking it since it had only a handful of people at that time, and we were in a rush to head towards the next destination! after about 10 km drive we ended up reaching a place that is very experiential but totally different from the grand resort like the one above. It's a homestay that offered a very cozy treehouse stay. I found this on AirBnB and the superhost had quite positive reviews, so ended up booking it despite being a lil on the higher side. The host is a fine young gentleman called Ajesh who's had corporate experience in hospitality in UAE but now settled in his hometown for good. We were a bit late for the kind of activities he had planned for the evening,and he was kind enough to push through some of the activities for the next day knowing that we can't cover it all in one evening. In all, he took us on a tour of his plantation along with a 'hike' on the highest water tank in a tribal area from where you can get to enjoy a 360-degree view of Wayanad, just at the perfect time when the sun was setting amongst the most amazing span of rainforest greenery.   Hang on, but was that the best part of this stay...I'd say no! it was the treehouse itself... Super compact but amazingly cozy, clean and has all major ingredients for a holiday, check it out... The Entrance to the 'rainforest'...      A small attic in a smaller Treehouse, full of board games...how cool is that!   The place even had a red velvet bulbul on duty for alarm service for a fantastic start of the day!   Some more pics from a fairly large farmhouse... The Rubber plantation trees-   Coffee plantation    There's a gorgeous seating space to have the meals under the shadow while enjoying the chirping birds and the beautiful weather outside.  After the sun down, we played the board games in the tiny attic on the top floor in that super cosy treehouse to end the day along with some yummy dinner ordered from a nearby cafe. Day 4 - Leave for Kabini River Lodge Safari Today's gonna be a big day, as after the morning activities we'll be heading straight to Kabini River Lodge to see if we're lucky to set our sight on the big Cat! A kayaking + Rafting session was what waited for us in the morning,   Though, this was a very elementary level ride, it did bring in a sense of activity specially for the two ladies and appreciate Ajesh's committment to provide that though he could have easily avoided that as this was part of the previous day's schedule which got delayed for no fault of his! We had a great breakfast, right under the Treehouse...A puttu (Cakes of Rice powder + coconut powder), egg, parotha+bhaji...all home made at Ajesh's place!  He was also kind enough to give us a 'spicey' souvenir - a homegrown pepper crop pack!! We were all set to move to the next big leg of this road trip which uptill now was proving to be super exciting! The next leg entailed that we were technically moving from Kerela to Karnataka. We will be entering into the Nagarhole tiger range, one of the oldest and amongst the most well-maintained sanctuaries in India. Google maps showed this - Almost 3 hours to reach 81 kms of distance, while crossing one state to another.  The roads in kerela are an absolute delight, and I personally loved driving on the curvey tarmac. This is in fact better than the dead straight driving experience of an expressway, because of three reasons - 1. Lovely road Quality. 2. Very less traffic and hence you can go at a consistent pace. 3. Amazing weather and greenery all around. My kiddo kept on telling me that looking out of window is like kind of surreal and feels as if we're watching a screen! But things change the moment we entered into the Nagarhole Tiger reserve area...The last 18-20 kms stretch was full of potholes and you just can't maintain any pace over it. Kabini is a part of a Much larger Tiger Reserve Project. and we were crossing it right at the stretch as marked in the map below:  Source:Internet. I also missed taking the 'entry ticket' which one is supposed to collect from the state border checkpost if you intend to check in to the jungle resorts... The penalty of not having this 'slip' was 1000 bucks, and it's not worth going back on that patchy road to just pick up that tiny slip. I was lucky to have somebody on the window who, on my insistence, could make out that there was a case of language barrier because of which we may have missed taking the slip. He let us go, no kickback, no hanky panky of any sorts  and Finally, We entered THE Kabini river lodge!  For those who aren't aware, Jungle Lodge (Link) is a chain of resorts, operated by the Govt of Karnataka, which offers all-inclusive packages for wildlife safaris across its various properties. The package includes 2 Wildlife Safaris (1 in Gypsy, the other in Bus or Boat) All meals including the tea time snacks. A/C accommodation spread across Maharaja Suits (Lake Facing), Tents and Viceroy Rooms (the one we managed to get) This was a super efficient, clean, and very professionally managed place, which goes back to it's 120+ years of existence when the Maharaja of Mysore and his British counterpart used to regularly visit this place! I'm not very well versed with the History of this place, but the building inside, especially the Bar really hold the charisma of it's legendary past. We were there by 1:30, just about in time to settle down and relax, then head to lunch (Simple, fresh, and hence amazingly blissful!). The itinerary is to get done with lunch by 3 (and tea for those who want it! Great na!) and assemble at 'Gol Ghar' the assembly point where they allocate the Vehicles for Safari. They were super punctual with the timings and we were on the way to our FIRST FAMILY SAFARI... A thousand questions going through my mind at this time Will we get to see the Big cat Today? Should I have booked a Two-night stay? I previously had been to four different safaris at different places (Three at a stretch in Ranthambore) but just couldn't catch a glimpse of the Big T ever, should I at least check if we're lucky to have availability for the next day?... "Heck, Let me not get into overthinking mode, and enjoy the 'Now'!" and the 'Now' gifted us, and 'How'! The Shree Ganesh of the Safari happened with the perfect sight -  The pack was super protective of the younger one, and it was a majestic sight to behold.  Chital or Spotted Deer Antlers.   |
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5th November 2022, 21:18
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V Indian Giant Squirral    Anhinga An interesting fact: When swimming, only its neck appears above water, so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike.  Migratory Sea Hawk - Osprey (click to see the Zoomed-in view)  crab-eating mongoose  The Indian Sambar - listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. "Tiger's favorite Meal No pun intended." as told by the safari groups captain.  Till Now, No sight of the Big Cat...and then suddenly, we start to hear very clear calls, from Sambar. And Boom...  Last edited by pineapple_ameet : 5th November 2022 at 21:19. |
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5th November 2022, 21:30
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V There she was, a Tigress. She was spotted with her two cubs just yesterday. She was looking relaxed, completely unfazed by the commotion of the vehicles... She spent a good 8-10 mins moving around. Surreal Experience to see the magnificent living being indeed.            A Powerpacked day came to an end as she went into the bushes reminding me of the scene from life of pie! It was sundown again and time to move to the base. But what a day... We came back to the lodge and the Bar just added to the glory of the Day. I don't have the pics of the bar, but it's decorated with the stories from 'Papa Wakefield'. An interesting read Here |
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5th November 2022, 21:59
| #6 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V The spirit with which the man tried to make this place a win-win is surely palpable here. The staff is very knowledgeable, courteous and seems to know their job well. They are very tourist friendly at the same time will not shy away to be stern with those who may want to be a Lil adventurous at the cost of disobeying the rules. We were scheduled to be allotted either a Bus or a Boat safari depending upon availability, as a part of the package, however, we had requested that instead of a boat, we can get the Bus safari on the next day, as we were really keen to get into the jungle up close. We were simply asked just one question -"Is this your first time here?" The next morning, we were allotted the Same Gypsy! Not the bus, but Gypsy! Not just us, our entire gang was the same as yesterdays! We couldn't have asked for a better start for this morning's safari! This is how the mornings unfold in Nagarhole...    The real 'King' of good times!  The safari has just started and we were really counting our blessings for y'days sighting. A fellow tourist was telling his tale as to how he had to wait for 20 whopping years to see his first tiger sighting happen Day before yesterday for him! So it was 2 days straight in a row for him, will he be lucky today?! It was a picture-perfect morning...almost painting-like...   Notice the powdery coating on the antler's velvety horns...Sublime!    The Super Shy, Gentle Giants - Gaur or Indian Bison     We were really enjoying this sight today... super fresh morning, Zero expectations of any more sighting as we can't be lucky everyday, and having to really behold the sheer natural beauty of the place... Suddenly the Driver Said - "Tiger" |
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5th November 2022, 22:20
| #7 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 144
Thanked: 361 Times
| Re: Mumbai to Wayanad & Kabini (via Bliss) in a Honda CR-V            the guy was moving towards the Pond, or so did the captain thought, and we decided to wait next to the pond...  So we waited here...  And this is where something Unthinkable Happened... and No it's not the Tiger! |
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6th November 2022, 15:18
| #8 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bangalore
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16th December 2022, 16:11
| #9 |
| Newbie Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Thane
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