Trip to Bandipur, Mudumalai and Masinagudi

It is 01-Aug-2014, I am returning from office at 10:00 PM and was thinking too much of work is not good for health and wanted to go somewhere but don't know where. Suddenly Mudumalai struck my mind. Came back home and asked Runai and she told lets go. I googled a bit about direction and road condition. Everything looked fine. So we planned to start by next day 5 AM, but we could go to sleep only by 1 AM.

It is 02-Aug-2014 and as usual instead of getting up at 4:00 AM as planned earlier night, we got up by 6:30 AM. We made noodles for lunch and just one egg burger for breakfast, cleaned our car and got ourselves ready. We could start by 8:15 AM. Near KR Puram Railway station, we had puri and vada for breakfast and packed few extra vada for lunch. We filled tank in Old Madras Road Shell and head straight to Corporation Circle. Next Mysore Road and by the time we crossed Wonder La, it was already 10:00 AM. We reached Mysore by 12:30 PM. This is where we had to use our google map to navigate inside the city and take Bandipur road. At 1:15 PM, we stood in nearby road and had the egg burger and vada. Again we started and by 2 PM we reached Bandipur. We started driving slowly and our first encounter was deer and monkey eating together. Suddenly the monkey slapped that deer. Looks like it started eating monkey food.

Deer and Monkey

Next we saw bear far away.

Bear

 Its very easy to spot any animals because you will see many cars stopping and clicking pictures. Sometimes, those cars are standing for some other reasons and you land up wondering where is the animal.
Next we saw a group of deer running and crossing one side of the road to other. We stopped and taking picture and saw we are in middle of 100s of deer all around crossing road.

Deer Running

Deer Running

Next we saw an elephant far away and the only job it has is eating, which it was doing very happily.

Elephant

The next thing we know is that we are in Karnataka boarder and entered Tamil Nadu boarder. Tamil police stops every car and searches for 5 min. Anyway after that we entered Mudumalai forest. Basically it is same forest with different names for each state.
Next we saw peacock crossing road.

Peacock

Peacock

Peacock

Driving the hill with our car for first time, we reached the end of Mudumalai. Suddenly it looked crowded, with people all around, jeeps and shops. It was 3:00 PM, so thought to search for hotel for night stay. We say a Hotel Tamil Nadu in the junction. Went in and asked the security guard about the reception, but he told that it is closed. So enquired, if we can get any hotel nearby. He told that we can go to Masinagudi which is around 10 km away. We thought lets try there. But Oh My God! road is so narrow that it is width of 1 and 1/2 car and vehicles are from both direction. The worst is, if you want to come out of the road to side, it will sure hit the bottom of the car. So have to be very careful about moving out of the road. Anyway we reached Masinagudi and saw a big hotel but very crowded. We thought to try our luck in front, but within few minutes, we were out of the town. So took a U turn in a petrol bunk and decided to go back to Bandipur and stay in a nearby hotel and go for a safari ride next day early morning. It was 4:00 PM and wanted to cross the jungle by 5 and before it is dark and also it is raining. We came back the same way and swa an elephant family gazing. There was a board which says, if you are attacked by an elephant, jungle authority are not responsible for it. So we could take a picture while we are still moving and never stopped in front of it.

Elephant

Next we stopped in the safari ride junction in Bandipur. Runai sat inside the car and I went to enquire about the timing. Saw that they have to timing 6:00 - 9:00 AM and 4:00 - 6:00 PM and Rs. 200 per head for the safari ride. It was already 5:00, so we thought to go and check in some hotel nearby. Once we came out of the Bandipur jungle, we saw a jungle resort. Went and enquired and they told their rate is Rs. 2500 per head per day. We were like its too much for us. So went in another hotel which had a huge front area for parking and garden and kids play area. Looked like a travelers place, where people usually stay for night and leave next day morning. It had a restaurant too. Anyway got a room for Rs. 900. We took a local ride and went to nearby village. We thought to get some snacks and water, etc. While returning back, we found a souvenir shop just opposite to our hotel. We got a magnet tiger sticker and another sticker. Next we spent a good amount of time in the swing till it was dark. Next we went in our room and after dinner, we went to sleep at 8:00 PM.

Next day 03-Aug-2014, Runai got up at 3:00 AM. There were very large group outside the hotel. They also got up and getting ready to start. There were lot of noise, so we also had to get up. We freshened up and came out of our hotel by 5:30 AM. It was still dark and as we came out, we got stuck in traffic jam where cars and lorries are all shut off. Then we realized that jungle is closed from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM everyday. We started at 6:00 AM and went straight to Safari ride center.
On our way, we saw a bison grazing near the road.

Bison

Got 2 tickets for us and the swaraj mazda bus started at 7:00 AM with 15 people. There were many professional photographers with us. The bus went right inside the jungle where there are no roads except few mud patches.
First we saw an elephant family gazing far away. Then few wild boars and monkeys with peacocks.

Monkey

Peacock

Next after spending half an hour to one side of the road and particularly near all watering places we crossed the road and went to other side. We saw a bison family gazing. We had to stop our vehicle and wait for them to move from the road, so that we can go forward. After 10 minutes, they started moving inside the jungle and it is so dense, that from the very first tree, you can not see anything beyond. We too started leaving the place and reached the center at 8:00 AM.

Bison

From there we came back to hotel and left the place at 9:00 AM. the next we know is that we are in Mysore and went in a South Indian style dhaba at 11:00 AM. Had nice food and started at 12:00 PM. Stopped in Kamat hotel at 3:00 PM for coffee and refreshment. Next we know is that we are home at 4:30 PM.