Time: Sept 2007
Location : KGudi, Karnataka
Trekking has been a shared passion
amongst our boys since college days. Things haven't changed much even years after leaving it. We still try to muster up enough
enthusiasm and try to look for destinations in the vicinity of Bangalore
to quench our urging thirst to climb up mountains, play in the crystal
clear waters and yes, of course swing around in the low lying branches
of the age old trees.
It was tough at the outset to think about a trek. Firstly most of us, I must confess were far too uncomfortable to sleep under an open sky and secondly it was too big an ask to trek for say around 20-25 kms in a day, carry all the ammunition to cook for the night and the next day, and then return drop dead tired to office on a Monday!!!!
The second best option was to stay at "Jungle resorts" that would provide all the necessary facilities of a hotel and that too in the middle of the forest. What more, it didn't take us much time to decide the place, it was Kyathadevarayana Gudi or more famously called K.Gudi. We had very narrowly missed visiting the place when we had last been to BiligiriRangana Betta in Nov 2005 thanks to the torrential rains and the only connecting road that had sunk in the overflowing stream( seems to be an irony, but believe me the flow of water was so rapid that it failed to create an impression of a stream)
It was a very well planned activity and a very typical manager that he is, Pradeep got prashanth and myself accompany him to book the lodging available. Prashanth booked all the 3 available "Loghuts" for our stay on Sept 1st and 2nd.
Loghuts require a special mention here. Loghuts are huts builts on logs!!!! They are built out of logs which act as something similar to a nailbed on which a platform is placed. It is on top of this platform that the actual hut is built. The interiors look pretty simple with beds neatly arranged. The restroom is pretty neat and tidy.... a 10 on 10 for the support staff.
The fateful day finally came and we were supposed to leave Bangalore by around 5:30 am so that we could reach K.Gudi before 11 am. But as destiny would have it and as it has always had, we were late right from the outset. The driver could not locate sathyas place and his non acquaintance of our ace cricketers locales made the situation even worse. The beautiful sunrise that i had dreamt of seeing on the way to K. Gudi was well, not all the beautiful because i had to see it from the top of my terrace. We were late and it was getting on pradeeps nerves.
Well coming back to our journey.....myself and sathya headed straight to prashanth's house, picked him up and headed to pradeep's house after picking up one monster of a camera from one of sathya's friend. Fortunately...we had a tea break (break would sound inappropriate here.....because we had just begun our journey.....) and no one would refuse hot cup of tea on a rather cold september morning.....
Our schedule was following Murphy's law and as luck would have it, the rear tyre of the Qualis we had hired was getting pretty flat..... another 20 -25 minutes added to the delay.... Soon after this was fixed, we headed straight towards kanakapura road.....picking up pramod on the way. The last to be picked was Madhukar and as soon as he was picked we had to complete the "formality" of taking breakfast. Formality would be an understatement, we had liberal serving of the breakfast and without much delay we headed straight towards kanakapura from where we would go through malavalli, Kollegaala and finally our destination for the day...... KGUDI!!!
The journey was fun filled with guys getting nostalgic...as we generally do on any trip. At around 1 pm we reached K GUDI....finally.... a generous delay of say 2 hours.... But all was forgotten as soon as we had a quick look at the camp surroundings.... This place was located on one of the slopes of a mountain with the backdrop of tall trees..... right in front of us there was this range of mountains laden with green vegetation. The peaks of the mountains in this range were covered by clouds and was a pleasing sight!! The camp had a reception and gathering hall wherein they would show up some kind of program on wild life, a library where in books and magazines about wild life were kept...... and yes they also had the most important place..... the dining hall!!!! The Loghuts and the tents were placed a various levels along the slope and they had walk paths to reach them. On either side of the walk path up to the various loghuts and tents, holders for the oil lamps were placed. On inquiring the support staff, we were informed that the since electricity was a novelty.....they would use it very frugally. So instead of using light bulbs along the walk path, they had resorted to these oil lamps. They used to lit these oil lamps at dusk, a makeshift arrangement to guide us through these walk paths through to our loghuts/tents. They used to switch off the power supply by around 10pm and switch it on back at around 6 am in the morning. We were scheduled for a jeep safari in the forest at around 4:30pm , so all of us freshened up and then sat down for lunch!!! The lunch was rather lavish with servings of both vegetarian and non vegetarian type. I have a fetish for this ladiesfinger curry with chapathi. Since these chapatis were served hot, i had devoured atleast 6-8 of them.
With our stomachs full, we set our sight to do something adventurous in the time available till our departure for jeep safari. There a big enough net that was tied to the different branches of the surrounding trees and made into some sort of a crude spring board. Within no time 4 from our group were rolling around like infants in that net. Their frantic attempts to stand maintaining balance in that net proved to be in vain. Before they could continue their antics, we got a call for the jeep safari. The jeep driver "Thapa" was a friendly guide who was keen on showing the animals that were rarely sighted during the jeep safaris. Personally, i would have preferred a walk in the jungle just like the one we had from Bandipur to Gopalaswamy betta in Aug 2004. Generally such ideas from me are brushed aside from our boys...simply because of the danger involved. So we started in our endeavor to "sight" at least a tiger or a cheetah!!! As it is said if at all we dream, why don't we dream big?? and if at all we sight any animal why to settle for a herbivore??
They had scheduled the timings for the jeep safaris at dawn and dusk since it was just about the time, that the animals would come near lakes to drink water.
As expected it was a serpentine route through the forest and only a 4 wheel drive like a WILLYS jeep could pull it off through the tough terrain. The drivers are also very well connected so that any kind of sighting done is immediately informed to the other drivers in the same safari.
We were just past some distance through the jungle that we sighted a barking deer. These are lonely creatures and are not found in groups unlike the normal deer or the stag. Compared to the deer, the barking deer is small in stature. Our driver had this exceptional talent of sighting these animals while driving on these rough terrain. These routes are carefully planned so that they crisscross the path traversed by the animals. The rich flora in these jungles really refreshed us and just when we were getting bored trying to look for "rarely sighted species", prashanth sighted an elephant!!! Frankly, the joy of having sighted any animal is so immense that a sense of accomplishment engulfs us. Having taken a few snaps of the tusker we moved ahead in search of the master catch, the tiger. Thapa took us through a dangerously poised route that would take us to a lake located almost in remotest inaccessible regions of the jungle and halfway through the descent we had sighted "a tiger pug mark"!!!! At least some consolation for having searched for approximately 2-3 hours. With enthusiasm we went up to the lake where these carnivores were supposed to show up to drink water. Again no luck....we could not sight any animal near the lake.
On the way back to the camp we couldn't sight much as it was getting dark...and it was already time for them to close the entrance to the jungle route. We headed back to the base camp with hope that at least the next day we would be able to sight the carnivore.
Soon as we went back to the camp, tea was served at the gathering hall......which was gleefully accepted by all of us..... They had some kind of TV program about wildlife. The program failed to capture our attention for long so we headed back to our loghuts. At around 9 pm dinner was served at the dining hall. We had to walk up to the dining hall that was some distance away from our loghuts. A camp fire was lit up pretty close to the dining hall but somehow it did not seem to interest us. We finished our dinner and hit our beds as we were tired with the days journey. With the lullaby of air gushing through the branches of the trees, it dint take much time to fall asleep, and snore away to glory!!!
The next day morning i got up pretty early, at around 5:30 am and ventured out, fighting the chill winds. I could not go beyond the conforms of the camp. The fresh air brought in some enthusiasm and I got to the task of waking up everyone because we had one more dash at our attempt to sight the "tiger"!!!
We set out at 7am which was pretty late to sight the wild animals. We looked through the jungles for the ever eluding carnivore. We sighted a few bisons, a commoner in dense jungles. Enroute to one of the spots where these carnivores would be found, we stopped at "Sebina kere". A few snaps there, we proceeded further and to our misfortune we had a tree trunk fall prey to the ferocity of a tusker. On his way he had thrown this trunk right in the middle of our route. Thapa, with the handy sickle that he had brought along with himself managed to cut through the small branches of that tree and made way for our endeavor. Unfortunately, not many animals in that "sighted" list of ours.
When we came back to the camp, we sighted one shelter that was made with strong branches of tree and covered on top with grass that served as a shelter. What's so great about it?? this entire shelter was on top of a tree!!!! The location of that shelter was enough invitation to start climbing the tree. To facilitate the climbers some sort of ladder had been made so that they could use to reach the treetop. With great care we climbed atop the tree. Before we could think of doing anything, we were reminded that we had to come back and hurry for breakfast.
So we got down and helped ourselves with a heavy serving of the breakfast and bid adieu to KGUDI with a sense of happiness of having spent a day in the cradle of nature. The facilities provided at the camp, the friendly forest department staff and the support staff, the silence of the forest and the enormity of those huge mountains makes this place a must visit for the weekend. And yes, if anybody who reads this blog has ever sighted the "master catch" in K GUDI.......please do let us know so that we get an excuse to visit this wilderness camp just one more time!!!!
It was tough at the outset to think about a trek. Firstly most of us, I must confess were far too uncomfortable to sleep under an open sky and secondly it was too big an ask to trek for say around 20-25 kms in a day, carry all the ammunition to cook for the night and the next day, and then return drop dead tired to office on a Monday!!!!
The second best option was to stay at "Jungle resorts" that would provide all the necessary facilities of a hotel and that too in the middle of the forest. What more, it didn't take us much time to decide the place, it was Kyathadevarayana Gudi or more famously called K.Gudi. We had very narrowly missed visiting the place when we had last been to BiligiriRangana Betta in Nov 2005 thanks to the torrential rains and the only connecting road that had sunk in the overflowing stream( seems to be an irony, but believe me the flow of water was so rapid that it failed to create an impression of a stream)
It was a very well planned activity and a very typical manager that he is, Pradeep got prashanth and myself accompany him to book the lodging available. Prashanth booked all the 3 available "Loghuts" for our stay on Sept 1st and 2nd.
Loghuts require a special mention here. Loghuts are huts builts on logs!!!! They are built out of logs which act as something similar to a nailbed on which a platform is placed. It is on top of this platform that the actual hut is built. The interiors look pretty simple with beds neatly arranged. The restroom is pretty neat and tidy.... a 10 on 10 for the support staff.
The fateful day finally came and we were supposed to leave Bangalore by around 5:30 am so that we could reach K.Gudi before 11 am. But as destiny would have it and as it has always had, we were late right from the outset. The driver could not locate sathyas place and his non acquaintance of our ace cricketers locales made the situation even worse. The beautiful sunrise that i had dreamt of seeing on the way to K. Gudi was well, not all the beautiful because i had to see it from the top of my terrace. We were late and it was getting on pradeeps nerves.
Well coming back to our journey.....myself and sathya headed straight to prashanth's house, picked him up and headed to pradeep's house after picking up one monster of a camera from one of sathya's friend. Fortunately...we had a tea break (break would sound inappropriate here.....because we had just begun our journey.....) and no one would refuse hot cup of tea on a rather cold september morning.....
Our schedule was following Murphy's law and as luck would have it, the rear tyre of the Qualis we had hired was getting pretty flat..... another 20 -25 minutes added to the delay.... Soon after this was fixed, we headed straight towards kanakapura road.....picking up pramod on the way. The last to be picked was Madhukar and as soon as he was picked we had to complete the "formality" of taking breakfast. Formality would be an understatement, we had liberal serving of the breakfast and without much delay we headed straight towards kanakapura from where we would go through malavalli, Kollegaala and finally our destination for the day...... KGUDI!!!
The journey was fun filled with guys getting nostalgic...as we generally do on any trip. At around 1 pm we reached K GUDI....finally.... a generous delay of say 2 hours.... But all was forgotten as soon as we had a quick look at the camp surroundings.... This place was located on one of the slopes of a mountain with the backdrop of tall trees..... right in front of us there was this range of mountains laden with green vegetation. The peaks of the mountains in this range were covered by clouds and was a pleasing sight!! The camp had a reception and gathering hall wherein they would show up some kind of program on wild life, a library where in books and magazines about wild life were kept...... and yes they also had the most important place..... the dining hall!!!! The Loghuts and the tents were placed a various levels along the slope and they had walk paths to reach them. On either side of the walk path up to the various loghuts and tents, holders for the oil lamps were placed. On inquiring the support staff, we were informed that the since electricity was a novelty.....they would use it very frugally. So instead of using light bulbs along the walk path, they had resorted to these oil lamps. They used to lit these oil lamps at dusk, a makeshift arrangement to guide us through these walk paths through to our loghuts/tents. They used to switch off the power supply by around 10pm and switch it on back at around 6 am in the morning. We were scheduled for a jeep safari in the forest at around 4:30pm , so all of us freshened up and then sat down for lunch!!! The lunch was rather lavish with servings of both vegetarian and non vegetarian type. I have a fetish for this ladiesfinger curry with chapathi. Since these chapatis were served hot, i had devoured atleast 6-8 of them.
With our stomachs full, we set our sight to do something adventurous in the time available till our departure for jeep safari. There a big enough net that was tied to the different branches of the surrounding trees and made into some sort of a crude spring board. Within no time 4 from our group were rolling around like infants in that net. Their frantic attempts to stand maintaining balance in that net proved to be in vain. Before they could continue their antics, we got a call for the jeep safari. The jeep driver "Thapa" was a friendly guide who was keen on showing the animals that were rarely sighted during the jeep safaris. Personally, i would have preferred a walk in the jungle just like the one we had from Bandipur to Gopalaswamy betta in Aug 2004. Generally such ideas from me are brushed aside from our boys...simply because of the danger involved. So we started in our endeavor to "sight" at least a tiger or a cheetah!!! As it is said if at all we dream, why don't we dream big?? and if at all we sight any animal why to settle for a herbivore??
They had scheduled the timings for the jeep safaris at dawn and dusk since it was just about the time, that the animals would come near lakes to drink water.
As expected it was a serpentine route through the forest and only a 4 wheel drive like a WILLYS jeep could pull it off through the tough terrain. The drivers are also very well connected so that any kind of sighting done is immediately informed to the other drivers in the same safari.
We were just past some distance through the jungle that we sighted a barking deer. These are lonely creatures and are not found in groups unlike the normal deer or the stag. Compared to the deer, the barking deer is small in stature. Our driver had this exceptional talent of sighting these animals while driving on these rough terrain. These routes are carefully planned so that they crisscross the path traversed by the animals. The rich flora in these jungles really refreshed us and just when we were getting bored trying to look for "rarely sighted species", prashanth sighted an elephant!!! Frankly, the joy of having sighted any animal is so immense that a sense of accomplishment engulfs us. Having taken a few snaps of the tusker we moved ahead in search of the master catch, the tiger. Thapa took us through a dangerously poised route that would take us to a lake located almost in remotest inaccessible regions of the jungle and halfway through the descent we had sighted "a tiger pug mark"!!!! At least some consolation for having searched for approximately 2-3 hours. With enthusiasm we went up to the lake where these carnivores were supposed to show up to drink water. Again no luck....we could not sight any animal near the lake.
On the way back to the camp we couldn't sight much as it was getting dark...and it was already time for them to close the entrance to the jungle route. We headed back to the base camp with hope that at least the next day we would be able to sight the carnivore.
Soon as we went back to the camp, tea was served at the gathering hall......which was gleefully accepted by all of us..... They had some kind of TV program about wildlife. The program failed to capture our attention for long so we headed back to our loghuts. At around 9 pm dinner was served at the dining hall. We had to walk up to the dining hall that was some distance away from our loghuts. A camp fire was lit up pretty close to the dining hall but somehow it did not seem to interest us. We finished our dinner and hit our beds as we were tired with the days journey. With the lullaby of air gushing through the branches of the trees, it dint take much time to fall asleep, and snore away to glory!!!
The next day morning i got up pretty early, at around 5:30 am and ventured out, fighting the chill winds. I could not go beyond the conforms of the camp. The fresh air brought in some enthusiasm and I got to the task of waking up everyone because we had one more dash at our attempt to sight the "tiger"!!!
We set out at 7am which was pretty late to sight the wild animals. We looked through the jungles for the ever eluding carnivore. We sighted a few bisons, a commoner in dense jungles. Enroute to one of the spots where these carnivores would be found, we stopped at "Sebina kere". A few snaps there, we proceeded further and to our misfortune we had a tree trunk fall prey to the ferocity of a tusker. On his way he had thrown this trunk right in the middle of our route. Thapa, with the handy sickle that he had brought along with himself managed to cut through the small branches of that tree and made way for our endeavor. Unfortunately, not many animals in that "sighted" list of ours.
When we came back to the camp, we sighted one shelter that was made with strong branches of tree and covered on top with grass that served as a shelter. What's so great about it?? this entire shelter was on top of a tree!!!! The location of that shelter was enough invitation to start climbing the tree. To facilitate the climbers some sort of ladder had been made so that they could use to reach the treetop. With great care we climbed atop the tree. Before we could think of doing anything, we were reminded that we had to come back and hurry for breakfast.
So we got down and helped ourselves with a heavy serving of the breakfast and bid adieu to KGUDI with a sense of happiness of having spent a day in the cradle of nature. The facilities provided at the camp, the friendly forest department staff and the support staff, the silence of the forest and the enormity of those huge mountains makes this place a must visit for the weekend. And yes, if anybody who reads this blog has ever sighted the "master catch" in K GUDI.......please do let us know so that we get an excuse to visit this wilderness camp just one more time!!!!
https://picasaweb.google.com/106106666615970255925/KGudiJungleLodge
ReplyDeletePachi, thanks for the snaps!!
ReplyDeleteyou forgot to mention about the priced catch in this tour....Aindrita Ray :)
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't a "prized catch" in those days i guess!!!
ReplyDelete