A Jungle Safari To Remember.......

There was no way we could let our blogs just sit and rot, while we blamed everyone but ourselves for not writing. Deciding to put an end to the hiatus on writing, me and Ishithaa have decided to write on every day of November on alternate days. Today if the post is on my page, tomorrow it will be on hers.....   

This happened a good year ago on a wild life safari in the jungles of Bandipur. The vehicle we had booked in, happened to be one of those closed jeeps. The seat we were allotted was right behind an obviously newly-married couple - didn't need much guessing what with her dressing and the way they were all over each other! Errrr we have done our share of PDA - but a jungle safari van was indeed a novelty!

As the safari was about to begin, I reminded them the fact that some lesser mortals were behind them not to take up the lion's share of the window space. Very reluctantly, they let us use a teeny-weeny window space through which Pravs could barely fit in his camera!

As the safari started, my ever-sharp ears picked up some gentle growls which were growing in intensity with time. A very excited us started looking around wide-eyed.... but alas! Our bubble burst soon when we realized that those gentle growls were emanating from our "honeymoon" couple who chose that moment to go away into snoozeland! Of course, who could blame them - sleeping in the lap of the jungle should be an experience in itself right!

This doesn't seem like a safari I will forget in a hurry huh . Here is one of the many clicks from that day that Pravs managed when he was roused out of our co-passengers siesta-induced stupor.
This doesn't seem like a safari I will forget in a hurry huh :-D. Here is one of the many clicks from that day that Pravs managed when he was roused out of our co-passengers siesta-induced stupor

Holidaying @ Ooty

Come next day morning, we took the first trip on the "Ooty Heritage Train" - our co-passengers were a group of Japanese scientists  visiting India. What a delightful company they were - a straight lift from "Big Bang Theory" I should add :-D. Just ensure you book your tickets in advance in one of the first class coaches(the remaining coaches would be literally overflowing with tourists) you are set for a quaint one hour ride......

The view from the train.....

That done, we drove down towards Lovedale to visit a tea garden and a few Victorian era churches - no crowds accosting us here and for a moment we were transferred to another world.

The Stained Glasses in these churches are centuries old.....

A hearty lunch later, we stepped into the botanical garden - The first few pit-stops were full of hooting college kids, honeymoon couples and huge families! We moved along  ignoring them. The air by then was cold and crisp after a afternoon shower. Walking together in that high altitude - with hardly any soul for company - amidst tall pine trees for company, we soon hit upon the the Toda tribe settlement(Do take a moment and read up about them). Todas are the indigenous tribes of Ooty.....

Place of Worship of Todas

Maybe the secret behind a good holiday lies in meeting people on the way, exploring places outa way and not really bothering about the "to do" checklist that a tourist book will recommend! Indeed Oooty was a pleasant, refreshing break....

Linking this to AtoZ challenge . H is for Holidaying @ Ooty

N thus comes to an end our weekend getaway to Ooty. So where should we head next people :-D

Gorgeous Nature : Enroute Ooty

After Maharastha road-trip will you join me for a quick weekend getaway....

Pheno won a holiday voucher  last year that offered a 3D - 2N package across India and abroad! The late lateefs we are, we woke up at last minute to realize that the voucher expires in next few days. In the last minute frenzy, the only viable option was Ooty! Yea, our reaction was exactly that -  "ooty $%^%&%^%". I mean who in their senses would want to visit Ooty to relax - a place that's bursting at its seams with tourists!!! Anyway we consoled ourselves that its about the journey and not the destination...

The road trip to ooty from Bangalore passed through Bandipur forests, eucalyptus-bamboo groves, tea gardens at Gundalpet, Paiakra lake and grass lands of Niligiris. Pheno was literally squealing in delight......

Please drive Carefully on these roads thru Bandipur Jungle......

@Pykara Lake. It will give Ooty lake a run for money Anyday

Gurgling Waters of Pykara......

For those of you driving down from Bangalore to Ooty, I will suggest you take the Gundalpet route(as against the Ooty Hairpin route) at least one way - Nature will definitely bowl you over! Indeed it was the perfect start for our holiday...

Alas, The moment we entered the famed "Charring Cross" of Ooty, our bubble burst! The streets were overcrowded with tourists -   so what if it was a off season at the fag end of monsoons! We were booked in at Club Mahindra's Derby Green( part of the voucher - I have reviewed it here). But as evening set in and we settled down at the resorts patio with a  drink or two , everything seemed hunky-dory again :-P.

Linking this to AtoZ challenge  G is for Gorgeous Nature

@Niligiris

A click from the Ooty Toy train ~ Yeap the same tht every tourist who steps into Ooty has to by default hop onto!

Heres my one dollar worth suggestion if you planning to ~~ Make sure you hit the place before the crowd starts pouring in if you intend to enjoy the ride! Else its gona be one big fight to even get onto the train which takes me to the most imp pre-requisite for this trip.  Get a ticket for the first class ~~ the extra peanuts u shell out for it is more than worth the money simply cause the seats are reserved here! So if you don manage to get tickets for it in the first shot(The no. of seats on first class if I remember it rt is a little10!) , don worry jus hang in there for the next round-trip!

The next one dollar tip ~ ooty is no place to go for a one day hurried trip! N if u intend to stay over, you will want to book a place far away from the milling crowd cause on any holiday Ooty is so swarmed that you will get claustrophobic(No kidding)~  I hv been told tht Coonor is a betta bet!

Linking this to ABC Wednesday(R is for Railways - Niligiri Railways) n wordless wednesday

A trip to Ooty..... na na Masinagudi.........

The travel freaks that I n my hubbs are , the itch of travelling keeps surfacing quite often (The catalyst in itching process being our new friends - 'Sabi N Binoy')! But considering the dire status of our bank accounts these travels have been restricted to weekend getaways....
The latest destination in our travel itinerary was Masingaudi (We were supposed to reach Ooty but landed up in Masingaudi) accompanied by yet another crazy couple...the same ones mentioned earlier in the blog! Masingaudi is a small hamlet in the Madhumalai forest range (More commonly known as 'Bandipur Forest Range' to bangalooru folks and as Veerapan's hideout to the rest... Madhumalai is the extension of the 'Bandipur' forest into Tamil Nadu state).

We hit the road early in morning - 6 is real early as per my standards; The first stop was for breakfast at Kamat....... A nice cosy place situated bang on the highway! The idlis there is unlike any I have had.......they are steamed in bannana leaf!! After this filling breakfast we hit the road in full speed till we reached the bandipur forest range.

As you enter the forest area u encounter all kind of sign boards "Do not Horn". "Silence Please", "No Photography". "Do not stop your vehicles in forest range", "Drive slowly. Wild Animals have right of way" ( But we being Indians hardly pay heed to them) and suddenly the entire mood becomes eerie as u keep your fingers crossed and hope some wild animals Cross your way!Well for starters we were lucky...beginners luck I guess!! We encounter an wild elephant trio....mother, father and the baby.......The baby so well sandwiched between the parents that until u look closely u don't even see it!!! Soon we cross over to the Tamil Nadu side of forest....where we had an (mis)adventure for keeps when we ladies decide to answer the call of nature by hiding ourselves behind this huge tree!!! I know its sounds scandalous....but kya kare control nahi hotha!!! Huh huh wait wait...the adventure isn't even started yet! We being the thankful souls that we are decide to get ourselves photographed in front of our saviour tree (proof is the pic to ur right)n suddenly in a fraction of second two people (in khaki) come running at us , snatch our camera n ask us to follow them!! Its only after few seconds do we realize that they were policemen and were taking us to Forest Range Police Station.....whaa whaaa :(. Our crime??? Remeber the sign boards I mentioned before..."No Photography", "Do not stop your vehicles in forest range"!!!!! Well luckily for us at that moment a senior officer lands there n in all tht hungama we are forgotten n are packed off with a stern warning!!

After all this excitement we at last reach Masingagudi ready for more .....Hey Masinagudi...here we come!!!!
To be continued.......