Trip to Kabini

First I would like to thank for visiting this blog.

This was planned trip for our 5th Marriage Anniversary. Kabini was in our travel list from long time and finally it happened now.

Here are quick info before going to story.

Places: Just Kabini River Lodge.

Days of travel: 2 days, 1 night.

Date: Feb 7th 2012

Total Distance : 450km (From Bangalore)

Resort: Kabini River Lodge. This is a govt authorized one which is maintained by jungle Lodges and resorts Ltd. Booked entire stay using below link. This is the official link and don't get cheated with fake web sites. You will get additional 5% discount if you book through net.

http://junglelodges.com/index.php/online-reservation.html


Route: Bangalore to Mysore directly on state highway. Just before you enter Mysore City you need take the ring road and go towards HD Kote road. Anybody can guide you if you ask for HD Kote road. Then travel on that road for about 60km. Just 2km before HD Kote, you need to deviate and travel for another 12km. This 12KM stretch is very very very bad road and takes more than half an hour. Just follow the boards for Orange County and Jungle Lodges.

Best Time to Visit: Depends on what you want to see...

• Avoid Rainy Seasons
• Winter: Beautiful forest with think habitate. But can spot less animals due to big bushes and fog.
  
• Summer: Little Dry and all leaves will be falling and you may not enjoy the forest view but you can spot lots of animals as they come out and clearly visible.
  

Recommended Hotel:

There are mainly 3 resorts Kabini River lodge which come under Govt, Orange county and Serai. Last 2 are very costly (Aprrox double) and they have to come in same Jeep and Boat Safari of River Lodge as they are not allowed to take thier personal vehicles in to forest. As Safari is main thing to do , I suggest Kabini River Lodge.

Story begins:

We are travel lovers and love to drive long distance and always wait for an occasion to travel. And here comes our 5th Marriage Anniversary. It was really great feel that we have completed 5 years of marriage life so soon... All credits goes my better half for making this 5 years of journey a great one.

Started our journey at sharp 6pm. Last night itself my wife and Mom prepared chapatis and packed them as safe side food. With 1 hour of journey we hit Kadhambam restaurant which is our favorite. Had break fast (Pongal and Idly) and started our journey. Till Mysore it was smooth journey and then we asked many people to get in to the right track towards Kabini. Last 12KM stretch of road is realy bad one and took almost more than half an hour. Finally reached Kabini River lodge at sharp10:30am.

Day-1:

We are supposed to check-in at 12pm but we were very early to that place. Resort fellow explained about the place and plan for 2 days. Had a small boating on coracle and walked through the resort and took pics. Finally checked in to our room sorry Tent at 11am. Took rest till 1am and had lunch. Lunch was typical south Indian and hence didn't like much as it our day to day food. Then again took rest till 3pm.

We were already bored of this place as we didn't start doing any activity till now. At sharp 3:30pm we started our Jeep Safari. From that point actual fun of trip started. Safari took us in to deep jungles of Nagahole forest. It was amazing to sit back and enjoy nice weather and cool breeze while roaming in wild place.

Watching animals is purely matter of luck as it all depends on the time. We can watch wild animals only when they come near to our Jeep. We have to maintain silence and must have lots of patience to watch animals.

Animals Spotted in Safari: Few wild ox, lots of deers, lots of stags, many wild pigs, 2 peacocks, one Cheeta, many langoor monkeys, few wild squirl, Many Elephants and also visited Elephant camp where they domesticate few elephants.

This forest has 1500 Elephants, ~250 Tiger and Cheeta as per them!!!!

It was almost 3 hours of Safari and finally came back to our tent on 7pm. Took Body Massage in Ayurveda center they have in that resort. It was very bad and I would suggest not to have. It was 1500 bugs and defiantly not worth it.

Finally had dinner. It was much better. Sat in front of fire camp for some time and went to banks of river. Sat on bank for around 1 hour in moon light and complete silence. It was amazing and no words to explain. Finally slept at 11pm.

Day-2:

Woke up early in the morning 5am. As Boat safari starts at sharp 6am only. Had tea and started our safari. This Boat Safari is same as Jeep Safari but this time we take river way rather road. It was an amazing ride. Watched the forest from river and spotted again few animals. Watched many many birds. It was cool weather and just enjoyed the moments. At one place which is territroy of one big tiger and 3 cubs, we waited for about 10min with pin drop silence on boat. Our bad luck tiger didn't turn up near to water.

Ended Boat Safari after 3 hours again. It was very long and enjoyed every moment. Very soon 3 hours went off. Reached the resort at 9:30am and had breakfast. Then checked out from resort at 11am. Took some pics for memory and left the place from there.

Started return journey to Bangalore. had Lunch again at Kadhambam at 3pm and reached bangalore at sharp 4pm.

Ended our journey by celebrating our sweet 5th Anniversary.

Best of Tour:

• First of all the day as it was our 5th anniversary.
• Jeep safari was nice to enjoy forest in cool breeze.
  
• Saw peacock dancing. It was amazing.
• 1 hour spent on River Bank at night in moon light with pin drop silence.
• Early morning Boat Safari. Even we didn't spot much animals it was very nice ride.
  

Bye bye and catch you in folks in next blog... Thanks for reading...