Myself and friend - Rinto went for two days road trip to Bandipur on 09th July 2022. The main highlight of this trip was the stay at Bandipur tiger reserve.
We started at morning 7 from Thrissur. Our route was Thrissur - Pattambi - Nilambur - Gudalur - Bandipur. We reached Pattambi at around 8-30 a.m and had breakfast from a restaurant there. After that we continued our drive and had a half chicken biriyani from a hotel in Vazhikadavu at around 11an a.m. From there the ghat road to Gudalur starts and the drive along the same is a great experience. The road was in very good condition upto Nadugani, the Kerala - Tamilnadu border. From there omwards the road was is really bad condition and the only good thing was the beautiful sceneries all the way. We stopped on the way just before reaching Gudalur near a beautiful tea estate.
We reached Gudalur at around 1 p.m and had lunch from Sasthapuri restaurant there. Food was good but the rates were little high. We then drove to Bandipur tiger reserve and way from Gudalur to Bandipur via Mudumalai is so beautiful passing through the dense forests. There was slight rain and so the animal sightings were less but that doesn't reduce the wonderful experience we get from this route.
Around 2 p.m we reached tiger reserve office and checked into our cottage. We reserved the same from their website https://bandipurtigerreserve.org. The place in the middle of forest is once in a lifetime experience. We can see herd of deer and wild boars anytime on the compound. The rooms here have only basic amenities but the views around are priceless.
We had booked the jungle safari in the van and for that we went to Bandipur safari campus which is situated 7km from forest stay.
The safari started at 5 p.m and ended at 6-30 p.m. Since there was rain all the day the sightings were less. We saw deer, peacock, sambar deer, elephants, bisons and wild boars. Around the end of safari we were able to spot a very distant view of leopard lying in the tree. The main highlight of this was that this spot was just opposite our forest stay.
We then went back to our cottage and had dinner which we had bought from Gudalur at noon and then went to sleep. Weather was so cool with light showers.
Next day morning we woke up at 7 and went for a drive along the Mudumalai route. Since there was light rain animals were not seen near the road but still the drive was exciting as there were only very few vehicles on the road.
After the drive we went back to cottage and checked out from room. The leopard which was lying in the tree previous day was still there and many safari vehicles were stoped there.
We then went to visit Himavad Gopalaswami betta temple which is along the Gundlupete road. We had to take a deviation from the main highway near Sri Hangala and drive 6km to reach the parking area of the temple. We had breakfast from a small restaurant in Sri Hangala. The way along temple is so beautiful and is heaven for riders. Also it was sunflower season and there were many fields filled with sunflower plants all the way. We took some pictures from one of the fields.
After this we reached the parking area of Gopalaswamy betta. From there we need to take a Ksrtc shuttle bus to the top of the hill where temple is situated. When we reached the top, the place was filled with mist along with light showers which made the whole experience mesmerizing.
After that we returned back to our home via Mudumalai - Gudalur - Nilambur route. We took a deviation from Mudumalai to Masinagudi route just for the sake of driving on the beautiful Masinagudi route. We were lucky to see some elephants on the way. After that we drove back to Gudalur and had lunch from Hotel Grand view restaurant there.
We then drove back to Thrissur and reached home around 9 p.m with mind full of refreshing memories.