Good for you... you missed the worst road by not taking the Mananthavady ... H D Kote ... Mysore road.
I went on this road 2 weeks back and was quite surprised. The stretch from Mysore upto the National Park is damn smooth and drive is a pleasure. Once you reach the forest checkpost the fun starts... there are no roads at all. I was a bit adamant thinking that the road would smoothen shortly (and also was expecting to see few wild animals) so i drove on only to regret the decision. Few kilometers in there was a deviation to Kabini JLR took it fed up with the road (and no wildlife sightings). On the way back still with expectations of spotting some wildlife took the same road...
To my luck or rather to my badluck i spotted couple of deer (this was the only animals i saw...) i took my eyes off the road and drove right into a ditch...
... and BANG the front bottom of my Esteem hit the ditch hard and loosened the engine and exhaust joint... Me in the middle of the forest and with family on a sunday
Well fortunately i could still drive with a lot of noise though... Drove with all the racket to the nearest town: Antharsanthe... there a mechanic managed to tighten it a little bit. Drove all the way back to Mysore and got it rectified the next day.
The road repair had started then... i guess it will go on atleast for 2 months min. I think this road is a strict NO NO for cars.