[khan_sultan]

DKG, that's some serious fun on the weekend. Lovely pictures and a nice report. The CJ looks mean and part of the surroundings.

Did you guys cook the breakfast there or did you carry it along. The icing would have been to cook food there itself.

BTW, where did the superbikes go? don't see them anywhere in any of the pictures apart from the first one :-)

Next time, I am in HYD, will join you folks for the fun.

Cheers,

[simply_sunny001]

Very nice pics and narrative DKG

What a way to spend a sunday,totally worth it.

Keep them coming.

[HPP]

Nice thread and pics! I miss HYD. Next time I'm there, it would be fun to get some of my cousins with Jeeps etc and go out on an off roading excursion together(maybe this winter?).

And I'd love to see the bikes(an any other nice car etc) HYD has to offer as well.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Did you guys cook the breakfast there or did you carry it along. The icing would have been to cook food there itself.

BTW, where did the superbikes go? don't see them anywhere in any of the pictures apart from the first one :-)

Shahnawaz I do have a full camping gear kit which includes a barbecue and a unleaded fuel stove for outdoor cooking. And I totally agree its just so much fun to do the cooking yourself. I am slowly trying to get these guys into camping too. For that Sunday however steaming hot idlis and the like from a local udipi restaurant made for our breakfast.

As I was too busy organising breakfast and making sure everyone had their share I didn't do any photography. After breakfast the biking group went back to Hyderabad and I stayed on for Shams to join up for the offroading

Should you enjoy seeing biking pictures tons of them from the past two years of riding are hosted at a friend's site HYDERABAD BIKE ZONE

BTW Your Gypsy with diff locks would become awe inspiring!!

[DKG]

Sometime last year during the monsoons on my usual trips exploring the area around Hyderabad a friend mentioned there was a lovely jungle south of Vikharabad. My ears perked up and I asked if he could take us there. We agreed to do it some other time, and somehow never got around to doing it.

I didn't forget the jungle though and many months later I took the truck and went about a long drive south of Vikharabad. No jungle. I obviously was missing out somehow and came back home resolving to find this place somehow.

Summer passed and after a few rains around the 28th of June, a Saturday, I took the day off and called a friend from school to ask if he'd be inerested in jungle hunting. He being a horticulturist jumped at the idea and early morning I picked him up in my truck, packed some freshly prepared hot south indian breakfast and off we went.

I follow a simple technique in exploring alien country. When in doubt ask twice!! It works very well. I also never waste time tying to explain twice what I am seeking if the person I ask fumbles. This also works. In no time we were pointed in the right direction and what a joy as we entered the forest

There was an unpaved road that cut across the forest and I was thrilled to see countless trails leading off into the forest. I was as excited as a kid in a candy store. So many trails!!! Wow this was going to take years before we cover them all. This was like hitting the jackpot in offroad country. On one such trail we pulled off the main road and came to a lovely open patch where we parked and had our breakfast





Breakfast over we felt we should explore a little bit further. As a rule I never venture into unknown territory with just one vehicle but having come this far I wanted to explore just a little more to be able to convince Shams and others to come this far.



The forest was enchanting and my friend Rajesh and I decided to stop along the trail and walk a while to take in the fresh air and the sounds of a myriad birds.



Yours truly at a point where the trail gets very interesting and challenging



A little ahead of the point shown above the trail almost merged with a small rivulet, now dry. We ambled on. I was aware that we were in a 2wd and there's only so much you could do with it. If we got stuck there would be a good 5 km walk before we got to a village for help. As we went in deeper the sand got softer and softer and as expected we got stuck! The 207 has very little axle articulation and tends to lift one leg as often as my dog does! The boon that a diff is onroad now becomes the bane of traction offroad. I got down and deflated the tyres down to 15 psi and shoved rocks and branches under the wheel and with some gentle rocking managed to free ourselves. We turned around and went upstream only to reach another point where the 207 lifted another leg and we got stuck again. Once again we did the song and dance of branches and rocks, got my friend to hang over the suspended wheel and finally freed ourselves. I have been in countless situations like this so it was more a case of methodically freeing ourselves instead of panicking and driving the wheels into the ground and bottoming out the chassis. Now this was pure offroad joy and I new the boys with the Jeeps would lap this up. I was wrong about that and was to learn later on a future trip that even the 4x4's were to have a tough time here.

Anyway having found something so challenging I was excited at the prospect of countless offroad jaunts into this jungle and we decided to turn back and headed back to the main track. We stopped to re-inflate the rears. Since the 207 is 2wd I had deflated only the rears to create more drag and kept the front full pressure to minimise drag. It works well



Tyres inflated we headed further along the main track enjoying the gorgeous scenery.



As we emerged from the forest we encountered quaint little villages where farming seemed to flourish.



On reaching Pargi just south of Vikharabad we stopped for some tea and were enamoured by a group of old men sitting chatting alongside the road as their friend, another old man laboured on wood making bullock carts. It was such a lovely sight. I walked over and chatted with them and took some pictures. There's such simplicity in rural India.





This was a big success in terms of seeking out offroad avenues. We had a jungle with countless trails all to ourselves. I was excited. Offroading seemed to suddenly have a very bright future around Hyderabad

[Samurai]

Lovely thread DKG, you are indeed having fun exploring new trails.

[shams]

Dear DKG

Great thread, waiting to see and read about the rest

cheers:
Shams

[shams]

Originally Posted by DKG

Now that's one thing I am very clear about, never drink and drive!! Besides I don't drink . Those were some tourists on bikes.

As a part of a responsible auto enthusiast community, safe motoring has to be encouraged

[sudev]

Hmmmm DKG brings in flood of exploratory memories. The thrill of chasing a new trail is pure joy and the endless possibility egg on a driver to take on more and more challenges.

Most of the places a 2wd drive is able to do what a 4wd would but then there are places where you need slow speed grunt and traction and the 4wd shine. Of course a good driver on 2wd is far likely to go thru than a bad driver on a 4wd drive.

Golden words

I have been in countless situations like this so it was more a case of methodically freeing ourselves instead of panicking and driving the wheels into the ground and bottoming out the chassis.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by shams

Dear DKG

Great thread, waiting to see and read about the rest

cheers:
Shams

How about adding to the thread Shams after all you were the main star! We need to get Raj and the Lone Ranger to add their perspectives too with pictures.

[IronWolf]

Nice log DKG. The Jeep pics through the foliage looked like you were in the Vietnamese War.

Also that lil truck is certainly VFM.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

The Jeep pics through the foliage looked like you were in the Vietnamese War.

There's something so special about the way these Jeeps look. Such a carefree look about them. Also its the bare bones functionality of their design which is deeply appealing. And when in surroundings like these they really look stunning !!

I have some great shots of Shams' jeep. Will post them in the future logs

@ VJ Maverick, now isn't that great. About time folks in India got into this big time so manufacturers can deliver some exciting machinery here too. Not to forget the phenomenal fun we are having and the wonderful people you end up meeting as a result of this sport.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Nice report DKG and man its raining Off Roading all across our forum .

[DKG]

With the CJ3B at home was I going to waste a Sunday?? No way!!

Shams was as keen and excited to see the CJ3B offroad as I was and asked where I thought would be a great place to visit Sunday morning. Apart from Srisailam my favourite spot is the secret lake hidden in a forest up in the hills close to Ananthasagar village south of Vikharabad and Pargi. He readily agreed.

Being the great organiser that he is in no time he had three more cars lined up for Sunday.

The rains have been playing truant in Hyderabad and on Saturday night when I looked up at the sky I doubted it would rain Sunday morning. It was lovely and windy though.

We started off at around 7am and as we crossed Moinabad enroute to Vikharabad it was evident that part of the area south west of Hyderabad had received some rainfall. It was fresh and green all around and the drive was absolutely lovely. Wild grass by the roadside, evidence of rain!



Every where you looked you saw fresh, lush greenery. Personally I find it so deeply soothing to be in the midst of such greenery. I new this is why I love offroading. Its my way of getting closer to nature



Small ponds of muddied rainwater alongside the road gave me hopes of finding more water at the secret lake. Looks like the area around Vikharabad had been receiving some decent rainfall. The red soil of Vikharabad is such a rich sight



The cars in our group were, this rather lovely CJ3B ( I need to meet the restorer to comlpliment him, still don't know who did the job)



A strikingly handsome Gypsy of Abhinav



A smart MM540, belonging to Wadood. I really liked this treatment of the 540. Those doors looked just right and the roll cage gave it a smart appearance. If Wadood adds the wider axles then he has a menacing monster in the making.

Zakir's lovely CJ3A is behind. Looked sharp in the cream interior. This one had a 2WD



Enroute we passed an old shrine in stone. Sights like these remind you that the earth around has been tread for centuries by people.



The road narrowed to a single lane as we entered the forest area



The left turn to Ananthasagar village coming up



We now had a small problem. The last and first time Shams, Raj and I had discovered the secret lake hidden in the hills around Ananthasagar we did so using coordinates off the internet using satellite imagery and tracked the place using an old Magellan GPS I have. Today was heavily overcast and as such my GPS is a slowcoach. It simply refused to track any satellite because of the cloud cover. Without the GPS hunting for the lake would be like hunting for a needle in a hay stack. Forests are unbelievably efficient at disorienting your sense of direction.

Relying on my memory I had managed to reach Ananthasagar. Now the entry point to the trail that lead into the hills seemed totally camouflaged. We stopped by and asked some villagers who flatly denied there was any lake up in the hills and pointed us in a direction saying there was a lake beyond the village. Now how do you even begin to explain to a villager that we had seen this lake in the hills using some technologyand actually visited it. They gave us such a puzzled look when we said we've actually been to a lake right in this region up in the hills.

Anyway something was better than nothing so we decided to check out the lake these guys suggested.



We went up a steep incline (requiring 4x4) beside an old temple and went down some forest trail...


...to reach a lovely lake.



Shams and I knew this was not the lake and we were off again exploring the region. It was a delight watching that Gypsy's suspension twitch to retain traction

[wads78]

Very well narrated DKG. The lake above the hill and the greenery around in a perfect weather in 4x4s was a weekend well spent... waiting for more pics