[sarmarishi]

Hi Guys,

I will be travelling to Talapoya end of this month and will be driving down from Bangalore. The only route I know is to go through Mysore and on to Gundulpet and then head towards Sultan Bathery and on to wayanad. However, I have heard that the road conditions after Mysore are really bad. Any updates on the same?

Or should I take the route which goes through Nagarhole?

Do let me know which has better roads and will be faster. Thanks

[xingamazon]

Hi sarmarishi,
We had been into this route around a month before and we did not have any trouble in this route at all.
In fact it was an enjoyable route. There was no issues, of course its a two lane with both no medians but the condition of road was good.

Enjoy your trip

[sarmarishi]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

Hi sarmarishi,
We had been into this route around a month before and we did not have any trouble in this route at all.
In fact it was an enjoyable route. There was no issues, of course its a two lane with both no medians but the condition of road was good.

Enjoy your trip

Are you talking about the Gundulpet route? If yes, thats good news as I am familiar with that route and had gone to Wayanad years back and had throughly enjoyed driving on it. Thanks for your quick reply

[sarinkumar]

Originally Posted by sarmarishi

Are you talking about the Gundulpet route? If yes, thats good news as I am familiar with that route and had gone to Wayanad years back and had throughly enjoyed driving on it. Thanks for your quick reply

Mysore to Nanjangud is not that great. Lots of potholes. Also, the condition of road inside the forest is deteriorating fast. Many places, the top layer has come out and the driving may not be smooth as you had experienced earlier.

[sarmarishi]

Originally Posted by sarinkumar

Mysore to Nanjangud is not that great. Lots of potholes. Also, the condition of road inside the forest is deteriorating fast. Many places, the top layer has come out and the driving may not be smooth as you had experienced earlier.

So would you suggest taking the mysore bypass and going to sultan bathery through Nagarhole? I know the Nagarhole road inside the forest has been laid fresh about 6 months back.

[kala]

Originally Posted by sarmarishi

So would you suggest taking the mysore bypass and going to sultan bathery through Nagarhole? I know the Nagarhole road inside the forest has been laid fresh about 6 months back.

When you're going to Mananthavady, the Nagarahole route would certainly be shorter than the Gundlupet-Bathery route by at least 30 kms.

As Sarin said the Mysore-Nanjagud stretch as well as the Kerala Border-Bathery sections are nowhere as good as it used to be 3 or 4 months ago. From my place in Banashankari it used to take me 4 hours to reach Bathery earlier, nowadays it is more like 4.5 hrs+

I'm planning to try out the route via Nagarahole on my next trip to Kalpetta which may be this weekend. Stay tuned in, will post the road conditions after I return.

Actually the shortest route to Mananthavady is the one that goes close to the Kabini river, passes close to HD Kote and reaches Kartikulam via Bavali. (should be at least 10-15 kms shorter than the Nagarahole route) However not sure about the road conditions. The last time I travelled that way was a few years ago and the roads were horrendous. Did hear some reports that this road has been repaired now, but not brave enough to experiment

[sarmarishi]

Thanks Kala.. Will eagerly wait for your update. Good to know that the JLR Kabini/ Nagarhole route will also be shorter. I hope that is the same route we are both talking about as I have been to Kabini quite a few times and i love that route as the roads are good and chances of animal spotting is also very high if you reach there early enough

[Lightening-Fast]

I would recommend Bangalore Mysore Gundulpet Wayanad. Roads between Mysore and Nanjangud are not great. Barring that good roads all the way and should not be a problem. Enjoy the drive and speed safe!

[Latheesh]

I did Kalpetta - Bangalore solo in my Sparky last monday. Except for Mysore-Nanjangud stretch road condition is very good.

[kala]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

I did Kalpetta - Bangalore solo in my Sparky last monday. Except for Mysore-Nanjangud stretch road condition is very good.

Have they filled up those huge craters between Moolahole and Muthanga ? (and the rather minor ones - comparitively- between Muthanga and Bathery ?)

[Latheesh]

^^

I encountered a strange/big pot hole (dont remember the exact location) somewhere after Bathery. It was filled with big sharp stones. Very difficult if you have a small car/sedan to cross this. Other than this road condition was good.

[kala]

Originally Posted by sarmarishi

Thanks Kala.. Will eagerly wait for your update. Good to know that the JLR Kabini/ Nagarhole route will also be shorter. I hope that is the same route we are both talking about as I have been to Kabini quite a few times and i love that route as the roads are good and chances of animal spotting is also very high if you reach there early enough

On my trip to Wayanad this weekend, I tried out both the Kabini route as well as the Nagarahole one, reports are rather mixed.

While going on Saturday morning I took the Mysore-HDKote (Handpost)-Bavali route (SH33). The road from Mysore till the turnoff towards Kabini River lodge (about 65 kms) is excellent, but at that point the forest road is closed and we have to take a deviation to the left (the one that goes to the river lodge at Karapur) and pass through several villages for about 10 kms. This portion is pretty rough road with plenty of potholes, but managable for a sedan/hatchback. The road from thereon till Mananthavady is again very good even though there are frequent speedbreakers in the forest stretch (which is about 8-10 kms after you join back onto the main road). Absolutely no traffic, plenty of wild life (I saw a tusker, lot of deer and a few peacocks - all at close quarters on the way). Took me 2 hours 5 minutes to cover approx 110 kms between Mysore and Mananthavadi (Of which about 20-25 minutes were spent traversing that deviation).

While returning I took the Kutta-Nagarahole-Hunsur route. Road till Kutta was very good but about 3 kms around Kutta still has quite a few potholes (from about half a km before the acute right turn at Kutta till the Gonikoppal/Nagarahole fork). Also the forest road through the Nagarahole sanctuary is rather rough, and has speedbreakers all along. The last 5 kms before Hunsur is again bad. The road from Hunsur to Mysore (SH-88) is excellent, but had pretty heavy traffic. The 82 kms from Mananthavadi to Hunsur took me 1 hour 50 minutes to drive. I could do the 30 kms from Hunsur to Elivala (where you turn off towards Srirangapatna) in 25 minutes despite the traffic, so the additional 15 or so kms to Mysore can probably be done in another 15 minutes - so that makes it 2 hrs 30 minutes to Mysore.

The drive through Nagarahole sanctuary - even though slow - is quite scenic and there's plenty of wildlife around. Saw a group of elephants and zillion deer during my drive last evening.

So my recommendation would be to take the HD Kote route in spite of the 10 kms of bad stretch (when travelling to Mananthavadi). Going via Gundlupet-Batheri will certainly take you at least half an hour more (probably even 1 hour more). If travelling to Kalpetta, things are pretty much even. May be the Batheri route would be slightly faster.

One more thing to note if you're taking the Hunsur route : the condition of the short cut road that connects SH-88 to Srirangapatana is quite bad, and I think it would be better to drive the extra 7 or 8 kms and go via the Mysore ring road, it will probably take the same amount of time or slightly less, and it'll be much less strain on your vehicle. (It took me about half an hour to do that 18 kms).

[ampere]

Is it not that the option via Kutta is longer? Any reasons for taking that ?
HD Kote option should be the straight one is it not ? Unless road conditions are so bad that one cannot manage the same.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Is it not that the option via Kutta is longer? Any reasons for taking that ?
HD Kote option should be the straight one is it not ? Unless road conditions are so bad that one cannot manage the same.

Yes, with the current road conditions that route should be the obvious choice. But till some time back, the condition of the stretch in the forest was horrendous - with virtually no road present for about 25 kms, and it used to take about 1.5 to 2 hrs to cross that stretch on a "normal" car.

May be the memories of those days is the reason which prevents people from trying out this route. In my case that was indeed the reason - It did take some effort erasing the nightmare of my last drive on that route a few years back and bracing yourself for one more trial - come what may !!

[sarmarishi]

Great update Kala. I am going to take the HD Kote - Nagarhole - Mananthavady route then. I had last vivited Kabini at the beginning of this year around march for the Tiger census and the road inside Nagarhole was being done up then.

Thanks again.