[cnu]

OK, I think 3 days would be very hectic to cover shivasamudram, bandipur
and ooty... you always feel like staying a couple of days in ooty itself...
but if you want to squeeze the trip to 3 days then here may be your
tentative schedule....

Day-1:
- Start at 6 AM..or even early from blr..and take the mysore highway
- Stop for breakfast at maddur...There is famous kamat hotel here as soon
as you enter maddur.. (maddur is about 75 km from blr...)
- After immediately crossing maddur on the mysore highway(there is small
tourism sign board), you need to take a left to malavalli (and then to
shivasamudram)...
- This road has some few bad stretches but is preferable than the kanakpura
road.
- You will hit malavalli (small town) and then follow directions to
shivasamudram.
- Reach shivasamudram by about 10 am...
- Spend a couple of hours and start back to mysore....
- ask for directions to mysore from shivasamudram.. (I think you need
to come back to malavalli and divert.. not sure though)
- reach mysore by 2 pm....
- have lunch and visit mysore palace..(you will be out in a couple of hours)
if you are interested in visiting the mysore zoo and chamundi hills (has a
temple atop) then plan for a night stay in mysore...
- else head for bandipur.... (but you need to book your accomodation before
hand... I dont have much details on this except for the below links...
http://www.indiaetravel.com/adventur...s/bandipur.htm
http://projecttiger.nic.in/printableguide_bandipur.htm
check out the karnataka tourism office and make advance reservations)
- bandipur is about 100 km from mysore.. need to take the ooty road from
mysore but after going some distance the road branches to bandipur...
- enjoy the night at bandipur in the cottages..

Day-2
- check out the safari in the morning and by noon head back for ooty...
- reach ooty by evening... if time permits check out one or two
places in ooty or may be go for boating in the lake...

Day-3
- start early morning and tour around ooty (not aware of the places to visit
in ooty) start back to blr by around 3 PM... so that you can reach blr
before midnight...

If you are not lucky enough to get accomodation in bandipur then may
be you can stay for a night in mysore and tour about various other places
as per your choice... (see the links that I provided in my earlier reply).. or
may be spend 2 nights in ooty....

HTH

[Surprise]

CNU/Great Drive/Deepakhon,

Thanks for the info.

There would be roughly 10 participants, which also includes few females ( family trip for some of my friends) from Chennai & planning to take public transport. Now I had arrived to a rough tour plan

Thursday Night: Mysore express from Chennai ( Dep-21.45: arr- 08.30 hrs)

Refresh after the night journey & start to Shivasumudram. I assume that it's 80 KMS from Mysore. Hire a van from Mysore to Shivasumudram. Since it is 80 kms (correct me, if Iam wrong), it will take maximum of 2 hrs. Reach Shivasumudram by 13.00 hrs.

Spend 2 hrs in Shivasumudram & travel to Bandipur, I don't know the distance between Shivasumurdram and Bandipur. Iam assuming the distance to be 100 kms. Reach Bandipur by 17.30 hrs. Spend some time in the forest and night stay in forest cottages.

Saturday morning: Hire a van and reach Ooty which is 80 kms from Bandipur forest. Start around 10.00 am and reach by 13.00 hrs. Stay in Ooty till Monday evening

Hire a van from Ooty to Combiatore, will reach Combiatore station in 3 hrs. Take the night train to Chennai on Monday night.

Will this be okay?

[cnu]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Spend 2 hrs in Shivasumudram & travel to Bandipur, I don't know the distance between Shivasumurdram and Bandipur. Iam assuming the distance to be 100 kms. Reach Bandipur by 17.30 hrs. Spend some time in the forest and night stay in forest cottages.

Distance between ShivaSamudram(SS) and Bandipur is around 150...
You need to come back to mysore from SS and then head towards
bandipur. (SS to mysore is around 60 and mysore to bandipur around 80)
So it takes around 3-4 hrs.. Guess it would be dark by the time you reach
bandipur... (May be you can find out if there is any short route from SS
to bandipur directly.... I doubt though...) Suggest spend atleast half a day in bandipur...you can go for the safari...

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by cnu

Distance between ShivaSamudram(SS) and Bandipur is around 150...
You need to come back to mysore from SS and then head towards
bandipur. (SS to mysore is around 60 and mysore to bandipur around 80)
So it takes around 3-4 hrs.. Guess it would be dark by the time you reach
bandipur... (May be you can find out if there is any short route from SS
to bandipur directly.... I doubt though...) Suggest spend atleast half a day in bandipur...you can go for the safari...

I got clarified on the routes. Thanks for the same.

What's that Safari?

[cnu]

Safari is nothing but jeep ride into the forest to see the wildlife....
also I heard that you can go for elephant rides... (not sure though)...
forest/tourism dept organises these... you can enquire at the time of booking
the accomodation.....

Jungle lodges and resorts has some package (incl acco and rides) too but I think
it is a bit costly (around Rs. 1650 for 1 night stay)... check out more details as
http://www.junglelodges.com/resort_o...esort=Bandipur

Cheers.. and keep us updated about the trip....

[sandeepmdas]

@cnu newbie, though I have absolutely no plans to make this trip, let me tell you this:
The tentative schedule you made is fantastic. Posts like that and members like you are the real difference that you experience in Team-BHP....

[cnu]

hey sandeep,

Thanks for the compliment dude...

[Surprise]

We had decided the following way
__________________________________________________ __________________
October 7, 2005: 21.45 hrs: Board Mysore Express from Chennai
October 8, 2005:

Reach Mysore at 08.30 hrs
Refresh and get into the van at 10.30 hrs
Reach Ganganchikku falls by 12.30 hrs
Stay there till 15.30 hrs
Start to Bandipur and reach by 20.30 hrs
Stay the night at Bandipur

October 9, 2005:

Get early and explore the forest till 14.00 hrs
Start to Ooty & reach by 17.00 hrs
Stay in Ooty

October 10, 2005:

Visit Dhotapetta & other important places
Packoff the things at 18.00 hrs to reach Combiatore by 21.00
@Combiatore 22.00 hrs train to Chennai
__________________________________________________ _________________

Do you guys foresee any miscalulation in the trip?

Is there public transport available from Mysore to Bandipur forest? If yes, What's the frequency

Is there any public transport available from Banidpur to Ooty?
__________________________________________________ _______

Also our guys want to know Cavery fishing camp? Is that palce worth spending and how it can be reached from Bandipur forest &what's the distance?

Thanks Ahead

[deepakhon]

Looks fine for me. But the Cauvery fishing camp will not be in your present route.

To answer your question about transport services from Mysore to Bandipur, there are plenty of karnataka state and tn state buses plying b'ween b'lore and ooty and mysore and ooty and you will definitely get buses.

it was around a year ago that i and my wife suddenly decided to travel to ooty from b'lore and she didn't want me to drive. so, we caught a train from b'lore, reached mysore around 11:00 am. we then went to mysore bus stand and checked for ooty buses. we figured out that there were some private buses which start by around 2:00 pm, right opposite the bus stand. we purchased tickets and we started at 2:00. but to be frank, those buses were pretty basic in comfort levels. eventhouth i am just around 5ft6in tall, the leg space was very cramped for me. if you decide to get into one of these buses, the catch here is that they charge different rates for different people. they fleece people. just never tell an auto guy that you have plans of going to ooty. those people take you to these mini-buses and will get a commission from the mini-bus owners, which you will have to bear. just be aware of such small things and i am sure your journey will be comfortable.

[Surprise]

Guys, we have firmed up our trip and made bookings in train for onward and return journey.

I understand that for staying in Bandipur forest cottages, advance reservations needs to be made either in Bangalore or Mysore forest office.

I tried the numbers mentioned in website & found that those numbers does not exists.

Request your help in identifying the forest office numbers either in Bangalore or Mysore to make advance room booking in Bandipur forest cottages.

[cnu]

Surprise,

Did you try the numbers mentioned on this page:
http://www.karnatakatourism.org/site..._bandipur.html

If no luck, then try calling up the Karnataka Tourism folks for guidance.
http://www.karnatakatourism.org/sites/contact.html

Best of luck

[Surprise]

Thanks a lot CNU.

I got the mysore forest department telephone no from the Karnataka tourism.

__________________________________________
For booking forest cottages in Bandipur, a request letter needs to be sent to

FIELD DIRECTOR
PROJECT TIGER
ARANYA BHAVAN
ASHOKA PURAM
MYSORE-8
TELEPHONE - 08212480901.

Room rent for a double bed room per day is Rs.450/- for extra bed additional Rs.225/- will be charged. Check in time is 14.00 hrs and check out time is 12.00 noon next day. Check in needs to be done before 19.00 hrs or the room will be cancelled.

Hope this information helps others too.
_________________________________________