[graaja]

Monsoon Drive to Bhadra Tiger Reserve - A Photologue

Overview:

After months of lockdown and boredom, a few BHPians decided to do a monsoon drive to Bhadra tiger reserve. Though monsoon is not the time to visit a tiger reserve as animal sightings will be almost non-existent, we still decided to do this just for the drive and also the chance to meet everyone. The last time we met was during the WDM drive to Coorg (Holiges, a Coracle and a Banyan Tree - Weekend Drive to Shimoga).

We decided to do a 2 night stay at JLR River Tern jungle lodge.

Following is the list of BHPians and their cars.

1. RSUDARSANAN + 1 - BMW 320d
2. Robimahanta + 1 - M340i
3. Dr.AD + 1 - BMW 320d
4. Tilt + 1 - Jetta
5. KarthikK + 1 - Thar
6. graaja + 3 - BMW 330i GT

Robimahanta, Dr.AD, Tilt and RSUDARSANAN started from Bangalore on 24th. I drove down from Coimbatore on 23rd and stayed in Bangalore and joined everyone on 24th. KarthikK joined us directly at JLR.

RSUDARSANAN and KarthikK stayed for one night and left on the second day. Due to the hectic schedule, I could not click enough pictures of RSUDARSANAN and KarthikK and their steeds.

Special thanks to Robimahanta for helping me in choosing my new camera, the Canon R6 and also for lending me his 100-400L telephoto lens during the drive.

The Story TL;DR:

I drove from Coimbatore to Bangalore on 23rd morning with my wife and kids. Reached Bangalore in the afternoon and stayed overnight at Lemon Tree Hotel in Electronic City. I met Robimahanta on 23rd evening for dinner. He also gave me the new camera, a Canon R6.

On 24th morning, we all met at Shree Rathnam hotel on the Tumkur road at 7:30. Started our drive at 8:30 after breakfast. After a couple of more breaks at Sai Palace and Hotel Aramane, we reached JLR River Tern at around 12:30PM.

After lunch, it was time for a boat ride. We all boarded the boat and then the boat wouldn't start! So the resort staff had to split our group and put 8 in another boat and 6 of us in a Jeep for a Safari. As it was cloudy with occasional rain, we could manage only a few animal sightings. We saw spotted deer, Indian gaur, serpent eagle and peacocks.

The second day morning, everyone went on a jungle safari. As it was cloudy and raining occasionally, I and Dr.AD decided to skip the Safari and do some photo shoot of our cars.

The second day evening, the skies cleared up and we could see some sun. We went on a jungle safari and managed to see spotted deers, barking deers, brown fish owl, grey langur and an elephant.

The third day morning, we went for a boat ride. This time too, it was cloudy and raining occasionally. But we managed to see many birds - cormorants, painted storks, great blue heron, osprey, ashy swallow, white browed wagtail, and peacocks, and a few animals - spotted deer and wild boars.

Post breakfast we started our drive back. We regrouped at CCD at Sira and said our byes.

I halted for the night at Claresta Hotels in Hosur, and drove back to Coimbatore on the morning of 27th.

I will skip my drive from and back to Coimbatore and only cover the journey from Bangalore and back.

This was the total distance of the trip - about 1350 kilometers.


Note: For the car and animal pictures, click on pictures to open in a new window to view in full resolution.

[graaja]

Day - 1 The Drive Onward

We all met at Shree Rathnam hotel on Tumkur road. After breakfast, we drove to Bhadra. We did a couple of stops for some photoshoot, and a couple of coffee breaks and reached Bhadra by 12:30PM.

All the cars assembled at Shree Rathnam Hotel.


The team. Picture credit: Robimahanta


We stopped for a couple of photo shoots.




Mr. and Mrs. Tilt with their Jetta.


RSUDARSANAN's 320d


Robi's M340i


My 330i GT


Chief RSUDARSANAN showing Mr. and Mrs. Tilt a picture of them.


Driving in a convoy on the beautiful country side roads.




Arriving at River Tern Jungle Lodge




Checking in


Had our lunch post check-in.


JLR River Tern Jungle Lodge:

A few pictures of the property and the room.

The room.




The balcony with a view of the reservoir.






Morning coffee with a view.


The cottages.




All the cottages are situated in an island and we have to cross this bridge to access the cottages.


The view of the dam from the bridge.

[graaja]

Day - 1 The Safari

Post lunch, we all checked into our rooms, got fresh and regrouped for a boat ride.

Boarding the boat.


All settled in.


I and Robimahanta ready with our photography gear. Robi with his Canon R5 and 600mm prime lens and I with the younger siblings, the Canon R6 and 100-400L.


And then the boat failed to start and we had to split. 6 of us (Mr. and Mrs. Robimahanta, Mr. and Mrs. Dr.AD, I and my daughter) boarded a Jeep for a jungle safari.

It was raining and we passed through terrains flooded with water and mud and slush.




A few sightings.

Peacock.


Spotted deer.






Serpent eagle.


Indian gaur.


The gear. Canon R5 paired with the 600mm F4L and Canon R6 paired with the 100-400mm L lens.

[graaja]

Day-2 Car Photoshoot

On Day-2 morning, everyone left for a jungle Safari. I (my wife joined me) and Dr.AD went out for a photoshoot of our cars, the 320d and the 330i GT. We managed to click some nice pictures of our cars. We have been planning to have a photoshoot of the red and blue cars for a while. A few pictures from this photoshoot.

Before we left for the photoshoot, I clicked a couple of pictures of my 330i GT with Robi's M340i.




Dr.AD's 320d on a bridge.


Dr.AD shooting his car.


A few pictures of my GT.








The 320 and 3GT on the bridge.


A few pictures of our cars with the dam in the background.








The menacing eyes!




The 3GT behind the 320d.


Behind the scenes. I and Dr.AD in action. Picture credit: My wife

[graaja]

Day-2 The Safari


After lunch on day-2, we went for a jungle safari. This time too we had to split up as we were 10 and a Jeep can only take 7. I and my daughters split from the group and took another Jeep. This time, the weather was clearing up and it was sunny now and then. As the sun was out, we reasoned that animals will be out and there is a good chance of sighting a tiger or a leopard or a grizzly bear. But luck played spoil sport. We could not spot any of the big cats or bear. Instead we saw barking deer, spotted deer, langur, fish owl and an elephant. A few pictures from this safari.

The main group in the Jeep.


Clear weather.




At the entrance to the jungle.




Spotted deer.




Barking deer.






A 200 year old tree.


This grasshopper also joined for the safari.


Black ant nest.


Grey langur.




Brown fish owl.


Fish in a stream in the Safari trail. GIF Credit: Robi


And just before we exited the jungle, we spotted this majestic tusker, a 20 year old.








We returned back, had a nice dinner and went to our rooms for a good night's rest.

[graaja]

Day-3 The Boat Ride

On day-3 morning, 6 of us who had to skip the boat ride the first day, went for a boat ride. Weather was cloudy and occasionally raining. We had no hope to sight anything. But managed to sight many water birds (cormorants, painted storks, blue herons), some deer, an osprey and a couple of dancing peacocks. A few pictures from this boat ride.

At the boathouse.






A couple of fisherment on a coracle.


Dr. AD in action.


Robi in action.


A few pictures of the water and clouds.






The wake of the boat.


Ashy swallows.




Brahmini kite in flight.




Grey heron.


Grey heron in flight.


Lesser adjutant stork.


Lesser adjutant stork in flight.






Osprey.


Great cormorants.








White browed wagtail.


Dancing peacocks.




After the boat ride, we had our breakfast, packed up and checked out at 10:30.

[graaja]

Day-3 The Return Journey

On the return journey, we decided to make only one stop at CCD Sira. The plan was to regroup at CCD, have a light lunch and say our byes. Unfortunately, the rear left wheel in my car got a puncture from a big bolt. But fortunately, this happened while I was crossing a small town and I could find a puncture repair shop nearby. As the puncture was quite big, they removed the tire and patched it from the inside. Thankfully, the patch held up through my drive to Coimbatore. The puncture incident delayed me by an hour to reach CCD. Robi had to leave as he had some work. Mr. and Mrs. Dr.AD and Mr. and Mrs. Tilt waited for me to reach. We had a brief chat and then said our byes.

The cars before we started.


The team.


The puncture and the patch.







The three cars at CCD.


A group picture before parting ways.


The Food:

This travelogue will not be complete without a mention of food. I have been following IF (intermittent fasting) the past 3 years. I eat only 2 meals a day as a routine, sometimes one meal a day, and very rarely 3 meals a day. I have written about my IF in my Fat to Fit (Fat to Fit - A journal of my fitness journey) thread.

However, during this trip, as the food at JLR was just too good, I had three square meals for three days. A few food pictures from the drive.















Once back in Coimbatore, I did a 48 hour fast to cleanse the body and got back to my regular routine.



That's all folks, I have. Hope you enjoyed this photolog.

[robimahanta]

Ganesh has covered the trip in detail like a proper engineer. It was great fun meeting up with all of them after a long break and heading out on a drive. I didn't have any expectations from the safaris as it was raining all the time and Bhadra even during the season has considerably less sightings compared to other Karnataka parks. Sharing a few images from the trip.

The JLR resort from the boat



Bhadra dam at night



Spotted deer





Fishing from a coracle in the rain



Serpent eagle



Brown fish owl



Ashy swallows



Greater cormorant in breeding plumage



High key image



Orange headed thrush



Peacock dance





Peacock couple



Grey heron



Brahminy kite in flight with a fish




Some mobile phone images of the tracks in monsoon

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Dr.AD]

First of all, thanks to graaja and robimahanta for the fantastic photos and the detailed report above. It was lovely to read it and relive the experience through their words!

They have covered it all, but could not resist adding a few more thoughts and pictures from my side.

This trip was a very interesting experience. This just showed (to ourselves) that we love to drive and we will enjoy any driving experience. As mentioned in the above posts, we did not expect any major wildlife sightings in this peak monsoon season. And that indeed turned out to be the case. Further, with some amazing cars full of character and drama in our convoy (BMW M340i and a beautiful red Thar, for example), I was really looking forward to some car photography with these beauties. Unfortunately, due to various reasons (including the fact that the photography locations I had in mind were inaccessible due to the slush and mud) even that did not pan out. However, these things were never going to let us not enjoy the trip. We still had a wonderful and memorable trip. Just spending time with close friends (and discussing cars, photography, wildlife and life in general with them), driving our cars on scenic country roads, and enjoying the breathtaking views of the jungle and the reservoir were the powerful ingredients which made this weekend a truly special one!

Just the driving part was fantastic in itself. We drove on some fast six-lane highways, some scenic country roads with fast sweeping corners, and then also some bad patches on a couple of occasions. However, for a change, in the bigger scheme of things, the driving part was not the highlight. And it says a lot when a bunch of driving enthusiasts like us say that driving was not the highlight.

For me the two key highlights from this trip were the company of friends and the breathtaking landscapes of Bhadra. The location where we spent two days was heavenly. We had a beautiful resort with picturesque pathways winding down a tiny hillock carrying us to various parts of this resort itself, we had a lovely reservoir that offered some stunning views of the water, the hills surrounding the water, and thick green trees and the forest surrounding the large water bodies, a couple of idyllic bridges, and then as if that by itself was not enough to get lost in philosophical thoughts and lose track of material life, there was the main attraction which was the Tiger Reserve with Jeep Safaris that offered inside views of the thick forest and the wildlife kingdom living inside! So what if we did not have any major wildlife sighting? This place was a heaven for photography and some of the above photos by graaja and robimahanta do a good justice to this place.

The other special thing for me in this drive was spending time with my friends and driving buddies. This group is quite special, and every time I meet them, I not only have a great time, but I also learn a lot from these guys. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the whole gang, but here is a picture of our two star photographers (and experts in many other things), graaja and robimahanta:



While these two were carrying pro-level camera equipment, I had only a basic DSLR with me. However, it was amazing to see how they operated their gear and to learn from them about how much skill and thought went into photography regardless of what equipment one has. It will not be wrong if I say about half of the time through the entire weekend we were discussing photography.

Personally for me, the safaris were totally enjoyable. I am not a hard-core wildlife enthusiast at all - not by any means - and therefore, wildlife was not my main goal (any sightings would be just a bonus!). My main goal was to see the beauty of the jungle, and these safaris exceeded my expectations in terms of the beautiful landscapes and jungle vies they offered.

Here for example, is a view I got from a Jeep Safari that I loved:



And a typical view of a JLR Safari - a green Mahindra finding its way through a lush green forest:


And here is another funny thing about being with car enthusiastic friends. As long as we are in a vehicle - any vehicle, we never get bored. Here while there were no sightings in the Jeep Safari, we were busy discussing the 4x4 capabilities of the vehicle, and in general how the driving experience would have been. And while lost in those discussions, I could not resist clicking this image of the lovely track that the Safari vehicle was trodding through:



Although I had only a very basic DSLR, I was still trying my best to capture some wildlife (and some birds later in the boat safari), and managed to get this:



The boat safari in itself was a heavenly experience. The early morning fresh weather, the vast reservoir that was as serene as anything can ever get, the breeze we had in our faces, the lush green forests surrounding us, and the birds occasionally flying by and then sitting on the tree stumps and posing for our camera, added up to a memorable morning. It was mesmerizing at time. I personally thoroughly enjoyed this boat ride.

Again, since we love vehicles, we could not miss discussing this 60ps Yamaha engine powering our boat through those waters:



The views of the water and the surrounding hills, with dark clouds above were mesmerizing. Below are a couple of pictures which try to show this, although not very successfully I believe:











And here is a view of the dam as seen from the boat:



Inspiring by robimahanta and graaja, I tried my hand at some bird shots too, and could not resists sharing a few images here. My apologies as these would be a somewhat replicates (and poorer ones at that) of the images shared in this thread above.



























And finally, for the first time in my life I saw a peacock with open feathers like this, and even managed to take a photo:



The morning light and the birds created some nice silhouettes too. Here are a couple of silhouettes that I liked:








As we wrapped up the boat ride, a view of our cottages located on a small hill that was technically an island:


As I mentioned, the resort itself was quite scenic. It has a bit of a unique style compared to other JLRs, and offered many interesting locations within the resort itself.

To begin with, here is a view from my room (or mostly any room since all rooms there offer similar views):



And then these lovely pathways with many ups and down and the steps (that helped make our FitBit dashboard look good) were a key element that added to the character of this place:












One more key element was this bridge connecting a small island which hosted our cottages to the main reception and parking area:






I loved the symmetric lines of the bridge, and could not resist clicking and sharing one more picture highlighting the symmetry:



While I had more fun than I bargained for in clicking these pictures, watching robimahanta and graaja taking photos and trying to mimic that with my camera, how can I go on a rod trip and not take car photos? Well, as it turned out, I did manage to take a few car photos after all, but let me share those in the next post.

[Dr.AD]

OK, so let me come to my usual topic - random photos of our cars during the road trips and then a couple of planned shoots.


At a pit stop on our way, the three BMWs lined up:



At a quick regroup later, we found the four 3-series together. Four cars with four very different characters:



And yet another pit stop, the 320d parked next to the mighty 340i, and the mud and slush showing the general conditions we were in:



As we almost reached the JRL, the view on the right made us stop and take some photos. Here, the two F30 320d sharing a moment together, while admiring the scenic views:



RSUDARSANAN's legendary F30 320d:



And robimahanta's mighty M340i:



And then we had our friend KarthiK joining us there directly from his off-roading adventures (I hope he writes about that too) joining us in his beautiful red Thar:



As we reached the resort, tilt's Jetta and KarthikK's Thar parked next to each other:



My car parked, with the Thar in the background. I am not sure if you can see it but the car was crazy dirty. This was the dirtiest I could manage to get so far:



Somehow in past few drives, an unintended pattern has emerged where I go out for a morning photoshoot of cars, with whoever is willing to join me. And those morning shoots usually result in some memorable photos for me. For example, about a year back I had this lovely red GTI for a company in a similar morning photo. And then on a more recent occasion, I had a mighty Fortuner 4x4 guarding me from behind in this morning shoot. So the morning shoot are now a habit and lot of fun.

This trip was no exception, even if this meant we had to miss one Safari. This time, it was graaja with his lovely 3GT (my most favorite 3GT in the whole country!) giving me company for a photoshoot.

However, even before we went further, I could not resist posing next to this charming little temple:



The two cars that stepped out for a morning photoshoot:



Although the general location was incredibly scenic, there weren't many places accessible for our cars for a scenic photoshoot. However, I had read that good photographers make use of what is available. So, pretending like we were one of those (), I thought of a simple rustic bridge that I had noticed in our onward journey as a location for a photoshoot. We drove to that bridge, and that resulted in below shots:













As we drove around aimlessly for some time, we found this location with Bhadra dam in the background:



And then while returning, we took a small detour to take some pseudo "off-roading" photos of our primarily "on-road" machines:












With that, the morning shoot was wrapped up and we went back to the resort. And finally, to wrap this up, let me share a couple of shots of our cars parked at a CCD outlet on our way back.








With that, let me wrap up my post. This was an incredibly fun weekend! At the end, what made this weekend special was the great company we had. My thanks to all the friends and their families which made this weekend so special. Thank you guys, and looking forward to many more such trips with you.

And thank you to all of you for reading this!

[megazoid]

Bhadra is an incredible place to visit. Always beautiful but the monsoon brings the best out of this little heaven. I feel that a stay without any safari will also do justice to this location as one can simply sit with a book and watch the waters sipping coffee. Nice captures as always. A good break I guess between lockdowns. Wish the cars could have seen more roads but then Bhadra is a destination in itself.

[silverstreakcbe]

Excellent Write-ups (by all), Colorful & Mouthwatering dishes , natural photos, cars, cars and cars. Thanks for taking us the ride. Kudos to the team

[kiran_aithal]

Wow! ... thanks Graaja, Robimahanta and Dr. AD for the wonderful travelogue and beautiful pictures. Apart from the scenery, boat ride and amazing line up of the variety of 3s, graaja's capture of the delicious food is quite awesome. Bhadra is a beautiful place and such places come to life with bountiful rains.
Such treads are a welcome relief when you are stuck at home for months together. At least they force you to start thinking of venturing out again.

[vinu_h]

Beautiful photos. I was there a few weeks ago. Truly appreciate the forward thinking by JLR on a few aspects.

1. The bridge has a small transport trolley beside it for heavy loads.
2. The rooms built at launch - 10-15 yrs ago(might be off by a bit), have a large glass pane in place of the wall that's right in front of the bed. Hats off to the interior designer. Would have been a shame to block the view, it's stunning.
3. To better serve the rooms added later, a 2nd staff quarters was sanctioned beside the rooms, especially since the 1st one was a good 5 mins walk away.