[thirugata]

This one is a very short trip done over the weekend mainly for 2 reasons. One, I was itching to use my camera and click some birds and second we wanted to see how our cats would react if we were not around.

Over last year or so we had 4 kittens walk into our home and we ended up adopting them. After the first one came home, we were away from home for 4 days in early 2024. When we returned home the kitten was sick and it took almost a weeklong medication for it to come back to good health. This incident created some hesitation every time we wanted to plan a trip. Now we have 4 cats, oldest one is almost 1.5 years old and youngest being 4 months old. But now we have a neighbour who also has a cat, this gave us some comfort and we planned this short trip asking our neighbour to keep an eye on our cats.

There are 2 JLR properties not too far from our house, so we decided to visit these 2 places. This also gave me an opportunity take those cameras out of cold storage and put them to some use.

We left home on Friday morning (14/02/2025) around 10:00 AM and our destination was JLR - Aanejari Butterfly Camp which is about 120 KMs away. We reached there in couple of hours after stopping for a coffee at Pakashala, Kumbashi on the way. Last 1 Km is unpaved road, but it should not be any challenge to most cars.



This property is located on the banks of Souparnika river and is home to 5 different kinds of Kingfishers. So if you are lucky you may get to spot them all.





I spent my afternoon looking for these birds on the riverbank. There were a lot of monkeys there and also a lesser fish eagle because of which birds stayed away and all I got to see was a Cormorant and a Darter.





Darter



Lesser Fish eagle

After the sunset weather cooled down and silence of the jungle took over the rest of the evening.



Next day morning I was lucky to spot 3 of the 5 Kingfisher species available here.



Common Kingfisher



White throated Kingfisher



Blue eared Kingfisher

A lot of birds started to visit the birding area in the property as well, so I spent rest of the morning clicking away there.



White bellied blue flycatcher female



Lesser Yellow nape







Brown cheeked Fulvetta



Yellow Bulbul



Crimson Sunbird

Aanejari - JLR

[thirugata]

On 15/02/2025 we left from Aanejari Nature camp around 10:30 AM and drove towards our next destination, Bhagavathi Nature Camp at Kudremukha. This is about 130 KMs drive and it took us 3 hours to reach. Road is good in most parts though it is 2 lane highway throughout. We stopped on the way at Holige Batru shop at Hebri to buy some sweets and savories. After taking the deviation from karkala - Kalasa road the road condition became bit bad with patches of chipped off road surface.












Post lunch we went around the property. This place too has a lot of birds and you can hear them all around you. But spotting them is almost impossible because of the kind of trees here and how closely they are planted.
We went out again in the evening looking for birds and also the next day morning walked close to 3 KMs on a trail and the result was same.

A river flows on the edge of this property and has crystal clear water. For us this place was the highlight. We also visited this river side post dinner and it was amazing to see stars with no light noise from here.





In the night the temperature dropped to single digits here and when we woke up in the morning the whole place was covered with fog. There was a layer of fog moving over the river water like cloud.



Bhagavati nature Camp

This place is also starting point for some of these treks and the booking need to be done through forest department website.
https://aranyavihaara.karnataka.gov.in/




We left from here around 10:00 AM and reached home in couple of hours. This was a 95 KMs drive and road condition was good in most places.

Cats were fine so that is a big relief. Hopefully this will allow us to travel more frequently here onwards.

A note about both the places:

Aanejari Nature camp: Here Jio connectivity is good, rest of the mobile networks do not work. Office room has wifi connectivity.

Bhagavati Nature Camp: None of the mobile networks have any connectivity here and there is no wifi facility. So you will be completely cut off once you are here.
Airtel stops working once you enter the Kudremukha national park and BSNL works in few places.

Do keep this in mind if you plan to visit here.

[KarthikK]

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

[Vijay T]

Beautiful snaps of different bird species.One with bird bathing.

The river in Bhagavati camp reminded me of many in the kokan Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg districts.

Both nature camp places look so serene & peaceful to relax.

No network is boon in my opinion

[Kkumar]

Nice travelogue with beautiful photographs. How would you rate your stays as well as the food. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

[thirugata]

Originally Posted by Kkumar

Nice travelogue with beautiful photographs. How would you rate your stays as well as the food. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

Stay was good in both places. Food was good in Aanejari and was below average in Bhagavathi which is a surprise. I have been to other JLR properties and never had issue with food there.

Originally Posted by Vijay T

Beautiful snaps of different bird species.One with bird bathing.

The river in Bhagavati camp reminded me of many in the kokan Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg districts.

Both nature camp places look so serene & peaceful to relax.

No network is boon in my opinion

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.
I didnt have issue with not having mobile network, but for some it is a must hence mentioned.

[shankar.balan]

So nice to read. And such lovely photos.
Makes me so happy to see that wonderful old well maintained Fabia.

It just reinforces the fact that one has to just stop procrastinating and get out there and just do it.

And one doesnt need a big fat 4X4 bristling with enough equipment to survive the apocalypse, in which to do all this.

[megazoid]

Nice little trip and pictures!
This writeup makes me want to go back to these two places. One of the highlights used to be the two lane roads around those parts being great to drive. Still the case I gather from your report.

[Pennant1970]

Thank you for the vicarious experience. The pictures of the crystal clear river put me in mind of how Souparnika used to look in Kolluru in the 1990s. Sorry to go OT.

By the way, did the cats cope well? We have six, all bestowed upon us by the Cat Distribution System! Acts as a kind of anchor for us and keep us from long trips.

[jennyboy13]

How I wish, there was some easy access place such as this near me, I miss how I was able to go for birding, while I stayed in my childhood home in Bhubaneswar.

[thirugata]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

So nice to read. And such lovely photos.
Makes me so happy to see that wonderful old well maintained Fabia.

It just reinforces the fact that one has to just stop procrastinating and get out there and just do it.

And one doesnt need a big fat 4X4 bristling with enough equipment to survive the apocalypse, in which to do all this.

I am glad you liked it.
This car has been through some real long drives and has come out with flying colours.

Originally Posted by megazoid

Nice little trip and pictures!
This writeup makes me want to go back to these two places. One of the highlights used to be the two lane roads around those parts being great to drive. Still the case I gather from your report.

Its 2 lane twisties in most places here, but road conditions are much better now and repairs are done much quicker as soon as the monsoon gets over if there is any damage due to rains.

Originally Posted by Pennant1970

Thank you for the vicarious experience. The pictures of the crystal clear river put me in mind of how Souparnika used to look in Kolluru in the 1990s. Sorry to go OT.

By the way, did the cats cope well? We have six, all bestowed upon us by the Cat Distribution System! Acts as a kind of anchor for us and keep us from long trips.

Cats coped well, I had left food in a dispenser and our cats are used to spending nights out side the house. This was just 2 nights, probably when I plan a bit longer trip of 4 or 5 days will have to see how they react. So as of now it is one step at time approach.

[Earthmoverguy]

Pretty good photos.! Reminds me of my childhood days when Bhagawathi was almost a monthly affair (perk of being from Kudremukh community). Time is frozen up in those areas. Everything remains to be same as it was 25+ years ago. Apart from trekking there are couple of Safari rides by forest dept, not sure if you got to experience it. Thanks for this travelogue ��

[punchthebully]

Water in the river was so clear, never seen such clear water in India