[PAVAN KADAM]

Hi folks,

This trip was planned 1 month in advance with almost 50 mails crisscrossing between we cousins and uncles to finalize the plan.

With 5 families (24 Adults and 4 kids).Every time it used to be 4-5 cars in line as a caravan but this time went ahead and used a 25 seater bus from Sri Satya Sai Travels. We were charged Rs. 24/ km . Since it was the first time and maybe the last time we'll hire any outside vehicle.

The total kms to be travelled was planned to be 1200 kms over the period of 4 days.

Have been waiting for too long to be into this wonderful destination.

The plan was Bangalore-Kollur-Byndooru beach-Jog falls-Sringeri-Back to Bangalore


Day I

10th October 2008 (11:45 pm)-We departed from Bangalore on the above said route to Kollur- land of great wilderness and the kodachadri hills and the godess of performing arts- Kollur Mookambika. We took exactly 12 hrs with 3 pitstops in between to reach our destination. The smell of the hills and the forest scantury of kollur was a bliss. We had booked our accomodation through my Uncle . We were give 1 Suite-2 rooms and 4 tent accomodations at a place called anejhari wildlife scantury. The accomodation has a ready cook there who will prepare a decent meal which is edible and healthy, but we need to provide him with all materials.

The place is at the foothills of Kodachadri Hills and in the centre of Mookambika wildlife scantury , facing your rooms will be a nice flowing rivulet and the only power source is Solar energy. Gives you a spooky feeling at night, but great thrilling experience staying and straying in the wild.

To be Continued...................

[dkamath]

So, there you go, Pavan! Was wondering if i missed reading your travelogue among a heap of others. Hopefully, pictures follow next

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by dkamath

So, there you go, Pavan! Was wondering if i missed reading your travelogue among a heap of others. Hopefully, pictures follow next

Yes pics will follow very soon DICOR man

Its a total of 4 days of travel and i want to document it neatly hence will take some time for this travelogue

[dadu]

awaiting the same especially the thrills/ leach part.

[HappyWheels]

Seems to be raining wonderful travelogues here at T-BHP!

Way to go, PK.

Take us thru your journey...

Originally Posted by dadu

...especially the thrills/ leach part.

Leach or Leech? Hell, whatever name, it is a blood sucker!

[ravibhat]

Oh this will be great one to read I feel Waiting to read this.

Regards,

Ravi.

PS But as a rule I feel you need to post pictures too before MODs act on it (might get deleted for not posting proper travelogue!!)

[PAVAN KADAM]

O K Guys, Just started resizing the pics.

Here are some.

Though Satya Sai Travels have nice buses, they are good from far and actually far from good. We never liked the legspace in the bus.

Those 11 hrs of journey was never comfortable. cant complain, next time we'll have our own travel.

The route is very scenic, we found some abandoned fort on the way, lots of hillocks

Reaching kollur the first day was spent exploring the forest and the guest house.

The most thrilling part was the 4 tents we were provided. Wonderful and real eerie.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Lets get to know about the place where we stayed.

The 2 rooms that we were provided were decent enough to house 6 people in each room.

The tents could house 3 adults inside each tents having attached bathroom with 24 hrs water supply(Cold) and again solar panels to provide 8 hrs of 5w light. This was a great relief.

[mjothi]

Those 11 hrs of journey was never comfortable. cant complain, next time we'll have our own travel.

Probably by then the micro would be ready Right?

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Probably by then the micro would be ready Right?

thanks,

But the Microbus would only be driven by my Brother, i somehow dont fancy a LHD.

Day 1 was completed with a visit to Baindur beach 18 kms away. Great beach, deserted, not much of a population.

We just stayed there from 4:00 pm till 8:00 having made our own snacks and bhelpuri counter.

Returned to the guest house completely exhausted and salty. took a simple bath, and our stumptous meal was ready by then. Thanks to Mr Mahabala- our cook.

Returned to our respective tenthouses and spent one eeriee rainy night. Quite scary:< .

Now coming to day 2,

We were just lazing around the place, elders were so engrossed playing cards, the kids also had a great time watching monkeys jumping around the place.

The day was spent, having a nice breakfast,exploring the forest, playing in the stream crossing it. At noon we were supposed to visit the Mookambika temple.

We left for the temple and finished all our pooja and other rituals at the temple. We finished our lunch at the temple and returned to the guest house.

Elders got into playing cards late till night delaying dinner, kids got into cricket and myself and my cousins got into tree climbing mode(Ha Ha) we climbed a couple of trees there in the forest scraping our hands and bruising ourselves doing so. But it was fun.

8:00 pm dinner was served and that ended a great lazy day full of fun.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Coming to the 3rd and 4th day, Nothing interesting happened except jog falls and Sringeri Temple visits.

Though Jog falls is 78 kms from Kollur, it took nearly 5 hrs to reach. Thanks to the delay by the Satya Sai Driver who came to pick us up at 11:00am instead of 8:00 am. They are so damn unprofessional .

Becoz of this delay we could not have our Breakfast, and by the time we reach Jog it would be 5:00pm.

What else to do than stop at some local anna shop to have some deliciously made rotti and uppittu. We were thirsty but did'nt dare to try out those home made colas availble there.. look at the pic below.

After the mini brunch we reached jog at around 4:30 pm had some chai coffee , took some snaps of the falls and those beautiful lush green sorroundings . Amazing place to be in. We loved the place, wish there would have been a bit more water in the falls.

5:30pm we leave towards Sringeri 154 kms away from Jog falls. Becoz of that mini brunch dynasours had already made some 1000 fights in our stomachs. We stopped at koppa at some local restaurant. Surprised to find some nice dal roti cooked there, finished our dinner at around 9:00pm and reached Sringeri at around 12:00 midnight. Thanks to my uncle we got accomodation inside the temple premises. Nice 4 rooms with hot water and coffee tea services.

Had a great night sleep, to be woken up at 3:00am by some vedic chants from the temple. Myself and my Wifey got ready as our Kid had to complete her aksharabhyasa. Great temple.

[ravibhat]

Nice trip there Pavan, good that team enjoyed the trip. Roads are in decent condition with very good scenary all around there so you would enjoyed the entire trip.

Regards,

Ravi.

[HappyWheels]

The tents do look very much in tune with the natural surrounding! Great spot.

Bad of the driver to come down to pick you guys after 3 hrs! With kids in the group, it would have a been a challenge keeping things in order.

[sudev]

Wow nice idea to travel by a bus. Sad that they were not punctual. Looks like all had fun.

[snaronikar]

Good pics and travelogue. But paying rs.24/km is too high. Was this an a/c bus? Drivers will always be drivers, they take their own time and give all the excuses in the world if they do not appear on time.