[shishir_bn]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

It was Haby's insistance that prevented us from getting into Muthanga as well - looks like we saved some good amount in that way.

There is nothing here. You can't even spot a deer there. Only 1 -2 peacocks can be spotted. For that matter the drive from Gundlupet to Wayanad is good as you can see many animals.

This safari is a straight road upto 7kms and they don't take a detour like Bandipur forest. Good that you didn't venture into this.

[swiftnfurious]

Sunday, with the plans of visiting Muthanga forest for a Safari, woke up at 4.30 AM. For the first time in the trip, we got delayed by an hour and hit the road at 6.30 AM. Pramod was nice enough to arrange breakfast @ 5.30 AM and it was nice - Steam cake and Chenna curry [Puttu & Kadala]. Filled tummy and pushed off - said we will visit again. Had a nice drive and reached Muthanga at 7 AM and didnt stop as I felt its too late to see any wildlife and thought if we push slightly harder, can reach Bandipur and may sight something there!

The thoughts of seeing not a single tusker on the way to Wayanad was haunting me as I had seen an elephant pic in almost all the t-logs thru Bandipur. Hard brianstorming was happening in the car all the while as to what will be the next step if we didnt find one. Atleast decision taken - we will flick someone's non-watermarked pic and post it as ours.

We drove all the way without much luck and then I suddenly see a row of vehicles parked on the left side - And yea, its a herd of elephants and they have a calf too ! It just crossed the roads and was grazing and we were trying to find a good position to take a pic. Thats when one stupid truck guy started hoking continuosly and the herd moved in. "Bad luck" ! Again ! Atleast I was happy that I could see an elephant.

Bandipur:















We came back with couple of small breaks and reached Bangy by 2 PM - dropped Haby at his home, went back to my room and had a sound sleep. Back from another trip, safe and sound and thanked God for keeping us safe thru out the trip. With all those sweet memories of a good trip and sweeter thoughts of trips to come my way...signing off...

I thank you for all those posts which had details of route to Wayanad helping us zero in on the best route.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Good start and pics. Please provide some info about the stay/road conditions as well.

CoolClouds, 90% of the route is nothing less than brilliant. Rest 10% is quite driveable too. There is very less patch where you will need to downshift to 1st or 2nd - rest you can drive / cruise in a real good speed if you know the diversions. Stay details have been updated in one of the posts.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

There is nothing here. You can't even spot a deer there. Only 1 -2 peacocks can be spotted. For that matter the drive from Gundlupet to Wayanad is good as you can see many animals.

This safari is a straight road upto 7kms and they don't take a detour like Bandipur forest. Good that you didn't venture into this.

Spotting is a matter of luck, we have come across fresh pugmarks of tiger and bear during early morning safari in Muthanga..

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Spotting is a matter of luck, we have come across fresh pugmarks of tiger and bear during early morning safari in Muthanga..

Looks like pug marks are the only spottings in Muthanga! This was the same reason with which the whole ideas was shot down!

And more reasons to believe in that, I could spot only 2 spotted deers in Wayanad where as people see lots & lots of deers there. Guess my luck is not that great !