Bangalore to Wayanad via Kabini: Route update and drive experience

We did a whirlwind impromptu trip to Wayanad from Bangalore over the weekend

BHPian silversteed recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Bangalore - Wayanad: Route

The plan was to start early, drive through Nagarhole, go to Kuruva Island and check in at our resort in Mananthavady. Things went as per plan till the Nagarhole forest checkpost, but we were informed by the check post personnel that the route through the forest to Kutta was closed for road work, for a week.
So we turned back, drove through the Tibetan Settlement, to Kabini via Handpost, and finally to our destination.

The road from Hunsur to Nagarhole check post was good to average. The stretch from the arch till the check post was newly laid, so I'm assuming that the road through the forest would also be up to the same level in the coming days.

Then we backtracked and turned right at the arch towards the Tibetan Settlement, per the forest personnel's instructions. This route till the State Highway was clean and beautiful, albeit narrow.

And then things went south, pun intended. The road condition turned from good to average to bad, the stretch through the forest was riddled with potholes for a while, then we were finding patches of asphalt in between potholes and then it was just rubble till Bavali check post. However, there were signs of road work about to start - equipment and material stored in some areas, with some stretches having a layer of metal already compacted.

On the return, it was the Sulthan Bathery - Muthanga - Gundlupete - Bangalore-Mysore Highway route. Nothing to update.

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