My First Wildlife Sanctuary Travel to Bandipur National Reserve.

This post is more about my travel experience in pictures rather than information. Bandipur is easily reachable by road and any bus to Ooty from Bangalore/Mysore stops at Bandipur. The information about visiting Bandipur can be obtained from http://www.bandipurtigerreserve.in/ and Navin's Natwin

When I got down at Bandipur, I met Pradeep, who was travelling by the same bus too. He introduced me to Naveen. Naveen runs Natwin and organises trips and photography workshops in jungles. He arranged for my night dorm stay at Bandipur (Rs.200 per night in the dorm), and thus, I ditched my forward journey to Ooty. He provided very cheap safaris (Rs.100 for each safari).

The three hours forest safari inside Bandipur freshened me up for the upcoming month in Bangalore, full of traffic and noise. Bandipur was calm and peaceful.

I spotted over a hundred animals, from a dozen species on my first day.

Wild Dogs     PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

PC : Ash Photography

Bison  PC : Ash Photography

PC : Kumar Siddappa

PC : Mukesh Kumar

Asian Paradise Bird @Bandipur National Reserve.
You will be awestruck when it flies.
PC : Mukesh Kumar

Wild Kingfisher
PC : Mukesh Kumar

PC : Mukesh Kumar

Mongoose. PC : Mukesh Kumar

Tusker spotted @Bandipur. It walked with our vehicle for over 30 minutes. PC : Mukesh Kumar

PC : Mukesh Kumar

Bisons PC : Mukesh Kumar

PC : Mukesh Kumar

On the second day, I got up late and  took the second safari, after missing the first one and I was lucky. Navin, being a prominent person in Bandipur, got a phone call about the sighting of the tiger and  directed the van to the spot. We saw a tiger who was bathing/resting on pond side. Photographers went crazy clicking the pics.

PC : Mukesh Kumar

Soon after, the tiger moved from the pond side and started walking towards the other side. The drivers drove to the other side and waited for the tiger to come there. The cool dude, the Prince of Bandipur, as they call it (he is recognised by the red mark on his nose) started walking alongside the vehicles for over 30 minutes. It disappeared into the forest later, but everyone was really happy with such a marvellous sighting of the tiger.

PC : Mukesh Kumar

PC : Mukesh Kumar

PC : Mukesh Kumar

Dominate Male Tiger Marking Territory PC : Navin's Natwin

After returning to the dorm, we clicked pics together, exchanged numbers, thanked the driver and Navin and bid farewell to each other. It was truly a wonderful experience and I was lucky, because it was my first wildlife sanctuary experience.

The next day, Navin travelled back to Bandipur because he was informed of a kill by the tiger. This was what he captured. Beautiful, isn't it ! It was certainly the best day of his passionate life as a wildlife photographer after capturing this moment.

The deer kill by the tiger in Bandipur. PC : Navin's Natwin

Night drive to Raasta Cafe

Zeeshan, Vishrut and Zeeshan came over to Bangalore from Pondy, E-city () and Mumbai specially for the weekend, 21/22 August.

We partied hard on Thursday and Friday night. On Saturday night (22nd August), 8 of us planned to drive to Raasta Cafe.

Moku wore a mask almost all the way till Raasta Cafe from Bangalore. BTM still rocks amd rocks louder.  We stopped near the RIDGES on Mysore highway.

Smoked a joint there and sahil drove the car till the end with the mask. Moku played awesome songs.

We reached Raasta in no time after crossing 

Wonderla and guards were all smiles after watching our masked driver.  The waiting list was 45 minutes initially and we spent those 45  minutes being whistled by guards for not going here,  but there and this happened almost everywhere. Where was a person supposed to wait?  Not in the waiting hall where there were cocks and hen clucking.

We waited for 45 minutes trying to come up with a backup plan and the person ultimately told 1 hour. We headed for CCD. I thought I shouldn't have come. The trip was disappointing except for the smoke in the fresh open air and the big company of friends.

We finally came back to Raasta after about an hour. Smoked a joint near the entrance waiting for our turn, which came soon. Sahil tried to scare a little boy with the mask he was wearing but he seemed to enjoy that.

We smoked a lot in Raasta, ordered a lot of junk food, gossiped a lot. Rahul went crazy cracking his jokes and my stomach ached laughing. Hooka was meaningless in Raasta to us when we had babaji ki booti. Anyways, we sat there till late and returned back home early morning. I slept on my way back and crashed to bed after reaching home at about 6. I had to wake up at 8:30 which I did and slept the whole day 12 pm onwards.

Rasta Cafe to me was not a worth place to visit as I do not really enjoy cafes, but enjoy nature more.

14/06 Sunday Night Drive to Cafe Coffee Day, Kolar Highway

After going to the Antragange Caves a week before, I started with my five friends towards Cafe Coffee Day, Kolar to enjoy a drive on amazing Kolar Highway after a pleasant drizzle in Bangalore earlier that evening. We started from Bangalore at about 9pm on 14th, Sunday and the roads were still wet. We rode till K.R.Puram, fuelled the tank with Rs.200 and started on our journey starting from KR Puram Hanging Bridge.

The drive was smooth and sexy. Wind was cold and we were riding on bikes having a lot of fun, singing songs and a lot of bakchodi inbetween. Karan and I stopped at Sher-e-Punjab Punjabi dhabba before CCD, Kolar. The dhaba had an amazing Punjabi feel to it, with Sikh owners and manji to sit on. We ate the delicious food as much as we could and drank a lot of tea and lassi. The food was super delicious and authentic Punjabi. It was closer than going to Electronic City. After sitting and chatting there for quite a while, we started towards CCD, which we again reached in no time.

After reaching CCD, we ordered some coffees, but we weren't really hungry. Rahul took us behind the CCD into the rocky hill and we found a peaceful place behind CCD in the rocks. We smoked and rested there for quite some time before starting on our journey back to Bangalore. The roads had dried by the time we were returning, and it was cold. All of us crashed into beds tired after coming back home.

We did not take any photographs, nor did we need any because it was more about the drive and feel and a surprise get-away.

06/06 Antragange Cave Exploration

Friday Night on 5th June, I took the bus to kolar from KR Puram railway station. The buses start from where the hanging bridge starts and for those driving in their own vehicle, the drive is a bliss. Smooth and sexy. 

There is also a train apparently that starts from Bangalore Cantt, through KR Puram till Kolar. But, bus stand is nearer to Antragange. 

I had planned for a night trek but couldn't gather the courage. I reached the trek starting point alone at 9pm in complete darkness, no fellow person, lightening behind the entire Antragange range and a pack of dogs guarding the entrance barking at me from a distance. I followed my insticts, took a lodge for the night, had an on and off sleep and started early morning towards Antragange base. 

I started my Antragange trek early morning around 6. The weather was really nice and I reached the temple and then further the vegetation within no time. The trek was a short and easy one. 

Early morning View from the point after
I finished the initial trek to reach the vegetation.

This is where the cave exploration starts. There is apparently a road route to reach till here. The caves are not deep caves but natural formations of rocks where you can pass through from tight passages. Antragange are a range of rocky mountains (more than 10 atleast), most of which are unexplored. The place is a delight to explore during early morning. I roamed around a lot and tried to explore a lot of it. Found a virgin cave also which was not polluted with any paper or plastic. The cave exploration was exciting, peaceful relaxing views were a good break from noisy Bangalore.

I trekked down from the top around 10 and it was getting hot, so I tip toed quickly among the rocks to reach the base. Took a bus back to Bangalore (which dropped me at KR Puram). Buses from Kolar to Bangalore run till 12pm.

Mantapa in middle of an open field.

Early Morning View from near the Mantapa

Beautiful. Isn't It ?

Another trek route (starts from the left) into one of the hills. Less Explored.

After trekking the hill quite some distance, an open field.

A lot of such unexplored caves/rock passages are there in Antragange.

Peace, silence, soothing wind, no sun and a joint.
This place was really amazing ! :-)

Top Trekking Destinations Near Bangalore

A personal Checklist of To-Do treks near Bangalore.

Following is the list of some famous treks very near (< 150 kms) from Bangalore, Karnataka, India. 

1. Kabbal Durga Trek
2. Savandurga Trek
3. Skandagiri Trek (~ 70 kms)
http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/01/0401-trek-to-skandagiri.html 
4. Bheemeshwari Wildlife Trek
5. Rangaswamy Betta Trek
6. Makalidurga Trek
   http://www.getbeyondlimits.com/treks/makalidurga
   
7. Nandi Hills Trek (70 kms)
8. Chennarayana Durga  (100kms)
9. KuntiBetta Trek (125 kms)
   http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/03/0802-kuntibetta-trek.html
10. Devrayana Durga Temple trek
11. Nijagal Betta Trek
12. Mekedatu Trek
    http://traveltwosome.com/blog/day-trips-from-bangalore-mekedatu/
13. Antragange Cave Exploration (Near Kolar)
    http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/06/0606-antragange-trek.html

Treks at an overnight journey (> 200 kms) from Bangalore.

WESTERN GHATS :

1. Kumara Parvatha Trek (Karnataka)
http://wishgo.blogspot.in/2015/03/2802-kumara-parvata-trek.html





Kurangini >> Kollukkumalai >> Meesapulimala >> Silent Valley (Kerala)
Kodaikannal > Munnar (http://usandeep.com/trekking/kodaimunnar.html) (TN/Kerala)
Vellarimala / Vavulmala (Kerala)
Tadiyendamol > Coorg (Karnataka)
Wayanad -> Chembra peak, Anaerangal, Anamudi, Ponmudi, Nelliyampathi and Dhoni, Agastyarkoodam  (Kerala)
Kudremukh / Thirumaleguppi (Karnataka)
Kodachari (Karnataka)
Chikkmaguluru (Mullayangiri and Bababuddangiri) (Karnataka)
Coorg (Karnataka)
Gokarana beach trek (Karnataka)
http://www.usandeep.com/trekking/gokarna.html
Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala) http://periyartigerreserve.org/
Fort Rajmachi Trek (Maharashtra)
Sakleshpur >> Yedakumari  (Karnataka)
 Harishchandragad-Bhairavgad-Kunjar (Maharashtra)
Jungli Jaigad Fort Trek (Maharashtra)
Karla Caves (Maharashtra)
Naneghat Fort (Maharashtra)
Agumbe (Karnataka)

EASTERN GHATS :

1. Nilgiri (Tamil nadu) 
2. Nagalapuram (Andhra Pradesh)

08/02 Kuntibetta Trek

After Skandagiri and Hampi (which wasn't a trek really), Kuntibetta was a disappointing trek from trekking perspective and even sunrise perspective. It was an easy night trek, but I enjoyed every moment of it because of the company of friends. No, we did not litter anything at the top.

It was an easy trek and a short one and even the clouds weren't there to give the sun a sparkling entry.

But, Sunny (and Purnima), Sahil (and Ankita), Doctor and Me had a really good time. We hired a personal taxi till the base. Sahil had come here once before and told that you do not have to take a right turn where there is a small board that has something written on it in Kannada. We did not have a Kannada friend, but we had an ex-Kuntibetta trekker amongst us, who guided us the base and till where he went last. I took over the lead on the trek up and doctor took the lead on the way down.

There were some trekkers who had come through a package and were guided by a person also, we let them pass us by, while we waited for them to disappear. At some points, I deviated from the main path just to make the trek a little difficult, but still all of us reached the top easily. We were up the entire night, drinking, gossiping, smoking. We enjoyed the campfire and the viewpoints till sun came and we started enjoying the sunrise. We went to the lake later but it wasn't worth the visit.

The next time I am going to Kuntibetta will definitely be a time when there is no moon and it is cold or monsoon.

04/01 - Trek to Skandagiri

Rahul and I started our little journey on 3rd Jan night to Nandi Hills and reached Skandagiri base at 2am following Google Maps. The rest of the trek can not be described in words. Both of us had never done any trek before. Well, I had done one in Ramanagar earlier but that was very easy.

We started following a bunch of localites who had come to trek Skandagiri and we thought that they knew the way. 20 minutes into the trek and having cleared some 2-3 normal to difficult hurdles, we encountered a major hurdle which required a group to act together. Well, they helped us out. 30 minutes further, we were in middle of slippery rocks, bruised by thorny bushes, low light and real green shiny snake with no way further and needed real courage to cross that snake/steep slope/slippery rock hurdle . Yes, we made it till the top by taking time and finding ways, but gosh it was no ways an easy trek as I had thought. Well, this post is not a travelogue, so, all I want to say is :
1) Go there if you know which way to go up. There was a very easy way (comparatively) through which we climbed down. You should know that way. There are some local guides which charge you for that. Either hire one or go through an adventure company.
2) I hope you get lost and I really do because that quadruples the adventure. In that case, make sure you have a good torch, water bottle, a very light backpack, a knife and will to climb up through the thorny bushes and dangerous wildlife and scary slopes and drops.
3) There was maggi, water at the top and very cold breeze. the Sunrise was just beautiful. All the people went nuts at the first sight of the sun.

We had a lot of fun climbing up to the top and there was not much tiredness after the trek although the legs were paining towards the end of the trek. I had a little sleep in the afternoon and went to a party in the evening.