Even if, I want to forget the view of the charismatic jungle rain, the song of the wildlife, which grew merrier in the night, the lush greenery of the jungle…I can’t!! Such was my experience of the visit to the K-Gudi(Kyathdevaraya Gudi) Wilderness camp.
Overview:
Distance: 193Kms.
Resort: K-Gudi Resort, State Highway 80, Punajur State Forest, Karnataka 571127
Tariff: The whole day’s itinerary along with all meals and two safaris(one in the evening and one in the early morning) costed us around 4500/person. The check in time is 12 noon.
My husband and me started our journey at 7:00am on Saturday(8th July’14) from Bangalore in our Honda Amaze. We had booked a tented cottage in K-Gudi resort a week in advance online via their site. We initially had preferred the log hut but had to stay in the tent house because the former was not available.
We were following the directions given by google maps for the journey and below is the route we took:
We had an early breakfast in one of the road side hotels in Kanakpura at around 8:15am. Even though it was a 2 lane road the drive was a pleasurable on the highway NH-209.
The scenic journey:
We reached the camp around 11:45am in the afternoon and were greeted and welcomed by one of the naturalists in the camp. From there we were transferred to out tent house which actually exceeded my expectations. The view from the tent house was something to behold. The basic amenities were in place and it was sufficiently clean.
We had some time before the lunch (1:30 pm) so, we just decided to take a walk in the huge campus of the Resort.
We spotted a lone deer taking a walk in the campus.
An Elephant wandering near the resort:
Our tent house:
There was a school nearby, just took a leisurely walk till there after which we went for lunch.
Lunch was pretty average (had sufficient options for both veg and non veg food). By 2:00pm we were back in tent house where we engaged ourselves in bird watching activity. The nearby trees were full of different varieties of birds. Luckily, we had a binocular with us and we could observe their activities closely.
At 3:15pm we were all set for the safari armed with our cameras and binocular.
There was a briefing for some 5 minutes about the do’s and don’t’s in the forest during the safari:
Don’ts:
- No noise.
- No flash while taking pictures of wild animals.
- Maintaining safe distance from the animals.
- Step out of the jeep only when the guide asks us to.
It was a 9 seater open safari jeep that was supposed to take us into the jungle. Each safari jeep had a driver and naturalist accompanying the people. The naturalists are quite knowledgeable and they do spot wildlife very quickly.
We had another family of 4(2 adults and 2 kids) accompanying us in the safari jeep. The winding jungle trails alone mesmerized me. It was like getting transported to a different place altogether where the only colors that I could see was lush green.
Some 10 minutes after our journey we spotted our first wild lives in the form of the Rocket Tail Drongo and the Serpent Eagle. The spotted deer were abundant in the jungle and were alerted by our presence.
Serpent Eagle:
We also spotted a group of Indian Gaur on the way. The quite looking creatures are very aggressive when needled so, we kept a safe distance from them.
The Indian Gaur:
The Beautiful winding way into the jungle:
By 4:30pm we did not have any sightings of the ‘bigger animals’. That is when the rain clouds started looming over. It started raining very heavily within 10 minutes. The naturalist told us that it was the first monsoon shower in the Jungle. All of us were hardly able to hide under the mere canvas covering of the safari jeep under the relentless showers.
Relentless showers:
Even after being completely drenched and the news that the sightings of the wild might be lesser now my spirit did not damp because the rain in Jungle is an experience in itself. The whole canopy of the jungle was looking so fresh!!
Within 20 minutes of the rain the trails had all turned muddy with very less visibility.
Suddenly, the driver stopped dead on the tracks and whispered ‘a herd of elephants’. We could see a herd of elephants on our right side not very far off from us. We maintained absolute stillness. There was a herd of which I could see 2 grownups and 2 baby elephants. We took some pictures maintaining a very safe distance, as we had no intention of bothering the beautiful tusker family outing in the rain.
The herd of elephants:
The naturalist told us that we do have chances of leopard sightings, as they prefer treetops when it rains heavily but the problem was the rain was getting fiercer with each passing moment. It was around 6:00pm now and the jungle chill was creeping in topped with rain the temperature had dropped quite a bit. With no waterproof or warm clothing with us we were all cold but the thrill of spotting something the next second was overcoming all these issues.
Suddenly the lady sitting behind me whispered hurriedly ‘stop, there is something in the bushes’.
She was taking about a black furry creature hidden in the shrubs few feet from us. The rain did reduce our visibility a lot but I could not make a mistake in recognizing the sloth bear, which was standing, on the hind legs when we spotted it. We did not want to linger for long because we were quite close to the wild life and it was risky for both. I somehow took a hasty photograph and we proceeded.
The Sloth bear:
Around 6:40 we came back to the camp. Hot tea and ‘pakodas‘ were waiting for us. The rain had stopped but there was a thick mist all over and the temperature had dropped down quite a bit.
There was a wildlife documentary showing in the cafeteria. The documentary was based around the Indian wildlife and how and why we need their conservation.
Straight after tea we headed to out tent. The cozy mattress and blanket felt life saving and we wasted no time snuggling into it. We took rest till 8:15pm after which we got ready for dinner at 8:30pm. The camp also has bonfire in the night but since it was pouring again it could not be possible.
Dinner was good and after some socializing and sharing our safari experiences with each other we were done for the day and headed of for the much-needed sleep. The resort power goes out by 10:30pm till 6:00am in the morning in view of creating no disturbance to nightlife of the wild. Also, people are not supposed to come out during the night because there might be predators lurking inside the campus in the night. We also came to know that one of the safari jeeps had caught sight of a tiger hiding in water. Well, I guess I was not that lucky but other sightings were good enough to give me a satisfied night of sleep. Lying on the bed we could hear the wildlife coming alive during the night. There was a constant jungle noise enveloping the whole area!!
Tip: Its always wise to carry full sleeve clothes when you are in the midst of the jungle as it gets cold in the night!!
Morning 6:00am, next day, there was a knock on the door, I sprang from my bed and saw one of the jungle lodge staff with tea/coffee in hand. Outside the early sunrise was looking beautiful and fresh with no rain. My heart warmed at the sight of hot tea which was getting served in bed..:). In another half an hour we were ready for our morning safari . We took almost the same trails but the mornings looked so clear and fresh. The first highlight of the safari was the Malabar squirrel chirping and jumping on the trees. The beautiful shiny brown creature with golden tail just mesmerized me. Of course, It was too fast for my camera!
On the background through out I could hear a bird whistling continuously. I could not stop myself and enquired about the source of the sweet sound and it came out to be a Malabar whistling thrush.
Our other sightings were a barking deer, a kingfisher and lots of spotted deer!
We came back at 8:45 am and had a sumptuous breakfast. We finished breakfast and bid adieu to the friends we had made during the stay and it was time to wrap up all the memories and take it back with us home.
Though, I could not get a glimpse of the ‘big cat’ but the thrill and the hope of getting a glimpse of it was a good enough experience for me.
The more I observe the wild the more I get drawn into it. It’s a different world altogether and will like to see if I can do anything to keep it safe, at least the way it is today!!!
Acevoyager Travelogue 
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