Visiting God's own country..

Planning is something without which things don't seem to appeal to the better half.. And as usual, planned things don't quite really turn out as planned! Flight plan changes at the last minute, and we had to go ahead with the weekend getaway without the planned company. But sometimes unplanned things fall perfectly into the failing plan and give it a good shape again.. yes, another couple decided to join us, and we have company! :)

Had it not been for dependency to pick the other people, we would have slept for couple of hours more and been late as usual. It was almost midnight for us, I mean around 5 in the morning, when we left our house to pick up friends and start zipping away from Bangalore.. this time to God's Own Country - Kerala. Actually, its Wayanad we were visiting.. Sultan Bathery to precise.. Chulliyode to be more precise! :)

The whole idea of driving though the Bandipur National Park had us thrilled and excited over the trip. Yes, it was our first drive through a national park.. and yes we had imaged a lot many things that we would see on the way in the 'jungle'. Drove through the regular Mysore route.. fantastic roads.. clocking 140kmph whenever I got a chance.. later to realize that we had a minor case of motion sickness at the back seat.. Dropped the speed to more comfortable level and stopped en route at places for refreshment.. After final halt at Gundlupet Coffee Day which in on the highway itself, we diverted towards Wayanad and soon entered the Bandipur forest.

Still away from Monsoons, it appeared little dry.. Green but not as expected.. quite a lot of bamboo.. definitely a good drive at 30kmph throughout.. a little disappointed due to lack of wild animals which we thought would be roaming around freely in the forest and on the road during the broad daylight. ;) Besides that, the drive was quite fascinating with good road, forest all around, and cool breeze. We crossed the Kerala border soon.. the forest thickened a bit more and we were in the God's Own Country!

The drive through the beautiful Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary lead us into Sultan Bathery town and we took sometime to figure out the direction to our homestay at Chulliyode. The roads became narrower and little rough, but fun to drive through the countryside. The homestay was on the main road itself - Techno Green - with loads of plantation inside. Actually its an estate with tea plantation, coffee, pepper, beetle nut and rubber, occupying one complete hill side. The scenic views are very pleasing with good accommodation for a comfortable stay. Without wasting time we took to our rooms to freshen up and be back at the common dining areas for tea. Had a small walk through the estate to explore and have a feel of the place and please ourselves with as much fresh air as possible. The good news is that the place is coming up with new set of rooms, suites and tree houses which would soon be open for accommodation too. The night started to bring in a little cold and soon had a delicious home made dinner from a very humble and caring staff.

Time for some adventure - how about a drive through the forest once again? We drove back into the forest in the dead of the night.. with a hope to see some wildlife.. which perhaps, we missed during the day. We drove on, followed different routes through the jungle, only to spot a few deers and a Nilgai (Antelop). Moonless night offered us a slim chance to spot anything more substantial. We returned quite late and don't remember when we hit bed.

We woke a bit late, fresh and ready to explore again. The morning walk through the estate was a blessing. After we had collected a few coffee pods and pepper pods (thank god we did not go for the rubber!), it was time for some breakfast. A few tourist spots were on our list - Edakkal Caves and Kuruwa Dweep - had heard a lot about them from the local people and our net surfing. And soon we were heading towards them. The spots were rather disappointing - with maddening and unruly crowd. There was complete loss of any sort of management and people were happy pushing each other of the slippery rock slopes while climbing onto the entrance of the caves. We had not come prepared for this and were definitely not game for losing our lives in a stampede or to uncivilized acts we Indians display at such places.

We thought again about the next destination - Kuruwa Dweep, but the hunger pangs broke the whole process. We had a good lunch on the way in the town at a decent restaurant and decided to go ahead with the plan. It looked like we were driving on and on, and decided to ask for direction. We relied completely on the sign language with two locals on a bike who lead the way to the destination. Finally we arrived at the island situation on Kabini river. Water levels were low.. and at places little stinky. But it did have a very nice view around it, very quite and scenic. It was already late in the evening, there were no boats available to cross the river and go to the island (dweep). We spent sometime near the water.. enjoyed a freshly brewed tea and coffee, and headed back to the homestay.

Done with the dinner, we though of venturing into the estate in the darkness of the night. With no moon to shine light, we relied on a small flashlight which proved good for nothing. The plantations were full with many different varieties of noises as if the whole jungle had come alive. All the time we could think of the 2m snake skin that we had found earlier in the day while taking a walk in the estate. After around a 100 meters, we decided not to push ourselves to the limit and returned to bed! :D

Morning was quite and beautiful as usual.. After a little breakfast and settling the bills, we headed for a short trip to a local nursery which we had spotting while searching for the homestay on arrival. Few quick picks, adjustments in the boot, and we were headed back to Bangalore. To keep the spirits high, she offered to drive a bit - her first drive on a highway if I remember correctly. Besides one or two scary moments, the drive quite good and substantial for the first time. With original driver back on his seat, Bangalore was not far away.. :)