Unfortunately only 5 of us made it to the bus stand as the doubtful one had to back out due to personal reasons. Without letting this set back dampen our spirits we set off in a positive mood, although one could feel a sense of uncertainty within everyone as to how this trip would unfold.We boarded the bus to dandeli at 8:30 pm. The journey lasts 12 long hours(around 480 KM). The roads are good and the latter part of our journey was enjoyable as we were welcomed to the western ghats with a blanket of mist with the sun slowly coming out of the horizon. We reached dandeli at about 8 : 30 in the morning. We had to go to The jungle lodge resort located in Ganesh Gudi Which was 25 km from Dandeli. So we boarded a bus to Ganesh Gudi which is roughly an hours journey. We reached the camp @ around 10. We had booked a dormitory. Since no one else was there we had the whole dorm to ourselves. After treating ourselves to an ordinary breakfast we freshened up, had a talk with the locals about the area and roughly planned out when to do what.
Panoramic view of the resort ambiance After having an awesome lunch we went for a hike with one of the caretaker guiding us to the sunset point. The hike took about an hour. We had reached the top an hour before the sunset so had to wait a bit.As the sun slowly started to set our chatter started to die down as everyone of us were spell bound and mesmerized by the view.
The next day we decided to go rafting. Everything was arranged by the folks at the resort including the travel to that place. It cost around 1300 per head .We were(well i certainly was) bit tentative about rafting given my inexperience with swimming but some how I put on a brave face and agreed.Imagine my plight when they asked us to sign the papers that said the rafting folks were not responsible if anything would have happened to us. After listening to the instructions carefully we put on the safety gear and some pics later we were in the raft. on the Kali river.It was a 9km stretch with about 5-6 rapids the first being the biggest one. And I for one thoroughly enjoyed it even though I was a bit scared initially. I felt it was worth it.Tired from our adventurous experience we headed back to the resort for lunch cracking jokes about one another on the way back.
After another awesome lunch we planned to go to a place called Syntheri Rocks. Its a huge monolithic rock with the Kaneri river gushing by its side. One can actually see the effect of erosion that has resulted in hollows on this rock. It was a beautiful spot but another one of those spots that had suffered at the hands of irresponsible tourists.
When we were back the camp fire was lit and we all crashed there for a couple of hours.
The next day the lodge keepers had arranged a hike for viewing the birds around the place. As it turns out its one of the hot spot the for Bird enthusiasts. Luckily we were able to spot quite a few birds (the ones that fly of course :)). Also they had arranged for a small boat ride for spotting crocodiles. We saw a couple of them too.The second one of which I was definitely sure that it was a stone but the boat navigator disagreed. Thinking its not smart to argue with the one navigating the boat i agreed.
In the afternoon we came back to the dorm and got freshened up and since we still had a couple of hours there we finally got a chance to use the hammocks there. Only a the time of leaving did we realize how fun the whole trip had been. We also felt a bit pampered by the facilities given to us by the resort folks. A couple of places that we missed were the wildlife safari which was closed as the area had been identified as a tiger reserve and Kavala Caves which was also closed as it was the occasion of Maha Shivaratri with lots of pilgrims visiting it from the nearby villages but nevertheless it was an enjoyable trip.
Overall it was an awesome weekend getaway from the computer, laptop ,cubicle and C programs.
P.S The pics were taken from my friends cam and also my mobile as I could not take my cam.
