Mudumalai - Third time lucky

I wasn't sure if the trip would happen this time and it was becoming a habit. The earlier two trips which I had planned for Mudumalai didn't happen. For some valid reason ofcourse. So when all events pointed to the same thing happening again I was worried!!! It turned out to be third time lucky and we were off along with Subbu's family (Subbu, Shobana and Skanda) to Mudumalai during the Christmas break of last year (2007).

I had heard about the Leewood Estate (aka Anaikadu resort) from my boss. I checked their website and gave their number to my friend Subbu. He diligently followed up with them and ensured all the arrangements were taken care of. (Check out the website http://www.homestaykodagu.com/home_stay/anaikaadu_resort.htm for more details on the resort that we stayed at)

We left at around 11:15 am and drove all the way till Mysore before stopping for lunch at Hotel Siddartha. The road from Mysore to Mudumalai was quite OK with a few bad patches. We crossed Gundlupet and after some time entered the Bandipur National Park. As usual I was very happy to see the forest. The road was good and it was a pleasure driving here. On the way Harini sighted a deer and then some peacocks. There were black faced monkeys at one point which were interacting with people. This is not something the forest authorities permit but people do stop and start interacting with animals when they can. Not a good thing to do in a forest. We crossed Bandipur and entered the Mudumalai section. You cross the Moyar river here but the river is not very wide. The traffic in the Mudumalai area was dense and it took as a longer time than we anticipated to get to Masinagudi. We finally go to Masinagudi where a driver from the resort was waiting for us.

At Masinagudi we took a right turn after the police station and drove for around 7 kms to get to the Singara post. There we left our car and the driver took us in his 4 wheel drive for 3kms. There is no road here and the dirt track is not easily motorable. This place requires a vehicle with high clearance. It was a rough drive with the vehicle passing over tough terrain and going over some streams. So you can imagine all of us being shaken and stirred !!! Inspite of all this, the drive on this stretch was probably the best drive of our trip as we saw the maximum wildlife here. The driver first showed us a couple of deers which were hidden behind some bushes. Then we saw peacocks and we got lucky and saw a sambar deer. The big fellow, with light brown skin and no horns, looked at us with interest briefly and then vanished into the sunset !! After these sightings we reached the resort and what a place it was !!!

The moment we saw the resort we were taken in by it. It was standing there alone, away from the office building. The ground floor was a huge open dining hall from where you can comfortably sit and see the coffee estates and the forest in front of you. The two room upstairs had 4 beds each. The rooms opened out to a balcony, which faced the forest and the water hole and the salt pit in it. Seats were thoughtfully provided so that the scenery and wildlife can be observed leisurely from here. The website advertises this as 'your own machan' and I cannot but agree with the description.

After the customary bonfire and a nice dinner, Subbu, Shobana, Gayathri and I sat on the balcony, late in the night, after the kids had slept. Were were lucky that it was a full moon day. . The cloudless sky ensured that the illumination of the moon was enough for us to observe any animal which came nearby. Gayathri suddenly noticed a movement and pointed it out to us. Subbu had a bought binoculars along and when we used the binoculars we saw that it was wild boar which had crossed the fence somehow and come in. We watched it with interest for some time before it disappeared. We sat there for some more time imbibing the experience and it was an experience to cherish. The forest all around us and the hills of Mudumalai were illuminated by the radiance of the full moon. The silence that enveloped us was broken once in a while by the engine of some vehicle climbing a steep ghat section somewhere we couldn't see. The eager anticipation of all four of us for some wildlife and us sitting next to each other and talking in whispers so as not to scare off any wildlife that would come. Time passed with us not sighting any other animal and we decided to call it a day, or shall we say, call it a night !!!

The next day, after breakfast we went for a small trek till what was supposed to be a river nearby. It looked more like a small jungle stream than a river. It was quite hot that day and the place our guide took was like a small pond formed by this stream and it was hidden by lot of tall trees. It was cool at this place and we spent some time taking photos. On the way to the stream we saw the footmarks of bison and elephant and elephant dung in some places. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we didn't encounter any wildlife during our small trek.

The post lunch period saw us leaving for the Mudumalai sanctuary for the bus safari. There was not much of wildlife in sight during the initial part of the safari. Almost towards the end of the trip we saw a group of bisons. Other than the bison, we saw the usual suspects, deer and peacock !! After the safari, we went to the Teppakadu Elephant camp. Here is where trained elephants arrive after their 'day job'. The elephants started arriving one after the other. You can watch them being fed by the officials here. This place also has a small museum on wildlife which gives good information. One of the attractions here baby elephant, which is supposed to have been orphaned, and was picked up by the forest officials. It now lives at this camp. We got back to Singara Post where the 4 wheel drive came to pick us. Just as we got into the estate the driver took us straight on instead of turning towards our rooms. I was wondering what he was doing when the headlights of the car illuminated a bunch of deers near the salt pit. It was a unique way of seeing the deer !!

The night again, after bonfire and dinner, we sat again on the balcony to try our luck and see if we could sight some wildlife in the night. The moon didn't rise as early as the last day and we had to wait for some more time for illumination. Our vigil didn't yield us much in terms of wildlife sighting but no one complained.

The lack of sightings in the night was compensated by the deers, peacock and the different birds that we saw in the morning. There were a bunch of deers which had come to the water hole. They must have arrived early in the morning or very late in the night. As it started dawning and the light from the sun started grazing the earth, the deers started leaving. The peacocks remained till the kids woke up and needless to say, the kids were thrilled to watch the peacocks.

We decided to go to Ooty the next day and left after breakfast. We climbed up the ghat and in an hour's time we were in Ooty. We decided to see the botanical gardens and the lake. As a town, I felt Ooty can be maintained better. It does lack neatness. Since we were there on a week day the rush was not too much. We saw the botanical garden, had our lunch at Commercial Street, bought some Ooty chocolates from a bakery there and went to the lake, where we took a boat ride. We left Ooty after 3 o clock and got back to Singara post.

The 4 wheel drive this time was again very eventful. We were looking for some wildlife and when we were about to cross a stream I noticed a bison standing nearby and staring at us. Our driver stopped the vehicle for all of us to have a look and take a photograph if possible. When you see it close by, you realize the hugeness of this creature. With his black skin glistening in the dying light he was watching us. And we watched him and realised that he was not alone. We were thrilled to see more bisons, whom the trees had covered earlier. Slowly they started moving away into the thicker part of the forest. Very reluctantly we had to leave that place and get back to our rooms. When we got back to our rooms, we saw that a huge number of deers have come to the water hole. There were atleast 15 deers or more. Added to it there were also a few black faced monkeys around. All of us had tea sitting in our balcony and watching the wildlife outside. You could realize how sensitive to sound the deers were. These chaps would have been around 300 mts or more away from us would turn their heads and look in our direction whenever we spoke to each other, even if it was in a low tone !! After some time a wild boar came that way and vanished into the overgrowth. Our excitement was high when we sighted something like an ant eater, which moved very fast and vanished.

The night bonfire was interesting for the kids as Subbu had organized a treasure hunt. The kids were maha excited by the treasure hunt and finally found the treasure, which was with Subbu !!! After the dinner our night vigil continued. The moonrise was getting delayed every day and we sat in darkness that enveloped us. Suddenly we heard something like a splash and Subbu was sure that some animal had entered the water hole. With eyes wide open and with the aid of binoculars we saw and saw but nothing was visible. Reluctantly we went to sleep as we had to leave the next day.

We woke up early and I decided to go for a walk within the estate. Being a good 'cityzen', as usual, I got out with my mp3 player and the headphone. Once I got out of the room I realized what a stupid thing that was. The sounds of the forest early in the morning are more melodious than what any great music director can dream of. I can fully resonate with a recent ad when it says, "Why listen to the sound of humans when you can hear the music of heavens". I saw some nice birds and peacocks. It was a lovely experience walking within the estate in the morning.

We left the place very reluctantly. It was great going on this trip with Subbu and Shobana. Ranjani and Harini became good friends with Skanda. This trip was an experience which all of us will treasure.