Biligiriranga hills and KGudi Wilderness Camp

Biligiriranga Hills and KGudi Wilderness Camp
Distance	180 Kms
Time Needed	4.5 to 6 hours including driving
Places to see	Gopalasamy betta temple, Wildlife safari, Birds and animal watching, Photography
Local Guides	Safari will include guide from Resort
Specialty	Birds and Animals, photography
Stay options	Jungle Lodges and Resorts (http://www.junglelodges.com/kyathadevara-gudi-wilderness-camp/)
Food	Where you stay
Best time to visit	After rains it will be lush green, during summer (March till May) it might be dry and hot. Best season is between September to February. Sometimes they say during summer, animal sighting near water spots are more.
Online reservation link	http://www.junglelodges.com/reservation/
Other details	·       If you are taking a camera with lens which is more than 200mm, then you are charged Rs.500/= per safari. Since you go twice in a day, during evening and early morning you might end up paying Rs.1000/= ·       You can also choose to visit temple instead of safari

Young one, so cute,  straying alone, giving pose to camera without any fear

This was the most amazing sight I have ever seen, Wov sun lights passing through and reaching the grounds and I was so excited to see this. It was 7:20AM in morning.

It was December, a week before the Peak season starts and before Christmas holidays, we decided to go on a Safari from Jungle Lodges and Resorts for a day and come back to Bangalore on Sunday. It is being December we had high expectations on Greenery and good sightings on wildlife safari.

The resort is just 4 to 4.5 hours of drive from Bangalore(via Kanakapura Road), very beautiful and scenic paddy fields on the way to BR hills. There is a big pond in front of the property and a small Temple for Kyathadevara God. You need to book online.

We decided to go via Kanakapura road to avoid all the traffic and chaos on Mysore road during weekends. Google helped us with complete village side roads which was scenic and we liked it. On the way we got to see villagers drying Ragi crops throughout the roads. It helped kids to understand how farmers struggle to produce Ragi and various stages before they really pack it for sale. Kids really understood why they should not waste food after looking at farmers.

While we had great time looking at Ragi, Rice and Sugarcane fields on both sides, we have almost reached the base of the BR hills and stopped by forest range check post and the BR Hills entrance arch. From here it is completely a beautiful drive up on hills with lots of humps to reduce your speed. It seems you will spot elephants on the way, so drive very slowly and carefully. Sign boards says not to stop anywhere.

BR Hills Beautiful Entrance Arch

As you drive up you get to see beautiful views

We have reached the Jungle Lodges and Resorts camp soon. While you enter you could see a huge waterhole and on left side is the resort. You can spend your noon here under the trees after meals.

Waterhole inside the KGudi Resorts

KGudi Jungle Lodges and Resorts Cottages

Dining Area 

Do you see line of cottages in between the trees? 

View from your cottage, they have hammocks and stone benches to relax. 

Another view from cottage.....

We checked in and got refreshed quickly for Lunch as we had breakfast very early in morning and were hungry. The resort have few suite rooms and cottages. We chose suite room while cottages were also available. At Jungle lodges you are always charged per head and also based on the type of accommodation. The charges includes Safari.

The resort had lot of open space in front of the cottages. There are swings, hammocks and stone benches for you to sit and relax. All these were well places under trees and provides shade and fresh oxygen.

The food was excellent all the time and I really appreciate the cook for the varieties and the taste. After meals you get around 2 hours of break till 3:45PM and you can spend the time on those hammocks under the trees. They serve Tea/Coffee by 3:45PM. There is a guide who gives introduction about the resort, safari and details on sightings while you sip your coffee / tea.

Jeep Safari starts at 4PM. If you are taking Camera with a lens which is more than 200mm, then be aware of the charges which is Rs.500/= per safari. Kids were more excited than us. Jeep slowly entered into the forest. There was a complete silence and my kids were murmuring. Everyone in Jeep were looking all sides for animal sighting.  The driver kept stopping and listening to sounds. We get even more excited. Jeep kept going deep inside the forest and we started to look at the trees, vines and various shapes of trees, the safari passage. It started to become bit cold. The driver went close to a water hole and was checking with his binocular for any animals, birds. Jeep waited for few minutes and moved on. Another water hole came and again moved on further. But where are the animals ? :-) :-) It was so unfortunate, we could only see a spotted deer group and nothing else. Not even birds and no bird sounds as well.

Usual sighting of spotted deer

Male Barking Deer, it barks and signals others when they see predators

Female Barking Deer

Sambar Deer, unfortunately this poor thing got severe bites on his neck (look at the center of the neck) and hopefully nature will cure him

hmm.... kids told me that because these jeeps kept coming into these forests twice a day, all animals went deep inside and got scared of us. Yes, it was true. With lots of disappointment on kids face, Jeep started to come back to resort. we reached back at 6:45PM. They played a video and coffee/tea, snacks were served.

Within sometime at around 7:30 I guess they started the camp fire. Kids liked to sit around the campfire and talk. So we went to the campfire and sat for a while. Dinner was ready by 8:30PM. Sky was so clear and we saw many stars. I did not carry tripod and more than that I am still learning to take photos of night sky. As this place far away from city lights, sky looked very clear with no light pollution.

After Dinner, they told us to be ready by 6:00AM morning for another safari. They also provided hot coffee/tea in morning and Safari starts by 6:30 sharp. Again as we entered into the forest, we could see Crested Serpent Eagle and an Owl. I could take a shot of eagle but not Owl as it got scared and went off quickly. We again could spot few deers and returned back to resort at around 8:30AM.  Had a good breakfast. Spent some time roaming around, playing on the swings etc and checked out.

Jeep went deep inside in a different route this morning. But again rarely we could see any animals or birds again. But amazingly at one place we saw the sun rays falling through the trees and created a wonderful sight. I have taken few shots of it. More than animals, I just loved this sighting.

Isn't it wonderful? 

Being December this place looks so beautiful !

Cock and Hen wandering for insects

This is called Tree Burl ,Visit Wiki for details here

Trees inside water, they are dead and dry, not sure if they get life after water dries up !

Safari Track inside the forests, looks so beautiful

It was a wonderful trip, though we could not spot any animals we could see the dense forest and beautiful sun rays falling through. Other than safari you can also opt for BR hills temple visit which is just 15Kms from the resort up on the hills

This is another perfect day trip from Bangalore to spend your weekend. Read all other places from this blog. http://myjourneysinindia.blogspot.com/2014/07/weekend-breaks-or-day-trips-from.html