A Weekend Trip to Bandipur

We had few relatives coming down to Bangalore from Kolkata and they wanted to visit some tourist locations around Bangalore. As usual my in-laws looked upon me for some ideas. Frankly speaking I always try and avoid family trips because in a family trip you don't carry 3 bottles of Beer, 2 underwear’s & 2 packets of cigarettes in your bag, all these heavenly things are replaced by some good clothes, soft drinks and chips packets ;).All the ingredients that make a purrfect holiday need to be parted with in a family trip... Hey that just rhymed ;)

Anyway there was no escape and I was given the task of planning and executing this trip by my In-laws.

The plan:

location

Since our relatives were visiting us for the first time what better/clichéd place to visit than Mysore.

Though Mysore is a very beautiful city, I have been bored to death by visiting Mysore and all its attractions like the Mysore palace, Zoo etc. time and again hence I wanted to skip Mysore this time because I already had to sacrifice on the heavenly things mentioned above ;) and did not want to visit the same old places which would add to the boredom.

However for all people visiting south India for the first time Mysore is a must visit place and hence it couldn't be dropped from the itinerary. So keeping all these things in mind I suggested Bandipur so that we can spend maximum time in Bandipur and visit attractions in Mysore on the way back from Bandipur so it was a win-win situation for all.

Route, Accomodation & Transport

We were totally 6 people and I and my In-laws have hatchbacks so driving by ourselves was totally ruled out because it meant taking two cars for a comfortable journey..... So we hired a Qualis to drive to Bandipur...

The route was Bangalore--> Mysore--> Bandipur Via the Mysore Ooty Highway....

With the route and transport planned it was time to plan for the accommodation. I was shocked to find out that few resorts in Bandipur which charge around 6k per person per night were running full. The high income and the spending capacity of people in Bangalore these days has had a major effect on the surrounding tourist places. As we Bangaloreans try and explore new places over the weekend and since we don't mind spending on quality things, the cost of most of the accomodations in the Tourist places around Bangalore have sky rocketed. However I was lucky to find an economical resort (Bangalore standards ;) ) called MC Resort which was situated close to the Bandipur Forrest.

We booked the resort for 6 people and were all set for the trip.

The Journey Begins

The worst part about a family trip is that you are not allowed to drive in the night as elders give consider safety as the prime importance over anything else which means you have to wake up early in the morning for the journey. I had to wake up by 5 and the shift my arse from the bed to the Cab which was waiting for us downstairs. I didn't even bother to take a shower, I just woke up had a cup of coffee and sat in the car parked downstairs and dozed off.As I did not have to drive this time i had the luxury to doze off in the journey :) .

We left Bangalore at 6 in the morning. As a ritual people heading towards Mysore always pit stop at the Kamat hotel located midway between Ramnagara & Chanpattana. So did we!! Because how could you start out on a journey without the amazing idlis and Dosas dished out by this Kamat joint without which this journey would have been incomplete.

After a sumptuous breakfast we headed off to Bandipur. MC Resort was not difficult to find, it was on the highway itself some 200 mts after Jungle lodges Bandipur. I did not have high expectations from the resort since they were charging us way below what the other resorts were charging in its vicinity.

However when I reached there I was pleasently surprised. The rooms were very clean and well maintained. They had a nice sit-out and had facilities like Carrom, Swimming pool, TT tables etc. We had actually found a gem of a place.

I just threw the luggage in the room and jumped off into the swimming pool.... After spending close to an hour swimming playing TT etc. we went to the dining hall and had lunch. The lunch was very delicious, the flavours had a bit of village touch to it.

As the saying goes you don't visit a jungle and not go to a safari. So We booked for a private Jeep safari which was scheduled in the evening. It was one of a kind experience for our relatives since they had never visited a jungle and never been in an open Jeep safari. The safari started at 3PM. We spotted elephants, Bisons, Peacocks & some birds. However we weren't lucky enough to spot a tiger or any wild cat. The Jeep us took us around for almost 3 hours and the disappointment of not spotting a tiger was clearly visible on the driver's face too as he was optimistic in spotting a Tiger since the people who went for the morning safari had apparently spotted the Royal Bengal Tiger 3 times.

However all the search went in vain and we had to comfort ourselves spotting some wild elephants and jungle fowl ;) .

We were back at the resort by 7 and had tea and some delicious snacks. The resort arranged a camp fire which again was a unique experience for our relatives. After a round of snacks at the camp fire spot we had our dinner. This completed Day1 of the trip. All in All MC resort was a wonderful place to stay and the delicous food being the highlight of the resort. 

Day 2: Gopalaswami Betta & Mysore

As Mysore was an important leg in our itinerary we had to check out of the resort early. We checked out around 9 in the morning. When you are around Bandipur in the months of October & November you should make it a point to visit Gopalaswamy Betta. This is a picturesque hill located in the core area of Bandipur and offers some breath taking views of the Bandipur forrest from above. This place was once a paradise for trekkers but due to all the restrictions in place people are no longer allowed to trek in Gopalaswamy betta. The Gopalaswamy betta opens at 8:30 in the morning for visitors and closes at 5PM. Even with the restrictions in place Gopalaswamy Betta is a must visit place when you are around Bandipur. We checked out around 9 in the morning and reached the hilltop by 10 after spending an hour or so we started descending towards Mysore. We saw some famous attractions like the Mysore Palace on the way back and as a ritual again we stopped at the Fish Land restaurant in Srirangapattana. We had some delicious fish preparations like the Anjal Rawa fry, Mangalore style Pompret curry etc.  for lunch after which we departed to Bangalore. This completed our Mysore/Bandipur trip.

All in All it was a short & and a Sweet trip which our relatives are still raving about to other relatives which in-turn may result in more number of relatives visiting us and we doing a Bandipur/Mysore 2.0 :)