Drive to Dandeli

Dandeli:

  This place was never in our travel list. Few pictures in one of the facebook pages about birds in Dandeli made me curious about this place. My motto of this trip was to see hornbills and malabar squirrels.  So we made a quick plan, booked our stay and it was time to pack our bags soon.

route map

Day 1 (2/4/2015): 

We woke up early at 3:00 AM and got ready and left home by 4:00 AM. Tumkur road is wonderful 6 lane highway to drive. But not so good thing about good highways is there is nothing interesting to see around. Around 7:00 AM we started feeling hungry and started looking for breakfast options. On this road, highway hotels are far and few and few that exist were yet to open. We stopped for breakfast at Apoorva Resort on the outskirts of Davangere at 8:00 AM.

Sun rise on the way

Davangere Benne Dose

After breakfast we drove on and reached Ranibennur Black buck sanctuary at 9:15 AM. We had planned to stop here as it was on the way though we had heard bad reviews about this place. The gate for sanctuary was closed and no guard or any officer from forest department was anywhere near.  We spent considerable time enquiring and finding out ways to visit the sanctuary and eventually left from there by 9:45 AM.

On our way stopped for a coffee break at CCD, and reached Dandeli by 1:30 PM. Stopped and made call to hotel to find the route as the usual road was closed for repair work. Received guidance for direction, reached Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi by 2:00 PM. Had wonderful lunch and took rest for a while.
  After resting for a while tried my hand on bird photography. In the midst of all the Pro photographers and their cameras and gadgets there I was feeling lost.

Emerald Dove

Tickles blue fly catcher

birds of same feather flock together

This place was buzzing with life. You could turn in any direction and see/hear a bird. It was wonderful experience. And I had the sighting of the Malabar Squirrel, one check box ticked.

Malabar Squirrel

Lygaeidae bugs were trying to carry this fruit home

Post coffee and snack we went for a small hike to the hill behind the resort. It takes about 30 minutes to climb and is pretty steep.

Even the dead leaves look colourful here

Once on top, you get to see wonderful scene of Supa back water and feel like never returning back. Post sunset this place is not safe because of the wild life in the area.

Supa backwater

We waited for the sunset post which we climbed down quickly before the light fades away.

Once back in the room, we sat out side the room to listen to the jungle. You will be amazed to listen to so many different calls ranging from insects to birds to animal if you listen carefully.

It was full moon night

Post wonderful dinner, sat outside in the balcony till I cant keep my eyes open any more. Finally went to sleep around 11 PM. A wonderful day ends.

Day 2 (3/4/2015): 

Woke up by 6:30 AM and went for a walk.  Sun was just rising and got to hear and see a lot of birds around the property. 

Sun rise

This jeep was taking a well deserved over night rest after ferrying rafting enthusiasts the previous day. After returning from the walk, did some more bird photography. Most of the photographers/guests were still sleeping and birds were at ease with less disturbance.

Oriental White Eye

Ruby throated bulbul

After breakfast left for Timberyard in Dandeli town at 10:00 AM.  This is about 20 KMs from the resort. We went there as we had heard that this place is famous for horn bill sighting.  But we were disappointed as we had no horn bills there. We spent about an hour exploring this place and withdrew some cash and filled fuel and returned to resort by 12:30 PM. In Dandeli town petrol bunks do not accept cards, so use cash for fuel here.

timber yard

In the evening Purandar took us for coracle ride. Once we crossed the river he stopped and we went to a field near by. And we got to see countless horn bills in one location. Our trip was complete. We spent more than an hour here seeing them fly and clicking a lot of pictures.

yellow footed green pigeon

Malabar pied hornbill

We returned back at around 7:00 PM , had a dinner and sat back in the balcony to enjoy the silence of the forest.


Day 3 (4/4/2015): 

Woke up at 6:00 AM, went for a morning walk, watched some more birds and  had coffee. Had our breakfast around 8:30 AM , got ready and checked out at 10:30 AM.  We stopped for lunch at Hotel Kamath Upachar at 2:00 PM.  We reached Chitradurga Fort at 4:00 PM. 

Location Map

History of the place

Chitradurga Fort

Directions are well marked

Chitradurga Fort

Weather was very hot, we were exhausted soon. We left from here at 6:00 PM, stopped for a  coffee. Reached home at 9:30 PM. A wonderful trip where we really got an opportunity to be close to nature.

Review about Resort :

We stayed in Jungle Lodges, Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi.  A wonderful place to stay. Food was excellent. However there is no mobile signals here including BSNL. You will have to walk about half a KM to the main road to get mobile connectivity.

Most of the visitors here come for bird viewing/photography and they have made special arrangement for the same. We did give a miss to the water rafting which is arranged at extra cost, but people who opted for it were very happy with the experience.

We recommend the evening hiking to the nearby hill, it is wonderful experience. Also go for the coracle ride for wonderful view of hornbills in their habitat.

Facility available for bird photography