Leg 2: Bandipur, Mudumalai, Masinagudi and Ooty

Posted on: April 7th, 2009 in Around Bangalore, Experiences, Travel, Weekend Trips | 1,730 views

This entry is part of the series, Photography with a Hint of Wildlife.»

This series captures my experiences when two good friends» of mine and I travelled extensively, especially across the wild side of South India. I hope you enjoy the ride through my photographs and the written word.

After a disappointing time at Mysore» (covered in Leg 1: Srirangapatna and Mysore »), we decided to head towards Ooty. The road would take us through the temple town of Nanjangud» , Gundlupet» on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the forests of Bandipur» and Mudumalai» , and through Masinagudi» , right till Ooty» . We stopped at Nanjangud for a short lunch and resumed our journey, looking forward to spotting wildlife in Bandipur and Mudumalai.

Just before the Bandipur National Park, we saw the clouds getting dark and it was going to rain. The six kilometre stretch to the Park was really bad with a virtually non-existent road. This, coupled with the rain, saw us at really slow speeds. We were stopped at the entrance and the forest guard let us through. We drove slowly through the forest hoping to see wild animals, but we didn’t. We then passed through the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve where again we didn’t spot any wildlife, save for a peacock on a tree, which a woman with huge lens (rocket launchers I call them) was trying to shoot.

We then entered Masinagudi where we took a right (avoiding the busy Gudalur» route) to start climbing the Nilgiri Hills. The climb is a steep one, with 36 hairpin bends, and it sure is a pleasure to count the bends one by one after you’ve crossed them! We were to stay at Hotel Lakeview» in Ooty, and it wasn’t difficult to locate it, because their signboards start right from the foothills. All you need to do is “follow the sign”. Anyway, after locating the hotel and completing the formalities, we just rested as we couldn’t go out not just because of the rain but also because of the fatigue. We decided to explore Ooty during the subsequent days.

[View with PicLens]

Driving Experience: 6/10

The highway from Mysore is relatively calm until Gundlupet.
The six kilometres stretch to the Bandipur National Park is really bad with a virtually non-existent road.
The climb from Masinagudi to Ooty is steep with 36 hairpin bends.

Watch Out For:

Narrow and uphill road from Masinagudi to Ooty
Motorists heading towards you from the other direction. Use the horn extensively.
Cattle, sheep and humans trying to cross the highway at undesignated places

Look Out For:

Wildlife in the Bandipur National Park and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

Route Map

More From Vivek Dhage's Portfolio and Photoblog

Entries in this series:

Leg 1: Srirangapatna and Mysore
Leg 2: Bandipur, Mudumalai, Masinagudi and Ooty
Leg 3: Ooty
Leg 4: Ooty to Bangalore
The Ooty Trip: A Retrospect in Pictures

Cindy (a journalist and photographer) and her daughter Ashleigh.

Mysore, renamed to Mysuru is the second largest city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the headquarters of the Mysore district and the Mysore division and lies about 146 km (91 mi) southwest of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka.

Nanjangud is a town in Mysore district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is a temple town and is on the banks of the river Kapila (a.k.a Kabini). It is at a distance of 23 km from the city of Mysore.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjangud

Gundlupet is a town in Chamarajanagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. This small town is about 56 km from the Mysore-Ooty / Mysore-Calicut(NH 212) road and about 200 km from Bangalore. It is the last town in Karnataka enroute to Ooty or Calicut.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundlupet

Bandipur National Park is one of India’s best known sanctuaries, and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in South India, and is contiguous with the Mudumalai National Park in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, the Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, and the Nagarhole National Park to the northwest. It is home to around seventy tigers and over three thousand Asian elephants (as per the 1997 census), along with leopards, dholes, gaur and sloth bears. Bandipur is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandipur_National_Park

The Mudumalai National Park (currently, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve) lies on the northwestern side of the Nilgiri Hills (Blue Mountains), in Nilgiri District, about 80 km north-west of Coimbatore in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu, on the interstate boundaries with Karnataka and Kerala states in South India.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudumalai_National_Park

A village on the border of the Mudumalai National Park.

Ooty, short for Ootacamund (officially, Udhagamandalam, sometimes abbreviated to Udhagai), is a town, a municipality and the district capital of the Nilgiris district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

It is a popular hill station located in the Nilgiri Hills and stands at an approximate height of 9,080 feet (2,767 m) above sea level.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ooty

Gudalur is a panchayat town and taluk in Nilgiris district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a picturesque green valley on the way from Mysore to Ooty with a population of 32,605 (1991 census). It is a gateway to three states, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala, lying equidistant from both Kerala and Karnataka. It is said that Gudalur gets its name from Koodal – uru, meaning the “meeting place”.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudalur_(Nilgiris_district)

Hotel Lakeview
Address: West Lake Road, Ooty- 643004.
Tel.: (0423)-2443904,2443580-82 &2440978-83
E-mail: reservations@hotellakeview.com