Trip to Mudumalai National Park :)

   I have been to Mudumalai National Park twice. The first time was quite a thrilling experience. It was probably four years back, and we had hired a mini bus. We were 8 of them. From Coimbatore to Masinagudi it took probably 5 hours. The sanctuary is divided into 5 ranges - Masinagudi, Thepakadu, Mudumalai, Kargudi and Nellakota. Here one can often spot herds of endangered Indian elephants, vulnerable Gaur and Chital. Mudumalai is also a Tiger Reserve.

   

Journey Begins:

We had started our journey by leaving at 10 a.m. The route which we preferred was Coimbatore-Ooty-Gudalur-Mudumalai-Masinagudi-Mavanalla.

  We reached Ooty by 1p.m and had a halt there to have lunch. We had in a local restaurant which was mediocre.

Madness

 Then we head off to Masinagudi, and we were all set with the cameras to capture any animal which was sighted. All were keenly looking outside and we all spotted a herd of elephants. Enthralled, we began clicking pictures and taking videos. But then our vehicle was caught by the forest officials and fined us Rs.1000, which was uncalled for. We started arguing that we didn't know about such things, and then we showed our Id card to the officials which resulted in reduction of the fine amount to Rs.500. The video below will give you a glimpse of how we were caught.

herd of elephants

 

  Moving on, It was around 5p.m, we had reached Mudumalai and then we had to search for a decent place to spend the night. So from there we head towards masinagudi which was around 7 km, but still couldn't find a place which was fine, so we moved to Mavanalla and we found a place called "Beverly hills-eco camp". 

Eco camp - (you can see our mini bus and 2 of my frens)

        There we decided to go for night safari, so after having our dinner we were all ready and stuffed ourselves in a local gypsy. It was pitch black and we could not see anything except the lights of our vehicle.

Initially we were frightened and numb but then got use to the dark. We saw spotted dear which were harmless.

And then we moved further and saw a Indian Bison (Gaur), standing alone and provoked.

After that, we saw two elephants fighting each other and by that sight our driver had instructed to leave before we jeopardize ourselves. So we left from there and we moved on. We all were hoping to see a leopard or a tiger and we were told that if your lucky you could probably find one. But we were unfortunate.

               Next day, we left to Pykara lake which was around 30 km and it took us about an hour to reach. We went there and the water was freezing cold.

Pykara lake

     After that we were aimlessly loitering around the market in Ooty, we did purchase a lot of home made chocolates and Nilgiri tea. There are a lot of places in Ooty which are botanical garden, rose garden, ooty lake which are places to look out for.

Ooty

 

 One of the distinct places to see if you like nature, wildlife, safari and trekking. This was one different adventure and it was a "rejuvenating experience".