It was during 22nd June 2021 when the second wave had reached it’s peak during March to May and was showing a bit of pity towards us as a nature enthusiast and a person whose loved the stays at JLR , I decided to check through there website randomly ,it was amazing how the hotels and restaurants were promoting to regain some popularity and traffic towards the area.
Taking advantage of the situation and also to my luck JLR too were no less in doing the same, being a luxury stay resorts for wilderness lovers it was a shock! but also a joyous moment when I viewed the prices, I was so confused about which place to book as I had been to many of these places in prior some with JLR ,as I was deciding I felt it was a great idea to call some of my friends too as this was probably the last time we would get something of this sort at such a low price.
“Local folklore displayed on the Dandeli Railway station “
Me and another 3 of my friends decided to go on a journey which was a truly unplanned experience from the train journey to roars in the night it had it alll
Our day started as we got off the dandeli railway station and got into a 17km bumpy drive in an old toofan, as bumpy it might have been it reminds of all the smile and conversation we had at time, I still remember we paid around 1000Rs for this amazing drive in the peak of monsoon even roads were singing the melodies of monsoon as we passed through the ghats.
“Enroute Dandeli”
We were warmly welcomed by the staff at the JLR as usual the hospitable staff of JLR is what makes the place more welcoming, the most interesting part about the staff there is most of them are locals who are well experienced and also very knowledgeable about the surroundings.
With some technical training and some basic English ( To reach all kind of crowd) these staff have been a real force in driving JLR to greater heights.
Getting back to our experience after a tired night journey we decided to take it easy on the first morning even though our check in time was 1pm we were allowed for a early checkin and rested for a bit and decided to go for an early lunch as we finished our lunch we were off to some bird photography with our experienced guide Mr. Vinayak and found some of the local favourites around, it’s amazing how many birds which are termed ‘rare’ or ‘uncommon’ are quite normal and easily seen in this place.
“A small photoshoot for the staff of the property”
We finished our birding session we were off to a drive to the famous kali bridge where 100s of Hornbill from all three species found in dandeli can be seen here in the winter season but since we had been there in an off season we couldn’t find all of them but the least we could do is click was our pics haha :). We had some amazing dinner as usual at JLR Mr. Manju who was the cook there cooked some great food over the period of three days of our stay with variety of cuisine adding a local texture and his own style into, I must say they always great food is all the places.
“Rainbow over the kali river as we photographed some hornbills”
Our second day started with a natural alarm from the famed ‘Whistling Boy’ aka the malabar whistling thrush an endemic species of the western ghats and same rain from the previous night and cloudy weather made the surroundings quiter but we were still at hope for sunlight but were a little disappointed however this made weather made it perfect for some herping and a hike right in the property our guide told a story of how they were attacked by a leopard enroute when they visited the trial a few weeks back which of course made our trek more adventurous!!!
Just before we started our trek we were greeted by a beautiful Montane trinket at our doorstep …..which again is a species endemic to the western ghats.
We started our trek through the dense evergreen forests of Ganeshgudi on our way we saw this mating pair of Giant Golden wood spider as we continued our trek Guru who was one our guide for the trek stumbled upon a humpnosed pit viper a stunning snake from the ghats as we continued our journey to the peak the weather was perfect for the trek.
As we reached the peak we were welcomed by the panaromic view of the supa dam backwaters we spent some quality time at the peak, all of us were lost in silence as always everything comes to an end we decided to trek back to our stay we saw a pair of beautiful Malabar Trogon and as we came back we decided to take some rest and do some safari in the Anshi national park.
“some clicks from the trek”
As we finished our lunch and rested a bit it was time for our safari for our bad luck the rains got quite heavy our safari got cancelled :(. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying our stay we sipped our evening tea and just had some great conversation with staff hearing their wild stories of their encounter with different animals in the vicinity from birds to bears the most unique animal is the black panther we were surprised to hear they had seen a black panther pair nearby!! a few weeks back.
The night was filled with the haunting sounds the ‘devil bird’ or the spot-bellied eagle owl which makes a sound which is often referred to the devil sound as we waited for some night sightings we saw a flying squirrel passing by but nothing other than that.
“Dining area and its rain soaked views”
Our next morning was a more relaxed one since we had to travel that day in the noon we just spent some more time around the property photographing some birds and some DRACOS …..aah how could I not talk about them dracos aka The southern flying lizard are species found in the western ghats of Karnataka though quite common in the south canara region you don’t get so many at the same place like you get at dandeli it’s a stunning view to see them glide from tree to tree, while it was disheartening to leave our journey had come to an end we took a taxi towards Dandeli railway station and boarded our 1:30pm and reached banglore by night.
“A female draco camoflauged perfectly”
I must say Dandeli is a paradise for people seeking a peaceful retreat even though it’s commercialized for adventure activities like most places in India places like JLR give a great experience with luxury amidst nature.It’s a bittersweet that tourism has boomed in last couple of years though the locals are finally able to generate good income the concept of sustainable tourism is often ignored in our country. With the ever growing tourism it’s really a requirement from us to make things more make things better and with nature as an inclusion in every package :).