Jungle Safari on bikes!!!

"Come on man we can make it to Ooty before nightfall!". This was at around 3:30pm on a saturday afternoon at the foothills of Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta! This is the best way i remember our "One Day" trip we had planned for Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta and Bandipur.
The day was 24th of August 2007. We had been deprived of a ride since long.. My konkan trip had got cancelled because of some family reason. I was depressed as i was(and still) waiting for the P220 to stabilize so that i could buy it!! Suddenly Vasanth had this idea of going off on a ride to Himavad Gopal swamy betta and Bandipur. My non-riding friend Chalapathi was also interested in pillion riding so he also joined us.
As usual my non riding friend delayed us and we left from Rajarajeshwari Nagar arch at around 6:40 am. To make up for the time e kept a good pace then suddenly "Dhello" bhai as vasanth is called affectionately had stopped just a few metres ahead in ramanagaram. On further enquiry we learnt that one of his new double horns had fallen off some where. as it was quite early we tried searching for it but in vain. So thus disappointed we stopped at Maddur coffee day for breakfast.
After a hearty breakfast and rest we started again and the next stop was HP petrol pump just before Gundulpet.
Here we filled up our tanks and enquired about Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta and Bandipur at the fuel pump. Here is where the "Ooty ka keeda" bit Vaas as the attendant told him that the road to ooty was very good after Bandipur and that it was a mere 80-90 kms form Bandipur.
I was a bit confused and in a dillema because i had not planned for such a 2 day trip and also i was low on cash. Anyways we first thought we would visit Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta then decide the rest.
We reached Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta and found tight police security! They were letting the vehicles in a very controlled manner on the narrow uphill road to Himavad Gopal Swamy Betta temple. I was even asked for my license!! I was wondering wat was going on. Then we reached the top and it was one amazing climb as it was very n arrow and archiac KSRTC buses were in front of our convoy. But at the same time the view of the surrounding planes was amazing!!
when we reached the top we learnt why the tight security was in place. There was a film shooting going on in the picturesque top of the hill. There was a huge crowd so me and Vaas tried out our new caterpillar shoes at trekking ; came back very satisfied.
We trekked down the hill from one side which was
covered by steppes grass and I was amazed to find traces of
elephants on the slopes[in exac words:-foot marks and elephant poop] Me and Vaas
were both amazed at how an elephant could climb up such slopes. Then
a shocker Shocker #1! kids were shouting near the bottom of the hill
and there was a commotion. When the kids and other ppl finally came
up it was conveyed that there were elephants which were going
downhill! And the kids had pelted stones at them to chase them! I
wanted to trek down and see that for myself, but the riding jacket,
2kg boots, my tank bag[full with spares and other stuff], my
friend's bag[he had gone for darshan inside the temple], my half
dead lungs thanks to my legence to ITC and also the extra fat that i
always carry around[just in case! You never know when u need it]
just did not give me enough confidence to trek down.
anyways me and Vaas did some photography on the hill top with our
phone cameras and captured beautiful pics.
After that we headed for Bandipur. Somewhere earlier we had stopped
at a fuel pump and Vaas enquired about places nearby worth visiting
and had got info that Ooty was just 70kms from Gundulpet. So now he
wanted desperately to head to Ooty. But me and my friend had other
plans and I was in particuler not in a mindset to ride to Ooty. So
we had lunch at Bandipur Plaza and headed for the safari at Bandiput.
Shocker#2, there were some pigs rummaging around the Forest guard
quarters and some goat like creatures browsing the bushes nearby. On
closer inspection these turned out to be wild boars and deer!! right
in between the forest guard quarters, with people dwelling all
around!
Ok fine the animals were really wild [FYI my friend tried to take a
close shot of the boar and got a angry grunt when he was within 5
feet of the animal in question]. No messing around with those razor
sharp teeth and he backed out!
Then it was timne for the safari! There was a large group of Mallus'
in the bus making a lot of commotion all the while. There was this
aunty who used to point out little details about every animal we saw
to her 24 something years old daughter in a high pitch voice which
for sure scared most of the animals. Fine some ppl are not blessed
with the fruits of evolution and reasoning! The first half was
boring, we spotted only deer and peacocks[we learnt the words for
peacock and deer from the aunty who all the while kept shouting to
her daughter], then suddenly there was a huge elephant feeding near
some trees, aha atlast an elephant sighting! But alas there was this
particularly thin lungi clad chap aboard it who was minding the huge
tusker! So we moved on and then suddenly 15 minutes into the ride we
hit the state highway. I thought all the money was waste as we had
not sighted any big wild animal. Then the driver took us to another
part of the jungle where we were able to spot some elephants with
calves and what an initmidating glare they gave us with ears up and
trunk raised and sniffing the bus! When they reatreated quickly we
moved on and in another 600mts we were back in the forest guard
quarters! These animals were so near human habitation and yet were
so difficult to find!
It was almost 5:30 pm when we left form Bandipur sanctuary, we
traced our way back to Mysore with some night riding. And here is
where me and Vaas had a hard time with trucks coming in opposite
direction with highbeam on almost blinding us. The cramster jacket
was lit up form the back and front thanks to the 3m scotchlite
lining. One particular truck driver was so amazed with the
reflective lining that he kept on dipping and dimming his headlight
just to see my jacket!! Also there were chaps on cycles and on foot
all over the road and were hardly visible. Plus there were some
people whose brains as well as tail light bulbs had fused and were
riding without any sense.
Vaas not having slept in last 24hrs thanks to his night shift was
particularly finding it difficult. so we decided to halt in Mysore
for the night. Reached mysore at around 8:30pm, after a refreshing
bath and dinner we hit the sack and got up at around 7:00am on
sunday after having breakfast and bath left Mysore at around 9 and
reached Maddur coffee day for a break.
Shock #3 there was this line up of some very exquisite bikes at
maddur coffee day[Triumph Bonniville triple[750cc],Suzuki GSXR
1000cc, BMW GF1200 Adventure and a Kawasaki 1000[ never heard of
this model name]]. Then more awe as the riders of these bikes turned
out of CCD with full riding gear and all decked up! Was tremendously
jealous of them and was speculating where they were headed[for their
fun ride].
Shocker #4 those guys just had come to CCD maddur they took a U turn
and headed back to Bangalore. What the heck! when they have such
powerful bikes and especially a world conquering GS1200 Adventure
why were they heading back home??!! The apt answer was provided by
Vaas. What if something brokedown where will they get the spares and
the technician to repair it?? So it was completely valid point
against buying a litre bike or any imported bike unless the spares
are available. Or else its just cafe runs between bangalore and
mysore or some other well paved road within easy reach of Bangalore.
Then we returned uneventfully to Bangalore amidst some maniac
traffic.
End of the ride and a memorable weekend. Next time we are making it
all the way to Ooty!