Hyderbad to Dandeli (2days trip)

[megham]

Planned trip to Dandeli, till last day we were not sure of number of people coming and how to commute. If its 8, thought of going in 2 cars and final figure was 6, so we hired a Cab (Tavera), owned by on of colleagues cousin. Its total 6, Satish came to my place in Tavera and RK also reached my place by 10.50PM and started at 11PM from ameerpet on Friday night i.e 4th Dec. Went to Madhapur and waited for other 2 friends of mine, Roshan & Bhanu. They came back from office at 11.30PM and finally Picked Nag from Cyber towers and started our journey.

Took outer ring road towards Bangalore highway with couple of hours we had flat tyre at Jadjerla. 30mins gone in changing the tyre and didn’t find any puncture shop to get it puncture. After sometime we felt driver is feeling sleepy. So Satish took control of the steering and drove till Sindhanur till morning. Stopped at one small town in the morning for breakfast and wheel change. Found tube is gone completely. Had hot Upma & omlet for breakfast. Again driver Srikant took the wheel and reached Hubli by 10. Thought of by new tube for vehicle, but they suggested tyre is gone, if we use new tube in it.. it might go bad quickly. So they made the tyre to tubeless. And headed to Darwad, Hubli to Darwad is 20Kms but encounter continuous traffic. After reaching Darwad, tasted Famous Darwad Pedha.

Via Haliyali reached Dandeli around 12:30PM from there we headed to GaneshGudi, where we planned to stay. Luckily one day before we got the number of Shashi, who is employee of Jungle Lodges & Resorts. We preffered dormitory at Old Magazine house, which charges 900/- Rs per head on day basis. It includes lunch, dinner, break fast, short trek & camp fire. By the time we finished our bath, lunch is ready. Its buffet with good taste. Then we came to know, rafting is at 3PM. So we headed to rafting point in vehicle arranged by Jungle Lodges. Saw already 4-5 Jeeps are waiting for boats. Finally 6 boats arrived, incharge told about how to use Life jacket and divided into 6 teams. As we are already 6 mbrs we started in blue boat, which is capacity of 6. Grey color boat is for 7to9 mbrs. Our instructor told about how to row the boat and rules.

Front – Paddle front
Back – Paddle back
Left front right back
Right front & left back

I already forgot other commands After 30minutes of practice we started our rafting. Start was really good as water incline is more, later its like more boating. But got good chance of watching different birds. Saw famous HornBill. Finally reached ending point after 10Kms of boat ride. There another pickup vehicle came and that guy is damn good driver. Its closely 20-25Kms to our camp in the forest. He made us to enjoy the drive. He didn’t slow down anywhere, whether its pin bends or ghat road, in traffic.

After reaching our lodge, we went to camp fire arranged opp to our place. Served hot tomato soup around at 7.30Pm and few of my friends already started enjoying the drinks with snacks. I continued taking pics and playing songs using my mobile. Actually music is not allowed, as it disturbs birds.

Then had lovely dinner and slept at 10PM

Day 2
Woke up at 7AM in the morning, had good sleep of 9hrs. Then got ready and went to trekking, our guide is good, he explained about the trees and birds. We walked for almost 40minutes and had good glimpse of Kali River. Took some pics and came back to base camp. Delicious break fast arranged with bread, chapatti & Upma. They also gave local fruit drink. After having bath checkout and settled the bill. We headed to Synteri Rocks (300FT TALL MONOLYTHIC ROCK) which is 35Kms from GaneshGudi. On the way we stopped at bridge and clicked few pics of Supra Dam. As guide instructed not to get it into water, we just took some snaps and came back to Dandeli by 3Pm. Found different formations of rock as granite. Thought of going for coracle ride, but came to know it starts at 4.30Pm. So went to local Santosh Udipi restaurant and our lunch. Then went for coracle ride. Got chance of seeing many birds and one small crocodile too. Finally started back to Hyderabad around at 5.30PM. Reached Darwad 7Pm and took Pedha. And reached Koppal at 11PM with few breaks finished our dinner. Around at 1AM I asked driver Srikant, if he feeling sleepy I will drive. He happily gave steering to me. I maintained the speed of 80-100 and reached Hyderabad by 5.45AM. On Bangalore highway tried the maximum speed, it reached 150KMPH. It might go more, but don’t want try when its fully occupied.

What we tried
White water rafting, coracle ride, bird watching, trekking in forest, Cintheri rocks & Camp fire

We Missed/SkippedJungle Safari, Shiroli Peak, Kavala caves, Sykes Point, Magad falls

What else can be done ?
Kayaking, Rappling, River Crossing & Jacuzee Bath

Places to Stay
Kulgi Nature Camp
Old Magazine House, Ganesh Gudi (Jungle Lodges & Resorts)
Kali Adventure camp, Dandeli (Jungle Lodges & Resorts)
Stanley Form House
Hornbill River Resort
Bison Resort
Pansoli Guest House
Vacation on White Water Resort

Route :Hyderabad > Mahaboobnagar > Raichur > Manvi > Sindhanur > Gangavathi > Koppal > Gadag > Hubli > Dharwad > Haliyal > Dandeli > Ganeshgudi 650Kms

Dates : 5th & 6th December
Source : Hyderabad
Destination: Dandeli
Vehicle : Tavera Neo
No of KMs : 1360Kms
No of Ppl : 6

Pics need to be uploaded

[ThrottleKing]

Suresh nice log.
Pour in the pics asap

[pulsarider]

very nice account.. now waiting for pics..

[megham]

Typical Village House


Time to play


Break for pics


Liked the Giant tree


Single room house


Bridge over Kali River


Way to Bison resorts


Photo session


Reflections


Supra Dam


Green Kali River


Interesting Leaves


Again reflections


Lovely Pure n Green water


Entrance to rafting point


Rafting boats are on the way


Way to rafting point


Time to click self pic


Each boat costs 1.5lakhs it seems


Boat for 6mbrs


Water is really sweet


Instructions from instructor


Oh when we are going to raft ?


Boats are ready for us


Getting ready

[pulsarider]

lovely captures suresh ... 9 and 13 are my favs..

[devashishdhingra]

Great show of "Gungle Heritage", the old Yellow hut looks scary yet stunning.

[megham]

[tiyu143]

nice pics...
will be going for rafting soon.

[megham]

Thank you. From Dharwad its close to 75Kms i.e rafting point.

Originally Posted by tiyu143

nice pics...
will be going for rafting soon.

[anupmathur]

Suresh, super coverage with great pics!
The reflection pics are truly classic!

Looks like you did not depute anyone to click pics of the actual rafting!