I am a software professional and a very passionate wild life enthusiast. We (me and 4 of my friends from Infosys) made an advance booking with Greenwoods camp for our trip in first week of April. The booking procedure was very simple and everything was online. Got the confirmation email promptly. We had our own doubts about the accommodation and food before we ventured to Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary.
Couple of days before our trip, a very detailed route map, precautionary measures while driving in forest and safety tips while in forest were sent to us based on which we made our packings and bought necessary stuffs for our trip. We reached the place on a Saturday morning around 11 AM and the guide showed us our cottage. The room was pretty decent and had beddings for 7 people though we were only 5 of us. After refreshing ourselves we went to the dining hut which was located between 2 sheds all of which were on a platform. The lunch was good and it was typical south indian food (buffet) .
The sheds had 2 camping tents which was placed on the platform and both of them were occupied by a family.The guide took us to few scenic spots after Gudalur which were phenomenal and we spent close to 3 hours. We came to the camp back by 6:30PM and later realized that the jeep has been waiting for us since 5:30PM. The jeep safari started of with a bang. Yep. It started raining cats and dogs..Me and my friends were in half mind to go for the safari or not. Later we realized that the trip was for adventure and adventure is what we would do with this mindset we sat in the jeep and headed for the safari..Every tree or bushes or deers that we saw in the safari looked like a wild cat and later we were disappointed that it was not the case. After about 20 minutes in the safari we saw a family of elephants right in the middle of road and blocking the way for vehicles. It was a feast to our eyes where a young elephant (probably a baby elephant) was trying to cross the road, would cross the road and again goes back to its mother..
We took atleast 15 snaps of this group and the family moved away from the road in to the forests. My friends and I were thrilled with this experienced and were all pumped up. There were atleast 50 or more deers that we spotted on the way.The driver took a turn from the forest main road to smaller roads leading to some village in forests and hardly 500 meters from the turn the driver shouted " SNAKE".. It was pitch dark and the only source of light was the jeeps powerful light. We eagerly looked through the jeeps windshield and saw a fat shiny snake crossing the road..Not sure what snake it was but it was atleast 6 feet. We could not take a good shot at it as it was too fast and went inside the bushes. While we were returning back we saw the same group of elephants peacefully grazing on one side of the road.The jeep driver stopped the vehicle for couple of minutes. The sound of the brakes apparently pissed of one of the younger member of the family and it gave a huge sound and challenged the jeep by advancing few steps as if it was running towards us..We got a mixed feeling ( Shock, fear, excitement ) and requested the jeep driver to move away which he promptly did. We were not very lucky to see any wild cat during our safari but the safari none the less was just too good. By the time we reached back it was around 8:45PM..
We had our dinner and then we enjoyed the camp fire...The guide requested us to be ready by 6AM the next day for trekking.
We got up at 5:45 AM and to our disappointment it was still raining..The thrill of safari was still in our minds and dil mangey more. So 4 of us started off to trekking..One of my friend dropped the idea of trekking as he was too tired. The trekking was inside the forests and the wet ground made our trek very slippery...after about 20 mins in to trekking it started raining heavily.The guide wanted us to turn back and return to the camp as it would be difficult to walk ahead in the trekking path..We did not have any other option but to return to the camp.
At the camp the breakfast was ready and this was the best of all the meals. 2 varieties of sandwich, 2 varieties of south Indian break fast, Omlette, fresh fruit juice was just too much..We ate as much as we could and packed our bags to return back to Bangalore..Just as we were about to leave the sun started shining and all we could do was smile and told the guide that we would be back again to complete the unfinished business of trekking.
The rates were very nominal, cost for each person came upto Rs.1200, for the complete package including safari, trekking, food and accommodation. That’s what I call it as value for money.