Myself along with 2 colleagues made a last moment plan on Friday evening to visit mudumalai / bandipur .since it was a week end we know there will be a shortage of rooms but we took a risk keeping in mind ooty is just 45 km from mudumalai and ooty is got sufficient lodges to accommodate the mass crowd . And left Bangalore by 2.30 pm after lunch.
We kept driving through the forest until we reached the mudumalai safari junction. At the forest department office we inquired if there were any accommodation available but unfortunately nothing was available . We decided to go to ooty on the way we found the sign board of jungle home right after the rto check post . We dropped into jungle home and the caretaker informed us that just one tent is available at the deep jungle home campus which is 2 kms off the highway.
We were too tired to drive down till ooty as settled for the tent that was available. The tent was cute and comfortable for three people to sleep since we had very little luggage we could manage easily.. We had to use common toilets that were eat and clean but lot of tin insects surrounding the light .
Hot fresh food was served for dinner. There were limited items on buffet. But quality of food was good .
After the dinner we could listen to strange calls of some animals in the jungle . The guard informed us that is was a alarm call that the sambar deer made . And this kind of call the deer make only when there are large cats around . With the information he provided we thought we are going to be lucky enough to spot a tiger or leopard .
With the powerful torch the guard had we tried looking around for the huge cat but cold not find any. Then the alarm call stopped and we went back to bed .and had a deep sleep. In the morning we got up early and the first sighting i was when i opened my eyes was a peacock grazing opposite to the tent . As soon as i came out of the tent it got scared and escaped out of sight . There were plenty of bird calls that i could listen . And the pleasant misty climate was great .
We were offered a free horse riding trip . We went around the campus on a horse . Fed the horse some grass .
Later we went to the dining hall for break fast . Got ready and started to ooty .