Date: May 6th - 8th, 2022.
Friday was a great day to take off and head to Masinagudi to relax; the trip is nice, especially the forest and the safaris. Masinagudi is a small town at the foothills of Ooty, part of the Nilgiris mountain region. It is close to both the Madumalai forest and the Bandipur forest area famous for their tiger reserve.
Masinagudi is about 250 kms from Bangalore. I took the via Kanakapura, a tight road with two lanes, and it was slow, because of the many diversions. Returning to Bangalore is even more painful due to heavy traffic. An additional annoyance of the ride in the forest area is the many speed breakers every few seconds so frequently slowdowns are the norm.
Safaris:
It's worth taking both the safaris; one in Madumalai forest, the other in the Bandipur forest area. Both forests are adjacent, Madumalai in Tamil Nadu and the other in Karnataka. There are jeep and bus safaris each morning and evening. Perfect for all age brackets, kids can enjoy seeing wild animals, teens can have nice rides and elders can just relax and enjoy the scenery. Later I came to the sudden realization that this was my first forest safari! Overall the entire experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and elephants, lots of deer, peacocks, eagles, wild boars, elk and wild buffalo appeared along the way. Unfortunately no panthers or tigers revealed themselves.
One day's stay was at Whispering Windows which is quite nice and another day at Tamarind Tree. Ideally Labdhi Hills Resort would be my choice, but unfortunately it wasn't possible to get a reservation.
There is small temple on the top of a nearby hill, close to all three resorts, which is good for a morning walk.The photos below show the drive to the temple and a view from the above.
Random bike photos: