I left my heart in the jungles

In the middle of the sweltering March summer, all I could think of was going away for the Easter weekend. I really needed a break after the constant activity of the last couple of months. An acquaintance suggested River Tern Lodge, and when we looked it up on the internet, we knew it was going to be near perfect. But it turned out to be just PERFECT! We got our tickets done on the Shimoga Express and then waited all March for the elusive journey to the jungles. We were to leave on Friday, 2nd April, spend 2 nights at the resort and be back in Bangalore on Easter Sunday. But on 31st March, we randomly decided to chuck all plans of the train journey and drive down instead - must say it was very smart of us :P

We left Bangalore at 7:15 am on 2nd April, and drove towards Tumkur. After an initial setback of an hour's traffic jam on the outer limit of Bangalore, we were finally on the fast lane. We drove through many village towns and bypass roads to finally reach River Tern Lodge, exactly 265 kms (6 and a half hours) with a 30 minute pit stop at a Cafe Coffee Day just before Arsikere. Don't expect to find CCD's and Baristas in plenty here - there are not even half of those on this route as there are on the Mysore and Coorg routes.

Anyway, so we finally reached the resort at 2 pm. But the minute you enter the room, the place leaves you spellbound. Every cottage has a balcony facing the backwaters of Bhadra dam - and it's the most beautiful, calm, and ethereal thing I have seen from a hotel window. I can't say it enough - honestly! After a quick lunch in their restaurant, Gol Ghar, we spent the afternoon reading, snoozing, and listening to music. Loud music is not allowed at the resort considering it's in the middle of the jungle, so do justice to yourself, carry a portable music player along. It takes the experience to another level. The backwater is visible from the bed too, and the temperature controlled room felt a little nicer as the temperature was soaring in the afternoon. We finally got out into the balcony a little before sunset... And it was ethereal. Truly, truly beautiful. Not a sound except the sound of water, and the beautiful dusk skies - the place is ideal for a romantic getaway. Also :-)

Snacks and tea were served in the restaurant at 6:30. There's no room service in the lodge, but there's an electric kettle and sachets of tea and coffee in the room, just in case. But the place is too good to be wasted on room service and immaculate behaviour. It's the "naturalness" of this place that sets it apart. The service is friendly, but not overly so. The food is nice, not out of this world. The sights and scenes - breathtaking! After tea, we didn't want to do much. So we sat in their bar, Water Hole, and later in our balcony, and generated a lot of revenue for Mr Vijay Mallya and called it a day earlier than usual. Against the sound of the water, and the breeze near it, every emotion is overwhelming. What a beautiful evening it was!

That night I slept like I hadn't in weeks. And had to be dragged out of bed the next day. But it was worth it! After breakfast (which was the best meal here, considering it was 3 days worth of vacation breakfast served in one morning - piping hot too!), we headed for soft water sports and did some pedal boating, and monkeyed around on their water trampoline and in the water. I came back terribly tanned, but every minute of it was so much fun that the tan was totally worth it too! Took a long shower and had lunch. There was a jungle safari planned for 4:30 pm and I was almost reluctant. Laziness has a way with me, I wanted to spend another afternoon sleeping :P

But my forever enthusiastic husband wouldn't have any of it. So safari it was! 7 of us from the hotel got on a Bolero Camper along with 2 guides and off we went. It was a tad bit disappointing because I was quite sure that if I had gone on the safari, at least one out of the 1411 tigers will definitely come say hello. Instead I managed to see a few birds - peacocks, hornbills; a giant malabar squirrel, a bison, a spotted deer... And we saw the end of the world... A really pretty part of the backwaters that opened up into the jungle... And it was the most awesome thing about the safari.

We came back to the resort on an equally bumpy drive back, and spent another evening talking non stop, and generating more revenue for the Haldirams and Mallyas of the world :-)

The next morning was our last one at that heavenly place. Got up to an up and about husband, and went boating. What we didn't know was this was also going to be a birdwatching session. In the middle of the boating area, we saw 2 little islands full of River Terns that migrate here from Himachal and spend January to June in this warmer part of the country. So we saw that the male bird goes fishing, the female waits for him on the island, the male glides just beneath the surface of the water, and brings back a fish. And this must have been the first time a living being apart from humans, fascinated me. It was probably because I was watching it from such close quarters, or because I had paid a lot of money for it, but whatever it was, it was beautiful. The early morning sky, the ethereal similarity in water and the sky, the mist in the distance... And the birds - it was all musical! You have to be there to believe it!


The boat ride was followed by a huge breakfast spread and we ate enough for 6 people, got dressed, packed up, and left. I reached Bangalore a few hours ago, the memory of the trip as fresh in my mind as the Bhadra mornings. I will go there again - probably in the monsoons. I have returned a very, very happy woman :-)



Quick facts:

Distance from Bangalore - approx 250 kms.

How to get there - Drive towards Tumkur. Take the Shimoga bye-pass road at Tumkur (instead of going to Tumkur town) and cross Gubbi, Tiptur, Arsikere, Kadur, Birur, Tarikere. After crossing Tarikere, take the left that also has a Kuvempu University direction board. Travel 14Km till you reach Lakkavalli. At Lakkavalli you will find a sign board to the River Tern Lodge, which is about 4km away. The River Tern Lodge is 38km from Shimoga and is located by the Bhadra Reservoir. Alternatively, take a train to Tarikere/ Shimoga/ Kaddur and ask River Tern Lodge to send a pick up vehicle to the station.

Contributed by Tamanna Mishra, a Bangalore based PR professional who feeds on social media, lives to travel, and loves food. You can read more of her here.

To the sea and back

With the new car arriving last month , the thought of a longish drive out of the city had been playing in my mind for a while.So during last week, I spread my idea about a road trip around and a few enthusiastic team mates (Pulkit, Jomy, Divya) quickly signed up. We browsed around for options and decided on the JLR property at Devbagh Island. Next step was to do a road condition check at the team-bhp site for the best route to drive out.

So one sunny Friday afternoon I hit the gas pedal . On the way we picked up some eatables for the road trip and headed out of the city taking the Nice road and then joined NH4 at Tumkar - mostly good toll roads ( though way too many toll booths !!) . The new car just swung into action and with great music and good company one couldn't have asked for more.



Driving at night after Chitradurga required some concentration as the highways had no dividers and reflectors and vehicles were coming in from the wrong side . There was also a sudden drop in road levels and several huge invisible speed breakers. Just at the outskirts of Hubli we stopped over at a Dhaba for Dinner ( 6hrs of continuous driving) and then the search began for a night stay. A bunch of hotels we asked around didn't have rooms but finally after couple of diversions , Jomy (navigator for the trip) with his handy android phone (which highlighted the area for maximum hotels, ) was able to find a descent place for a pit stop.

After a good nights rest , we left Hubli early morning to head towards Karwar, taking the SH towards Ankola and then a diversion. The drive towards Karwar has some great scenic green ghat sections though it had a bit of truck traffic to beat!


Karwar is a sea town at the Arabian Sea coast and has a big Naval base. After a break for tea at a wayside stall on the way, we were able to reach the JLR office at Karwar.We parked the car there and then were taken by boat to the house boat parked a few kms away in the deep waters .

The house boat would be our resting place for the rest of the trip. We quickly freshened up and then were taken to the Devbagh island where the main JLR huts and tents was located.


The place is nicely tucked away from the main Karwar coastline and has nice green forest cover and a small village .We spoke around trying to find out what water sport options were available but due to bad weather, only kayaking was possible that day. We were looking forward to snorkeling, but it was not possible .

So after a heavy lunch we were taken across a river/forest walk for over an hour by an every friendly forest guide. We waded through the river and walked across some mangroves and also armies of crabs to reach the jetty point.


I had a slight back strain due to my incorrect seating posture while driving the new car and so took a break from any water sports and headed to the beach while the rest of the gang went ahead trying their skill with the kayaks.

After a tea break we were taken back to the house boat and we headed far away from any habitation ( 25 odd km) into the sea for the night. Each of us took turns in being the captain of the boat..

I took out my ipod and the ihome speakers and we had some good music on the boat all evening. The houseboat with its own kitchen then dished out some hot pakodas,tea and juice and a full course meal later .The rest of the evening was spent chatting with Divya and Pulkit trying to bring up ghost stories as well.

Woke up to a nice quite early morning tucked away in the sea and watching the sunrise amidst the cloudy sky. The house boat was then picked away from its anchor and started moving towards Devbagh.. After a heavy breakfast we took a motor boat for some dolphin sighting. The sea was quite rough and we did find a few dolphins giving us a sneak view.

We then hit the shore after noon on Sunday and picked up my car from the office and started our long drive (650kms) back to Bangalore. I was driving at an average speed of around 90-100kph which went up to 140kmh only once though Pulkit was trying to push me to test the cars limits :). We were back in the city by 11pm (a short break for brunch at Haveri) and our last meal at MacDonald ..

Most of the journey we had two sleepy heads at the rear seats even with loud music playing , but thanks to the ever alert Navigator Jomy in front also equipped with an android GPS enabled phone, we were able to hit the right road connections.

Distance Covered: 1250 kms approx. in my new black stallion ..VW POLO 1.6 driven solely by yours truly..

Posted by Bangalore based software professional and traveller Anuradha who digitally explores the world through her blog. You can see more of her photographs here

A day with naturalist Sadvi in River Tern Lodge

A sharp whistle brings our jeep to a sudden halt right in the middle of the Bhadra forest. The silence is deafening. We look around and see clumps of elephant dung on the tracks. “ It is not fresh, “ explains our naturalist, Sadvi as she unperturbedly takes a look at it. ” The elephant must have come this way in the morning,” But this is not the reason why she whistled. A monitor lizard had just darted into the bushes . We resume our bumpy ride, only to be interrupted by another sharp whistle from her and we spot a pair of Malabar pied hornbills .” Look behind you and you can see the blue wings of the Malabar parakeet, “ she whispers .

A montage of green and yellow trees whiz past us as Sadvi instructs the driver to take us to the backwaters of the Lakkavalli range. We pick our binoculars to scan the forests for wildlife, but her sharp eyes have already spotted a dancing peacock. She turns down the binoculars and points to a dot on the opposite bank. We see a wild boar . I am amazed at her alertness in reading the jungle and she laughs. “ I’ve been living in the forests since I was a kid . As a child, I used to wander around them , near my grandmother’s house in Teerthahalli side and that is when I learnt about birds ,” she adds . She is indeed passionate about birds. A crested serpent eagle catches her attention and it flies away even before we pick our cameras.

Back in the resort, I am lost gazing at the blue green waters of the Bhadra, sipping a hot cup of tea. Sadvi joins me and we discuss birds. “ When we used to roam as children in the forests, we used to observe them and I knew only their local names. We used to call the river tern island here as hakki gudda . Now, I am learning all their English names after becoming a naturalist..” We walk around the dense wilderness looking for owls as I ask Sadvi what made her choose to be a naturalist . “ She smiles and says the forests. I tell her she is the first woman naturalist I’ve met and she just shrugs. A post graduate in tourism , Sadvi lives here alone near the Lakkavalli dam, where the Bhadra forms the backwaters, while her parents live close by in a village near Bhadravathi. “ Its just 50 kms away. I visit them every month though,” she replies and then the conversation turns to work . “Get ready by 6 am tomorrow..we will go to the river tern island ,” she adds and then turns her attention to a group of tourists who have just arrived. The sun sets leaving behind a golden pattern on the sky and I am lost in the world of twilight clouds as the waters lash against the shore.

Morning dawns and we set sail to the sandy island on the backwaters to see the river terns with their chicks. Before we know it, thousands of winged creatures fill our eyes and camera lenses as we watch in silent fascination. The winds blow the boat away as it slowly meanders over the waters. Sadvi explains that more than ten thousand birds visit here in January to breed and the season lasts till monsoon when the chicks fly away as well. “ When they return after the monsoons, parts of this island will be under water and the river terns will search for their land. It is like home to them.”



It is feeding time and the entire backwaters echoes with the cries of the birds. We see some pratincoles as well along with spot billed ducks. But the island belongs to the river terns. Some of them are bringing back food for their chicks and their nesting spouses. “That’s the local fish or bilchi,” she points to the small fish the river terns are holding in their mouths. An hour passes and Sadvi gets restless.” We are disturbing them, else the chicks will be waiting at the edge of the island for the food .” She instructs the boatman to leave as he veers away. I ask her if many tourists come here .” To see the river terns ? Not many, they are more keen on seeing elephants and tigers. But we bring them here and I brief them for at least a few minutes.”

We return to the island and Sadvi and I go on a nature trail. We chat about poaching , conservation and her life as a naturalist. Our conversation is interrupted by her enthusiasm to look at caterpillars and insects . She adds that earlier the villagers used to bring the eggs of the river terns to the market, but now it is not allowed . We plan to meet again in the afternoon .

Meanwhile the winds are setting in and the river terns are just waking up after their afternoon siesta. Sadvi cautions us on the winds as we return to the boat. This time we set sail on a different route to see wildlife as there are more tourists with us. We do the customary stop at the river tern island and then carry on . A herd of elephants await us at the banks, while we see a lone tusker on the opposite side. And then we move on to see gaurs and wild boars as well. The sun sets as the winds toss the boat gently . Returning to the shore, Sadvi completes her briefing and then calls it a day. And she gets on to her bike, she whistles sharply. I turn around , but the owl that she had spotted just flew away .

Contributed by travel writer and NTP member Lakshmi Sharath . This article was published in Deccan Herald