Masinagudi, a Village on the Mysore-Bandipur-Ooty Road. Its about 280 Kms from Bangalore. Its just after Bandipur. Masinagudi is in Tamilnadu and part of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
There are too many resorts in Masinagudi. We stayed in "Forest Hills Farm & Guest House". We found it thru Tripadvisor. www.foresthillsindia.com
The resort is located right on the foothills of Mudumalai, which itself is a fantastic location. They have Tree Tops, Bamboo Huts and Machan. The Machan and the Tree Houses are located at the end of the property, which is about 200 mts away,opening to the foot hills of Mudumalai.
We visited in May 2015. We were a group and stayed in the Machan and Tree Houses for 2 nights. The setting is so beautiful and serene and you will get the feeling of staying deep in the Jungle, especially when its dark.
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| The Machan |
We arrived in the resort on time for lunch and checked in to the accommodation. After sumptuous lunch, we rested for some time. While resting in the Machan, we spotted lot of birds around and some wild boars and also heard the elephant trumpet. The Machan has a room to stay for 2, max 3 and a covered terrace on top which gives you a 360 deg view.
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| Tree Tops, very close to Machan |
At around 6 pm we left for a drive in our vehicle(Thar,Duster) to Moyar Village road. To reach Moyar Road, we have to go to Masinagudi Village, take a right turn (almost a U turn) at the jeep stand. We are told that this forms part of the core area of the forest. Access is allowed because the Moyar Village is situated at the end of the road. The distance from the Resort to the end of the core area(Moyar Village) is about 20 Kms. We did spot a sloth bear, a bit far and it was getting dark. You can take a night drive on this road, but we should be back by 8.30 pm I believe. This drive was very nice as its very rear that you can take a night drive in the forest. If you don't have an SUV, the resort can arrange a jeep drive for you on this road.
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| Moyar River, Moyar Village |
We came back to the resort, time for dinner. The resort has a very ethnic dinning area, with a fire place in it. We had dinner and proceeded to our rooms in the vehicle. It isn't advisable to walk back to the tree top or the machan after 6.30 pm. It is most likely that you might come across a silent Bull Elephant or Wild Boars or any other wild life standing in the dark, without you noticing. Some of the guests have sighted sloth bear very close to the machan.
We settled in the terrace of the machan for the night. We decided to sleep in the terrace and requested the resort people to spread the beds for 4 of us, which they did willingly. We dropped the rest of the group to the tree top by car, even though its just about 200 ft away, its safer that way.
The weather was great and it started becoming a bit chill as well. As night grew, we started to hear the calls of many wild life from the forest. The Elephants trumpeted a lot of times and there were Spotted Deer calls now and then. We were cautioned not to come down from the machan as there might be wild animals around especially at night.
It was around midnight we heard a faint noise of the branch being broken, close to the resort. We were half asleep. After a few minutes the noise was much nearer, but from the opposite side. The Elephant had crossed from the Hill side to the left of the Machan and closer to the resort. Then we heard a lot bamboos being broken and chewed. It was middle of the night and we could hear all the noise made by the elephant. It was amazing and thrilling though a bit scary. It wasn't a sound sleep after that, always expecting some call from the wild.
We got up and left at 5.30 the next morning and went for the Moyar Road safari for some sightings. We saw Sambar Deer, Spotted Deer, Indian Gaur, Peacocks on trees and some Langurs. That's it and we came back for Breakfast.
The Masinagudi village has some Bakeries, Medical shops, Tea stall and a couple of Bars as well.
The afternoon we had lunch and relaxed in the Machan. We were discussing if we need to go for the drive to Moyar Village or wait on the machan terrace and be lucky for some sighting. It was around 4.30 pm and we were watching some birds on one corner at the edge of the resort, where the forest starts. We took our eyes off and started to have some hot tea brought from the resort. After a few seconds I raised my head to look at the birds again and guess what, I saw the Mighty Tusker standing there. It took me a few seconds to react and to say others about it....
http://youtu.be/L_ID9zOpL74 This is the video link.
We were all thrilled to see the elephant very close to us and for almost 20 mts, sitting on the Machan. It was a fantastic experience we all had and wouldn't forget it.
The night became cloudy and started to rain heavily. We had to sleep inside the machan. We got up next day very relaxed, had breakfast and back to Bangalore.
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| Paradise Fly Catcher |
The Resort:
Our experience was very very good. The Hospitality, food and the service, we enjoyed. The staff took so much care about us and all our requests were met. In fact they called at 2.30 in the night to check if we were ok, as it was raining very heavily that night and stayed in the Machan. A special thanks to Sameer and his team!!!!!!!!!!!
