KayKay's Blog | KayKayPhotography

Wow!! What an amazing trip to wayanadu,

It was 25th sep 2009 Friday evening … phone calls, packing, messages, not sure who all are in the trip yet  and its 10 pm  !!! 

 By that time ..   srujan, ekta  & me  are  the photographers in the trip… Ekta’s mom & Aren  joined us for the trip.

Srujan called me at 10pm & told me two of his friends  are  also coming.. i was confused ,  but i said yes

i was all set with my ram-pyari Nikon D60 camera , lens & other stuff….   Srujan called me at 1:30 am with his super car innova .. he  was  all set &  waiting  to pick me up .

Our  reason  behind starting late  in the night  was that   we needed  to reach Gundalpet Check post at morning 6am because they  don’t  allow any cars  to crossbandipur forest  between  9 pm to 6am.

will lots of confusion we reached aren’s place & we picked  up aren …  & ekta from MG road.

we stopped at a 24/7 coffeeday at maddur. it was a nice pit stop.  Struggle to find a loo for the ladies ! Coffee day loo out of order. But nothing to worry.. Few minutes ride leads to a hotel with all facilities.

We reached Mysore around 4am  and stopped by mysore maharaja Palace,  Since it was a day before DASAHARA , The Palace was fully lit up & it was gorgeous….!!!  Although we were getting late still we could not resist our eyes from admiring the beautiful palace in the wee hours of breezy morning. 

 We reached gundalpet around 6am.. 

 After crossing gundalpet we stopped by fields to click few sunrise shots..  

 Me, eku & srujan got down with our cameras..  Dirtied our pants in the field and tried lots of things…

Stopped again in the middle of bandipur forest where it is a no stop zone   we spotted a gang of spotted deers & lots of monkeys…  srujan busy taking macros of spiderweb. 

Had nice tea black tea at that tribal lady shop..   watching that kid whom i confused to be an monkey  & eku took the chance to pull my leg through out the trip ..  i am  getting lost clicking in the middle of jungle….  i can say a its a amazing feeling remembering those memories so special to me 

 Even though i knew  the road map  to resort still we were asking every one on the way in  kannada hindi malu mix

 W e reached the  my fav resort  aaranyakam in rippen waynadu Dst, Kerala (http://www.aranyakam.com/  by 9:30AM.

It is an amazing hilltop resort with  warm  hosts rajesh & his wife .

 We went in to the room & refreshed…

 Had  a  lovely breakfast in the resort  (idiyappam, aapam, upma…..etc)  (The Resort serves home made food which is delicious. Thought vege’s may be a bit disappointed ) 

 My most fav place in arayanakam is the tree house ….    it is amazing hilltop tree house where u can see hill range , water fall, water streams flowing between two hills  in a beautiful misty sky….   Sitting there you can listen the sounds of nature which touch your heart.. The forests animals, crickets,the river.. It is a beautiful experience.

 Aranyakam is located in Rippen which is 40km away from kalipet (waynad Dsrt head quarters ).

 Me & ekta went to click around tree house  while  other are still gettin ready….  And we were lost in the beauty of the scene.

 Got few nice clicks  and made friends with the dogs at aranayakam.

 A filling lunch and  we were all set to  see  Kantapara water falls by srujan’s car . On the way we  got lost… but  finally  how we reached water fall driving   through lovely roads of waynadu.

 Since  it was drizzling there… we kept our camers inside    

It was very nice sitting at water fall . Aren  was  busy clicking with her point & shoot cam

 while coming back we stopped by a tea estate .. its a lovely place green green every where…. there is a guest house tooo in the middle of tea estate.  i took   few nice shots … (walk to remember pic in my flickr page).

had nice tea on the way  and some dosas while listening to PJ’s by srujan,   Finished some work in market and  finally we reached back aranayakam around 9PM .   

 Time to  recharge  camera battery & copying clicks to laptops….. me srujan & eku we are so eager to see each other’s pics…  commneting.. chatting .. in the resort  sitting area.   

 its so dark with no  noice … it was simply amazing  being there under the pitch black starry sky .

we started listening to rajesh (owner of aranayakam a nice guy) experiences in waynadu who  had   just  got  back from coachin.

had  a wholesome  dinner  & lovely yaani music in my laptop    

Srujan lost in Taking the night long exp shot for too long  . Rajesh prepared us mentally that there will a bear crossing this place arouns 10pm….. after some time its real…..Hearing the bear making sounds late in the night.

Thats the end of the first day at Wayanadu