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I got up at 5 ‘o clock in the morning and checked out from the window, It was all dark. I got ready and by that time Charles also got up. We came out of the cottage and what we saw was this:

The magnificent cloud covered hills with a blue background of the sky was a treat to watch. Well, that’s why they are called as the Blue Mountains. Due to the rains earlier in the night the atmosphere was more pleasant. We went to the forest side and after some time we saw Praveen and he also joined us. We were walking in the moist grass and it was a bit cold in the morning. We saw a forest department cottage, which was closed. There were a lot of bamboo trees and due to the rainy weather the forest was looking deeper as it probably was. We were walking very slowly, watching all over the place, as there might be any wild animal, which can pop up from the bushes anytime. Suddenly a dog appeared from somewhere, well, it was a playful pet dog, but the way he came that made me think that if any animal appears we won’t be able to do anything because the surface was wet and slippery for us to walk but for them it was easy. Having these thoughts in mind we walked further in the forest and with every step the vegetation was getting thicker and thicker. The dog followed us and we found a lovely stream inside the forest:

After coming to the stream that dog was acting weird, he would run and suddenly he will stop then he would roll in the ground, well, pet animals do these things to drive the attention of the humans about the danger. But still we walked further. The important thing in roaming in the forest is that you have to remember the direction you are walking, many people get disorientated in the forest very easily due to the fact that the trees and bushes are the same everywhere. If you are loosing your way in the forest then you are on your own, there’s no phone connection, no food to eat and no weapon to protect. So we were on a constant watch on the path to which we were walking. We saw elephant dung at a place and it looked like it was fresh. Last night it rained heavily so if it was old dung it could have been washed away. Spotting a wild elephant is a tricky business, if you have seen the animal first then you can follow him from a distance but if he spots you accidentally he might attack. Also, elephant has got a tremendous sense of smell. We walked through the whole place and found that if we have to go further we need to cross that stream. Well, we decided that crossing the stream was not a good idea and we returned.

After that Charles and I went to have a Coffee. We were just sitting and discussing and I saw a deer far off. We followed that deer and saw a herd nearby to the cottage. But there was a problem, as we moved forward the herd used to go backwards, they wanted to maintain a safe distance from us. I tried to click the shots by zooming in but still the images are not so clear. However, you can see a deer in the center of this picture:

After doing the same drill many times we understood that they don’t want us to take a nice picture of the herd. So we went back to have the breakfast. By the time everyone was awake and we discussed about the little adventure we had in the early morning. I took some idlis, bread and butter for the breakfast. After a nice breakfast Charles, Mir, Asgar, Fairoz, Jaikanth, Mohanaganesh, and Saradhi got a bat, ball and started playing cricket. I, Lucky and Sneha were enjoying the mini match in which Mir hit a few sixes. In fact he was quite impressive with his bowling and batting. Then, I inquired Pritam that what’s the next plan, he told that there is a stream nearby and we can go over there. We got into the bus and it was a few kms. drive from the resort. It was a nice little stream and the guys got into the water. They asked me also but I was interested in taking the shots rather than going into the water.

There were bamboo trees on the roadside and the view was picturesque:

Then, we returned to the cottage and had a nice lunch. After the lunch we packed our bags and got into the bus to return to Bangalore. On the way we spotted a peacock:

After that we crossed the Tamil Nadu border and arrived at Bandipur National Park, Karnataka. On the way we were very lucky to spot a wild elephant. That’s the closest distance I have ever seen a wild elephant:

For more photos of the trip you can visit the galleries: Mudumalai National Park and Bandipur National Park.

I also took videos of that elephant. You can see Asgar very near to the elephant in this video:

Then, we found a elephant camp near Bandipur, check out a baby elephant who was throwing dust from his trunk:

Here are two more videos:

It was nice to take these shots and videos in Bandipur and we started for Bangalore. On the way it was again Mir who was singing brilliantly. We reached Bangalore around 10 o’clock in the night. It was a nice trip and we enjoyed a lot. When I think of this trip I go in to the dream world where I find myself in a night safari with elephants all around, its raining everywhere, in the amazingly beautiful Mudumalai National Park.
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