A Wild Escapade: K GUDI WILDERNESS CAMP (B R Hills)

It all started with a casual conversations between me and my cousin bro – Sooraj R Nair about planning a trip in south India. Recession paved the way out by giving him a one week off in the form of shut down at his office for 5 days. We scheduled the trip for June 10 and June 11. Tickets were booked at K GUDI WILDERNESS CAMP – Jungle Lodges and Resorts. Shiju’s sis in law helped me out on the same and that also with a discount of 20 %.

June 9 – 1750Hrs – 00Km: We started our trip. Vehicle – My Black Stallion. The route was via Mysore – Nanjangud- Chamrajnagar to K Gudi.
1930Hrs: Stopped at Kamath for a snack break. As usual the dosa, iddali and tea were delicious . The break lasted for 30 min. We continued our journey towards Mysore.
2140Hrs – 148Km: Reached Mysore. Checked in at Hotel Mayura Yathri Nivas. The rooms were clean and big. The charges were RS 400/ day. As food was not served there, we brought in from out side.

June 10 – 0630Hrs: Checked out from the hotel. Planned to have breakfast on the way to Chamrajnagar. But unfortunately there were no decent hotels till Chamrajnagar town.
0925Hrs – 212km: We stopped at Chamrajnagar for breakfast – Hotel Shringar Sagar .
1145Hrs – 240Km: We reached the camp located in Kyathadevara Gudi (K.Gudi) within B.R Hills Sanctuary limits. At the K. Gudi Wilderness Camp, you are in nature’s lap.



The Biligirirangan Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka at its border with Tamil Nadu. It spreads over an area of 540 Sq. km. Located at the eastern most edge of the Western ghats, BRT is considered as bio geographic bridge between the Western and the Eastern ghats. The hills are in the Yelandur taluk of Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. The hills are contiguous with the Satyamangalam range southwards, in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu. For hundreds of years this region has been the home for the semi-nomadic Soliga tribe. The hills are famous for the temple of Lord Ranganatha. The local form is called Biligiriranga. The deity is a standing form of Ranganatha, and is probably the only place one can see Ranganatha in the standing form.

Activities arranged by the camp for the visitors are as follows. Open topped jeep rides, with trained naturalists to interpret the sightings, are the major attraction of the camp. They take guests twice into the forest everyday, once at dawn and once just before dusk. Trekking inside the Sanctuary is another exciting activity that the camp offers its guests. There are many well-marked trails leading out of the camp, which offer various degrees of physical challenge. Trekking offers a plethora of wildlife viewing opportunities and bird watchers would be delighted at the number of birds one can sight in these trails.Evenings for unwinding after tiring day, sit around a campfire or watch a wildlife movie at the audio-visual room. Soft drinks and snacks are served . Alcoholic drinks are not served here. The food is very good. The tent houses are very well maintained and well secured. It’s an altogether different feeling to stay in the camp.

June 11- 1130Hrs: Settled the bill at the camp and we started our return journey to Bangalore. We took the Yellandur- Kollegal- Mallavalli – Kanakapura route.

1415Hrs – 330Km: Reached Shivasamudram. Unfortunately water was very less and hence the waterfall was not a good sight.

Shivanasamudra Falls is the second biggest waterfall in India and the sixteenth largest in the world. Shivanasamudra Falls was formerly known as the Kaveri Falls. River Kaveri divides into two branches and each branch cascades down rocky cliffs as the Gaganachukki and the Bharachukki, both are one km away from each other. These spectacular waterfalls are surrounded by hill forests of the Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary.Gaganachukki - the western fallsThe Gaganachukki waterfall is 98 m tall. One can view these waterfalls from the Hydel Power viewing end or the Dargah end. People love to visit this waterfall when the Kabini River floods along with Kaveri River in the months of July and August.One of Asia's first hydro-electric power stations is located here which was started in 1902 by Sheshadri Ayyar, diwan of Mysore. From here power was supplied to Bangalore, the first city to get power in India.Bharachukki - the eastern fallsThe Bharachukki waterfall is just about a kilometer away from the Dargah. Bharachukki has a wider falling edge. A section looks like a "U", as Niagara Falls.Ideal time to visit Shivanasamudram Falls: Between July to November.

1600Hrs: We started back to Bangalore. Took the Kanakapura road- Nice road – Mysore road – Jalahalli Cross.

1900Hrs – 468km: Reached back home.

The roads were good except some through the jungle. The animal sightings were not so good. But the stay was really cool. Sharing some captured moments of our trip......

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