A homage to my first wilderness getaway..Part 2..

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all but I guess it’s never too late. So finally back to the continuation of my second part of ‘ A homage to my first wilderness getaway’. We reached Jungle Retreat at midday with plans on staying put up for a couple of days. It was a long drive from Bangalore and on reaching Bokkapuram the area where this paradise nestles, the road leading upto the place was lined with jungle resorts, Jungle retreat being the farthest into the wild. At one point where the road took a turn it became muddy, crooked and old world like making me wonder if any human had walked this path in recent years, let alone the fact that there could be scope for any sort of human inhabitation! But that’s where Jungle retreat lived up to it’s name. As the winding road led us to the entrance and we drove in I realised it truly was a ‘JUNGLE’ retreat. The parking lot looked more like a clearing in the middle of a forest with an archway in the middle and  stone steps lined with wild flowering bushes leading to what looked like a huge open hut with wooden tables and chairs, old world stone walls and a bar in the middle. It was perfect!

Entrance from parking

Main entrance

Look within

Sideways..

On reaching, we were welcomed by one of the volunteers (People here are hired from time to time to play host to the guests). As we were enormously hungry, we decided to have lunch first before getting to our room. Having had a sumptuous fill that was very pleasing on our taste buds, we were given a briefing about the do’s and dont’s. Stuff like, to avoid keeping any kind of food in the cottage as it would attract rodents and other such unwelcome critters. You must bear in mind that all the cottages within the resort were set apart in their own scenic wild location and there are no electric fences that bordered the immediate surroundings – in short anything that reminded us of the cement jungle we came from!

Also as our cottage was located furthest into the resort, we would have to commute to and fro only by jeep after dark as there was a good chance for wild animals to come sneaking around -It was their territory after all! So unless you wanted to try and play Mogli and go on a night time stroll with a wild elephant or a leopard that came visiting, you’d better stay put within the cosy confines of your haven! It was also home to 2 cats and 3 dogs- the brown one was called Stitch if I remember correctly, another black one whose name I don’t remember and a German shepherd which happened to be a bit sick at the time, so we were asked not to feed it anything just in case we decided to get too friendly.

The German shepherd

Stitch

The other dog

One of the cats that used to follow us..not as scary as it looks here…

Finally after enquiring about the birding and nature walk for the next day, tired yet smiling, we were driven to our ‘Executive deluxe cottage’ as they called it, in a jeep. It was a 5 minute drive through a winding route slightly upward and a wee bit bumpy. The 2 red cottages that came into view looked only too welcoming, ours being the one on the right.

Pathway leading to the cottage…

Loved these iron wrought chairs and table just outside the cottage

Garnished by a really high ceiling, a set of steps leading to the seating area and a huge bathroom with a spectacularly huge mirror set into an ancient iron railing and a warm inviting bed, we decided to take a siesta before we could go for a swim and start exploring the place.

Our cottage nestling peacefully camouflaged by the trees..

It was not the end of our day yet for we had just reached but nothing like a quick power nap to gear you up. I couldn't  wait to start sneaking around and clicking pics of any other living creature other than the homo sapiens already present! With the sounds of birds chirping about their daily business, the smell of fresh nature and thought of spending the next two days here, I closed my eyes and hit the sack.....:)