Road trip to Wayanad - part two (take three)

Rein checking in - 

" Bad karma on this blog post.... It's my third attempt to get it done. First time round it was due to my personal choice for relaxation in our new oasis that we may call our home, over sitting before the computer that delayed the posting of part two of this entry. Second time I lost all two hours of typing due to a technical glitch which had me inadvertently deleting the complete entry before publishing it. So here goes take three...

Where was I at the end of part one? Ah yes, finally arriving at our breakfast destination to take a late lunch. Dreamcatcher's was a real little oasis in the otherwise barren Karnataka country side. We settled in for burgers and omelettes and finally had a chance to get acquainted with our fellow travellers. On the road they all dozed off immediately; being true Indians, they were not deterred by the manic driving and can sleep anywhere.

After lunch we continued our journey, passing the state border into Kerala. It was amazing to notice the difference with Karnataka, so much greener, lush and so much cleaner too. Of course it made a difference that the border also let us into the national park of Bandipur, but the natural beauty and cleanliness of Kerala remained throughout our stay in the state. 

Huge bamboo bushes

We drove along huge bamboo bushes, reaching 20 to 30 metres into the sky, and through tea plantations; occasionally stopping for tea at a road side chai wallah. 

A tea stop

We continued like this for another two or three hours until we reached the highest point of our journey at 1800 metres at a look-out over lower Kerala. The 180° views were amazing. We stopped of course, for the picture opportunity to discover we certainly weren't the only people doing so as the hordes of monkeys in the trees along the road testified; they had a feast scavenging the debris of food scraps and fruit peals left behind by the many tourists.

After having taken in the beautiful vistas we descended down the road into the low lands, along a windy roads with dozens of hairpin turns. Naturally, these turns didn't deter our driver to overtake trucks in the middle of a bend. To our amazement the narrow mountain road appeared to just fit three vehicles side-by-side (the truck we were overtaking, the on-coming van and our car in the middle) at times, without any of us dropping into the ravine! After another nerve racking 10 kilometres and 10 hairpin turns like this, our host and organiser woke up and decided to check with the venue where the turn-off to the resort was exactly.  And true to the spirit of the trip so far, we had missed it a half-an-hour ago! In fact it was on top of the pass, just before the look-out. To be honest, our organiser was just as upset about this as we were, as he had clearly instructed the driver to warn him when we were passing through the last village as that would be where he would need to call the resort to verify. Our driver however, had barely spoken three words all day, and would ignore such commands and just keep continuing straight ahead until told otherwise.

So there was nothing else to do than to make a u-turn and had back up the incline back towards the run-off. After a deep exasperated sigh, Simon and I just leaned back in our seats and decided to let it be; what else could we do. And so it was that we arrived at the gates of the resort around 5 pm, only roughly 6 hours after the scheduled time of arrival!

But what a beautiful resort it turned out to be! We entered in over a small pass that led into a secluded little villa, surrounded by hills on the one side and tea plantations on the other. The resort consisted of individual wooden cottages, completely built in traditional Keralan style, each with their own private veranda overlooking the beautiful surroundings. The cottage we were led to for our stay, was on the far end of the resort, reached by a little bridge over the creek that ran along it and surrounded by the lush greens of the jungle. It was absolute bliss after three weeks of non-stop hectics, noise and pollution of the big city. And this was not all. The resort had created a lake by diverting the creek, forming a natural swimming pool. So after our nine hour journey, we dropped our bags in our cabin and headed to the pool for a well earned swim in the fresh water together with tad poles and small fish. We were in heaven!

The path leading up to our cabin

The natural pool

Relaxing on our private veranda!

And so we settled in for the night. After a nice Keralan dinner, the staff lit a bonfire on a clearing in the woods and we all sat around and chatted into the night.


After a deep and restful sleep we woke up to the sound of the exotic birds, had a dive into the pool, and after breakfast set out for a hike in the surrounding area.  After a while the temperatures started rising and Simon decided to recline along the pool so I continued on my own and ventured into the woods. I found a trail that led to wild elephants' sleeping place as evidenced by the football size turds that were scattered around the place. I walked along slopes with beautiful vistas onto the surrounding hills and into the wood crossing creeks until I reached back at the resort. I felt so reenergised by nature and the fresh air that in finding our fellow travellers just finishing their breakfast upon my return, I offered to show them my route and do the hike all over again with them!

Elephant droppings

Stocking up on Keralan delicacies on the way home

We stayed at the resort until that Sunday evening, to make up for the lost time the day before, just relaxing, swimming, eating, reading a book and napping in the sun. Then at 5 pm we started our journey back to Bangalore but not before another stop at the main village in the area to stock up on the local delicacies to take home, such as dried masala banana chips and puffed rice. Driving through the national park around dusk, we even spotted our first wild elephants crossing the road. Unfortunately, our driver's driving style didn't allow for us to get the camera out and take a shot. Before we good and well knew these were elephants we were dodging on the road, we'd already left them behind! 


We stopped for dinner in the majestic city of Mysore along the way and finally reached home by 2 am in the morning.

What a trip it had been. It had gone completely differently than foreseen, but it had turned out all good and we fell into a deep and satisfied sleep. 

And so I had experienced my first lesson to start facing the main challenges that India has in store for me: 1) not fearing to let go of control; 2) learning to go with the flow; and 3) patience, patience, patience! In turn, Incredible India will then show its unexpected treasures and beauty and be truly amazing.

If I can master these three attributes, I am bound to have a wonderful time here over the next two to three months. If not, I might as well give up or go crazy!"

- Rein checking out.