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Second trip to Coorg: Madikeri, Omkareshwara temple and atop many hills

Date: April 2009

After my first trip to the hilly district in 2008, I returned to Coorg for a second trip with my then office photography club – Shutterbugs. We hired a Chevrolet Tavera taxi and left Bangalore city Friday night after work.

Coorg Shutterbugs trip on the way Anto
We'd stop on the way to give our driver a coffee break, because we were worried about him dozing off at the wheel
Highway to Coorg at night
Not that we managed to sleep sitting inside the crammed vehicle
Coorg Shutterbugs trip homestay Anto
We arrived at our homestay in Madikeri town around 6am
Homestay Madikeri Coorg Shutterbugs trip
Don't ask me for a name, for this massive hut belong to a relative of one our office mates. We still had to pay for it though.

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Weekend at Wayanad, Kerala

Two weekends ago, I went to the district of Wayanad in the state of Kerala. It was with mostly friends from work who are part of AOL India’s photography club Shutterbugs.

We left one Friday night from work and was joined by a colleague Yazid who would come with us until Wayanad and who would then, from there leave for Calicut, his home. I’ve always wanted to go on a photo expedition with Yazid since he’s one guy who was always open to teaching me more on photography.

Since he wasn’t going be with us for long, I used any opportunity to take advantage of his time. And we got some when we stopped for some time near the Karnataka-Kerala border.

Karnataka starry night
Starry night

Yazid taught me and another friend, Ramesh, how to use the Bulb mode in a camera. I had it as a mode in my Canon 7D but didn’t know exactly what it was for. Essentially, the Bulb mode was for giving the photographer full manual control over timed exposure. As in, you can hold the shutter open for as long as you can hold the button down.

Toyota Qualis taxi at night

Another cool example was shooting off the flash for a second and then holding on to the open shutter to create cool effects like this.

Experimenting with Bulb mode
Experimenting with Bulb mode; the "ghost" is my friend Ramesh

Ramesh stood in front of the jeep when the flash was shot off, then moved away while the shutter was still held and the result is what you see above.

We tried another shot using the same technique. Here’s a shot of Ramesh and Yazid with the shutter release lasting as long as the flash just goes off.

Yazid photo experiment without stars
Left: Ramesh; Right: Yazid

Now here’s the same pose but with the flash going off and then both moving away while the shutter is still held open by me for nearly 10 seconds.

Yazid photo experiment with stars
Cool huh?

The long exposure helps you get the stars as well.

We tried the same with shadows. Shot off the flash which obviously captures our shadows but then move away while still holding the button down so the open shutters captures as much of the background as possible.

Yazid photo experiment with shadows at night
Experimenting with shadows in the dark

We tried some more shots…

Yazid photo experiment truckYazid photo experiment truck

… before Ramesh and I felt we had learned enough.

We set off from there and by the time we reached Bandipur, the sun had slowly started to show up.

Bandipur forest resort
Dawn breaking on Bandipur

By 7am, we had reached Wayanad. The taxi had to stop at the check post for the standard paper work which gave us the opportunity to start our photography.

Wayanad checkpost
Nidhin setting up his tripod

I didn’t take many photos as I was feeling sleepy given I was up the whole night making sure our driver didn’t doze off like the passengers did. Breakfast was just hot tea.

Wayanad paddy field Kerala
The one photo I did take

It took our driver nearly an hour to get back from the customs police. And when he did, we realized we had a puncture too! More time was wasted as the driver slowly replaced it. Annoying as it were, we finally moved past the check post and stopped again soon after. Nidhin (the guy who organized this whole trip) told us the first thing on our itinerary was a safari ride through Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. We paid up for five, our guide and got into our jeep.

Now, the thing with any safari is that, the chances of one actually ever seeing anything exciting are rare. Plus timing is important too. Early mornings are often said to be best as a lot of animals prefer to stay in the shade once the sun is out in full force. Plus, it helps if the vehicle you are in wouldn’t make such a racket giving a loud heads-up to every creature signaling tourists are on the way!

Muthanga forest safari jeep
From inside our noisy safari jeep

I was only carrying my wide-angle and 50mm lens, so there was little I could capture as far as exotic animals and birds are concerned. Nidhin had a 300mm lens so he managed to get some rather good close-ups of the creatures we came across.

So bear with me… here are some trees!

Muthanga forest tree

Muthanga forest tree

Muthanga forest safari trailMuthanga forest safari trail two-way

Muthanga forest safari trail
Nidhin in the distance; Mohan on the right

After driving through the forest, we hit the tarred road and the driver took us to a nearby “waterfall”.

Turned out to be nothing more than a river stream with a lot of sand dumped on its banks — which looked suspicious as it surely didn’t look like it belong there.

Wayanad forest streamMuthanga forest, Wayanad

Wayanad to Calicut

After nearly nearly 2 hours, we were back to where we started. Our safari ride was over. Was it worth it? I guess it varies. If we had spotted tigers, then I would have said ‘yes’. Otherwise, if deers and small wild animals aren’t your thing, it’s a waste of money.

It was nearing noon so we decided to head for our resort which was still a bit away. But once we hit Sultan Batheri (the big town in Wayanad) our taxi suffered another puncture! Since the spare tyre was also bust, we had no choice but to wait for it to get fixed.

So I decided to take in the local sights.

2022 movie poster Wayanad Kerala
So the world gets rebuilt after 2012 to be destroyed again?
Out of Range mobile store Wayanad Kerala
One, I didn't know lottery tickets could be sold wholesale. Two, 'Out of Range' for a mobile store won't help you dude.

After an hour, we were back on our way. And then… another puncture! That too the same tyre! We got fed up at this point,  so we told our driver to get it sorted and we took an autorickshaw to our resort.

I don’t remember the name of the resort and honestly, I wouldn’t even recommend it for the price (Rs. 1750 per night). Getting there is pain by itself and the amenities or for that matter, the views, really aren’t worth the price.

After finally brushing our teeth and having something to eat, we rested for a bit. It was already past 4pm at this point and we really didn’t want to waste daylight, so we set off for our next stop — Banasura Sagar dam.

We hired a jeep as by the time our taxi driver got the tyre fixed and reached our resort, we decided its best he eat and rest. Also mostly because we were scared of the tyre going bust again.

There is an entrance fee at Banasura Sagar dam, the largest earthen dam in India and apparently the second largest in Asia. Open to visitors, the place offers a children’s park and even boat rides.

Banasura Sagar damBanasura Sagar dam stepsBanasura Sagar dam public

It was very sunny when we arrived and I regretted not carrying my sunglasses.

Banasura Sagar dam
Banasura Sagar dam

Banasura Sagar dam public parkBanasura Sagar dam boat ride

The tickets for the boat rides are separate from the entrance fees and none of us were interested in going for it either. So after spending an hour there, we headed back.

After sunset, we just enjoyed drinks and food over a campfire… ‘cos there was little else to do. There is absolutely nothing around the resort besides trees and shrubs.

Wayanad campfire resort
Ramesh took this one
Wayanad campfire
The fire didn't last very long leaving us quite cold fairly soon after. (Photo taken by me)

Most of us called it an early night (especially me) since we barely slept properly in the past 24 hours. The plan was to wake up early the next day and set off by 5:30am.

But that never happened.

I got up a 5:30am and tried calling up the others — but in vain. And since it was freezing cold and misty outside, I went back to bed. We eventually did get up but by the time we left the resort, it was past 9am.

Wayanad dry field cow
Wayanad at 10am

Wayanad banana field

We drove through Kalpetta, picked up a local friend of Nidhin’s and made our way to Kuruva island.

Kuruva is not an “island” you’d imagine. It’s just a piece of forest land surrounded by a river stream (River Kabini) thus earning the title of “island”. We weren’t planning on getting on to the actual island itself so we went with our local guide through the side and the paddy fields you have to cross to get to the banks.

Kuruva islands farm land
Walking through the dry fields to get to Kuruva
Kuruva islands river stream
Cross the stream and you get to the island

There is an entrance fee to enter Kuruva island and if you pay, this is how you actually get to the island.

But we just sat by the bank for some photography.

Shutterbugs Kuruva islands
The AOL Shutterbugs... (including me behind the camera)

Wayanad river rockKuruva islands spiderweb

Kuruva island treeBy 1pm, we were bored and decided to head back to town. Nidhin’s friend showed us one last thing before heading back to town.

An old teak bungalow used by the British during colonial times.

Wayanad teak bungalowThe bungalow was on a secluded piece of land surrounded by trees making it one heck of a vacation home.

Wayanad teak bungalow
Or at least it was

Now all that’s left are markings by vandals professing their love for someone and other messages inscribed on the wood. The house is decades old but I was surprised how good the wood still was.

Wayanad teak bungalow inside

It was very sunny so we quickly headed back to our taxi, drove to town and cooled off during lunch. After that, it was back to Bangalore.

Fortunately, we didn’t suffer any further punctures and the only time we stopped (and probably the most exciting moment of this trip) was when we saw young elephants by the road side in Bandipur.

Bandipur forest elephants

We did end up stopping at Mysore for dinner. (Actually, we stopped at Mysore because Nidhin’s friend said there was this dosa and beef curry joint in town but trying to find it was a pain and Nidhin’s state didn’t help either so we just ate at a regular vegetarian joint.)

Mysore Palace at night
Mysore Palace at night

Just as the clocked neared 12am, I was back home. The trip really wasn’t one of my best given the expenses and the resulting photography.

Either that or I have been spoilt by all the beauty I saw in the ten days I spent in Thailand.

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