Kali Wilderness Camp...Dandeli trip...continued...

We had reservation for two days at the wilderness camp. Reached Dandeli at around 1pm and we were greeted by the receptionist, who was ready with the plan for the coming two days, for us.
These are the activities at the camp. One can choose between the activities and also decide the time when they wish to join the group heading for a particular activity.
Here is a list of activities :
- Jungle Safari
- Syntheri rocks
- Kavala caves
- Coracle ride
- sykes Point
- and last but not the least...white river rafting!!!


Since, we were tired after train and road journey (Hubli to Dandeli), we opted to go for Safari that evening and not to Syntheri rocks, as we were told that one needs to go down 250 stairs or so to visit the rocks.

Had sumptuous lunch and after relaxing a bit, started the wildlife safari. Unlike most of the sanctuaries, this one has villagers residing inside the jungle. I guess this is because the tribal folks were always part of this jungle area much before it was declared a wildlife sanctuary. Then went back and read some more about these and came to know that one of the tribe's called "Siddi tribe", were part of the slave trade that went on between Portuguese ans Indian Princely states. The descendants of these slaves ran away and managed to stay alive in jungle. "Gowlis" are another tribal folks, who speak Marathi and believed to have their origin in Rajasthan.
We saw a model village outside the sanctuary area(few pics added above). The model shows few villagers, their shelters, cattle and a glimpse of their lifestyle.

The safari was in an open jeep and we were six people with a naturist and a driver. Everytime, he would spot a bird or an animal, he will make us all aware of its name, species, characteristics...At first, we spotted a Giant Squirrel, dark seal brown in color, with a tail that was almost 2 feet long. Generally dwells in upper part of the trees. After watching it jump from one tree branch to another,we moved ahead...Next we saw, a Brahminy Kite, a scavenger, thrives on dead fish,crabs and stays on trees near wet areas. Then a "Crocodile's Dentist" :) This bird(dunno the actual name but local people all it by this name), feeds on left overs that remain in a crocodile's teeth. One can easily spot crocodiles lazing on river banks, with their mouth wide open. Guess what, they wait for this bird to come and clean their teeth. Hence, the name...Found it quite interesting ... Also, saw quite a few bisons, peacocks, wild dogs...Strangely, deers are not seen in Dandeli forest, which are commonly found in other wild life sanctuaries in Karnataka like B.R.Hills, Bandipur, Kabini etc.

In the middle of the forest, is the Sykes Point, which is believed to be the most beautiful viewpoint in Karnataka. You can see, an amazingly lush green forest and river Kali flowing through it. Spent sometime at this viewpoint and then started our journey back to the resort. Reached back in almost an hour. It had grown dark by then. Relaxed with a cup of tea and played a game of carom. Well, the main activity in the resort, (atleast for me ) is fooood:)
After a yummy dinner, it was time to go off to bed. Quite a tiring day...


Next morning, we started with coracle ride. Coracle is a saucer shaped boat made of bamboo. This is the time to watch birds and be lucky enough to spot some crocodiles. We saw weaverbirds, kingfishers and quite a lot of egrets and of course some "Crocodile's dentists too ".
Our group was lucky enough to spot two crocodiles, one of them was quite chilled out and kept posing for all of us all the while. Here are some of the pics of this bold and beautiful creature ...