Bheemeshwari Adventure Camp - Jungle Lodges Resorts

Bheemeshwari Adventure Camp is a resort/camp from Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) (http://junglelodges.com/bheemeshwari-adventure-and-nature-camp/ ). It is about 100KMs from Bangalore and is very easily accessible. Best season would be anytime from June - Mar. April and May are also good, however the water level in the river would be low and Kayaking would not be possible. There are plenty of huge trees in and around the camp which makes is very pleasant even in summer.

This  resort provides Day trips, Adventure Day Trips and Stays. I only wished JLR was not so expensive. The prices are per person and you pay a premium for the location. They do have most of their resorts in very good locations. 

This time, we took the adventure day trip with Pankaj's extended family and it was a blast. If planning for an an overnight stay, then, I would recommend to stay in Log Huts - these are in very good location facing the river. Thanks to Whatsapp - which helped in planning the whole thing. The plan was to start early so that we reach Bheemeshwari at 11AM. But like most plans with big groups, the timings went for a toss. We managed to reach the resort only by 1PM. But no regrets - we had loads of fun in the van. With around 15 people in the van, it was a blast. We played lot of games like charades, 20 questions, guess who, etc. 

Getting Ready for Ziplining

 

Walking on Burma Loop

Parallel Walk

Once we reached the camp, they served us some cool lemonade. This was much needed after all the shouting and talking we had been doing in the van. After the registration formalities, we decided to have lunch and then start with the activities. We were pretty hungry and had a good lunch. There are various adventure activities offered here, like Zip lining, Elephant walk, Burma loop, parallel walk, rappelling, kayaking etc. We started with Zip lining. Some of us chickened out because of the height. Hopefully by next time I will build enough courage to do the Zip Lining and Parallel Walk. However was able to do the other activities. Most of the others did all the activities. Even the kids did all the activities.The activities are pretty good and are really adventurous. Kids above 8yrs can also do these activities. Some of them could be a bit scary - it will depend on the kid though. 

Kayaking

Coracle Ride

It was 4PM, by the time the whole group finished the adventure activities. We then walked to the river to do some Kayaking and coracle ride. After all the adventure activities, it was refreshing to do some water activities. Kayaking was indeed very refreshing. Evening breeze over the river was relaxing and each of us took turns to do the kayakying as there were only 3 kayaks. After that we went for a nice coracle ride. The Naturalist/Guide helped us identify some of the birds.
  

Climbing the Jungle Net

The resort also has a huge jungle net tied across huge trees. It is great fun to climb these. Kids also spent time on the long swings which are put up on huge trees. Resort closes at 6PM for adventure activities. We had tea and some snacks and started back to Bangalore. We played more games on the way back. It was 10PM by the time we reached home. In all we had a great fun filled adventurous Sunday!

Bidar - A Unique Place In North Karnataka

Bidar is a district which lies at the tip of North Karnataka. This district is bordered by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra - infact it is just 150 Kms from Hyderabad. The districts of North Karnataka do not get the attention from the government and because of this, it has impacted the overall growth of the places here. There are a lot of interesting places here and had the government spent some effort and promoted them, they would have flourished by now. Luckily social networking and word of mouth has helped to get atleast few tourists to these places. I am hoping that in the coming years, government will focus and take up other projects of North Karnataka - similar to what they have done for Hampi, Aaihole and Pattadakal.

We have been wanting to visit Bidar for a very long time. This was, I should say the only important historical tourist place which we had not covered in Karnataka. Unfortunately Bidar is around 700 Kms from Bangalore and because of this we always kept postponing the plan. Also Bidar falls in the dry belt of Karnataka, and it is best to visit between the months of Nov-Jan. Summer's are very hot and dusty. Luckily this December we had to visit Hyderabad as Pankaj was having his 25 years Alumni meet of 10th Grade school. We planned to combine this trip with a visit to Bidar (Bidar is about 3 hrs drive from Hyderabad).

Lack of infrastructure and funds from government have impacted the growth of this place. There aren't many good hotels here. I guess it is a chicken and egg problem - because there aren't good hotels, lesser tourists visit here and because the flow of tourist is less, there aren't many hotels :( Don't know which is more applicable.

Best place to stay would be at Black Buck Resorts - Vilaspur (http://junglelodges.com/blackbuck-resort/), a resort from Jungle Lodges and Resorts. The Resort is well maintained and in very good location - facing the lake and has all the comforts of any JLR and is just 18 KMs from Bidar town. We booked an Executive Cottage facing the lake. As recommended by many tourists - we booked Cottage #8 and it turned out to be the best :)

We started from Bangalore on 25th Dec morning. The plan was to drive to Hyderabad, stay overnight at a friend's place and then next morning leave to Bidar. B'lore - Hyderabad road is awesome. The highway is in very good condition and their isn't much traffic too. This could be because there aren't any tourist spots on the way. The only drawback I find is about the options to eat. There are absolutely no eat out places until Kurnool. We had experienced it during our last road trip to Hyderabad and hence planned well. We packed some food which can keep us full until we reach Kurnool. We stopped for a quick Andhra meal at Kurnool and then straight to Hyderabad.

We decided to join a few family friends to visit the Birla Mandir. It was holiday season and huge crowd awaited us. Since we were meeting the friends after a long time, the crowd nor the queue bothered us. Had it been just us, we would have just walked back seeing the long queue. After checking out Birla Mandir, we to Ohri's for dinner. Had a great time with Aditya and Priya's family. By the time we reached Aditya's house it was pretty late. Kids were tired and they just crashed.

Bidar Fort

Next day, we had a good breakfast and drove to Bidar. It took us about 3 hours to reach Bidar. Since there was some road work in progress, it took longer. Once the road work is completed, it should not take more than 2 - 2:30 Hrs. For December, it was pretty hot during day. It was also quite dry and dusty. We reached Bidar fort around 11 AM. The fort is huge and really well maintained by ASI. Unfortunately there were no guides. This was very disappointing. Such a important historical place and no body to explain the history. We managed to get some details from the boards, books and security guards at the fort. Places to definitely see in the fort are - The fort, Madrasa, Rangeen Mahal ( we had to request the guard to open it for us - definitely worth the effort. It is in very good condition - especially the wooden pillars and the wall painitings), Solaha Khamb Mosque). It will take about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs to cover the fort.

Solaha Khamb Mosque

Rangeen Mahal

By the time we finished checking out the fort, it was time for lunch. We had to head to JLRs Black Buck Resort. This is about 18Kms from the fort. The directions were not very clear and google maps did not help. After making multiple calls to JLR we reached the resort by 1:30PM. Like all JLRs, the location of the resort is perfect. It has been done around a lake and there is lot of greenery around. The cottages are around the lake. After going through lot of room tips on Trip Advisor and considering the recommendations, we had booked Cottage #8. And undoubtedly this is the best cottage - it has the best views of the lake and is also not very far from the dining area. We checked -in and went straight for lunch.We had a good lunch and relaxed.

Lake Front - JLR Vilaspur

At 4PM, we were taken for a Black Buck Safari. Unlike other jungle lodges & resorts, this does not have any safari's in the jungle as there are no forests here. The black bucks are found in the grassland around Bidar and they are in good numbers. We had a good sighting of multiple black buck herds. The drive to see these animals in itself was not very great - it is not like a usual safari. But nevertheless this is a great effort from JLR to make Bidar a tourist friendly destination.

Black Buck Herd

We were back at the resort by 6:30PM. By now it was very chill. We needed warm jackets. 7:30PM was camp fire and some hot soup and snacks were served at the camp fire. A wild life video was also played. Whoever wished could watch the same. After dinner, we did some star gazing. The resort has a huge telescope. We could not see the planets because of change in the orbits, but the moon looked great - especially the craters.

Next morning was nature walk for 2 hours. The weather was pleasant and the walk was refreshing. Don't forget to take the binoculars and camera on these walks. We spotted some rare birds of this region. The water in the lake was receding and the naturalist who accompanied us on the nature walk mentioned that in couple of months the lake will dry up. The best season for visiting this resort is in the months of Nov - Jan. Beauty of this resort is because of the lake. There aren't many tourists from Feb. After the nature walk, we went for a coracle ride. There is Kayaking too, but since the water levels were not great we could not do it. After a good coracle ride, we went for a sumptuous breakfast and then it was time to leave.

On the way back to Hyderabad, we visited the Gurudwara - this is supposed to be the 2nd largest in India and indeed it was huge and very well maintained. We reached Hyderabad around 4PM.

In the evening it was time for a grand get together - It was Pankaj's 10th grade Alumni meet. It was fun meeting all his school friends and their families. Lot of fun activities were organized and we ate a lot of stuff. Next day it was drive back to Bangalore. This was a short vacation with lot of variety. I felt really good as my long pending trip to Bidar was done and it was worth the visit.