23rd – 24th October 2010
Jungle lodges have opened their new resort near Hampi. As an inaugural offer, they were giving 35% discount for stay. Visiting Daroji was always in my “wish list” and so I decided to utilize this offer. Also, it had been a long time since I stepped into North Karnataka region. Booking was done in a jiffy as Jungle Lodges had online booking facility.
A bad decision was to take my car to reach Hampi. The roads were terribly bad between Chitradurga and Hampi (Check the link here). While it just took 2 hours 10 minutes to cover 210 km from my Home to Chitradurga, 4 hours was needed to cover the next 150 km.
The resort is near Kamalapura village. Unlike its other facilities, the resort here is situated amidst dry vegetation. But this is a nice place for bird watchers as several species of birds can be seen here.
The resort takes care of all permission for the sanctuary and provides Jeeps.
The visit to the sanctuary was eventful. The road from the resort to Sanctuary was the side of the canal teeming with birdlife. Daroji is different from other wildlife sanctuaries. The only attraction here is the bears that are numerous in numbers. And the best part is that there is a 100% chance of spotting them.
Every afternoon, the bears come out of the caves in search of food. From a view point on the top, they can be easily viewed.
I realized that the zoom of my lens was insufficient for the bears here. There is no chance to go near them and can be seen only from the view point.
While returning back, our driver spotted a sand boe on the road and quickly applied brake. An Innova behind us could not stop immediately and hit the Jeep. Nothing happened to the Jeep but Innova took a hit. It was a forest zone and Innova person was driving very fast. The driver of the Innova realized his mistake. But the lady in the vehicle found it hard to digest the fact that driver applied brakes “just for a snake”.
Even though the resort is named as Daroji wildlife, most of its program is concentrated over Hampi. Rightly so, as Hampi ruins are just nearby and visit to Daroji can be completed in couple of hours.
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| From the view point of Daroji wildlife santuary |
We visited Archeological museum at Kamalapur which was missed in our last Hampi trip.
If you are looking for sloth bear, Daroji does not disappoint you.
Lily Riani
i think thats good, having wildlife sanctuary. here we have for tiger and elephant aside from the state and national zoo.
Anu
Looks interesting… am leaving for the same place this week…. couldnt use their discount since it was school time and had to wait for hols.. looking forward to seeing lots.. and nice pic of the sand boa… looks like a huge earthworm, doesnt it?
Aravind GJ
Lily,
Thanks.
Anu,
Thanks. Have a nice trip.
R a n j i t
"just for a snake" You should have given a earful to that lady. its people like these that we see our wildlife numbers dropping by the day.
Sridharan
Interesting post. Nice PICS.
Aravind GJ
Thanks Sridharan.
Aji
Loved the detailing of your writing Aravind. What you said is absolutely true. This is perhaps one of the few wildlife sanctuaries where the star of the sanctuary can be spotted for sure. The cute sloth bears are a pleasure to watch. Another great thing about this sanctuary is its proximity to Hampi, roughly about 15 kilometers or so I guess. So, it’s easy to club it with the exploration of this ancient city, ideal for families and backpackers alike, not to mention photography enthusiasts.