My World: November 2018

Mysore - Himavad Gopalswamy Betta - Bandipur - Sulthan Bathery-Venniyode

We had been planing a visit to Wayanad for few years now. Hubby's aunt stays in Wayanad and it used to be his regular summer vacation trip during childhood, and he always shared wonderful memories of Wayanad with me. So during the Diwali long weekend this year we planned our visit to Wayanad. It definitely was to be a leisure trip no much of running around. So we started off from Bangalore by 6 in the evening, halted at Mysore, and started in the morning for Wayanad. We were on Mysore Ooty round by 9 AM, our plan for day 1 was to cover Himavad Gopalswamy betta and Sultan Bathery. We took pit stops on the way to enjoy the paddy fields of Najangudu and reached Himavad Gopalswamy Betta by 11AM. The forest authorities have become strict nowadays and they have stopped allowing private vehicles to the hill. There are KSTRC buses playing from the foot hills to the temple. Himavad Gopalaswamy betta is the highest peak of Bandipur Tiger Reverse and you get the beautiful view of the forest. Dedicated to Gopala, Lord Krishna the temple is well known for being chilled throughout the year, even at the highest temperatures down hill. Its just not the inside of the temple but also the entire plateau with the cool breeze. If you are lucky enough you spot wild life, we were told its common to encounter with elephant herds en-route to the hill or near the temple. Its the smell of the temple prasada(offerings to devotees), which attract these elephants, our bus driver said. By the time we were back at the foot hills it was already 1:30, looking out for decent food joints, we drove back to Gundlupete. Himavad Gopalaswamy bette is on Ooty road, you need to drive back to Gundlupete and take the other deviated rout to Sulthan Bathery. With quick lunch at Gundlupet we started off to Sultan Bathery. One of our reason's to avoid night travel and take the day trip was to enjoy the drive through Bandipur Tiger Reserve. With every rare calls and around the water bodies we looked for the sighting of tiger or elephants, the only animals we could spot were lots on monkeys, deer herds, peacocks and many birds. This rout through Bandipur is closed from 8PM to 6AM, one of the few national parks which closes late, while most of the other parks close by 6 in the evening. We reached Sulthan Bathery by 4PM and drove to Ancient Jain temple. Built in 13th century, the Jain temple served as a place of worship and a ammunition store during the rule of Tippu Sultan, hence the city gets its name Sultan Bathery(Tippu Sultan Battery). From Sultan Bathery we drove to Kainatty Ananthanatha Swamy Jain Temple to join cousins for Mahaveer Swamy Mokshakalyana Mahotsava, a celebration as part of Diwali. We called for the day at cousin's place in Venniyode, which is around 13km from Kainatty.