Traveller Hoots

Dandeli is a hidden gem in Karnataka enfolding the pristine nature and wildlife to behold.  I stayed in Dandeli Jungle camp - an essence of raw jungle sojourn. Mr Dharmesh, owner of Dandeli Jungle camp had already arranged a car for my local travel. The scorching sun calmed down by 3 pm when I began my journey towards Syntheri rock Dandeli.

A 35kms drive through the Dandeli wildlife sanctuary from DJC through the rustling woods. This stretch of Dandeli is home for wild cats. The driver Vijay told me that he had sighted black panthers and leopards on his previous drives here. Yes, Dandeli is declared as the tiger reserve and conserving the wildlife is the utmost preference here. Throughout this reserve forest, I constantly kept my eye focussed to sight any wild animals. Alas! Maybe the wild cats were deep inside the forest and I wasn't lucky that day to sight them.

Brief on Syntheri rock

A monolithic single granite boulder with a height of 300ft with the river Kaneri flowing at its co…

Early morning I got up to the tunes of the jungle. At 6:30 am, we started to drive towards Timber Depot for bird watching - especially for the Hornbills. Dandeli is known to be rich in timber, especially for teak and rosewood. The Dandeli teak auction is believed to be biggest in Asia. The timber trail has been transformed as conservation of the rare species of Hornbills. India has 10 species of Hornbills and Dandeli forests alone has four species residing in Timberyard - Malabar Pied Hornbill, Great Pied Hornbill, Indian grey hornbill and Malabar grey hornbill. Hornbill festival was organised at Dandeli by Karnataka forest department in 2018, in order to create awareness and conserving the hornbills.

[caption id="attachment_6858" align="aligncenter" width="640"] As the timber depot welcomed me[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_6861" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Rajani & I as we walked in the quest of birds[/caption]

Hor…

The clock ticked 1 pm! Overhearing the harmony of the birds at Old Magazine house, I had completely surrendered myself to the nature of Dandeli already. Casual conversations with fellow visitors popped up the topic of  White water rafting Dandeli and I felt curious as they narrated their previous rafting experiences. Rafting was on my wishlist from long and appeared to get fulfilled in Dandeli. Immediately, I communicated to the resort officials to arrange river rafting and they said they would check if it's available on that day.

I was under the impression that rafting is available all days due to the free-flowing  Kali river. But that’s not the case and the reason being the Supa dam. Before Kali river flows through Dandeli, it crosses Supa dam. The flow of the river then depends on the Supa dam gates and so the river rafting in Dandeli totally depends on Supa dam opening the dam gates. If the flow is not massive, then the rafting is not allowed. If the rafting is performed on an …