Experiencing Dandeli – With Milind Kodkany.

Someone has said, ’The best moment happens when they are unplanned.’ That is what really happened to me and my friends when we made a plan for Dandeli, unknowing whereabouts we are going to stay or do. We six friends caught a bus to Dandeli from Bengaluru for a two days visit. We had talked to two travel agents before reaching there but the sad news was the main adventure, ‘River Rafting’ is cancelled due to the poor monsoon this season and more conversation with them made us easily judge that the plan which they were proposing were only to cheat us without a good package.

While in bus we read the reviews of Mr. Milind’s Homestay on internet and our discussions were about to get correct conclusions, with a gentleman listening to us and inquired to us whether we were trying to reach Milind’s Homestay. The answer from us was obviously yes and within no time we reached our destination as directed by the gentleman.

We reached to Milind’s Homestay around 8.30 a.m. and luckily he had no guests for the two days which we had planned, but he was getting ready for a seminar by forest department. We told him about our short visit for two days, so that he could plan accordingly. Instantly he advised us to finish the water adventures with the help of his friend and his car on day one and he promised us to meet us by six o’ clock at evening. We quickly got fresh and reached White Water Resort which is situated on the banks of the river Kali. We had planned for few water adventures there in the river Kali. As there was no river rafting, we had to satisfy ourselves with Kayaking, Water Baloon rolling, River crossing and Jacuzzi bath, which were also good. We dint know how the time passed as we had come for our lunch at  4.30 p.m. to a nearby hotel. Later that we went for Sightseeing to Supa Dam which was again a new experience.

Late in the evening we went back to Milind’s Homestay, He had already made a plan to take us to a night adventure in Jungles to show us how the life of Jungle in night. Milind is a certified Naturalist & a certified Eco-Volunteer, who is into this business from the last 20 years and his family is in Dandeli from last four generations. Its upto your luck that you find animals in forest during night as they are familiar with sounds and smell of humans nearby. You really need patience to see them. Milind is really Bear Grylls of Dandeli, who will show you how to survive in forest if you are lost. Our Night adventure was wonderful in his open jeep and the temperature had dropped so cool that we were shivering on the way back home. Mrs. Milind and team had prepared dinner for us. We had a plan to get boozed, he advised to have them only for the Climate and not for the enjoyment as we didn’t miss anything important adventure in the next morning. The dinner was so homely and awesome. We slept soon as we needed to step out of home by 6.30 a.m. sharp for bird watch.

We walked, trekked for nearly four hours in the nearby forest watching different kinds of birds. I came to know about various new birds in that forest. Milind explained us about the types of birds and the calls of birds and techniques of Bird watching without disturbing them. We had to wait till the Sunrise for perfect picture there and we even spotted deer in that forest.

Returning home at around 10 a.m. we had our breakfast. According to the plan we visited Syntheri Rock. This rock is a 300 ft single rock caused of volcanic eruption. Dangerous, Don't try something adventurous, just enjoy the nature. Good to click and cover. And then we had lunch deep in the forest in one of his friends hotel. Beware you will get food only when you order them prior to reach there. Post lunch we were completely lost in the deep forest, learning ecology and the lessons of Mother nature. You require huge patience to know about Nature and see her creations, even a small climber plant teaches you a new things. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any wild animal other than deer & Bison. Never expect anything, just experience Nature, because it will always bring surprise for you. We went to the finishing point of the forest and saw beautiful small small islands. They were submerged lands which had come up due to low water level.

It was dark and was the time for us to depart. Saying bye to the dense forest and Mother Nature, we left left the place, soon we reached Homestay and packed our bags to our homes.

An asian proverb says that, ‘Better to see something once, rather than to hear about it a thousand times.

Mr. Milind even though we heard late, is Truly a genuine Nature Consultant who arranged and planned our stay with a decent charge and gave us the best experience of Nature.

Visit Dandeli once to explore on your own. Plan atleast for three days so that you don’t miss a single adventure.