The Dandeli Sentience.

                  Just in the corner of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa enchants a deeply dense forest with its own animals, river and people! Named after the landlord Dandelappa, Dandeli is not only a tourist trap but a haven to complete one's life's meditation.

My journey began with a roadtrip from Pune to Dandeli as a family decision for quality family time (total chaos😂). It took 10 hours approximately to reach in total as we halted in Kolhapur for the night. The highway and the roads to Dandeli are soo good that they seem a scene from all of Imtiaz Ali's movies!

Roads in Dandeli

Our stay was limited to Dewdrops resort which is really good for families, solo travellers and friend groups but I recommend you to explore other hotels especially for food. But for stay Dewdrops is the best, they really have a chill vibe with DJ in the evening, rain dance and two swimming pools with an immense background of dense paper trees.

 DAY 1

We reached the resort in the afternoon, freshened up and drenched ourselves in the pool. The climate of Dandeli is quite similar to that of the Amazon forest. It's mildly humid in the morning, hot in the afternoon and it rains in the evening. It rained heavily with thunderstorm the day we arrived there, seemed like quite a welcome. There was music, dance in the atmosphere as the weather started to clear up. Day 1 was more like a staycation. The resort has a beautiful surrounding as it is located at the back of the river and surrounded by the forest. It's fun to walk around there after a meal as you get hear various types of birds.

Pool no.2 (1 am)

         DAY 2

(foggy*)

Early in the morning about at 4 am we left for the jungle safari at Kali Tiger Reserve. Even in this extreme summer the forest was lush with deep green flora and enriching fauna. We didn't get to see many animals given that the government services of the safari are a total wreck - `a DIESEL open jeep is taken on muddy road which produces a lot of noise.' Anyways we started the safari and the first thing to witness was an entire Herd of Deer! They quickly escaped at the sight of us but it was truly marvelous. The ride itself is quite a delight, the tall distinctive trees with various kinds of flowers and the scent of the woods from recent rain really perked up the journey. There were sounds of birds and trees in the atmosphere with silence in the background. Next we got to see the Shekaroo and the Langoor monkey, they were quite high up on trees, pretty exquisite. The famous Hornbill was next on the list accompanied by peacocks! Then after a while of gazing into the deep woods you reach a point from where you can see the entire Kali Tiger Reserve. It was the most beautiful part of the entire safari! In the beginning we couldn't see anything as it was entirely covered with fog but as the wind blew it became a little clear and then we saw the most majestic mountains ever, entirely covered with dense forest and then a valley  descend downwards where it seemed the clouds were falling like a waterfall. It was very misty there, cold but sticky however we saw the entire reserve and headed back to the ride. The safari afterwards was pretty much just the ride and the beautiful scenery. Excuse us in background of the videos😌

(excuse my brother😐😂)

In the evening we decided to see the crocodile park nearby, didn't see the crocs, okay only one but it's not worth it although locals claim to see plenty of them during the monsoon season as they come outside to take all the available sunlight. The Syntheri Rock is however a must see spot in Dandeli. It's a little remote from the village Hubli as it is right in the center of the forest. It's a huge volcanic Basalt rock with water flowing through it. There are many honeycombs hanging on it just like the ones you saw in The Jungle Book. It has water caves that go deep inside as if they posses a huge treasure within them. It's a place beyond the tourist attraction. One can sit silently and meditate, paint or even practice music in the background of that nature.

                                                                DAY 3

At night after the rain.

The hot sun soared up in the sky while the water remained cool for us to have the perfect day. This is what we went to Dandeli for. So there are plenty of water sports happening there but let me mention some key highlights of the whole experience.There's a boat ride of the river where you get to explore the waters and then they take you to the jacuzzi. Now that is the best part of the experience, the jacuzzi really relaxes you once you are in it. The flow of the water massages you and really bubbles up your joy. It's a must! After that we returned to the bank and had some lunch and left for rafting. It started to rain when we reached the rafting site but it was totally worth it. I will write about my entire rafting experience in the next blog because it was not any ordinary rafting experience you have in Northern India. After that we came back and it started to rain heavily, with 80s songs playing in the background and hot cup of chai in our hands we spiritually connected to Dandeli as we got ready to set back home.

Entire Squad😎

                                          

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