The ten honest cottages deep inside the forests of Mudumalai make for a fantastic weekend getaway! Just when we craved to break free from our bustling Bangalore city lives, we learnt about the Wilderness Resort in Mudumalai. The long weekend beckoned, and 6 of us friends began a road trip looking to unwind at this quaint little resort.
We danced in the rain, played on the swing like kids, guzzled amazing rasam, trekked to a nearby hill to see the sunset, played a lot of games, ate bhajji, and chai delivered to our doorstep and encountered a lone elephant near the property at night.
What Did We love?
We loved how sufficient and straightforward these cottages were. No fancy lighting. No lavish Jacuzzi, no fancy jazz. Just plain, comfortable, clean beds, very cool rooms and good food in the abode of nature. Isn’t that what you want? What you look for in a holiday?
Exactly what we hoped for 🙂
We loved how affordable it was. It didn’t make a dent in our pockets and yet gave us a great time!
We loved how there could be an elephant outside your room at any point in time. Like imagine, you get out of your room, and there’s an elephant. I didn’t exactly happen like that, but it could have. Isn’t that exciting?
What Did We do?
The 6 of us (N, I and two other couple besties) went to this place to not do a safari, not see animals, not wake up early. We wanted our time. We wanted to chill. We wanted to get away. Wilderness resort gave just that 🙂
We played games (Poker, Taboo, etc.) all afternoon in one of our cottage’s porch. It started pouring through the tall trees by the afternoon, and we danced in the rain. It’s becoming my favourite thing to do nowadays. Dance in the shower. But pulling everyone in to jump on puddles and catch summer’s first few drops of rain is so much fun!
The next evening we drove 10 km from the resort to this point called the Needle Hill aka oosi malai. It was a good 30 mins walk through the mountains, and we reached a point where we could see the whole forest area and the sun setting in between all that. So calm. So peaceful and so graceful.
We got back just in time for dinner of rasam, rice, roti and curry, just like how Amma would make at home. When we were about to leave the dining area to our rooms, we heard a scream from a nearby house. Was someone hurt? Was it a wild animal? We were so puzzled! What was it? All of us ran to the reception area, which is like on a higher pedestal to see what was wrong! “A lone elephant”, one of the boys said. The cottage next door spotted a lone elephant, and they saw it running towards our resort. Between lights flashing and people shouting, one of us saw huge tusks of a lone tusker. It’s on the loose, and it’s coming our way. The resort boy ushered us safely to our rooms and gave us strict instructions not to leave our rooms till the morning. Can it get more exciting?
Scared and excited we spoke in low volume whispered to communicate, wondering if an elephant is listening to our conversations.
First two days inside the forest where we found a little adventure, a lot of fun and laughter!
How To Get There?
Mudumalai Reserve is 236 Kms from Bangalore. We drove down in a car, and it took us 4 and a half hours + 30 minutes of breakfast and coconut water breaks!
So, will Wilderness Resort, Mudumalai be your Next Check-In?