Dear friends, I would like to share my weekend trip to
Bidar, Karnataka which is around 130 kms from Hyderabad.
Start Time: 10.00 AM AM
Return Date and Time: 13-Jan-2014, 1.30 P.M.
Accommodation: 2 nights.
Mode of travel: Car – Hyundai i20.
Even though I spend 2 nights and 2 days, one can trim the duration of the trip based on their comfort. At the end of this narration I will provide the different options in exploring the Bidar trip.
To start with, I was fed up with routine trips to places where we will visit temples, forts and other site seeing places. So this time I was planning to do something different and searched google if there were any nearby destinations available for an ideal weekend trip. I came across Black buck, Jungle lodges resort located in Bidar. They are offering a forest/nature exploration camp and also the local Bidar site seeing. I am very much interested to visit a forest exploration from long time and preferred to explore this place as it is very near to Hyderabad.
Previously I tried to visit this place during Dussehra holidays but all the bookings were full. So this time I planned to visit during Sankranthi vacation.
I booked for 2 days and 2 nights package in Jungle lodges resorts and started on Saturday, 11-Jan-2014 at 10.00 A.M. from Balanagar accompanying my wife and 2 daughters. Followed the route of Kukatpally à Patancheru à Sadashivpeta à Zaheerabadà Bidar. I used the google maps navigation from my mobile and it made my life easy. No confusion and no assistance from passerby. Therefore I strongly recommend GPRS navigation for car mode of tranport. I chosen the destination as Jungle Lodges, Bidar in google maps and it perfectly guided me to the destination which is located 5 kms inside the forest.
With respect to the road conditions, after crossing the BHEL tollgate road it is two lane road and we cannot go on high speeds. 70% of road conditions are OK but about 30-40 kms road is pretty bad. Finally it took three and half hours for me to reach the resorts.
After check-in we were allotted cottage number 8 and it is the best cottage of entire Jungle lodges. The lodge itself is located in the forest and adjacent to the lake. The cottage number 8 has direct access to the lake and no other cottage has this facility. This is a execute cottage and cost wise it is higher than others.
The forest experience is first of its kind for us and our entire family immediately enjoyed the serene location and ambience of the surrounding. The cottages are located with beautiful scenic places and one has to experience it rather than sharing it.
Jungle lodges have a planned program and they will engage you with various activities. Below is the list of programs –
1)
Black bucks (deer) site seeing.
2)
Coracle boat ride and bird watching.
3)
Trekking and nature walking
5)
Bidar site seeing (applicable in 2 nights package
only).
6)
Cycling and boating are optional and are charged
additionally.
Below are some pics of the resort and forest –
The Bidar local site covers the following –
1) Bidar Fort
2) Barid Shahi Garden
3) Gurudwara Nanak Jhira Saheb and ChowbaraGurudwara
4) Underground temple of Laxmi narasimha
Of the above I liked Bidar Fort and Barid Shahi Garden. Bidar is a beautiful town with lots of greenery. It is also blessed with good and wide roads and reasonable traffic. Below are some pics of Bidar site seeing –
Some of the drawbacks of the Jungle lodges are –
1) Television is not available.
2) You cannot use high power utilities like Iron box.
3) Poor mobile network.
Also be prepared to come with the dress code relevant to trekking and forest walk.
Considering the forest life, solar power generation, and not disturbing the forest life I can understand the above drawbacks can be bearable for 1-2 days.
In the below table I am attempting to provide the various trip options and budget involved so that one can plan accordingly.
| Trip option | Trip coverage | Budget | Remarks |
| Option 1 | If someone is interested in only Bidar site seeing, start early around 7.00 or 8.00 A.M. You can complete your site seeing in 4 hours and can return back to Hyderabad by night 7.00 or 8.00 P.M. | Car – Petrol cost for to and fro will be around 2500 rs. For bus travelers it will be much cheaper and one can hire auto for local site seeing. The cost can be wrapped up in < 1000 rs for a 4 member family. |
No nature camp is planned here. |
| Option 2 | Book the resort for 1 day and 1 night. Reach the Jungle lodge by 12.00 P.M and complete their packaged program. Checkout by 11.00 A.M. next day and complete the Bidar local site seeing | The travel cost is same as mentioned in option 1. Additionally one need to pay for Jungle lodge cottage. This will be in the range of 3600 to 4500 per person for one day depending on the type of cottage. Children below 5 years are not charges and for below 12 years the cost is reduced by 50% | This will be a hectic schedule. For car mode of travelers the option of two drivers will make the trip easy. |
| Option 3 | 2 nights and 2 days program of Jungle lodges | Calculate the charges for two days. For me the entire cost was around 27000 Rs. | Will be leisure and relaxing trip. |
| Option 4 | Skip the Bidar site seeing and plan only forest camp | As mentioned in option 3. | Not a recommended one as Bidar site seeing will be missed. Suitable who had seen Bidar previously. |
Overall the trip is exciting and beautiful. Someone who had previously experienced bigger forest camps or wild life camp may be disappointed. Such people can plan Bidar site seeing. But for the first timers the forest camp and Bidar site seeing will be a unique experience.
