If you have not been to Mavanalla/Bokapuram near Masinagudi, I suggest you try this place once. As you drive from Gundalpet to Gudalur, after Bandipur and as you reach Thepakadu, there is a narrow bridge on the left that takes you to the elephant country called Bokapuram. On the foothills of Nilgiris (Ooty is 13 kms away if you are ready to take the 36 hair-pin bend Kalhatti road), this place is my favourite mainly because of wildlife sightings.
Cottage 6 at Casa Deep Woods is a place that I have always preferred. This is the one on the fringes of the forest and many a times we have been stranded in it, sorrounded by elephants. We have sighted a sloth bear there and have heard a tiger roar twice from approximately 200 meters away. On one ocassion, we were asked to vacate the room in a hurry at about 8 pm as there was a rouge elephant roaming around in that area. The fellow had killed 2 french tourists about 2 months ago.
I have two friends who live there. Dev Reddy owns Casa Deep Woods and he and his wife Nagina lives in a bunglow next to Casa Deep Wood. Last time when we had a drink with them, Nagina showed us the spot from where her pet dog was lifted away from the compound by a leopard. The other one is Mark who lives all alone deep inside. He once talked of an elephant that had got inside his kitchen "lifting the roof" in search of jackfruit that was kept in the fridge. He could not get out for a long time and gave Mark some very tense time. Read chetalwalk written by his father Dravidar to know more about the place.
We were there in March this year and Dev showed us a newspaper cutting stating that the forest department has declared the whole place as an elephant corridor and the court had ruled that all the resorts must close down. Dev confirmed some time back that their appeal was turned down and Bokapuram will soon stop to be a a tourist destination. We are going there this month for what we think would be our last visit to beautiful Bokapuram.
Kenneth Anderson is a Scottish gentleman who has written few books about his experiences shooting down man-eater tigers in the nilgiri biosphere. In one May when we went to pick up Shruti who was then studying in Ooty, we decided to trail a route that he had written about. With help from Dev who kindly arranged for a forest department guide and jeep, we drove deep inside. There was a certain temple that Anderson had written about and we could locate it. It is abandoned and in ruins but all that was written was there to see. Considering that the book was written in mid forties, things had not changed much. We came across some tribals, the kurumbas, who are traditional honey collectors. That by itself is a story.
Most of my outings have been inspired by wildlife and Neena and Shruti have come to accept that if they need to see me in my elements, they need to be ready for the wilderness. It has not been always fun and thrill....... we have had some very anxious moments too.
Try Masinagudi once. Even a day trip is sure to give you some thrill.
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