Jungle Retreat Wayanad (JRW)

[marcox]

Since i`m not working for the moment I have plenty of time, to write tripreports. We visitted the following location allready 2 times and I think its quite an alternative or an addition for a stay a kabini. Even I never made it to kabini myself :-)

 

For the start I`m copy tast their description from the website:

 

Your own private jungle paradise in Wayanad, Kerala, India

Jungle Retreat Wayanad is a 10 acre farm surrounded by jungle on all sides and we have daily wildlife sightings right inside the farm itself. It is an ideal escape for wildlife and nature lovers, you can see animals from your room's balcony as they graze in our meadows or come for a drink in the watering-hole inside the farm. If you are a wildlife and nature lover, we have a host of activities for you such as all-day jungle treks and wildlife safari drives in Wayanad and Nagarahole.

 

They offer 3 cottages in their farm. One of them has a great view to the waterhole and the surroundings. So the the place can not get to crowded. And there`s a policy not to make to much noise or consuming alcohol to not disturb the wildlife.  In the 10 day we stayed there we had 2 night with a noisier groups and it wasn`t to bad.

 

Location

Located in Wayanad Kerala. Around 5-6h from Bangalore or maybe 2h from Kabini. Nearest airport is calicut with 3-4h by car.

 

Wildlife 

We had some impressive sightings there. Most of them where from our private balcon or the watchtower inside jrw

• Elephant     Tusker roaming around the farm and taking a bath in the waterhole 
• We could hear the elephants eating and even breathing at night from our cottage    
• Family of elephants visitting the waterhole at night 
• Gaur family through the day
• hundreds of deers and lots of peacocks. We had lots of alarm calls from the deers and sometimes even woke up at night and tried to see the predator with our torch.
• wild boars
• mongoose
• jungle cat at night
• Heard a male tiger roaring at night while he was roaming around the farm. We where just standing in front of our cottage while hearing the tiger close by and watching 2 male elephant getting pretty nervous because of the tiger calls. A once in a lifetime experience.
• Malabar giant squirrel
• Macaques and Langurs
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Activities

• Safari at tholpetty wayanad wildlife sanctuary. Around 1h30 and you  have to book the jeep on the spot, which wasnst a problem at all. Costs where around 30 Dollars for the whole jeep. Sightings wheren`t to good with Hornbill, Owl, Deers, Mongoses, Gaurs. Did this safari 3x and one time we missed a tiger sighting by seconds. The safari gate is around 20 min from jrw.
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• Safari at Nagarhole national park (the same as Kabini but an other zone and entry). There are 2 options for a safari there. A Bus where the seats could get booked on the spot. Kind of a loud 30seater and a jeep run by a private company called jungle lodge and resorts. They also operate the kabini river lodge. There`s only one jeep going inside the parc from this gate. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The jeep has 9 Seats and can be prebooked from the resorts like jrw. A Seat costs around 20Dollars. The safari lasts around 2h30. Did this around 10 times. Didnt had to much luck with big cats with only one tiger and one leopard sighting. Gaur, elephants and deers where almost guaranteed. lmostall sightings are without any other cars. So we had a private tiger sighting of 20minutes. Wild dogs around every 3 drives. From jrw its a 40min drive to the safari gate.
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•   Trekking at brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary. A 15min drive from jrw is the starting point, where you can trekk with a forrest departement guide through tiger and elephant habitat up the brahmagiri hills to enjoy a great view of the surroundings. Didn`t saw a lots of wildlife but some clear evidence of tiger and elephants. The trek took around 5h up and down. Costs for the  guide and permit around 50Dollar`s.
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•   JRW offers also short walk in and around the property, where we saw giant squirrels and of course elephants.
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• Night drives. The roads around jrw are open at night. So you can drive and have look for wildlife.
• There as tibetan monachstry (no joke) one hour from jrw and you have to drive through nagarhole np. There`s a public road going right through the np. If you come back at evening before the gate at nagarhole is closed, you can have a free evening safari at nagarhole np. Where i met a sloth bear.
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• JRW is also able to book seats at kabini safari. Since the nagarhole road is closed at night it takes around 4h to get back after the safari at jrw. Never did this.

 

I`m allready planning my next visit to wayanad, since its one of my favorite regions of the world and great place to relax and enjoy wildlife. And there`s always a chance to see a tiger while driving to a safari.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2019 by marcox
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[madaboutcheetah]

Fantastic report!!!!

[Atravelynn]

Sightings and "hearings" to remember!   $20 for your outing?  Even sharing with up to 9, that is quite a deal.  And look at what you saw over your 10-day stay.  You may have seen only one tiger, but it was a stellar sighting.  And that squirrel is nothing to scoff at.

 

How did you get to Wayanad?

 

Thanks!  Enjoy your time off.

 

 

[marcox]

The first time we took a driver from kochi to drive us around 7h to wayanad.

 

The second time we had an international flight to bangalore. Then we took the flybus to mysore around 3-4h but almost a luxury bus with ac, toilet etc. Spend 2 days at mysore which is a nice and relaxed city with a bird sanctuary and a beautiful palace and had a driver to bring us to jrw around 2h30 or so.

 

I forgot to mention that you can reach some of the best non crowded indian beaches in about 2-3h from jrw by car.

[TonyQ]

Excellent, thank y for posting.

[xnegvx]

Absolutely lovely sightings. The tigress near water body is gorgeous. Would love to know about the beaches you mentioned.

[marcox]

The last time we stayed at thottada beach close to kannur. There are a few homestays. We were at ocean green kerala, which was a 5 min walk from the beach.

Edited September 22, 2019 by marcox