River Tern lodge gets its name from birds that
visit this place during the breeding season. This is located in Chikmagalur
district on the edge of the Bhadra reservoir. It is about 290 Kms from
Bangalore. Having stayed at three jungle lodges in couple of years, we were
longing for more, but this one was farther and needed more planning. We traveled
on April 13th, 2009, Monday night from Bangalore and reached the
next morning. The lodge was certainly more modern than the ones we had seen
before and the cottages were luxurious.
We spent good time at the river bank before lunch. The sight
of water was refreshing. In the evening, we were taken for safari in the Bhadra
reserve forest. Though the place is known to be a tiger reserve, I am not sure if they are there. The highlight was seeing many Gaurs.
Evening was the conventional unwinding session. We had great fun. Next morning was a trek to nearby
hillock. After coming back, we were
taken by boats on the Bhadra back waters. This is where the highlight of the
trip was waiting for us. There were small islands there were home to thousands of
River Terns. It was a different world altogether where they hatched and fed the
young ones. The sight is to be seen to believe.
We came back, had breakfast, played carom for some time and
left for Bangalore. The sight of the River Terns was indeed remarkable and made
me go there again in 2013.
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