Nagarhole: pothole!

So much has been said about the condition of roads in India. On a recent visit to Nagarhole (pronounced Naagar-ho-lay), I ran into some of the worst roads that I have ever come across in my life. We drove down from Bangalore in a Wagon R via Mysore & Hunsur. The road till Mysore is absolutely fantastic and the drive is very pleasing and enjoyable. Sadly, the same can't be said about the 30 km stretch of road inside the Nagarhole forest. Nagarhole is a natural forest inhabited by several species of animals, vegetation & fauna. Most common ones are tuskers, tigers, deers, sambars and peacocks. It is also reported that wild animals can be sighted during the drive through the forest. The forest department also offers a safari (in a van) inside the forest where the chances of sightings are higher.

I have observed that the roads that belong to the forest department are normally better maintained than other roads. The drive between Mysore and Hunsur was also good, save some patches of road under construction. The drive through the forest for the initial 10 kms was also very exciting with a superb road & lot of fresh tusker droppings. Our hopes of sighting a tusker by the road were very high. The excitement ended at the gate for the main forest. The rest of the 20 kms of road was an absolute nightmare. It took us more than an hour and half to get through this distance. We sighted a few species of deer grazing by the road side, but no tuskers, but we didn't care. Our primary cause of concern was whether the car would withstand such a beating. We were 3 hours early for the next safari. One of the forest officials suggested that we visit Irpu falls (18 kms) and come back in 2 hours for the safari. We were told that the road outside the forest gate was better. Optimistically we started, but alas... the road was in the same pitiable condition all through. It took us another 2 hours to reach Irpu falls! We were way beyond our schedule, and we had to go back to Nagarhole in a hurry for any chances of going for a safari. His Highness who was majestically behind the wheel all the time, drove like a real taxi driver, caring nothing about the car & the road and thrashed it all the way back. After being thrown around in the car for an hour, we reached Nagarhole, in time for the safari. The safari was pretty much similar to the drive through the forest, without any substantial sightings, and an equally bumpy ride. The only addition was a tusker. The safari lasted for an hour and ended at 6 pm.

It was getting dark, and despite our best efforts we were sure that we would not get out of the forest within one and a half hours. We were very scared of getting stranded because of the car breaking down or suffering a puncture on a pitch dark night in the middle of the forest, with no soul in sight. Some words of wisdom shared by our safari guide about running into tuskers & the bad road had us on the edge of the seat (literally). We finally made it out of the forest gate by 7.30 pm, and heaved a sigh of relief. Back on to the great tarmac between Mysore & Bangalore, I couldn't help but wonder about a notice displayed inside the safari van: "This is a natural forest, sighting of wild animals is a matter of luck, please do not blame the staff." We could understand the fact about sightings, but what about the road??