Go MAD Cycling Tour to Gudalur - Day 3

Go MAD Cycling Tour to Gudalur  - near Chikyelchatti

Day 3: March 9th, 50kms

Chamarajanagar to Chikyelchatti 

  

We got some tea by the roadside and started off from Chamarajanagar at dawn. We continued on NH209 up to Terkanambi, where we took a side road towards Bachahalli. Had the usual heavy breakfast, and continued on the road which varied from dirt to partially paved. I managed to keep my road bike out of trouble until we hit a long and steep downhill dull of loose rock, where it was hard to keep the speed under control. Soon I had my first puncture, as expected, and fixed it. I was back on the road in 17 minutes, and caught up with the rest at the next stop. 

There was one scary moment when I was focusing so much on the road surface that I didn't notice an old woman with a bullock on a rope, with the rope pulled tight across the road! At the last minute, she dropped the rope, and I escaped! 

Later the road became completely uneven, full of large stones, and I had my second puncture. Since it was only a few more minutes to Chikyelchatti, I decided to take a ride in the support vehicle. After a minute, I swapped places with Nishita and rode her MTB for the rest of the way. It was my first real off-road ride, and it was scary sometimes on the downhills! That the bike was a few sizes too small did not help either.

Meanwhile a couple of other bikes too had punctures, so we all had to wait for them to get ready.








Meanwhile some forest guards showed us a couple of wild elephants up on the hill, and we all tried to take pictures and to show others where they were!

Can you spot the elephants?

Finally we rode downhill to Subbanna's heritage home at Chikyelchatti. I took a small tumble at one place, but it was at a very slow speed, so no damage was done.

We were going to stay at Subbanna's house whose family is supposed to be there for over 300 years, at Chikailchatti, just outside Bandipura. An NGO called Junglescapes is helping poor farmers like Subbanna to conserve the forest ecology in a sustainable way. There is a huge tree in front of the house which is more than 100 year old.

There was also a little water in the stream, where we could see lots of birds, including the Paradise Flycatcher. We also found a dead bird, which turned out to be a juvenile woodpecker.

The Green Hotel folks cooked us lunch, and went back to Mysore. We all really appreciated their cooking, and thanked them.

Meanwhile, many of us helped to move an old cart which was lying in the front of the house, to a place at the back. We didn't realize how heavy it was, and it took all the strength of about 15 of us to move it.

In the evening we went for a drive through Bandipura, and spotted grey mongoose, peacocks, jungle fowl, wild boar, and lots of deer.

On the way back, we heard that a large tusker and a gaur were sighted in Chikyelchatti, so we had to be very careful.

Madhu, Nishita and our host, Subbanna

Later we had a moonlit traditional dinner with Ragi Mudda, chapatis, and majjige made by the hosts. It was the first time I had ragi mudde, and it took some time to figure out how to eat it.

Then we pitched the tents, and spent some time at the campfire.

Stan getting ready to entertain us at the camp fire

Priya, who joined us at Bandipura in the evening, sang some songs, and Stan entertained us with his inimitable skills. Unfortunately many of the folks had already gone to bed in the house. The rest of us slept comfortably in the tents. Now that we were in the foothills, it got quite cool at night.

Read More

Day 1, Fireflies to Malavalli

Day 2 , Malavalli to Chamarajanagar

Day 3, Chamarajanagar to Chikyelchatti

Day 4, Chikyelchatti to Gudalur

Non-Profit Organizations working at Gudalur

VIDYODAYA

http://www.adivasi.net/vidyodaya.php

The Vidyodaya school currently caters to about 100 children in Gudalur, which is a small town. They have an option now to build a school much closer to some of the villages, which would make it possible to reach many more children. The funds we are raising go towards purchase of the land for the new school. 

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

It was quite inspiring to see all the people who are working on various issues at Gudalur. These are some of the non-profit organizations, all working together in the Gudalur area. I did not have enough time to really understand a lot about each of them during my short time at Gudalur.

ACCORD - the umbrella organization at Gudalur, working on Adivasi issues.

AMS (adivasi munnetra sangham) - the main organization of the adivasis themselves, which runs most of the organizations.

Ashwini - runs the hospital at Gudalur.

Just Change - produces tea, spices, soap, etc. and sells them direct to consumers such as fisherfolk at Nagapattinam. Also provides support and training for similar community initiatives.

Shola Trust - works on environmental issues in Nilgiris, including wildlife.

Go MAD  - Go Make a Difference, set up to organize the cycle ride.

Learn more about all these at http://www.adivasi.net

Photos

More photos can be seen on Picasa . There are 5 albums, arranged by day.