After our fun adventure in Hampi we reluctantly moved on to a city called Badami, still in the state of Karnataka. Unfortunately some of us were sick and were not up to seeing the temple and ancient fort palace but we did see the ancient cave temples that the city is known for. The next destination was a place called Wildernest Resort located deep in the Western Ghats mountain range. The scenery was unbelievable with out cabin completely surrounded by protected forest. We went on a few forest treks and also attempted to see some leopards on a couple jeep safaris, including a night safari! No luck with spotting the cat but still a great ride in the open air jeep surrounded by nothing but nature. The treks were often timed around sunset and never disappointed. A big group of us went on the waterfall trek which during the monsoons is in full flow but nonetheless it was still trickling fresh water and not lacking in magnificence since it was located at the edge of a high rock basin. The resort organized the entire day for the guests; one evening included a bon fire before dinner. That day there were people from all over the world including the UK, and Finland, as well as Indians. After introductions around the fire within 15 minutes we were all friends and dancing the hokey pokey, literally! Since it was such a diverse group we decided to share dances and songs of our home country and the British kindly taught everyone the hokey pokey. We helped out a newly wed Indian couple teach everyone how to Garba, which is a traditional gujarati folk dance typically done around a fire. It was all so much fun and afterwards we all enjoyed some freshly baked potatoes and onions that were roasting while we were dancing.
S.
