Dandeli Experience: The best place to get away from daily hectic city life. Its right in the middle of the dense forest with no electricity and no mobile range. The only source of light is solar energy. The sight has tents, a dormitory (12 beds), and a couple of log houses. The camp area is pretty large with hardly any noise or pollution. Its surrounded by thick forest from all sides.
The best part is that smoking, drinking, camp fire, etc. are not allowed in the camp.
The booking can be done over phone and you need to fax a copy of draft to confirm the booking. Also, before visiting the camp you need to visit Wildlife Division office in Dandeli to handover the draft and get the receipt.
Food, sight-seeing and shopping: There are no hotels near the camp. The food is prepared and served by the cook who stays in the camp itself. There's a nice dining place. The water too is from a natural source.
We can go for a jungle safari in our own vehicle, we took our Tata Safari in a thick forest and it was almost a 25 km ride. Unfortunately we did not sight any wild animal, but the forests has many wild animals like black panther, tigers, bears, elephants, etc.
Trekking is also allowed there and we can take a guide from the camp. There are few other interesting places to visit nearby like rocks, few temples, etc.
The roads are good and right through the forest. Even a drive on these roads is very enjoyable.
Activities & things to do: Can go for jungle safaris, trekking, visit nearby temples and other places.
There are few water sports like rafting, boating, etc. but you have to travel to Dandeli which is almost 50-60 km from the camp.
Travel tips, How to reach, travel warnings etc: Our travel path was from Pune to Kolhapure to Belgaum to Dharwad to Dandeli to Anshi Nature Camp. There are few other routes as well like Belgaum to Dandeli directly. Or one can also drive from Panjim (Goa) to Anshi Nature camp or Dandeli.
Whichever route you take you are bound to enjoy the drive through thick forest. The roads are narrow but in pretty good condition. There are lots of turns so better to drive slowly and enjoy the beauty around.
