Gundimane Homestay Review

With lockdown and travel restrictions all around for almost 9 months, we were desperate to go out of Bengaluru but to a safe place. After a lot of research, we got to know about Gundimane homestay. It ticked all the boxes so we decided to visit this homestay. This post is a review of this homestay. Towards the end of this post, I have also provided more information in Q&A format.

Location

This place is near to Jog Falls in Sagar. Here's the location. The homestay is situated amidst plantations. Just imagine you would step out of your room and what you see is this!

View from the building

On the way to Gundimane

This location is very peaceful. You would hear sounds from birds chirping to crickets making sounds!

Rooms

There are two buildings. The one at the base (main building) where owners also stay and the other in a hilltop behind the main building. We stayed in the hilltop building. This house has 5 rooms - 4 in the ground floor and 1 in the first floor. The hilltop building is accessible in two ways. One through steps and other through a road.

Hilltop Building

Main Building

Road to hilltop building

Steps

The rooms are spacious and clean. A water purifier is kept so we don't have to worry about drinking water. Since this building is in hilltop, one will get a beautiful view of landscapes and at a far distance we can also see Sharavathi river. However, one has to climb down to the main building for food.

Food & Hospitality

Only veg food is served. That was one of the criteria for us as well. They serve a typical malnad food. Food was different and good, a typical home food. The hospitality of the owners Mr and Mrs Ganapathi Rao was the highlight. Whether while serving the food or enquiring about the stay, they were always smiling and ensuring that we are having a good time at homestay. It was very nice having that "human touch"!

Nearby Places

There are tourist places around. We had no plans to travel but visited a few places which were nearby and there was no crowd at all.

Watch Tower: This Watch tower is very nearer to homestay. Though walkable, you can also take the vehicle up to "forest check post" and then you need to trek for 15-20 mins to reach the tower. From the tower you will get a beauitful view of the landscapes and Sharavathi river. People are allowed to visit this place around 6AM or 5:30PM only.

On the way to Watch Tower

Forest Watch Tower

From watch tower

Another view. Gundimane is visible from here!

Sharavathi Adventure Camp: This place is near Kargal and there are water activities on Talakalale Reservoir. We went for boating for 30 mins. The place is very scenic but I felt the prices are bit costly. 

Boating

In the middle of the river 

Muppane Ferry Point: This is basically a ferry point for people to cross Sharavathi river and travel to Sigandur. One can spend quality time in the river side and kids can also enjoy the water.

Clean water at Muppane Ferry Point

Wildlife

The location is adjacent to Sharavathi Wildlife Sanctuary. Though there are many wild animals in this place, it is difficult to see these animals nearby. We were very fortunate to spot Bison and Lion tailed Macaque on the road side. We also spotted many birds but I couldn't capture all of them in my camera.

Bison

Star Gazing

This is for Astronomy folks. This homestay is in Bortle 2 location. Though this was a family vacation and star gazing was not the "primary" plan, I squeezed in a couple of hours to watch the sky. Fortunately the sky was clear and I had a wonderful night sky. Here are the Deep Sky Objects observed in a couple of hours with 10x50 binocular.

M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)

M34

M42 (Orion Nebula)

M45 (Pleiades)

NGC 869 & NGC 884 (Double Cluster)

NGC 752

NGC 1981

Q&As

Q. Is this place safe for families?

A. Absolutely! You can stay in this place without any worries!

Q. Is it "only Veg" homestay?

A. Yes. Non-veg is not available.

Q. Are rooms wheelchair accessible?

A. No. There are steps to reach rooms.

Q. Is parking facility available?

A. There is a plenty of space for car parking.

Q. Can I take elders?

A. Yes definitely! If climbing stairs is an issue for elders, my suggestion is to get hilltop rooms as there are 4 rooms in the ground floor. For food they can come to the main building in a car.

Q. Are mobile networks available?

A. As we checked, Vodafone is not available. Airtel was available only at a specific point and the signal strength was weak to moderate. It turns out BSNL and Jio networks are good in this location.