Hello and welcome back folks. Penning down this Part 2 took much longer than I intended. But I hope you all enjoyed Part 1 of Roam, Explore, Discover – Vritima’s Travel Diaries and liked her YouTube VLOG of Orchid’s Trail Resort. So, after spending a day at Orchid’s Trail, we headed to our next destination – Cocoon Royale. It is located quiet interior in lush greenery and forest cover, on the banks of river Kabini.
Cocoon Royale may not be as luxurious as other resorts. However, it has decently maintained cottages on the banks of river Kabini, perfect for peaceful, leisure time with not many activities. This place was a new experience for Vritima as there was no play area or activities like Orchid’s Trail resort. However, she immediately found ways to keep her engaged. She walked around the cottages, spotting monkeys in the trees, curiously observing the burrows made by frogs etc.
We settled our luggage in the cottages and decided to rest for a while. They have few hammocks under the canopy of coconut trees and clear blue sky. What other better place do you need to relax than these hammocks? While I settled in the hammock, Vritima too made her way and tucked herself in my arms. Right then, I remembered The First Night when Vritima was born, she fit perfectly in my arms. It took a while to let the feeling sink in that how quickly she has outgrown my arms. But then I also felt contented knowing she will never outgrow my heart.
We could see and hear the Kabini River from our cottages. So, after resting for a while, we decided to take a stroll to the riverbank. Vritima continued her tryst with finding various bugs, insects and flowers. And this time too, her curious eyes spotted a unique reptile. It, (from my own interest and little knowledge), was maybe a baby Brown Roofed Turtle or Indian River Turtle. She spent quiet some time with the turtle, holding it for a while, observing it move around or watching it hide in it’s shell. It was such a beautiful creature. Vritima was so fascinated with it that, out of nowhere, she even named the baby turtle – RAINBOW..!! (Kids and their creative minds I must say).
After the naming ceremony of the baby turtle, we continued towards the riverbank. It had been raining from past few days. There was greenery all around, the weather was pleasant and the Kabini river was flowing at both ends. Vritima was mesmerized by the majestic river, continuously bombarding us with more questions. ‘Dad, Where is this river going? Where is so much water coming from? How deep is the river? How long is the river? Does it flow all the time? (She meant if the river ever runs dry?) Are there more fishes, turtles and crocodiles in this river?’ etc. etc. By the time her questions stopped, it had started drizzling and we headed back to the cottages.
Once the rain stopped, Vritima played around the cottages while we sat leisurely, soaking in the beauty of nature. We could hear the river flowing, frogs croaking, birds chirping as the sun sat beyond the woods. At nightfall, everything went pitch black outside with no artificial lights as far as your eyes can see. With some fireflies twinkling in the distance and absorbing the sounds of the jungle, we called it a day.
The next morning, we wrapped up our much needed, refreshing, rejuvenating weekend getaway and headed back to Bangalore. Vritima was extremely happy and had already started planning where she wants to travel next. I am glad she’s picking up a habit to explore new places and gets excited about adventure and travel (picnic for her).
This time, although we did not get a full walkaround VLOG of Cocoon Royale like the Orchid’s Trail one. But still, we managed to put together the snippets of our stay at Cocoon Royale. And, of course, Vritima’s newfound reptile friend – RAINBOW..!! Enjoy..!!
