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"bhoomig tabbid mod iddange
belli baldidd road iddange
safagalla tittilldange
madikerilii manjuuu..."
Like the clouds have embraced the earth
Like silver lining of the roads
With no traces of pot holes
That's misty madikeri
- The My(i)stical magic of Madikeri In the words of Mysore Ananthaswamy
Coorg (Kodagu) in Karnataka in South India is a beautiful hill resort. Coorg is also known as the Scotland of India because of its hills, picturesque towns and mist-covered slopes. The district headquarters of Coorg is Madikeri. It is 252 kms from Bangalore and is situated at a height of 1525 m above sea level. Coorg was earlier known as Kodaimalenadu, which in the local language Kannada, means 'dense forest on a steep hill’.
The memorable journey from Malleswaram to the misty Madikeri via Mysore was truly a Magical experience. The Bangalore-Mysore expressway is a pleasure to drive on.
Rationality takes a back seat and Chandru's claim of rains not following him in any of his journeys takes a front seat when you travel to Madikeri in the middle of a hard hitting monsoon. So Chandru as our savior from rains in this journey.
Stopping for breakfast near Hunsur, we furthered our journey towards Madikeri via Kushalnagar. Just 3 km after Kushalnagar lies a beautiful tourist spot of Kodagu, Kaveri Nisargadhama. Here River Kaveri splits forming a beautiful island of about 65 acres adorned with Bamboo trees. Crossing a hanging bridge, we spent a refreshing hour here climbing tree top shelters & feeding cucumbers to Deer. There are beautiful cottages to stay which needs to be booked at the forest department.
From here we reached the beautiful Abbey falls at around 1:00 pm, where the roar of the falls could be heard till the car park. Its a 10 min walk to reach the spot where water falls with great vigor and passes through beautiful coffee and cardamom plantations. After spending little more than an hour we decided to feed ourselves and reached Madikeri (8Kms) at 2:30 pm. Though a hot tourist destination, it was quite a task finding restaurant serving lunch and we settled down for hot dosas in a small but hospitable restaurant.
Here on we proceeded to Shanti estate (5 Kms from the town). Vincent’s jeep took us to the house surrounded with greenery made an ideal place for us to dwell in.
Just as we reached the house the almighty showered his blessings on us (literally). We welcomed it wholeheartedly with 2 hrs of fun filled Volley ball in the slush. Victoria was sportive to join the guys and Soni jumped at filming all the action in Smiley’s handycam. Chandru the first one to slip into the slush, kind hearted Manju lent a helping hand but could not hold on himself and landed on Chandru. Chandru would not spare anyone one after this and one after the other it was Smiley, Sudhir and Nitin. This ensured a long bath for all of us. Later on we were served with hot Coorg coffee. Eventful day ended with sumptuous dinner, banter and lots of laughter.
Next morning, after Lobo served us delicious Akki rotti breakfast, it was time for some adventure and incessant rains did not deter our spirit for a crisp trek along a stream, short distance away from the house. A few of us slipped, few fell but everyone felt exhilarated. We left the estate by afternoon to have lunch at Madikeri and right away to the beautiful Buddhist monastery in Bylakuppa, 8 Kms off Kushalnagar. The drive from Kushalnagar to bylakuppa is a pleasure through the scenic villages and landscapes. It is worthwhile spending some time leisurely in this Tibetian settlement which is a unique experience. There is a shopping complex to pick up some hand made artifacts and sip masala chai.
It was almost nearing 8:00 pm when we decided it was time to head back to the IT city as code beckons us.
Itinerary
1st July 2006
#Malleswaram @ 05:00 hrs Mysore (144 kms) - Hunsur (37 kms)
#Hunsur@ 09:30 hrs -Periyapatna (24 kms)-Bylakuppe (15 kms)
#Bylakuppe @ 10.30 hrs- Kushalnagar (5 kms) @ - Nisargadhama (3 kms) 10:45 hrs
#Kaveri Nisargadhama @ 12:30 hrs to Abbey falls (25 kms) @13:00 hrs
#Abbey falls @ 14:30 hrs - Madikeri, Shanti estate (15 kms) @ 16:00 hrs
2nd July 2006
#Shanti Estate @ 14:00 hrs Madikeri-Kushalnagar-Golden Temple (50 kms) @16:00 hrs
#Golden Temple, Bylakuppe@ 20:00 hrs- Mysore -Bangalore @ 00:30 hrs
Team
Victoria, Soni, Chandru, Sanjeev, Manju, Sudhir & Nitin
Transport: Tata indica * 2
Hospitality @ Shanti Estate : Vincent & Lobo
Total distance travelled: 550 kms |
