Get-Set-Go

Landed on Bangalore soil at midnight. The on-off relationship with this city astounds me. Yet the airport terminal filled me with the same awe. In between a couple of hours and Subway sandwich, the Travera swooped in to pick us up as we headed for Coorg.

The Forest

Three hours is what it takes to reach Coorg on wheels. We reached Nagarhole National Forest entry checkpoint at 5.45 AM sharp, waiting for the sun to rise and gates to open.

Here is the first fun part. You can not stop in between the ride.

Why you ask? Well the animals are literally few feet away and messing with wild bison/boar/elephant (yeah and tigers if you get lucky) is not a very smart idea.

The forest is long and travel takes nearly 2 hours to reach safari spot (which operates twice, 6 to 8 in morning and 3 to 5 in evening) in extremely erratic pattern. Despite the abundance of tigers, the officials often end up not having the safari.

Each jeep allows five people maximum at expense of 700 INR per head and promise of experiencing live tiger. A bus stays on standby which again runs pretty infrequently. We were unfortunately late but sources often say they could not spot any stripes. However the spot is great with proper loo and well made cottages.

 The Stay

After missing the opportunity to meet the striped cats, we drove across to our retreat. Picking up few bottles of home-made wine, available in multiple flavors along the way, we landed in between the home of coffee plantations.

The owners were gracious enough to get us food since we were way too tired to move another muscle. The night felt amazing with old friends, wines, local foods and a Television with really few channels.

And so next morning, we left through the coffee and cashew farms to head up to next destination – the hill-station which Coorg is famous for.

The Hills

Mandalpatti gives you a flavor of hills that you only get in Northern and North-Eastern part of India. This is the point beyond which the roads are so steep, that they needed us to take a local jeep ahead which charged us around 600 INR.

Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuary is synonymous with Mandalpatti as we did not see any animals in the thick dense cloud that lies ahead. However the road gets extremely rocky beyond this point.

The jeeps park at the base of lone tourism center and the driver asked us to get back in an hour. Its trekking up to the top from this point.

The charm of this place lies in the fact that we had literally entered the clouds. Nothing is visible beyond few feet away. If a moisture laden cloud chances by, one can experience rain inside a cloud!

The Temple

Talacauvery is higher up and shrouded by mist of clouds. The rain-clouds had hit the place when we landed, cooling the temperature close to freezing point.

There are numerous marble steps to top and we pulled all our strength against the unnatural frozen storm and rain to reach the destination. The thick fog hindered visibility on a massive scale.

The temple top is a strictly no photography zone. In general it is a temple constructed few meters down to the actual source of Cauvery. Attaching an image from wikipedia to project a view of what one can expect.

The Falls

We went down to the most famous waterfall of Kodagu- Iruppu Falls. There is a quite temple at the entrance, we had to pay a nominal fee to enter and walk up to the falls.

The road ahead is amazing, full of greenery and upstream Cauvery. There are wooden bridges with ropes, leeches and beautiful butterflies along the way.

We went ahead and entered the pit where the waterfall touched the ground. The natural two step formation broke its amazing force, enabling us to have a nice bath on slippery rocks. Refreshed we headed for our next touchdown.

The Monastery

The famous Buddhist structures in Kodagu of Kushalnagar is called Namdroling Monastery or more popularly, the Golden Temple. Its a huge area with ample number of people and monks ready to take selfie with you.

The center of attraction is the statue trio of three Buddhas – Gautama Buddha (formerly Prince Siddharth) in the center, Padmasambhava or Second Buddha on the left and Amitāyus (popularly Amitabha) or Celestial Buddha on the right. Like most monasteries, peace rings in every nook and corner of Golden temple.

The Camp

Dubare elephant camp is a major tourist attraction because of the rides of dwarf sized mammoths on other side of Cauvery. However landing there in afternoon on a holiday meant a huge crowd and never ending line to cross the river, hence we never explored the place much. The adventure junkies seemed to have a grand time rowing in the current though.

A lot of people were frolicking in the water. Recommended one should not go deep as force of the stream is strong and a lot of people do drown here.

The Throne

Not Game of Thrones. Ok, kind of a King’s throne where there is no actual throne. The King apparently built this place to view the sunset (which is amazing by the way) from this spot, lending it the name Raja’s Seat. A perfect way to end the day with sunset.

Tip Offs

• Going with car helps a lot. You can travel considerable distance and spots if you are with your friends, helps more if any of you know Kannada.
• Famous as one of the most popular honeymoon spot in South, I would consider it as one of the best emulation of Northern mountains with decent food and stay.
• There are options for adventures be it Jungle Safari, Rowing or Toy Train. Again one of the few places in Southern India offering such activities.
• There is not much to do in dark as its mountains. Getting up early and reaching home before sunset needs to be adhered to.

My Recommendation

The clouds. Walking in the clouds. Its surreal. Every time.

This was late post. Like really late. Got busy with life.

Love

Sayantan