This review may look too compact, and unrealistic.but it had certainly been one of the best weekend drives of my life. I work on saturdays, with a sunday only to spare. At first, it looked unrealistic to head for Coorg(252 kms from bangalore) and come back the same day. But, this is how I did it, with quite much satisfaction and not leaving many stones unturned.
Came from office around 6.30 pm.took a nap at sharp 10 pm and We started at 3 am(yes, close to midnight!) from Bangalore. My car an old model Honda City DX, did not require much pre-checks, though I got it checked for engine oil which was fine. At 3 am from J P Nagar Phase 9, it took me few minutes to hit Mysore Road. It seemed like whole world is sleeping and we were cruising like anything, at 100-110 km/hr. Mysore Road(SH17) is one of the best roads to drive in night, with no hurdles at all, till Mysore. We crossed Ramanagaram at 3.55 am and Srirangapattanam at 5:00 am. Weather was getting better and better, with wonderful collection of music I had in pen drive.pleasant drive.
I took a bypass after Srirangapattanam. You just need to take a right turn after Young Island resort, towards Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary(A board says that clearly!). A railway crossing comes, which we need to cross and road automatically takes a left turn. Continue on this road, you will cross Brindavan Garden on your left. This approx. 20 km stretch had quite a few potholes and winding roads through paddy fields, but not so bad either. After we crossed Yelwal, road joined Mysore-Hunsur Highway(SH 88). And then, it was straight to Madikeri i.e Coorg. As simple as that. We reached Coorg at sharp 7.15 am without any hassles. And, I realized, best time to be at Coorg is this.We had coffee with us from Bangalore.It was awesome to have a coffee at our brief stop on the way.
We were at Rajah’s seat at 7.20 am, and trust me.best time to be at Rajah’s seat is this.Valley just looks awesome from top and if you are a little late.you may feel the scorching sun. We were bang on time. We spent close to half an hour there and actually its enough for that park. We had breakfast at a countryside Hillview Restaurant. Its fun to have steaming Idli, gazing the valley and feeling the gusto of wind. It took us hardly 10 minutes to reach Abbey falls from there. This drive was through marvellous coffee plantations. In fact, coffee plantations stretch in 30 km radius of Coorg. No doubt, Abbey falls is a cute, little yet beautiful fall. Only disappointment was we could not even touch the water. Its banned! Good for the nature though. Then, hardly anything left there, clicked a few pics and left for journey ahead. And the real journey begins.
Now, this was not on cards, but I decided to explore. We had heard of journey through Nagarhole National Park to Mysore. But, we didn’t have maps with us. I realized soon, I have the most trusted map with me. My Nokia E71 had GPS in it, and I have downloaded map from Ovistore longtime back. I just typed’Virajpet’, a landmark I knew for Nagarhole and it showed me the way.my location and guiding me all along with even insignificant minor turns. Best thing is, even if I did not have Airtel signal in deep jungle, GPS works absolutely fine.its a Nokia thing.a device. and nothing to do from Airtel.
On the way from Madikeri, we stopped at majestic Buddhist Golden temple, which is on the way, near Kushalnagar. We had steamed Momos over there, in Tibetan style. Early morning Tibetan prayers, windy weather and steamed momos.ah.heaven!
After Kushalnagar, a right turn towards Gonikoppal, and then towards Kuutta, goes to Nagarhole national park. We see the direction boards at all important places. Roads are winding but not too complicated. We are not yet in Nagarhole National Park, but we were actually driving in a deep jungle. In fact, just before Kuutta, an elephant probably lost its way, and was standing right in front of us.
At around 11.30 am, we entered inside the park, after an entry mentioning our car details at the main gate. Unbelievable! We were driving inside the national park with all kind of creatures swarming around us. Deers, Reindeers, Chinkaras.were as if waiting for a bus or something. Bisons, Wild boar, and obviously elephants.With a compulsory speed of 20 km/hr.it was a long drive deep in jungle(approx. 30 km). We did not dare to step out of car and it was banned too! Its better to follow the rules. But, we took many stops to click the animals we spotted on the way. You don’t feel the summer heat inside the jungle, again our timing was perfect.
You exit through the jungle and road leads straight to Hunsur(SH88) and back to Mysore. We did not enter Mysore city, as my Nokia GPS guided us through ring road bypass and we hit Mysore Road. We were reminded of our origin- bangalore, "the traffic city". Mysore road was changed overnight with heavy traffic. It took us 4 hours to reach Ramanagaram. But, that was not bad, as we frequently stopped to have coconut water on the way. Last, but not the least.we had delicious and unique Elai Idli at Ramanagaram(Famous Kamath Restaurant).
Back to Bangalore.home at 7.30 pm.not tired at all.have I missed something? Well, a place called’Talcauvery’ in Coorg I skipped and Nisargadham. But, don’t miss them either as we had a beautiful Jungle journey instead and absolutely not tired of 16 hour drive. If we would have afforded another 2 hours, both these places could have been easily visited.but, journey is more pleasant than the stop-overs.Whats your take on this?
Agree or disagree, I would advice.don’t wait. Vroooooommmmm to Coorg!