Coorg or Kodagu is a district of south-western karnataka. Generally people get confused about what coorg actually is, whether it’s a district or a place or any resort etc. Indeed Coorg is a district and is head-quartered at Madikeri. As almost all parts of the district are located in scenic western ghats and all of them being great, beautiful and named tourist spots and not one place being popular among them in particular, the district name ’coorg’ got its fame as a tourist location. And it is indeed delightful. I have been there with my colleagues recently and let me take you through our memorable trip.
travel
We were eleven in all and we hired a tempo traveller.
We booked a guest house at Virajpet.
abbey falls
After having breakfast at the guesthouse on day one we started out for abbey falls, a place which is not only famous for scenic waterfall but also for the nature surrounding it. we had to go to madikeri (40 km from virajpet where we were staying) and then to abbey falls which is around 15 km from
madikeri. We had to trek down for some ten minutes off the road just like many other waterfalls. Though the amount of water falling wasn’t huge, We were thrilled to see the gushing waters as we didn’t expect much of water this being mid-summer. Here one can swim in a small pond under the falls (3 to 7 feet deep waters approximately) or follow the upstream and trek upwards. This trek is not so easy but not dangerous. Though I prefered swimming (trying to do so) and stayed in the waters along with a few others, some guys went for trekking. one can’t go up all alone. There are many places where they had to ’co’-operate. pulling / pushing each other.
Tala cauvery
Came back to the road and we all were very thirsty. Filled the pockets of a sugarcane juice vendor and then retreated to madikeri where we took lunch. Madikeri is quite a town and has many hotels and good food as well. After that we left for the birthplace of river cauvery, Talacauvery. At the first appearance this place looks nothing special. But slowly you will be taken away by the tranquility of the untouched hills. Here theres a small temple and small water tank or pond in front of temple and a small inlet for water into the tank at a corner. This outlet is where the water spring erupts in rainy season and the water from the pond flows down the hills and as other rivulets and tributaries join, it slowly gets bigger and bigger - big enough for two states to fight for its water. Then theres a small hillock, where they say seven rishis prayed to bring down cauvery waters. We climbed up and ofcourse there were no rishis but
thick white clouds. This was the first time I met these big guys. They looked distant but quickly approached us and before I could realize my friends who were some 20 - 30 meters away, disappeared. They go away as fast as they come.
After resting ourselves there for a while we started back through those curvy roads and reached our guest house (We can call it the base camp). All the roads from one place to other were very narrow with steep curves. We travelled in thick forests, ghat roads and vast coffee plantations on the hill slopes. The travel part was real joy.
Guest house stay
The guest house where we put up is called ’Misty hills guest house’ and quite aptly so. It was in the vicinity of Coorg institute of dental sciences. Our food (breakfast included in our plan) was provided at the college canteen. All the college buildings and our guest house where constructed on the hill slopes. It was a very different experience. Climbing up to reach canteen. Going down to the guest house. And had to do some trek through the rocks to reach the college basketball court.
The second day we decided to stay back at the guest house and explore the surroundings instead of getting tired and not enjoying the third day. So, we played volleyball for half day and in the evening.. it was great. A bonfire with drinks accompanied. That was the perfect finish for day two.
Harangi dam
This place was not so great. Actually people say there should be water on one side of a dam. But not here. We climbed all the way up onto the dam only to see similar steeps on the other side. I checked the date to ensure that it wasn’t first of april. Then we sat on the steps and had food that we brought along with us. And left for Nisargadham. I won’t recommend you to go to this harangi dam unless you are sure about the water quantity.
Nisargadham
Already being tired as it was third day and coming from disappointing harangi dam, we lost our interest in our next destination. None of us really cared where we were going except for the guy who told the driver where to go. We got down at this place ’nisargadham’ and were irritated to see only a small park or garden sort of thing on the road side. At the entrance the help desk guy told us that river Cauvery flows here and we could do boating, swimming etc. here. I quickly assumed that even here water used to flow once upon a time and people used to swim and this help desk guy was narrating those stories. But we were totally surprised as we reached the other side of park and noticed the think bamboo forest and a small hanging bridge that lets us into an island formed by river cauvery. This indeed is a wonderful place and one should not miss it. We found a place to swim (again try to). This is real big bamboo forest and we had to search for the suitable place to swim. There are many gates to enter into the stream but we had to go to the last gate to find neck deep water to swim. At the other places the waters were shallow and flowing on big rocks. Few of us opted for boating. There are some tree top huts as well. One could also go for elephant ride here but then we were told that all the elephants went for training some newly caught elephants.
Kushalnagar
This is a place which is famous for biggest buddhist settlements, huge monasteries. We entered one big monastery and there was a huge temple of buddha inside. we were awestruck by 40 feet high (approx) gold-plated buddha statue inside the temple.
so, this was the final location and we started our journey back. Had dinner at Mysore on the way and reached bangalore at 1 am. we missed a few places like Nagerhole national park and iruppu falls.
The facts:
costWe paid only 330 rupees per night per head for stay on a twin sharing basis. Was a pretty good deal. Good service.
ResortsActually there are some resorts like the orange county (check arun’s review) etc, which offer some packages and one can stay there and enjoy the climate of coorg apart from various other things that the package offers such as massage, swimming, golf etc. But these are somewhat costlier and ofcourse should be luxurious as well. These are best suited for couples and may not be for bachelors or students.
shopping: A review on coorg is not finished without a mention of the great blends of coffee that is produced here. At madikeri one could buy coffee seeds, coffee dust, Tea, Honey and many kinds of dry fruits and spices all of them locally produced.
You can get more information about the guesthouses and resorts at
https://travelcoorg.com
we too booked through this website.
I tried my best to give you all the details of the places and not make it appear like a few pages from my diary. But comments are most welcome.