Coorg : One day visit to ' Scotland of india '

Hi friends
        we made a recent visit to Coorg ( Kodagu ) , a district in karnataka known for its natural beauty, misty hills, coffee plantations and ecotourism.


Team : Neethu, Nikhil, Joby , Nitha, Aswathy , Lissy, Anna, Noah ,Joshua and myself


Date : 08.03.2015



Highlights : Madikeri Raja's seat, Abbi falls, Dubare elephant camp, Nisargadhama, Golden temple tibetan monastery



Travelogue :

              Ideally coorg is a place to be covered at least in two days and night stay is a must to do to get the feel of kodagu. we had only one day and i planned to cover maximum in a day. so here we go for a one day trip to coorg ; the Scotland of India.............

                                       We started from Kannur, Kerala by around 5 am in morning and my uncle and family joined us from Iritty a place on the way. We were a team of 8 people and two kids which fit in our recently bought Scorpio. We crossed Koottupuzha bridge to enter karnataka and passed Virajpet to reach Madikeri the capital town of Coorg. On the way we had our break fast which we brought from home and there was great fragrance of coffee flowers through out the journey. The road condition was excellent through out.

a lake view on the way

8.30 am : Raja's Seat
                     
                           It is a signature view point of Madikeri ( mercara ). It has a well maintained garden with a view point to watch valley and sunset ( entrance fee - Rs 5 per person ). we had a long photo session there and had few nice clicks ( Note : my wife was really happy ). Kudos to the tourism dept to maintain it well. Ideal time to visit is evening and watch sunset and musical fountain.

madikeri ; Raja's Seat

Raja's seat view point

                                    It is also attached with a toy train station and chidrens park. we had a ride, back to child hood and enjoyed it ( Rs 10 per person ).

Toy train Raja's seat madikeri

we left the place by 9.30 am.



11 am : Dubare Elephant camp

                           As per our plan next destination was Abbi falls but as we were late and there was little water now, we moved to kushalnagar to visit dubare elephant camp.we travelled through a coffee plantation with white charming coffee flowers with a sweet fragrance all around which is worth mentioning.

Coffee plantation with flowers

I included this place for our kids department but contrary to my belief there was a large number of vehicles parked there. we have to cross the kaveri river either by boat or walking through rocks and shallow water.

kaveri river

we went by walking through water , lot of people were enjoying bathing in river but in middle of the river we saw a board " beware of crocodiles".

walking through the river

The ticket counter was closed due to cloudy climate but i got one from a group who will miss their flight if they wait for elephant ride.The ticket rate was Rs 100 per person for less than a 5 min elephant ride !!!!.  It is worth for kids or if you have never done it or love it very much. We had 4 tickets so 4 people with kids had a ride. We saw elephants grazing in the field and drinking water from river very close.

Other activities there :

                   Bathing elephants ( Rs 100 per person )
                   Feeding elephants
                   Rafting through kaveri river ( more attractive in post monsoon season )
                   Horse riding ( Rs 60-100 per person depends on horse!!!)

Boating and Rafting

Note : Timing at dubare elephant camp
                                                                    9am - 1pm
                                                                    4pm - 5pm

we left the place by 1.30 and moved to our next destination.



1.45 pm : Lunch
         
                   we had lunch from a hotel in NH (thali meals ) and was average. I had a plan to eat the kudagu traditional preparation of pork but was not available there. ( worth trying once from my previous visit ).



2.15 pm - 3.30 pm : Nisargadhama
             
                      It is an island in the kaveri river with bamboo trees and other trees like sandal wood .. I took tickets from the counter ( RS 20 per person ) and we crossed a hanging rope bridge to enter the island.

hanging rope bridge : Nisargadhama

Bamboo trees : Nisargadhama

There are lot of large fishes under the bridge , you can see and feed them if you want. There is boating through kaveri from the island which we were not interested. The first thing which attracted us was beautiful paintings over the trees depicting animals and other sceneries.

One of the painting on trees : Nisargadhama

we walked through the bamboo trees to the deer park. There are lot of tree huts where you can climb , sit and chit chat enjoying nature. there are lot of deers in the park whom we fed with cucumber available there.

deer park : Nisargadhama

On the way my wife tried a Zipline adventure which she had planned after seeing my picture from previous visit ( Rs 100 per person for a very short ride ). you can also have elephant ride from here ( Rs 50 per person comparatively cheaper !!!). There is a small rabbit park and love birds attracting kids.



4.15 pm - 5.30 pm : Namdroling Tibetan Monastery ; The Golden temple

                                               
                                 After reaching kushalnagar , headed towards Bylakupe to reach the Golden temple monastery inside the Tibetan refugee colony.

Golden temple ; Tibetan monastery

I felt it as another country inside India. The main temple has three large statues of Lord Budha, Guru Padmasambhava, and Budha Amitayus made of copper which are gold plated. The holy Aura inside can't be explained in words. We were lucky to watch part of there prayer which looks like a new world for us.

the three golden statues 

They have kept the garden outside very beautiful. ideally you have to spend 2-3 hours there but due to lack of time we left the place early. You can buy some tibetan handicrafts from there.



8.30 pm : Reached kannur well in advance to our 9.20 train to Kottayam.



The places we missed : Talakaveri, Bhagamandala, Iruppu falls, other water falls - unchalli falls, Abbi falls, chelavara falls, burude falls ( monsoon season ), madikeri  - fort , omkareshwara temple, golf club, mandalpatti view point, Nagerhole national park, Brahmagiri hill.