Coorg

About Coorg: Coorg is one of the most affluent hill stations in Karnataka. With its natural splendor and exotic scenic environment, Coorg has a special place among the hill stations in India. Nestled among the lush greeneries of the Western Ghats, Coorg offers unequal luxurious vacation period to its guests. Coorg is praised as the 'Scotland of India' and also renowned as 'Kashmir of the South' due to the majestic beauty and cool ambience of the hill station at an altitude in the range of 3500 ft above sea level. Dense teak wooded forests, lush green valleys, breathtaking coffee plantations and undulated challenging mountain ranges to make Coorg an exquisite location for the tourist seeking natural scenic spots and challenging treks. Tadiandamol, Brahmagiri and Pushpagiri peaks in Coorg are very challenging for the trekkers, and the surroundinges of these peaks are really eye feasting. Coorg is considered as a mind-blowing summer retreat for escaping from the hot summer days in downtown cities. Monsoon is one of the best times to visit this hill station; and many tourists arrive in Coorg to enjoy the wild beauty which unfolds to its maximum during the monsoon.

Duration of the trip: We visited Coorg Along with Mysore; so for us, it took three days and two nights. However, if one wants to visit only Coorg, a weekend should be more than enough.

Transportation: We booked a Toyota Innova from BookCab for the trip which picked us up from Bangalore, took us for sightseeing in Mysore and Coorg, dropped us back in Bangalore. The transport for the entire trip cost us around Rs. 12000/.

Details of the Trip:
Day 1:We started from Bangalore around morning 8:00 am. After visiting Mysore, we started for Coorg. We reached to Coorg around 01:00 a.m. We had already made our booking in Hotel Highton. We were five elders and one kid in the group, so we had booked one double deluxe and one family deluxe. There were few other types of rooms also available with variety of rates. The hotel was very clean and near to the Madikeri market.
Day 2: We had our breakfast at hotel and started for local sightseeing. The places we visited throughout the day were,
Talacauvery is the origin of Cauvery River from the Bramhagiri Hills. This place is treated as the holiest place in Kanataka. A small spring, Brahma kundike, situated 1276 m above sea level, marks the origin of the Caurvery, a temple was built on the spot where regular puja rituals took place. The temple is dedicated to Lord Agastheeswara, who is considered to be the link between great Sage Agasthya and river Cauvery.
Talacauvery from the top
Talacauvery from the Top 
Brahma kundike

From Talakaveri, steps lead-up to the nearby Brahmagiri peak, where the seven great sages called the Sapta Maharishis performed a special yagna.
Step for Bramhagiri
Brahmagiri Peak
Abbey Falls, the main attraction of Madikeri, breathtaking waterfall where the Kaveri River cascades down a rock face from a height of 70 feet. A hanging bridge has now been built across the gorge here offering a good view of the falls. The falls can be reached by a narrow road from Madikeri. Cars can reach the entrance of these falls from where a downhill walk of 500 metres (on slightly paved steps) takes one to the waterfalls.
Way to Abbey Falls
Abbey Falls
Hanging Bridge infront of Abbey Falls

We had our lunch on the way near Nishargadhama and proceed to the Dubare Elephant camp.

By the time we reached Dubare Elephant Camp, it was around 2:30 PM, and the camp remained open from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM, reopened by 4:30 PM. As we had to wait for a long time, we decided not to waste time.
We went for a rafting in the nearby Cauvery River. As it was not monsoon, it can merely be called as rafting, however, we enjoyed that too a lot. Rafting costs Rs 100/- per head.



From there we went to the famous Bylakuppe Tibetan settlement. We reached the gates of the Monastery which itself gave an idea of the kind of architecture inside. As soon as we entered inside the temple, it was altogether a different world for me. Being a Bengali, most of the places I had visited since my childhood have been the hill stations around East, North India and Buddhaism, monasteries are integral parts of those places. The sprawling campus, the temples took me back to my childhood.
This Tibetan settlement is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet. There are over 7,000 monks and students at the Tibetan monastery. Among the monasteries of this settlement, Sera Ja Monastery, Sakya Monastery and TashiLunpho Monastery are some of the popular ones.
The major attraction of this settlement is the Golden Temple. This Golden Template houses a 40ft tall Buddha Statue.


By the time we finished, visiting different monasteries, it already started getting dark and the inhabitants of the monasteries started their evening prayer ,which was a great feeling which can’t be expressed in words.

However, I don’t want to bore my readers with my nostalgia and so let’s move on :)

Post visiting the settlement, we came back to our hotel. In the late evening, we went to Madikeri market for shopping. Coorg is famous for Coffee, Spices, homemade chocolates and honey. So we bought all of them in adequate quantity.

Day 3: We checked out from our hotel and again started for Dubare Elephant Camp. We crossed Cauvery river in a boat which charged Rs 20/- each including the entry fee to the camp.
Before I visited this place, I was in an impression that what would be so special about an elephant camp that people like about it. But it changed by the time I left that place.
This place has around 150 Elephants, which are being trained under naturalists. In the Dubare elephant camp, there are many activities offered Jungle Lodge and Resorts which visitors not only can enjoy also can participate in a very nominal cost. The various activities conducted here are,
Elephant Grooming: Elephants been given a scrub-bath in the River and also watch how oil is applied on their forehead, tusks and other aspects of Elephant grooming.
Elephant feeding: Visitors can watch the food being prepared for the Elephants and how they are fed.
Commands: The Mahouts demonstrate the various commands the Elephants can obey.
Elephant Ride: This was the only activity that we took part. One can take an elephant ride for 10-15 minutes at Rs 100/-.

As we had a kid with us, he enjoyed it thoroughly, which added the real value to visit this place.
Other than all these activities, Dubare Elephant Camp holds a great historical importance as the elephants used in Mysore Dassehra Festival are trained in this camp.
We then proceed to Nishargadhama. There was a hanging bridge over the entrance, which was very enjoyable as it was shaking while walking. Though this place claimed to be a wild life sanctuary, we hardly found any animal other than deer and rabbit. Furthermore, the maintenance of this place is very poor. However, one thing I liked about this place is, the sculptures made by coloring trees. Entry ticket for this place is Rs 30/- per head.

After visiting this place we had our lunch at the same restaurant like the day before and proceed towards Bangalore.

Note: From my experience of Coorg visit, I want to advise visitors on few points,
1. Don’t visit Coorg during Oct-Nov as we did, because due to continuous rain you neither will be able to cover all the places to visit nor you can do river rafting as the rain is not sufficient for the same.
2. Don’t hire cabs from BookCab if you are not well versed with all the routes. We were not much aware of the roads; taking advantage of that the driver took us in the same road repeatedly to increase the kilometer count to charge more. Furthermore,  the driver imposed what places to be visited instead of showing the places we were interested in.
3. Coorg trip will be much cheaper if one can reach there by bus and hire cabs from there for local sightseeing.

Disclaimer: We went on this trip in Oct 2012. There are chances that price and timings have got changed. Please check with Travel Agencies and Hotel about current timings and rates. I have tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further information, feel free to post comments in the blog or contact me@dutshilpi@gmail.com.