Coorg – The Scotland of India

4 days off from office..explored Coorg during the thanksgiving days with Angshuman, after looking in to many options we decided to go Coorg. This place is also known as Scotland of India, surrounded by hills, dense forest, many water falls, wildlife sanctuary, river rafting & many more things..

26 Nov 09 Thursday: night shift at office & reached my home @ 4:30 AM, I packed my bag & quickly rushed to Majestic, didn’t get chance to sleep. We left the Bangalore @ 7:00 AM morning from Majestic. We had already booked AC Volvo bus tickets from KSRTC. We reached Madikere around 12:30 PM, almost 5:30 hrs, as usual most of the time I was sleeping.

After getting down from Bus we searched for a good hotel & finally got Hilltown (http://www.hilltownhotel.com/), This hotel is very near to bus stand. We dumped our bags in hotel & freshen up.

Post lunch we inquired about the nearby places to visit, after that we took the auto & went Abby falls. It’s 8 KM away from bus stand. Reaching there is like a jolly ride as the roads are very narrow, lots of turns, ups & down. This water fall was cool & we saw many school kids, they had picnic over there.


After Abby fall we came back to town, Next destination was Coorg fort, its just 5 minute walk from Bus stand. This fort is not a very famous one & when we couldn’t recognized it as a fort. Standing in front of the fort we asked one local man..where is the fort? He simply said..this is the fort :)

Now many Govt offices have been operated from this fort, we had quick walk around the fort & left it for our next destination which was Raja Seat.


This is one of the famous tourist attractions. This is the place where Kings used to seat & used to watch the sunset. I consider this is one of South India’s most scenic locations. The view from Raja’s Seat is breathtaking as you can see the green valleys and towering hills. There is one garden set up all around Raja’s Seat. This is the ideal place to go for an evening walk. we took lots of sunset snaps.I went down & again went up to another hill near Raja seat, There were lots of couples were seating & they requested me to take some pics of them. I took but after the third couple I said jokingly to them that now I will charge for each & every picture.



27 Nov 09 Friday: We booked one Indica car for visiting Errpu Fall and Nagarhole.These places are 90 KM away from madikere town. First we went to Errpu fall. We reached there by 11:30 AM, In between we saw many big tea plantation garden. most of gardens are property of TATA. Coorg is also famous for coffee




Errupu water fall is extremely beautiful and soothing. The lush green mountain around the falls makes it look more beautiful and picturesque. Lots of people enjoying & playing with the water fall. We spent almost 1 hrs there & really enjoyed.



Then we left the place & reached Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary. In between we took the lunch. At 2:00 PM we were in Nagarhole. One of the forest officers informed us that the sightseeing in bus would be available after 3:00 PM & they need at least 10 people, then only we can go. We waited there & finally people were started coming. They charged 100 Rs per person for sightseeing in bus. It was 1 hr ride. We spotted many deers roaming there, also we saw couple of elephants. I heard that there are many Tigers & lions & can be spotted in deep jungle. One thing I noticed one message sticker by forest dept in bus
“This is natural forest.Sightseeing of animals is matter of luck, Please don’t blame the staff”








So I can’t comment any more, We spotted only deers & some elephants.This place is half an hour journey from Errupu fall so it’s good not miss it and if you are lucky enough you may spot tigers.
28 Nov 09 Saturday: Next day we left for Dubbare forestat 9:00 AM . Dubbare forest is famous for Elephant training camp. It is located on the other side of the river and accessible by a small boat ride. They charged 100 Rs per person & by crossing the river we went to training camp. It was 10 minutes ride with elephant & cost us 100/- again. Apart from elephant ride nothing was there so we decided for river rafting..well it was just a name rafting but it was more like a simple river boating. Charge for this was 100 Rs per person. 100 seem to be standard over there.



After spending half an hour boating we left the place & proceed to Kushalnagar. We took lunch over there & after that visited Golden Temple. This is the place where large number of Tibetan has settled down. They have their own schools, temples, hostels & shops. I was wondering how they managed here everything. Golden temple is big & lovely to watch. Around temple, there is one lovely garden. We took lots of snaps over there. Many Tibetan has opened shops over there & there is one Tibet shopping complex. we did some shopping over there.




After Kushalnagar we moved to our next destination. Nisgardagama..this is small island on the River cauvery connected by a rope bridge. The island is full of Bamboo thickets. There were some animals like money, elephants & deers. Lots of people were there. Entry fee for this place is only 2 Rs.


Finally @ 6 PM we came back to Madikere town, we decided to visit Raja Seat once again to see the sunset, It was weekend & so many people were there. Luckily we reached there in time & saw the beautiful sunset. We were informed that after 7:30 there will be musical fountain show but we moved back to our hotel.

29 Nov 09 Sunday : Last day of our trip, we asked the driver to come early at 7:00 AM morning we left for Bhagamandala, this place is 35 KM away from Madikere town.
Bhagmandala is situated at the confluence of there rivers, the Kaveri and the Kanika & the Sujyothi. There is one temple as well. We saw many people take a dip in the sangama and they performed some rituals. There was nothing much to do so we left early Talakaveri,the birthplace of Kaveri.



 

This place is surrounded by hills, we saw the Kerala border there. There is one temple & after that we had to climb up. I was thinking there was another temple, but there was nothing. We reached at the top of the hill & from here you can see so many hills & dense forest. The compete scene was so beautiful.




At 12:30 PM we returned back to our hotel, took the lunch & checked out from hotel to catch the Bus at 3:30 PM, Unfortunately the Bus came very late & we left the Madikere bus station at 5:00. Reached Bangalore at 11:00 PM with lots of memories..

1 comment:

  1. Nice post. After reading this I am waiting to book my next travel from Bangalore to Coorg. I always choose to go on Short trips per month as compared to a long trip twice in a year. I with my friends book a cab from Instacar and went to our destination. This gives us a nice experience of traveling in comfort.

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