Unlike my last trip to Nandi Hills, this one was a bit more planned. Almost a week in advance. Coorg is some 260km away from Bangalore, take few kms here and there depending on where you stay. There are couple of faces to Coorg. There are viewpoints, waterfalls, trekking routes, adventure sports, wild life forest areas, and so on. However, we only had a weekend to squeeze in. Plan was to start on Friday night, and return by Sunday night. Also, no one wants to exert all the strength over a weekend after a busy office week. So, we chose places with light footwork. We were a group of 10. Hired a Traveller mini van, which cost us around 15k for around 900km over two days. We based at the town of Madikeri in a cozy homestay. The Paradise Homestay. The owner was nice and charged us reasonably.
We left at around 9.30 pm, gathering people along the way, and reached around 4 am. It was a different feel altogether, cold, low hills.
For day 1, idea was to visit the nearby places - Raja's seat (a viewpoint), Abbey falls, Nisargadhama, Dubare Elephant camps. All of these are roughly inside 20km radius from Madikeri. Over the breakfast, we decided to skip the elephant camp 🙂, and went to Nisargadhama instead. It is a small island formed by river Kaveri. It is reachable by a footbridge over the waters. In the entrance it looked like a little maintained children's park. However, once we reached the river banks down, things improved vastly. It wasn't a rainy season, so one could easily cross the river. It was a nice experience. Also, there was boat peddling around, which was fun with friends.
We were damn hungry at this point. Just outside the riverine place, was a small market of sort. Got some cheap hats, had some sweet corn, and had lunch in a local restaurant.
After that, we went on to Abbey falls. It was nearby, and although fall had dried off, and you couldn't get too close to it, the place looked good. In places like these, I wish I wasn't the one standing behind those safety bars, rather went onto the jungle and followed the stream by it's banks closely...
We still had some time for our last destination for the day, the Raja's seat viewpoint. It wasn't too far either, but sun was setting out, and we had to hurry. The place itself was a bit crowded. But, it was all worth it. Sunset was spectacular. Also, we found a secret trail nearby, which was closed to public (and hence still pristine 😊).
That was all for the day. We had dinner at decent restaurant and returned back to our homestay. We were still undecided what to do next day. Original plan was to go to Tala Cauvery. However that would require an early wake up in morning, which a lot of folks couldn't agree to. So, we decided, in albeit an impromptu manner, to visit Mallali falls, which was around 62km away (nearly 2 hours, and lots of snaky roads).
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Next day, we set out at around 10am. It was a long journey, and one or two of us were feeling dizzy halfway, so we stopped at an intermediate place, and guess what? We found a large coffee estate. We went in, talked to the people there, and they led us into the plantation. Because of the weather, it was a bit dusty, but greenery was something to behold..
After another hour or so, we reached nearby Malalli falls, where we saw people passing by telling us something, and we stopped in between to clarify what was going on. Some people said, that police was around the place. That was a bit alarming. We stopped at a local shop, and two of our friends who understood local language got to to that a person had died in the fall. It was shocking. However, we decided to continue, and reached the fall. It was a massive descent, and lots of stairs. Since it wasn't rains awhile, the waterfall was pretty bleak. Going down, we saw that the waterfall base was off limits for public, however people go in there, and this place has its fair share of accidents.. So, guys be careful if u go here, especially if it's rainy/post-rainy. Mind the stairs and be careful near the waterfall.. After this, we had lots of Maggi and lemon/orange juice from the local shop. It was extremely fulfilling.. it was around 4pm by now. After this we went on our way to Bangalore, stopping for lunch and snacks in between. We reached by 11pm or so to our places, Sunday night.
After another hour or so, we reached nearby Malalli falls, where we saw people passing by telling us something, and we stopped in between to clarify what was going on. Some people said, that police was around the place. That was a bit alarming. We stopped at a local shop, and two of our friends who understood local language got to to that a person had died in the fall. It was shocking. However, we decided to continue, and reached the fall. It was a massive descent, and lots of stairs. Since it wasn't rains awhile, the waterfall was pretty bleak. Going down, we saw that the waterfall base was off limits for public, however people go in there, and this place has its fair share of accidents.. So, guys be careful if u go here, especially if it's rainy/post-rainy. Mind the stairs and be careful near the waterfall.. After this, we had lots of Maggi and lemon/orange juice from the local shop. It was extremely fulfilling.. it was around 4pm by now. After this we went on our way to Bangalore, stopping for lunch and snacks in between. We reached by 11pm or so to our places, Sunday night. Coorg was a decent weekend trip. We skipped a couple of places that are part of a usual two day itinerary like Dubare Elephant Camp, Tala Cauvery, Tibetan monastery and so on, since we were a large group, and people wanted to relax more than to be on a hectic tour schedule. But again, it's the people with whom u do what u do, destinations are just a part of the journey 😉 Another piece if advice, If u go in winter or summer, perhaps you will find this place a bit overhyped. I'd wonder that post monsoon/early winters might be the best time to appreciate the beauty of places like this, without getting into leeches and muddy roads. Until next time!
Coorg was a decent weekend trip. We skipped a couple of places that are part of a usual two day itinerary like Dubare Elephant Camp, Tala Cauvery, Tibetan monastery and so on, since we were a large group, and people wanted to relax more than to be on a hectic tour schedule. But again, it's the people with whom u do what u do, destinations are just a part of the journey 😉 Another piece if advice, If u go in winter or summer, perhaps you will find this place a bit overhyped. I'd wonder that post monsoon/early winters might be the best time to appreciate the beauty of places like this, without getting into leeches and muddy roads. Until next time!
Note: A lot of photos used here belong to my friends, so before you use one for personal/commercial use, please let me know.