Madikeri - Kushalnagar- Abbey Falls

Story continued from Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg -> Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate -> Irpu, The Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri - Bhagamandala

 

Friday Evening:

We arrived at Madikeri on Friday evening and were very hungry. As it was too late (4PM) we could get only some snacks. Had bajji's and coffee near Raja Seat. We still did not have a booking to stay. On the compound of Raja Seat we found ad of Hotel Hilltown. Looked good and called them, and found it had accommodation. It was near Bus stand, went there and found it was pretty ok. Checked in there and went to visit Raja Seat. It was around 6:00PM, and completely misty. There was musical fountain and enjoyed a lot

Enjoy the Video:

Abbey Falls:

It was Monday morning and we had start early so that we can reach Bangalore as before dark. I wanted to avoid night driving. But we had still not seen Abbey falls. It was morning 7 AM we started to visit the falls. Had early break fast and started 7 KM drive towards the falls. We reached at around 7:30 AM and it was unmanned and raining heavily. We witnessed wide falls in the beautiful rainy morning and can not forget the scene for the life. Please witness the same in the video.

Kushalanagara:

While driving back to Bangalore we stopped at Dubbarey Elephant camp which is found with 10 KM diversion from main road before Kushala Nagar. Then we visited Kushala Nagar Nisarga dhama and Buddist camp. All was very fine. Enjoy the videos

 

From Kushalanagar we drove straight into Bangalore. By the time we reached Bangalore it was around 8PM. Since them till now I still have trip hang over!!

Story Board:  

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

 

That's All Folks!!!

Talakaveri - Bhagamandala

Story continued from Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg -> Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate -> Irpu, The Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli)

Sunday Morning:

Got up around 7AM and got ready and had break fast at the restaurant. Started to Talakaveri by 10AM. It's 42 KM from Madikeri and the scenic beauty during the travel is amazing. It doubles during the rains. Both sides of road you can see coffee and spice plantations. Roads are very good.

We reached Bhagamandala in less than an hour and visited Bhagandeshwara temple. There is a triveni sangama at this place. Kaveri, Kannike and Sub terranian Sujyoti (Gupta Nadi) meet here. Due to rains again, we could not get into waters.

Talakaveri:

Road after Bhagamandala towards Talakaveri becomes very curvy and ghat section begins. I loved driving in that road too. As we drove up the hill and altitude increased, we could see substantial difference in climatic conditions. We could witness mind blowing mist at that altitude and enjoyed a lot. You can also see the video below and enjoy the same. We could hardly see anything at a distance more than 10 feet. We offered pooja to Lordess Kaveri, visited Shiva temple up hill and started back. They have improved a lot in Talakaveri.

The Video:

Story Board:

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli)

Story continued from Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg -> Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate -> Irpu, The Falls

Next Day Morning:

As I told you we had decided to check out the next day morning. With lot of reluctance, Land Lady agreed. We packed everything early in the morning at around 8 AM. There was another couple arrived that morning from Bangalore. They had reached Chilligeri through bus. The fact amused me was, they did not know it would be raining so much and did not even had umbrellas for them. They thought it was very near to Madikeri. Then in the bus someone told to get down and catch another bus towards Kutta and Manchally it seems. They arrived at around 4AM in the morning.

New Recipe:

Morning break fast was comprised of Bread-Butter-Jam which both usually don't like. There was another choice for us, which was looking like Chapathis, but tasked like Rotti. I asked the made what is that called, "Rotti Akki" she told. Which was funny any way. I then asked Land Lady about the recipe she told the procedures.

The procedure: Cook rice, mix it with rice flour similar to Chapathi dough. Then using pappad maker flatten it and cook on "tava". We want to try it, not yet done anyway.

Crossing the borders:

Moving out of Chilligeri, we drove south towards Waynad forest area. We saw Karnataka-Kerala border in juts 2 KM. Crossed borders and entered Kerala. The roads improved immediately. The inside-forest drive of Waynad was as good as that of Nagarahole. But did not see much animals.

Tirunelli Temple:

After around 10 KM we got a merger from right, from Tirunelli. Turned right and drove another 8KM curved roads towards the temple. It is Lord Vishnu's who is the standing posture. Looks beautiful. You need to climb around 50-60 steps. The temple was under renovation. We also donated some amount for the same. The scenic beauty with misty mountains was really astonishing. You can enjoy the same in the video below

The Un-Visited Kuruwa:

As I told you we had visited Waynad from IBM in 2005-Aug. I need to blog another successful love story of this trip. But the point is we did not visit Kuruwa in that trip. I was hoping at least I can visit it in this trip. Kuruwa is around 23 KM from Tirunelly. You should actually travel back to the same junction you reached while coming from Waynad Forest. After around 20 KM you get a small deviation towards your right which leads towards Kuruwa. The the more adventurous drive started. The road was bad, unmanned more over there was a tree fallen on the road. I had to somehow cross it and reach the ferry pick up point. But alas, deu to rains, we could not cross the river and only could go near river and ferry pick-up point and see Kuruwa from far. :-(

Move on to Madikeri:

After viewing Kuruwa from far, we started directly towards Madikeri. We had to rewind back the whole road trace till Kutta and move towards Gonikoppa-Virajapet and reach Madikeri. By the time we reached it was around 4 PM. We had not yet had Lunch. The total drive was almost 100KM.

The Video:

Story Board:

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

Irpu: The Falls

Story continued from Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg -> Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate

 

The Drive:

We started at around 3PM on Friday towards Irpu, which according to Land Lady was only 2 KM from Estate. By the time I reached the falls my meter read around 7 KM. Roads were very bad. The scenic beauty overdid the bad the bad roads. The mist was amazing. We could hardly see tips of Brahmagiri Hills.

The Falls:

I had visited Irpu when I was in 7th grade.  Man there was no comparison. It was like a tap water when I visited long back. But now, the sound at the gate itself was hinting me that the falls is huge. There is an entrance and parking fee (About 10 bucks per person and 10 for my car, dont remember exactly). I could see amazing improvements on the pathway towards the falls. There was not problem to reach the falls even though it was pouring. The whole pathway is cemented and no chance of skidding. I liked it..

After 15 min of climbing up the Brahmagiri hills, we could see the gigantic falls. Wow.. I never expected that our trip would turn so beautiful suddenly. Enjoy the video

 

 

Story Board:

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

Chilligeri Estate

Story continued from Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg -> Drive into Nagarahole

The Estate:

After adventurous drive into Jungle, we exited Nagarahole, and after few minutes drive we entered the village called Kutta. From here, we need to take some deviation towards Manchally Village. People here talk Kannada, Kodava and also Malayalam. The drive from Kutta to Chilligeri is only 2 KM but very scenic. The road from Kutta goes towards Srimangala and after around 2 KM you get a small diversion towards Manchally Village. The scenic beauty doubles after entering this road. You have farms on both sides of road and this leads to The Jade and as well as Chilligeri.

The Chilligeri estate is good, not that great. They have a very old house, as old as 100 years. Owner Somaiah and family stay there. His wife, Banu runs the entire show. She welcomed us with Amazing Coorg coffee and showed us our room which was inside her house. We felt very uneasy to stay in someone else's house. And then I walked around the entire estate and realized that there is another out house with 4 rooms. I asked her whether we can get one there. She agreed and we moved into one of the rooms there.

The Flora:

Estate contains lot of vegetation on Coffee, Banyan, beetle leaf, jack fruit, Moosambi, Sapota , spices. It was raining almost all the time we stayed there. Initial plan was to stay 2 days and roam around a lot. Also visit, nagarahole safari, Wayanad Forest Safari, Kuruva island, Tiruneeli Temple etc. Heavy rains ruined our plan and we decided to check out the next morning. The lady gave us some trouble by asking 2 days' rent and leave, but then she agreed after realizing we can not do much in the heavy rains.

We went to Irpu falls in the afternoon and enjoyed a lot. I will write another post for Irpu falls.

The Food:

The food provided was good enough. May be  meat eaters would have enjoyed more by having Coorg-famous pork. We also enjoyed rice, rasam, sambar, curry and pappad. Enjoyed a lot the next morning during break fast. She had prepared a kind of Roti, she called it as Rotti-Akki. Learnt the recipe of the same and checked out in the morning.

The Video:

 

Story Board:

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

Drive into Nagarahole

This story is continuation of Trip to Nagarahole - Coorg

The Realization

Thursday night I kept 3 Alarms at 3:45 AM, 4 AM and 4:15 AM for the next morning. We both were determined to leave latest by 5:30 AM.  I got up for the second Alarm at 4AM and woke Thimmi as well. Both got ready by 5 and started at around 5:15 AM. To reach Mysore road from my home takes around 10 min. One I was there, the fun began. I could rip my car at around 100-120 till I reached Mandya. We have our favorite restaurant called Sharada Restaurant. We had tasted when we had visited Mysore few years back (Ooops I have not blogged that trip yet!!). As it was just 7 AM and restaurant was just open, we could get only coffee and upma. We sipped the drink and moved on. At Srirangapattana we deviated as per the route discussed, I took right towards Ranganatittu and Hunsur. By that time it was around 7:30 AM. Had breakfast at Hunsur. After Hunsur, I knew it was full of Jungle till I reach Chilligeri estate, so we had to force some food in.

From Hunsur it takes less than 15 min to enter Nagarahole Jungle. At the entrance, you have to give all your and your vehicle details to the security guard and enter in. Note: Two wheelers are not allowed inside. The fun stated from there onwards:

The Jungle Road, welcome by Jumbo

It was just around 8AM when we were into deep jungle of Naragahole. The roads were empty, it was complete silence. You can feel it in the video below. After few distance we could witness a Jumbo Elephant on the road. We were just speachless. Happy, scared and confused.. Wow that moment were amazing..

 

 

After some distance from there, we could witness a lot of Deers. We moved towards National Park Entrance via Murkal. At Murkal there is an Elephant camp, but there is no permission for public to go inside. We could see few elephants standing outside.

 

Story Board:

Drive into Nagarahole -> Chilligeri Estate ->Irpu Falls -> Waynad (Kuruva, Tirunelli) -> Talakaveri -> Madikeri/Kushalanagar

Day out to Lumbini Garden

It was a lovely Sunday morning we decide to go to Lumbini Garden at Nagawara. I had never been there but heard of good things about it. Thimmi and I started at around 11 AM and reached there by 12 noon. You can see route at attached map.

Coming from Mekhri circle towards Hebbal flyover take diversion towards east in the outer ring road. From there it is around 3-4 KM and you get in your left side.

View Larger Map

Entrance fee: 30 per person and 30 per camera Very nice place for kids, boating (general and peddle). They also have some water games. Not so great, but nice for weekend get away. Lots of games for kids.

You get all kinds of food there. Boating was very nice. Worth a visit..

View some movies

 

Here are some snaps ->