Through this  blog I intend to provide some contact numbers and the route map of tourist places in Kodagu (or Coorg) district, Karnataka. It was only such blogs that gave us the minimum necessary information about our destination in the first place. If you are not looking for any of these, well, it is still worth reading.
 
Coorg or Kodagu is a southwestern district in Karnataka. It is located on the Karnataka-Kerala border. The two things that come to mind at the mention of Coorg are “Coorg honey” and the Kannada movie “Mungaaru Male” (meaning- “Pre-monsoon rain&rdquo . A trip to Coorg was in my mind since the first time I watched this movie. It was only two years later that this trip materialized.

 
Three of us – Abhinav, Raman and I, decided to embark on a sojourn to Madikeri, the capital town of Kodagu district, during the Dasara festival. Being adjacent to Mysore district, which was playing host to the famous 10 day Dasara celebration, we feared that the general populace visiting Mysore might as well drop into Coorg as a  post-Dasara weekend treat and that we may not find accommodation in Madikeri. Nonetheless, we stuck to our trip plan and reached Madikeri by KSRTC bus at 4:00 pm in the evening.

If you plan to  take your own vehicle, here is the list of all places that fall on the route to Madikeri.        

Bangalore -> Channapattana -> Maddur -> Srinivasapura -> Mysore ring road - (CIPET) -> Yelwal(or Ilawala) -> Hunsur -> Kampalapur -> Periyapatna -> Bylakuppe -> Kushalanagar -> Suntikoppa -> Madikeri

The moment we stepped out, we saw large number of people swarming in the usually silent town of Madikeri. Rain welcomed us into the town. As all the three of us were first time visitors, we split up and started searching for a hotel near the bus station. Amidst the chaos, we were able to secure a two bed room (with T.V.) for 2 nights in Hotel Chitra @ Rs.648/- per day ( Tel: 08272225372). After leaving the luggage in the hotel room, we went for an evening stroll in search of a tourist information center. We found “Coorg Trails” ( Tel: 09900479573), a tourist info center, near G.T.Circle. It offers taxi and bike rentals for visiting places around the town. For Rs.1350/- a day, we booked a 2 day package for sight seeing. We had  dinner at Hotel Atithi ( a pure veg. restaurant) and called it a day.

 
As per the first day of the package tour, we were to visit TalaCauveri, Bhagamandala and Abbey falls. We moved around in a Tata Indica. Our guide, Mr.Dalu drove us to these places. We enjoyed Abbey falls the most. We covered a distance of 100 km (to and fro )  totally and returned to Madikeri at 3 pm. Post lunch, we visited the fort, Omkareshwara temple and the district museum, all of which are located in the heart of Madikeri town and are at walkable distances. In the evening, we visited “ Raja’s seat “.  Those of you who wish to know the distances of tourist places from Madikeri town can benefit from a sign post near Raja’s seat.      

                                            

On the second day, we left our hotel room at 7:00 in the morning and were picked up by  Mr.Sadashiva (Tel: 09448504741), our guide for the day. After half an hour, we reached the “Dubare Elephant Camp” at 9:00 AM. This is a training ground where wild  elephants are tamed and trained. At a nominal fee, the tourists are allowed to wash the elephants as part of the elephants’ daily bathing routine ( before 10:00 AM only ). We were surprised to know about the river-rafting facility here. We were informed that rapid rafting facilities are offered in the months of July and August ( Monsoon season ) and a distance of 15 km is covered under this offer.

                               
                                    
        


We then visited “Cauvery Nisargadhama” and “ Namdorling Buddhist Monastery” and left Madikeri  for Bangalore at 4:00 PM.

 

Useful Contacts:

Hotel Hilltown: 08272223801  /  09448184625

Hotel Greenland: 09342619901