Coorg/Kodagu Trip

This has been our long pending trip in 2007. The decision on the destination was slightly more easier because of the booking that we managed to get in "Cauvery Nisargadhama" courtesy my father in law who managed to use his connections in Kushal Nagar to get us the booking. The ideal way to do the booking is to write to the Forest officer for the booking and by sending the draft of 600* INR. This is much less expensive than the Jungle Lodge resorts.

Thr trip from bangalore turned out to be a out-and-out a rainy affair because of the depression. I had to drive the entire stretch in the drizzle, clouds hovering all the while and Sun just not making an appearance the whole day; Not one of the ideal driving ordeals that one would want to encounter. We had the breakfast in Kadu Mane; Idlis, Vadas, Dosas, Puris, Pongal are some of the choices offered and one that can be had ..I particularly liked 'Pongal'.

We managed to reach Kushal nagar by lunch time. In my view, the road is good to an extent of 75%. I noticed that almost all the cities had bad roads within the city, which means that the city muncipality/corporation is to be blamed. Nisarga Dhama is 2 kms away from Kushalnagar, which serves as an entry to Kodagu district. Our next destination was Madikeri and the road from Kushalnagar to Madikeri is in a pathetic condition at the moment. In fact, my candid view is that the whole of Madikeri dist suffers from bad roads.



We managed to get a Homestay in Madikeri quite easily. However, its advisable to do a prior booking. Even though we stayed overnight in a homestay, I'am still not sure what all constitutes a homestay - Is it Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner included ? I would like to assume that the guests are being treated as extended family members of the hosts..

Madikeri has a lot of places to visit. I felt that it requires 2 days to visit all the places in Madikeri. The places that are worth a visit are Raja Seat, Tala Cauveri, Omkareshwara Temple, Abbey Falls. Tala Cauveri is around 45 kms from Madikeri and would require half a day to visit and come back. The drive is very scenic but the driver needs to be cautious ( like always )..While one drives, the smell of coffee is in the air ..

Tala Cauveri is the birth place of river cauveri, which is the sacred ganga of the south ..It is recommended to climb up the hillock for a great scenic view..Apparently, one can have a view of the Sea in Kerala on a clear day. We were not as lucky since it was a cloudy day. There is some recent temple construction being done around the main temple.


Abbey in Kodagu language means 'water' and hence the name. It is also known as Jessey falls, which the British had rechristned during their era.
Another place worth visiting is Nalaknad palace that has a lot of history of king ChikVeer Rajendra, who was apparently a very cruel king in his times.

For those inclined to Trekking, Tadiyandmol peak is a a delight..I had done it

almost 8 years back and its a great experience to trek this mountain. It is the

highest peak in Kodagu Dist. If my memory does not fail me, it is also called as Kumaraparvat ..






In this entire visit, I kept looking for some local veg food in the restaurants but in vain. Akki roti, which is a local food was not available in all the restaurants. I heard some lame reasons from restaurant folks..The local people should take pride in keeping some local food in their menu; This was something missing.

Our stay in Nisargadhama was in a cottage called 'Lokamudra'. There a around 10 cottages in all of which atleast 6 of them are wodden cottages. These cottages are right on the banks of river Cauveri and its a wonderful experience to stay
for a couple of days in such cottages. The natural environ, chirping of the birds, the slow gush of the water makes a very memorable experience. There is a elephant ride that the visitors can take that costs just 10/-. Please take a ticket at the counter else the money given on the spot goes into the pockets of the locals ..There is also a small deer park inside the Nisargadhama. To our

atmost surprise, we found that there is no restaurant/canteen that offers food

for the people who stay in the cottages. After a bit of digging, I found that the guys who run the canteen are completing their turn and a new tender has been floated and hence they don't intend to provide any food service. I think the State Govt of Tourism should notice this and take some corrective actions.

Tourists need to avail of some basic food at such places and someone who does not come with a car has no other alternative but to starve. We managed to have our food everytime in Kushalnagar which is 2 kms away from Nisargadhama.

There are only a couple of places where one can have decent food. Kannika International is one of the places that I would recommend for lunch and dinner. Athithi is a veg place that I would recommend for breakfast that serves Idli, Dosas, Puri etc. I dont have too many good things to talk about the above places in terms of food quality, service, ambience. However, instead of starving, you could have food in these places.


We also visited Dubare island where the Jungle Lodge resorts is located. It has a beautiful river view and a elephant ride. On holidays, there is a huge rush for the elephant rides that is only available between 10 AM - 12 Noon. For those who are not able to get to elephant rides, I suggest that they can avail the same at Nisargadhama ( at a much lesser cost too ! 10 vs 100 ). For the adventure crazy, there is rafting and some other sports too which Jungle Lodge Resorts provides. One should not expect to get decent food at Dubare. The JUngle Lodge resorts provides food only for its inmates ..



On our way back, we also visited the Namdorling Tibetian Monastry in the town of Bylekuppe; I dont know much of history of this place. I tried to gather someting to read up but in vain.










A very colourful place worth a visit and lot of places to take pictures. There a also a few shops where one can do some bargain shopping for small articles.