Every time in the past when I have suggested visiting Madikeri, it was vetoed down by my well travelled husband who thought there wasn't much to explore in the largely coffee growing area. But on our 10th wedding anniversary he decided to indulge me and we plotted a trip to Coorg/ Kodagu District.
We weren't planning on doing much there but simply rest and relax - two commodities that have been in short supply since Ana's birth. This was our first trip since the second wave of Corona and Karnataka which had a lower count seemed to be a safe bet. This was our second trip to of Karnataka, apart from the zillion trips made to the one and only Bangalore.
We also decided to do a road trip as our Kia Seltos had not been challenged since our trip to Wayanad last year and we were eager for our trip to Madikeri (Club Mahindra Resort) to begin!
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| A reflective break |
Travel route: Chennai to Madikeri is a good 600+ kms and we planned to break our journey in Bangalore before continuing to our destination - Club Mahindra Resort, Madikeri. We checked all covid protocols before starting and were relieved that no documents or proof was required for people travelling to Karnataka from Chennai. However, as we'd come to experience later, these rules kept changing day to day basis. So its better to check and double check before leaving.
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| The absolutely lovely pathways in Club Mahindra Madikeri |
Early in the morning we started from Bangalore via the Mysore - Channarayapatna - Kushalnagar NH275 and we reached Madikeri after a quick tea break and lunch - at 2 pm or so. One side of the highway from Mysuru is dusty and chock full with materials and men working on building the road. Vehicles have to take rocky, rough service lanes to keep reaching parts of the good road. This severely dampened our travel time. The approach road to Mahindra resort is quite unclear if Google or Kia's UVA decides to take you that way. It's better to ask the locals before proceeding from town. There are not many good eateries enroute, so its better to not be too fussy while travelling. We passed a lot of state highways which didn't have medians and so were largely concentrating on the road - our experience from the last trip to Coorg fresh on our minds.
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| Lush, beautiful Madikeri |
About Madikeri: Madikeri is a popular tourist town of Coorg district, known mostly for the exuberant coffee plantations and salubrious weather. Most of the sightseeing is limited to plantation/ coffee estates tours, visits to a few waterfalls and view points; but treks and safari drives are a great way to explore the place too. The best thing however is to soak in the nature sipping hot coffee and sampling local cuisine. September is the end of rainy season and that was exactly when we got there.
I don't regret even one part of our decision as we were coming from rain-starved Chennai and rains in Madikeri are absolutely beautiful - even heavy rains fall through the lush trees and hit the floor gently as if taking care of the soft green moss and delicate flowers growing by the side. With good raincoats and the huge umbrellas given by our resort, we managed to enjoy the rains.
Most trees have got a thick, spongy cover of moss after having soaked and soaked so much of rain.
Sight seeing:
Fort Madikeri and Government Museum: The Government Museum is a small, quaint structure that has been a church in 1855. The interiors of the crumbling church houses a small museum and has a small verdant garden on the side with relics of the past placed here and there. The museum is inside the wide, rugged walls of the fort and has nothing much to offer. I loved the fort however as we had it all to ourselves. We walked on the ramparts, in the lawns, climbed to the places where soldiers of yesteryear would have walked and kept a vigil. 
This place is small, yes, but it is big on serenity, in spite of being at the center of the bustling town and housing the District Court. The cost of the ticket is merely Rs.10/- and timings are 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM. There is parking on the road outside and if you get there early, there shouldn't be a problem.
The crumbling church makes for some good Insta snaps and the well maintained grounds and thick walls of the fort gives an opportunity for one to climb and walk about. It is suitable for families and nature lovers.
Nisagardhama: This is a great place to visit with children/ family. This place is under the Karnataka Forest Department's purview so it is clean and low-key. Just plain nature and good clean air to give company.
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| Kaveri's tributary flowing by |
I would say this place lends itself to a picnic with family and friends. Nisargadhama is a forest resort on an island and has provisions for stay too, though I am not sure about the booking facilities.
The thing I liked the best was a well maintained obstacle course with 16/17 challenges for a mere Rs. 100/- entry fee and a zip line (for kids mainly) for again Rs. 100/- It was truly a wonderful activity to keep my 6 year old daughter happy. :)
Nisargadhama is in Kushalnagar which is a good 30 kms from Madikeri town. It would be easier if this is visited on the way to Madikeri or while getting back to Mysore or Bangalore.
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| Zip Line in Nisargadhama |
Note: 1. Check the availability of boat rides or elephant rides before heading out.
2. If travelling from Madikeri, factor in at least 45 mins of journey time.
3. There are quite a few eateries in Nisargadhama. So food is not a problem.
4. Combine Nisargadhama and Dubare Elephant Camp in one day. They are close by.
Dubare Elephant Camp: This place came highly recommended while I was doing my research of places to visit in Madikeri. Dubare Elephant Camp is close to Nisargadhama and we visited it on the same day that we went to the forest resort. I had a lot of expectations from this place as the pictures were really beautiful and being close up with elephants - giving them a bath or feeding them was definitely a life changing experience. But we were not so lucky as Covid protocol demanded that we had no interaction with the elephants. The place however is beautiful and rich with greenery. The crowd was less too due to travel restrictions and we got to enjoy the flowing Kaveri in relative peace.
It's really not very pleasant to watch these majestic tuskers ambling along with huge chains tied to their legs. There were local boys who were teaching some young calves to hit the ball and/or draw. I found it rather insensitive and the sentiments were mirrored by the group which we had gone along with.
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| Mighty tuskers at Dubare Elephant Camp |
Tickets: The timings to visit the camp is between 9:00 am - 11:00 am and evening 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm. We went to the camp in the afternoon after finishing lunch at Nisargadhama. Once there we had to wait until 4:00 pm for the queue to be set up. It is sensible to stand in a queue for the ferry, instead of crowding near the bank as the forest officials ask everyone to get in queue before issuing tickets. No point telling them that you reached early and should be the first to board the boats that would take you to the camp on the other side of the Kaveri.
Entry fee is Rs. 20/- and is collected by a ticket collector at the entrance. Other than that, tickets to the camp are issued once the ferry comes from the other bank. Keep exact change if possible. Rs. 30/- for adults.
I found the Coorg Tourism website quite useful for all research.
But as I had mentioned earlier, since the other activities are all cancelled, it can be a lot of work for not much to see.
Other places: I surprised myself by agreeing to leave Raja's Tomb and the much touted Abbey falls from our sightseeing list on S's behest. We were not very impressed with the pics of the falls, and so did not go. I didn't really miss visiting these places.
Do take an opportunity to take long drives skimming lush green coffee estates and sudden water falls. The roads are lined with tall trees in such beautiful symmetry that one would think they were planted manually.
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| Waterfalls on winding, green roads |
Places to eat:
There is no doubt that Coorg cuisine is part of West Coast and uses coconut extensively. Being a Malayalee myself, I was over joyed to sample the Mangalore chicken curry, mutton pepper fry, Coorg chicken curry and the like. The food here is delicious. The restaurants we visited were:
1. Ambika Upahar Vegetarian restaurant: This is situated in a complex with a few other restaurants and so there is a chance to check for other cuisines. The interiors are not very clean but the food is functional and average. This is ideal if you are on a budge and/or staying for a longer duration.
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| Ambika Upahar Restaurant thali |
2. Hotel Udupi Garden: I liked this place so much that we ended up here almost everyday. The food is tasty, waiters are non-fussy yet attentive, there's good variety and most importantly they are affordable and have good parking space.
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| Udupi Garden Restaurant - good food |
3. Raintree Restaurants: We ate my birthday lunch here and it was a very enjoyable experience. The rooms in the old bungalow have been filled with tables and so guests can eat in a bit of privacy and comfort. We had their ghee roast chicken (super spicy and tasty), mangalore mutton curry (subtle and flavourful) with appams and rice. They didn't have any of the exotic or the tandoor listed in their menu. But we weren't complaining.
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| Food at Raintree Restaurant, Madikeri |
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| Fort Mercara - Chicken curry and mutton chukka parcel |
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| Beautiful Club Mahindra, Madikeri |
One word about the lovely Club Mahindra Madikeri property. The place is simply soaked in greenery with comfortable, large rooms opening to the green vista outside. They are very guest focused and leave no stone unturned in their service to make guests comfortable. Several activities were planned and hosted by the employees to keep the guests and the children occupied.
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| Chef Ravi teaching us the nuances of making fried icecream |
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| Fried ice cream tutorial in Club Mahindra Madikeri |
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| Yummy chicken at Club Mahindra Madikeri |
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| Good food at Mahindra Madikeri |
After 7 days in Madikeri, we went to Nandi Hills for a two day stay in our Airbnb cottage. The route to Nandi from Madikeri was harrowing with narrow roads and general traffic. It robbed a bit of the good vibes cultivated in Madikeri and it took me all of one day to come to terms with the horrid roads and the never ending line of speed breakers. I think these roads need more work and better maintenance. We took the NH27, SH75, NH75 before reaching Nandi Hills. On reaching there we discovered to our disappointment that Nandi Hills had been closed for public for the past 3 months due to landslides. :(. No where was this mentioned and we could have planned better if known earlier.
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| The silent hills in Nandi |
We got back to Chennai after 10 days of absolute relaxed, rain soaked holiday with our tummies and our hearts full of the Kodagu hospitality.
Comments
Makes me want to go again. 😊