We had decided to tour Madikeri one month before the actual date. Because many of us had to take leave on 16th of August. Earlier we were 8 members and the day when we left we were only 4..!! Other 4 had to miss the trip due to unavoidable reasons.
On August 14th we had to re think our scheduled tour to Madikeri. This is because of the rain that had been pouring for almost 10 days in a row in Madikeri district. Bhagamandala and some other places had become island because of water. Therefore we had planned 2nd rout also. That was to visit Shivana Samudra, Mysore and surrounding places, Gundlupete, Bandipur, Gopalswamy betta and then Ooty. We postponed the decision to take 1st Plan or the latter at Shriranga Pattana as it was the last common place to take any route.
August 15th
Two bikes one mine and the other one of Vardhan, both Hero Honda Hunk started from my room on Independence Day at 5am in the morning. I was alone in my bike, Arun Dixit and Vardhan were on another. Ravi was to joining in Shriranga Pattana. We had a couple of stops on our way because of slight rain. Reached Maddur at 8am.
Had breakfast at Maddur Tifanys. Also we packed some breakfast and Maddur Vada from the hotel for Ravi. We reached Shriranga pattana at 9am. Still Ravi was missing. By the time we had rest, Ravi arrived. We were chatting something and suddenly we saw Ravi jumping off the Bus in his unique style. We all laughed our heart out.
We had collected weather forecast of Madikeri for the next three days and since we had some positive news. We were bit hopeful that our tour may on as per 1st plan. But we all know that these forecasts always go wrong. But we all were geared up to take the challenge. We all were ready with the raincoats.
We took diversion towards Hunsur, 4 km after Shriranga Pattana. Stopped as soon as we found one nice place. Ravi was Hungry. He had nice breakfast beside the road. He was very quick to finish it off. We all took some photographs of him. Started from there and reached Hunsur. Had tea in one small shop in Hunsur Bypass and started towards Piriyapattana.
We again stopped near kamplapura where the Landscape looked photographer’s delight. On either side of the road it was Tobacco plants and the landscape looked awesome. Took couple of photographs and started our journey. State Highway 88 was awesome.
We had planned to reach bailukuppe before 12:30 but we could reach the place only by 1.15. Bailukuppe is a place where thousands of Tibetians are living from decades. There is a Golden Temple and many other temples of Budha in Tibetian colony. Golden temple is very beautiful and must visit place to anybody visiting Coorg. Actually we don’t feel like we are in India as soon as we enter Bailukuppe. We also visited “Padma Sambhava”.
At 2.30 we left temple and started searching for Tibetian Lunch…!! We all were interested in tasting the special dishes of Coorg rather than regular Rice, Rasam, Curd etc. which we usually taste in typical Udupi Hotels…!! On the way we found one tibetian restaurant called Olive Restaurant. Menu was filled with full of Non-Veg items and somehow we could find veg Fried Rice, Noodles. Both items tasted very good. We also ordered few unheard items like “TOM-YUM SOUP” and “VEGETABLE MOMO”…!! Veg MOMO was good and we were tasting for the first time. But the soup was nothing but Hot Neembu-Pani..!! But don’t know why even that tasted really good.
Left Restaurant at 3.40 and reached “Kaveri Nisargadhama” which is around 6-7 km’s from Bailukuppe. It’s a nice place to visit especially for children. Lots of Rabbits, deer and even elephants can be seen. We can even feed the deer’s. Left for DUBARE forest at 5.00.
Dubare is a dense forest through which Kaveri flows. Its famous for Rafting, Elephant riding and sight seeing. We could not stay here longer as its already getting darker and we have not booked hotel in Madikeri and also it was another 30 km’s away. We crossed the Kaveri river in boat and saw many elephants which were under training. Wild elephants are trained in Dubare.
Left for Madikeri at 6.00. There were 2 routes to reach Madikeri and we took the road which goes through coffee plantations. The climate was chilling. Had short coffee break in one of the village. And left for Madikeri. The road and the scenery around was out of words. There were around 4-5 seasonal falls across the road. We stopped near a falls. Even though it was darker we could see some beauty of the falls. We all decided to revisit that place next morning so that we could see that falls better.
We reached Madikeri at 7.30pm. Fortunately got one big room in the middle of the city. Dumped all the luggage and went for Dinner after taking some rest. And there ended eventful First day of the Tour. By then the Trip meter read 271km.
Routes taken by us on Day 1
Bengaluru -->Maddur --> Shrirangapattana --> Hunsur -->Piriyapattana --> Bailukuppe --> Kushalanagara --> Nisargadhama -->Dubare --> Chettalli --> Madikeri
August 16th
Got up at 6AM but couldn’t see anything other than the mist. The whole city was dressed in white…!!! We had planned to start the day as early as 6am but everybody was lazy in getting up. Had coorg special breakfast and left to see the seasonal falls that we saw a day before.
This was not planned earlier. But we were determined to go there. Saw the falls and I thought of going to a unplanned place, Infact it was an coffee estate 1 km from the main road. It was worthy as we could walk through the coffee plantations and see some spectacular scenery. It was around 11.00 when we felt that the time was running out for us to meet our plan.
It was raining since the morning. Although it was not heavy, still it was enough for us to get wet. We reached ABBE FALLS at around 12.00. There were thousands of visitors as it was long weekend. ABBE falls looked at its best, courtesy heavy rain for almost 15 days. When we were returning we saw a land slide on the road but it was not difficult for us to get through.
Next stop was Omkaranath Temple which was closed for lunch. We didn’t wasted time and reached RAJA’s SEAT . RAJA’s seat is a place from where Sunrise and Sunset looks awesome. By this time Rain was getting heavier. We had few lighter moments and started our way back to our Lodge. Packed our bags and checked out at 1.30.
We had some bakery food and left Madikeri towards Bhagamandala and Talakaveri. Me and Dixit were almost 1-2 km ahead of Ravi and Vardhan. We were thinking that they are right behind us. Suddenly Dixit’s mobile started to ring. Then we came to know that Vardhan’s bike had got Punctured..!!!! We went back to them and saw that front wheel had got punctured. Madikeri was 6 KMs away and there was no Garage anywhere nearer. We didn’t had any option other than requesting some tourists or to ask any other vehicles for help.
Luckily one jeep came which belonged to a coffee estate owner and he promised us to get the bike to Madikeri. We lifted the bike and put it inside the open jeep. Ravi and Vardhan went to Madikeri with the bike. Me and Dixit were waiting in the same place for them to come. They came at 4.00 We had wasted almost 2 hours. It was raining bit heavily.
We decided to skip Bhagamandala Temple and started towards Talakaveri. When we reached Talakaveri it was 5.15. Talakaveri is a place where Kaveri originates. Talakaveri was covered with full of fog. Visibility was hardly few meters.
Offered prayer at the temple and climbed Brahmagiri Hill which is about 340 steps from the base of temple. We could see nothing except the fog. Had a cup of tee and Kanda Bajji. It tasted awesome in that chilling climate.
Our plan was to reach Virajpet and halt there. It was 60 km from Talakaveri and the time was 6.00. After 1km we saw a shop where lot of HONEY bottles were kept. We all bought some HONEY, COFFEE POWDER and other things like DHOOPA etc. Honey and all the things were not adulterated and and tasted awesome. Even though we paid some extra bugs but we had got some quality products.
We came back to Bhagamandala and asked locals for the route for Virajpet. We had two options. One road was in bad condition however it was shortcut almost by10kms when compared to the other one. It was already 6.30 and the light was fading. And we had to travel almost 45 kms. We decide to take the shortcut. And this was the only mistake we did in the entire tour..!!! This was the only road throught Madikeri where the road was in worst condition.
We had to travel at the speed of 20km/hr. And there was hardly any houses visible. I cant imagine what might we have done if any of our bike got punctured. On an average we could see a house for about 1km..!!!
We decided not to keep much distance between the 2 bikes. We reached Kakkabbe at 8pm. From there the road was quite ok. When we reached Virajpet it was 9pm and Virajpet was in sleep..!! We could somehow located one lodge and dumped our bags and went on searching for food. Only one hotel was open and we had no option to look for. We had light dinner and went for sleep.
Route taken on Day2
Madikeri -->Chettalli -->Madikeri --> Abbe Falls-->Madikeri --> Bhagamandala -> Talakaveri --> Kakkabbe -->Virajapet
August 17
In the morning again we went back towards Kakkabbe to see many places we missed previous day. We saw CHELEVAR FALLS. This falls is a less known compared to ABBE falls but it was awesome. It was worth the time we spent there.
On the way to NALKNAD PALACE we saw a small natural pool where we had a stop for about 30 minutes. The place was superb. Washed the bike and ate some Guava fruit (Perale). NALKNAD PALACE was a hiding place for Mysore Kings during Tippu and other Muslim kings period.
Near NALKNAD PALACE there is a Hill called TADIANDAMOL HILL which is highest peak in Madikeri. It is a trekkers paradise. We skipped that and went to PADI IGUTTAPPA Temple.
The temple is a sacred place for KODAVA’s. For every KODAVA family IGUTTAPPA is a Family God. IGUTTAPPA is another name for SHIVA. We had very nice lunch at the temple. Only in this temple we saw many Kodava women in traditional Kodava Dress.
We left Temple at 1.30 and reached Virajpet to collect our Luggage. Checked out at 3.00 and started our way back to Bengaluru. We had covered all the places except IRPU FALLS as per plan. We thought we might cover this when we go to WAYANAD.
It started raining very heavily as soon as we left Virajpet. We all were wet and had to travel 225 kms to Bangalore. Initially we thought that we might reach bengaluru by 8 pm. But Heavy rains spoiled our hopes. We couldn’t see properly due to heavy rain. We drove very slowly, stopped many times as the rain was very heavy.
Even though driving in rain is a pleasant experience we were much worried about the camera inside the bag. Eventhough we all were wet during most part of the last two days, it didn’t took our spirits off.
By the time we reached Bengaluru it was 11.15PM. And the TRIP METER read 726km..!!!!
Route taken on Last Day
Virajpet -->Chelavara Falls --> Kakkabbe --> Nalknad Palace --> Padi Iguttappa Temple --> Virajpet --> Gonikoppalu --> Hunsur --> Shrirangapattana --> Mandya --> Bengaluru
Detailed MAP of MADIKERI District
(Marked path shows route taken by us)
View Madikeri Tour in a larger map
On August 14th we had to re think our scheduled tour to Madikeri. This is because of the rain that had been pouring for almost 10 days in a row in Madikeri district. Bhagamandala and some other places had become island because of water. Therefore we had planned 2nd rout also. That was to visit Shivana Samudra, Mysore and surrounding places, Gundlupete, Bandipur, Gopalswamy betta and then Ooty. We postponed the decision to take 1st Plan or the latter at Shriranga Pattana as it was the last common place to take any route.
August 15th
Two bikes one mine and the other one of Vardhan, both Hero Honda Hunk started from my room on Independence Day at 5am in the morning. I was alone in my bike, Arun Dixit and Vardhan were on another. Ravi was to joining in Shriranga Pattana. We had a couple of stops on our way because of slight rain. Reached Maddur at 8am.
Had breakfast at Maddur Tifanys. Also we packed some breakfast and Maddur Vada from the hotel for Ravi. We reached Shriranga pattana at 9am. Still Ravi was missing. By the time we had rest, Ravi arrived. We were chatting something and suddenly we saw Ravi jumping off the Bus in his unique style. We all laughed our heart out.
We had collected weather forecast of Madikeri for the next three days and since we had some positive news. We were bit hopeful that our tour may on as per 1st plan. But we all know that these forecasts always go wrong. But we all were geared up to take the challenge. We all were ready with the raincoats.
We took diversion towards Hunsur, 4 km after Shriranga Pattana. Stopped as soon as we found one nice place. Ravi was Hungry. He had nice breakfast beside the road. He was very quick to finish it off. We all took some photographs of him. Started from there and reached Hunsur. Had tea in one small shop in Hunsur Bypass and started towards Piriyapattana.
We again stopped near kamplapura where the Landscape looked photographer’s delight. On either side of the road it was Tobacco plants and the landscape looked awesome. Took couple of photographs and started our journey. State Highway 88 was awesome.
We had planned to reach bailukuppe before 12:30 but we could reach the place only by 1.15. Bailukuppe is a place where thousands of Tibetians are living from decades. There is a Golden Temple and many other temples of Budha in Tibetian colony. Golden temple is very beautiful and must visit place to anybody visiting Coorg. Actually we don’t feel like we are in India as soon as we enter Bailukuppe. We also visited “Padma Sambhava”.
At 2.30 we left temple and started searching for Tibetian Lunch…!! We all were interested in tasting the special dishes of Coorg rather than regular Rice, Rasam, Curd etc. which we usually taste in typical Udupi Hotels…!! On the way we found one tibetian restaurant called Olive Restaurant. Menu was filled with full of Non-Veg items and somehow we could find veg Fried Rice, Noodles. Both items tasted very good. We also ordered few unheard items like “TOM-YUM SOUP” and “VEGETABLE MOMO”…!! Veg MOMO was good and we were tasting for the first time. But the soup was nothing but Hot Neembu-Pani..!! But don’t know why even that tasted really good.
Left Restaurant at 3.40 and reached “Kaveri Nisargadhama” which is around 6-7 km’s from Bailukuppe. It’s a nice place to visit especially for children. Lots of Rabbits, deer and even elephants can be seen. We can even feed the deer’s. Left for DUBARE forest at 5.00.
Dubare is a dense forest through which Kaveri flows. Its famous for Rafting, Elephant riding and sight seeing. We could not stay here longer as its already getting darker and we have not booked hotel in Madikeri and also it was another 30 km’s away. We crossed the Kaveri river in boat and saw many elephants which were under training. Wild elephants are trained in Dubare.
Left for Madikeri at 6.00. There were 2 routes to reach Madikeri and we took the road which goes through coffee plantations. The climate was chilling. Had short coffee break in one of the village. And left for Madikeri. The road and the scenery around was out of words. There were around 4-5 seasonal falls across the road. We stopped near a falls. Even though it was darker we could see some beauty of the falls. We all decided to revisit that place next morning so that we could see that falls better.
We reached Madikeri at 7.30pm. Fortunately got one big room in the middle of the city. Dumped all the luggage and went for Dinner after taking some rest. And there ended eventful First day of the Tour. By then the Trip meter read 271km.
Routes taken by us on Day 1
Bengaluru -->Maddur --> Shrirangapattana --> Hunsur -->Piriyapattana --> Bailukuppe --> Kushalanagara --> Nisargadhama -->Dubare --> Chettalli --> Madikeri
August 16th
Got up at 6AM but couldn’t see anything other than the mist. The whole city was dressed in white…!!! We had planned to start the day as early as 6am but everybody was lazy in getting up. Had coorg special breakfast and left to see the seasonal falls that we saw a day before.
This was not planned earlier. But we were determined to go there. Saw the falls and I thought of going to a unplanned place, Infact it was an coffee estate 1 km from the main road. It was worthy as we could walk through the coffee plantations and see some spectacular scenery. It was around 11.00 when we felt that the time was running out for us to meet our plan.
It was raining since the morning. Although it was not heavy, still it was enough for us to get wet. We reached ABBE FALLS at around 12.00. There were thousands of visitors as it was long weekend. ABBE falls looked at its best, courtesy heavy rain for almost 15 days. When we were returning we saw a land slide on the road but it was not difficult for us to get through.
Next stop was Omkaranath Temple which was closed for lunch. We didn’t wasted time and reached RAJA’s SEAT . RAJA’s seat is a place from where Sunrise and Sunset looks awesome. By this time Rain was getting heavier. We had few lighter moments and started our way back to our Lodge. Packed our bags and checked out at 1.30.
We had some bakery food and left Madikeri towards Bhagamandala and Talakaveri. Me and Dixit were almost 1-2 km ahead of Ravi and Vardhan. We were thinking that they are right behind us. Suddenly Dixit’s mobile started to ring. Then we came to know that Vardhan’s bike had got Punctured..!!!! We went back to them and saw that front wheel had got punctured. Madikeri was 6 KMs away and there was no Garage anywhere nearer. We didn’t had any option other than requesting some tourists or to ask any other vehicles for help.
Luckily one jeep came which belonged to a coffee estate owner and he promised us to get the bike to Madikeri. We lifted the bike and put it inside the open jeep. Ravi and Vardhan went to Madikeri with the bike. Me and Dixit were waiting in the same place for them to come. They came at 4.00 We had wasted almost 2 hours. It was raining bit heavily.
We decided to skip Bhagamandala Temple and started towards Talakaveri. When we reached Talakaveri it was 5.15. Talakaveri is a place where Kaveri originates. Talakaveri was covered with full of fog. Visibility was hardly few meters.
Offered prayer at the temple and climbed Brahmagiri Hill which is about 340 steps from the base of temple. We could see nothing except the fog. Had a cup of tee and Kanda Bajji. It tasted awesome in that chilling climate.
Our plan was to reach Virajpet and halt there. It was 60 km from Talakaveri and the time was 6.00. After 1km we saw a shop where lot of HONEY bottles were kept. We all bought some HONEY, COFFEE POWDER and other things like DHOOPA etc. Honey and all the things were not adulterated and and tasted awesome. Even though we paid some extra bugs but we had got some quality products.
We came back to Bhagamandala and asked locals for the route for Virajpet. We had two options. One road was in bad condition however it was shortcut almost by10kms when compared to the other one. It was already 6.30 and the light was fading. And we had to travel almost 45 kms. We decide to take the shortcut. And this was the only mistake we did in the entire tour..!!! This was the only road throught Madikeri where the road was in worst condition.
We had to travel at the speed of 20km/hr. And there was hardly any houses visible. I cant imagine what might we have done if any of our bike got punctured. On an average we could see a house for about 1km..!!!
We decided not to keep much distance between the 2 bikes. We reached Kakkabbe at 8pm. From there the road was quite ok. When we reached Virajpet it was 9pm and Virajpet was in sleep..!! We could somehow located one lodge and dumped our bags and went on searching for food. Only one hotel was open and we had no option to look for. We had light dinner and went for sleep.
Route taken on Day2
Madikeri -->Chettalli -->Madikeri --> Abbe Falls-->Madikeri --> Bhagamandala -> Talakaveri --> Kakkabbe -->Virajapet
August 17
In the morning again we went back towards Kakkabbe to see many places we missed previous day. We saw CHELEVAR FALLS. This falls is a less known compared to ABBE falls but it was awesome. It was worth the time we spent there.
On the way to NALKNAD PALACE we saw a small natural pool where we had a stop for about 30 minutes. The place was superb. Washed the bike and ate some Guava fruit (Perale). NALKNAD PALACE was a hiding place for Mysore Kings during Tippu and other Muslim kings period.
Near NALKNAD PALACE there is a Hill called TADIANDAMOL HILL which is highest peak in Madikeri. It is a trekkers paradise. We skipped that and went to PADI IGUTTAPPA Temple.
The temple is a sacred place for KODAVA’s. For every KODAVA family IGUTTAPPA is a Family God. IGUTTAPPA is another name for SHIVA. We had very nice lunch at the temple. Only in this temple we saw many Kodava women in traditional Kodava Dress.
We left Temple at 1.30 and reached Virajpet to collect our Luggage. Checked out at 3.00 and started our way back to Bengaluru. We had covered all the places except IRPU FALLS as per plan. We thought we might cover this when we go to WAYANAD.
It started raining very heavily as soon as we left Virajpet. We all were wet and had to travel 225 kms to Bangalore. Initially we thought that we might reach bengaluru by 8 pm. But Heavy rains spoiled our hopes. We couldn’t see properly due to heavy rain. We drove very slowly, stopped many times as the rain was very heavy.
Even though driving in rain is a pleasant experience we were much worried about the camera inside the bag. Eventhough we all were wet during most part of the last two days, it didn’t took our spirits off.
By the time we reached Bengaluru it was 11.15PM. And the TRIP METER read 726km..!!!!
Route taken on Last Day
Virajpet -->Chelavara Falls --> Kakkabbe --> Nalknad Palace --> Padi Iguttappa Temple --> Virajpet --> Gonikoppalu --> Hunsur --> Shrirangapattana --> Mandya --> Bengaluru
Detailed MAP of MADIKERI District
(Marked path shows route taken by us)
View Madikeri Tour in a larger map