Western Ghats Rainforest Drive - Trip travelogue (29th Oct - 1st Nov 2010)

After a long, long time, here was another long weekend we were blessed with - October 30th, 31st and November 1st (being Kannada Rajyotsava). After quite a few friends backed out at the last minute, we were left with 4 people for the trip but we decided to continue nevertheless. We decided we would apply leave on the 29th of October to extend the duration of our trip. I zeroed in on the Western Ghats rainforests as the destination, since this post-monsoon season is the best to experience the lush green rainforests, its spectacular wildlife and see the bio-diversity hotspot first-hand rather than watch it on the National Geographic Channel. Agumbe was one such place. Located 380 kms away from Bangalore on one of the highest points of the Western Ghats at around 3000 ft high, this hill station is also known as the capital of the infamous 'King Cobra', also the second most harsh rainforest in the world after the Amazon rainforests in South America. Agumbe is among the highest rainfall-receiving places in India, and in the world. It was in fact known as the 'Cheerapunjee of the south' (cheerapunjee was the then highest rainfall-receiving place in India). Agumbe is also the exclusive home to some of the rarest species of insects, snakes and plants, apart from regular wildlife. It is also famed for its treacherous, dense rainforests with a thick vegetation canopy making even sunlight impossible to penetrate in some places. Sounded exciting to a bunch of bored techies wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life for a long weekend.

The plan was to visit Agumbe on 29th, stay there on 29th and 30th and cover all the important places there. But because the return journey would again become tiring to drive roughly 400 kms of distance at 1 shot, I decided to divide the itinerary to break the return distance of 380 kms as well as to include some variety of places. On 31st we would leave from Agumbe and move on to a coffee estate-cum-homestay resort at Chikmagalur (around 120kms distance). After spending 2 days in the scenic coffee estate at Chikmagalur and experiencing life on the estate, we would return to Bangalore on the 1st of November from Chikmagalur (around 250 kms). Travelling would be by my trusty old Hyundai Accent 1.6 GLS. After all the necessary precautions were taken to ensure we had a tank full of fuel, adequate pressure in all the tyres (including the stepney) and all the necessary documents in place, we set out by 5am, 29th of October (Friday). Here is how the trip unfolded -

The route map - plotted in Google maps - A- Bangalore, B - Tumkur (breakfast), C - Arsikere (midway break), D - Shimoga (Lunch), E - Kuppalli/Thirthahalli, F - Agumbe, G - Kundadri mountain, H - Sringeri, I - Hidden Valley resort Chikmagalur, J - Mullayanagiri peak, K - Chikmagalur city, L - Belur, M - Halebid, N - Hassan (Lunch), O - Back to Bangalore

Day 1 - Bangalore - Tumkur - Tiptur - Arsikere - Shimoga - Thirthahalli - Kuppalli - Agumbe

I had finished my packing pretty late on thursday night and I had barely slept for 6 hours when the alarm rang at 4am. I woke up, got ready hurriedly and loaded all the luggage and the snacks into the car's rear boot after cross checking the checklist to confirm that I hadn't missed anything. After picking up my 3 comrades one by one, we finally headed along the NICE ring road from Kanakapura road to Nelamangala by 6.30am. It was well worth the 65 Rs. of toll charges to cruise at 120 kmph on NICE road than being stuck behind a zillion trucks in the Yeshwantpur and Peenya industrial areas, what with the recent metro constructions taking up half of the road width there.

Much to our relief after a week of incessant rain, daybreak on friday saw the sunlight coming out and all clouds clearing up. By 7am we reached Kamat Upachar / Barista near Dobbaspete and had quite a heavy breakfast. The food was average in taste but the place was quite clean and hygienic. After breakfast we proceeded along Tiptur - Arsikere route. A slight mistake of mine in noticing the NH-206 turning at Tumkur lost us precious time while heading in the wrong direction, almost an hour to be precise. We got back on track soon and rejoined NH-206 with some help from Google Maps.

Breakfast stop at Kamat Upachar / Barista near Dobbaspete

Our next stop was on NH-206 near Arsikere. We had a few snacks and cool drinks from the loot one of my friends had packed from ButterSponge bakery. All of us enjoyed the cool breeze and the lush green agricultural fields to view while munching on the titbits. From Arsikere, the roads turned a little sour and potholes became more frequent, some even as deep as a foot! By around 1pm, We stopped at Shimoga city for lunch at a highway restaurant 'Meenakshi Bhavan'. The only thing available was the popular 'South Indian meals'. The day was turning out to be very hot and sunny. After having our fill of (decently tasting) lunch, we stopped at a petrol bunk for another tank-up since we weren't sure of petrol pumps in and around Agumbe, those regions being dense rainforests with very little population and very little interaction with civilization. We proceeded to Thirthahalli after lunch. Here is where the common NH-206/NH-13 road splits up at Shimoga. NH-13 proceeds southwest to Thirthahalli while NH-206 continues northwest from Shimoga. The scenery of the straight roads and the rich green fields soon started to change. The good thing was it turned into something more captivating. The roads started to twist and turn and soon I was left arm-wrestling with the steering and switching between 3rd and 4th gears as more curves started to unfold in front of me. Thirthahalli was the last town with modern facilities on our approach to Agumbe.

Stop for a short break near Arsikere

The lush green fields along the Shimoga route

A bright and sunny day on NH-206

Before proceeding to Agumbe, there was a place called Kuppalli which we stopped at by around 3pm. It was the birthplace and native town of the famous Kannada poet Kuvempu. Though we had no knowledge or interest in knowing more about him/his life, what really impressed us was the ancient, monolithic rock formation on a hilltop where he supposedly used to sit and compose many of his poems. This place is called 'Kavishyla'. It resembles 'StoneHenge', the famous prehistoric rock formation in UK. After half an hour on that hilltop and a bunch of photographs later, we visited his residence (now converted into a memorial/museum in memory of Kuvempu and his works) at the bottom of the hill.

The approach to Kavishyla

Kavishaila monolithic rock formation

Kuvempu's house now converted into a museum/memorial

The time was 4.30pm by the time we left Kuppalli. We had the last leg of the ghat section journey (Thirthahalli to Agumbe) left and I was quite anxious to complete the toughest, steepest part of the driving journey before dusk for obvious reasons. Indeed, the roads are quite steep in climb and are plagued by potholes in stretches. In some places the roads are equally smooth and feel like an expressway. Perhaps this partially good road is due to an ongoing road improvement activity by the government. There are around a dozen hairpin bends towards the last leg and they are quite steep. Each hairpin climbs around 20 feet in altitude and you are forced to come down to 1st gear many times, to ensure adequate torque carries you through the curve. At a couple of places we saw cars collapsed from the road and into the steep, hilly rainforest next to the road. An Alto in 1 spot and a Tata Sumo at another spot, both had tumbled off the road and fallen down the hilly jungle area, lying 20-30 ft down the highway. God save those travellers! I wonder what happened to them and if they were alive at all. Just goes to show what a stupid manouevre or a bit of overconfidence in the driver can lead to in a treacherous terrain like this.

Treacherous hairpin curves on the approach to Agumbe

After reaching Agumbe by around 6pm, We decided to head directly to Sunset point (our next place in the itinerary) in the fervent hope that we could catch a clear view of the sunset in time. Unfortunately we missed the sunset by a few minutes and all we could catch was a glimpse of the soon-disappearing twilight. Vowing to get back the next day in time for sunset, we made our way to Agumbe's one and only main road where we had booked our lodging in a very, very basic lodge, the only lodge available at Agumbe - Mallya Residency. The rooms were full of weird insects hovering near the tubelights when we checked in. The hotel guy soon sent a boy to spray an insect repellent and the problem was partly solved. The owner of the lodge had a provision store below the lodge. Everything was very basic in Agumbe. There was just 1 grocery store, 1 lodge, 1 medical shop, 1 very small police station, 1 clinic (not even a hospital), 1 Syndicate bank branch and 1 temple! Talk about simplicity! :)

Agumbe sunset point- after sunset

We had heard of a house called 'Dodda Mane', the place where the famous TV serial 'Malgudi days' was filmed. There is a small 'Katte' (cement platform) in the front porch where people can sit and bask in the sun or engage in chit-chat, typical in village houses. It is owned and managed by the family of a famous person known as 'Kasturiakka'. She is a grandmotherly person (roughly around 70 years old) who is famous for her limitless hospitality towards tourists and visitors. She serves home-cooked, traditional malnad cuisine food on banana leaves to any and every visitor at her home, unlimited in quantity and unlimited in grandmotherly affection. All this and she never charges a penny for her food. Visitors can donate if they wish, but they are not compelled to. We met this grandmotherly lady and told her we were from Bangalore and would be there for another 2 days. She gladly agreed to serve us dinner even though we informed her in short notice.

The famous Kasturiakka at DoddaMane, Agumbe

We settled into our lodge and walked to Dodda Mane for dinner by around 8.30pm. She had 6-7 items prepared for dinner, all exotic malnad dishes but seemed like regular fare for her. She kept urging us to eat more and more saying "innu swalpa thogoli, yenu ishtge saku andre" (take some more, how can this much be enough), very much like how you would be treated at your grandmother's house ;) There is a large dining table where 6-7 guests can sit at one time, she takes center stage and serves everyone all the dishes from that central place. I really have to appreciate her patience. On enquiring if she had finished dinner, she remarked that she goes without dinner sometimes if there are too many guests! She said "If my guests go with a full stomach, it is an honour for me, that is enough!" Phew!

After a heavy dinner at Dodda Mane, we walked out literally clutching our stomachs. A short walk along the 200 metre stretch of Agumbe's main road solved the heaviness and we retired to our lodge to rest our aching bodies after covering close to 500 kms that day.


Day 2 - Kundadri hill - Sringeri - Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS) - Jogigundi Falls - Agumbe Sunset Point

We woke up at 5am, freshened up and left in pursuit of Kundadri to view the spectacular sunrise. We needed to be there by 6am to ensure we didn't miss the sunrise. Kundadri is located around 20 kms from Agumbe and lies between Agumbe and Thirthahalli, but is slightly in a different direction. Very minimal direction boards to guide tourists here made it a nightmare for us at forks where 2-3 roads would diverge. It was still too dark and we couldn't find any local villagers nearby to ask for directions. We finally decided to take a chance and proceed on the road which looked the steepest. Fortunately we were right and we managed to reach Kundadri in time for sunrise! the road up Kundadri peak is steep, much steeper than Thirthahalli - Agumbe, and is half the width of the highway. This directly meant only 1 car can pass on the road and there is no room for any second vehicle when one car is on the road. The climb is around 5km from bottom to top and is quite steep, however my Accent tackled it with equal ease sometimes even taking on hairpins effortlessly. So much for locals warning that the vehicle may not pull and the passengers may need to get out of the car to reduce weight during steep climbs!!

We spent close to an hour here viewing the sunrise and with the help of my tripod, I managed to take quite a few photos of the surrounding panoramic scenery, the ancient Jain temple at the summit (now abandoned and in ruins) and a small lake which supposedly never goes dry even in dry months, a puzzle for the villagers here who fail to find the source of that lake's water.

The ancient jain temple on the top of Kundadri peak

Sunrise at Kundadri peak

From atop Kundadri peak - a panoramic view

By around 7.30am, we decided to return. We started a careful descent down Kundadri. Thankfully we didn't encounter any vehicle in the opposite direction, that would have made life miserable for both drivers halfway on the hill! A delicious breakfast awaited us at DoddaMane - set dosas with sambar and chutney, and kashaya to make sure those things went down. We refused the kashaya thinking it would be like cough syrup, but Kasturiakka persisted saying there were 26 herbs as ingredients and it was very good for health. We then drank it after finding it didn't taste as bad as we thought it would!

Hanging out at Dodda Mane after our breakfast

We got back to our lodge, got ready in a hurry and left for Sringeri by 9.30am, around 25 kms from Agumbe. On the way we took a slight deviation to visit a popular waterfalls known as 'Sirimane Falls'. With much difficulty and with help from tons of passersby for directions, we finally managed to reach this place by around 10.30am. The tourism department really needs to put up proper signboards to tourist destinations if they want karnataka's tourism to develop well.

Sirimane Falls is a spectacular waterfall, ranging around 40-50 ft in height, not very high but quite good to watch. Steps have been laid out all the way down to the base of the falls, to make life easy for tourists. The flip side of this high tourist inflow is the litter of plastic and garbage in and around the falls area which is really depressing. There were quite a few guests around when we visited this place, although we thought we were the first tourists in the morning. There is also a viewpoint in one corner from where you can get an aerial view of the falls, roughly around the same height as that of the falls. I used the tripod on the concrete platform to get steady shots of the waterfalls in motion, thankfully without much interference from passing tourists.

Sirimane falls

A small waterfall on the approach road to Sirimane falls

The water flowing down from Sirimane falls

Sirimane falls - a view from the concrete viewing platform

After an hour here, we headed to Sringeri. On the way we managed to spot a Green Vine Snake crossing the highway. It is a small, harmless snake that is very common in this rainforest region and dots the greenery, trees and shrubs in these regions looking for insects and lizards as prey. We stopped the car and I managed to get quite a few close-ups while maintaining a safe distance from the snake (lest it chose to bite me for going too close for comfort). It is a semi-venomous snake and it can cause a painful bite at the most (never known to be fatal) Kudos to my 55-200 telephoto zoom lens for the splendid snapshots I was able to get from a safe distance! The villagers around were laughing at me for taking pictures of something that seemed so common to them! :)

A Green Vine Snake - very common in the rainforests of the western ghats

The roads were quite bad on the Agumbe-Sringeri stretch and I had to weave in and out of the left lane every few seconds to avoid the car getting bottomed in deep potholes. We finally reached Sringeri by 12pm. It was another hot and sunny day and we were sweating bullets. After visiting Sringeri temple and collecting the 'prasada', we moved to the lunch hall for the large-scale, free lunch that this temple is famous for. There were huge platforms around 100 metres in length, for people to sit and eat. In fact around 300 people could sit and eat simultaneously. Clean plates and glasses are given almost instantly as soon as you take your seat. Food is transported in giant trolleys manned by 2-3 members of temple staff who simultaneously serve both sides of seated people as the trolley is moved along the row of seated people. After lunch we departed for Agumbe by 1.30pm, after a brief stop for my friend who wanted to pick up a spike buster to enable his iPhone to be charged (he had a USA-style flat pin plug connector for his phone charger and those wouldn't work on the Indian round-pin plug points). On the way back from Sringeri, we managed to top the vehicle to the brim with petrol and proceeded on our way.

Sringeri temple

We headed to our lodge, had a wash and went to Agumbe Rainforest Research Station (ARRS), a popular research station around 1km from Agumbe. There are wildlife researchers who do all kinds of studies on the diverse wildlife that is native to this rainforest, such as the King Cobra and many other species. Many national geographic channel documentaries that you see on King Cobras and other rainforest species, were filmed right here in Agumbe's dense jungles by the knowledgeable researchers at ARRS. We had requested them for a small walk/visit into the forest to show us some of these unique creatures. Unfortunately they didn't have any tracker or guide free at that time to take us into the jungles. That being a long weekend, they already had some weekend research workshop going on for students and all the staff were caught up with that. After bidding goodbye to Mr. Gowrishankar, the lead researcher at ARRS we moved back to Agumbe.

Agumbe Rainforest Research Station

Forest ants busy at work in the ARRS campus

Our next stop was the famed Jogigundi Falls, around 3 kms from Agumbe. You have to park the car on the highway and walk around 1.5 kms into the dense jungle. This walk in the rainforest is a horrifying experience. After watching Amazon's rainforests and Western Ghats rainforests on TV on NGC, we got to experience it firsthand here. Trust me, if you have walked into jungles before in Bandipur, Nagarhole, Bhadra, Madumalai or Kerala's Thekkady sanctuaries, they are absolutely NOTHING compared to a rainforest. Rainforests are deadlier and spookier than those 'wannabe' jungles. Firstly the rainforests are dark. Hardly 10-20% of sunlight streams in through the trees. That is how thick the vegetation cover canopy is! There is also a perennial 6-7 inch layer of dead rotting leaves on the ground. Because of the high amount of rainfall, the whole forest floor is wet and there is a constant smell of decaying organic material. Varied forms of Spider webs hang from literally every plant and you would find it annoying to have a few sticking to your hair or face as you walk into the forest. You can find puddles with frogs scampering around as you move. Snakes slither away from the path into adjacent bushes. Various lizards and other eerie looking creatures dot the trees, watching your every move slyly. Eerie sounds can be heard from seemingly nowhere! There is not a single soul in sight for miles together! The last but not the least factor is the astounding amount of leeches. Thousands of leeches dot the rainforest floor and lie among the dead, rotting leaves. These heat sensing parasites will climb up your shoe and slowly crawl up your socks and up your leg. Some may choose to go into your socks! They are so blood-thirsty that they can bore a hole through your socks' fabric and start their feasting! If you stop for a minute to take a breather, you will have 15-20 leeches crawling up on either leg. If you lean on a tree, leeches will fall from overhanging leaves onto you! There really is no escape from these bloodsuckers. We sprinkled table salt all over our socks' fabric. While I didn't get bitten at all due to this salt layer, I removed around 5-10 of them while they were still climbing up my shoe searching for a place to begin the feasting.

For these reasons that I just mentioned, I really wouldn't recommend such locations for families with young children or old people. It is not worth the trouble for families/groups who are just looking for some relaxation. This location would be more appropriate for adventure-seeking groups of youngsters who don't mind a few leechbites and can hike through kilometers of harsh rainforests just for the sake of it ;)

Approach road to Jogigundi Falls through the dense rainforests of Agumbe

Beware of leeches! This path had a million leeches doting the ground

While I made my way down to the falls, 2 of them got onto my face when I brushed against a few leaves. Eerie? yuck! the terrain was very very slippery and we were having trouble getting down to the falls. Having shoes on didn't help much either. While quite a few shrubs and bushes dotted the pathway, holding onto them for support would only provide chances for more leeches to climb on to you through the leaves. After reaching the bottom of the falls, we were surprised by the beautiful and fantastic setting. The view of the rustic rainforest with the stream flowing through moss-covered rocks was breathtaking. This is something nature lovers will look forward to visit. It is a whole new experience that you cannot get from other destinations. This is as rustic as it can get.

A brilliant stream waterfall setting in the middle of the rainforest

Dense jungles, green murky waters

We quickly made our way up the falls and wanted to go further into the deep forest for a hike but the time was already 5 pm. Two of my friends suggested that we skip this idea since the sunset happens quite early in a rainforest and getting lost in the rainforest in the dark was not exactly a good idea ;) On the way back from Jogigundi falls to the car parking place, we saw what looked like a huge black worm lying motionless on the forest floor. On prodding it with a twig, it slowly lifted its head and moved. Lo and Behold! It was a baby King Cobra! Thank god it didn't turn back and bite. Perhaps too young for instincts to surface in it I guess. On doing a little more investigation, we found the King Cobra nest a few metres away. All eggs were broken and the young ones had got out, presumably. What a once-in-a-lifetime experience this trip was turning out to be!

Surprise, Surprise! Baby King Cobra!

We still had some time left in the day so we went to Sunset point which is around 1km away from Agumbe, albeit in another direction. This time we were early for the sunset since we reached the place by 5.30 pm. Loads of tourists thronged the place since this was another tourist-friendly place with steps to the viewpoint platform and space to park cars and buses next to the highway. While the sun wasn't directly visible due to the clouds, the sun rays streamed through them producing brilliant hues and colors. Bhelpuri, Churmuri and fruit vendors made hay even though the sun didn't shine! We managed to capture some spectacular snapshots with the setting sun producing hues of pink and orange in the sky during twilight. In my opinion, this place is definitely a must-visit for all nature lovers. The breathtaking sunset is the best I have seen in my life.

Agumbe sunset point

Another spectacular scenic view at Agumbe's famed Sunset Point at twilight

After the sunset had completely got over, we made our way back to the lodge. After going for a short walk and planning the next day's activities, we went to DoddaMane for another of Kasturiakka's elaborate dinner menus. This time around quite a few guests had come in, that day being a saturday and we had to await our turn to have dinner. On Friday night there were just 4 of us friends along with 3 more travellers. Just 7 travellers in the village. Coming back to saturday's dinner, 'Cucumber majjige Huli', 'beetroot kosambari', 'potato papads', unpolished rice, 'dhal', 'sambar' and 'rasam' awaited us on the plantain leaves. A refreshing glass of gingered butter-milk washed the meal down our throats. After thanking Kasturiakka for her delicious meals and taking a picture with her, we departed this place after leaving a small donation for her hospitality. She requested us to leave a testimonial for her in an opinions' diary and I did just that! A walk down Agumbe's main road resolved the heaviness just like the previous day. We were surprised to find that the town goes to sleep fairly early. By 9pm all lights were switched off in all the houses! We walked back to our lodge, told the provision stores owner (also the owner of the lodge) that we'd be vacating the rooms early next morning by 6am and settled the bill in advance, since he said he wouldn't be around so early. He looked like he was in his mid twenties, a pretty young chap like us. We ended up chatting with him for over an hour. He told us about the simple life that the people in Agumbe lead and how the cost of living is so cheap there. In addition to this, he enquired about where we stayed in Bangalore and also remarked that he had once visited Bangalore's Electronic City area and had experienced enough of traffic in just 1 day! Talk about Bangalore's infamous traffic. Even people staying as far as in this place know about it!

He told us a few more places that we could visit while in Agumbe the next time around. Entry at some places is now restricted by the police since it is believed to be a naxalite area. He proceeded to tell us that the naxalite menace in Agumbe was overhyped and was almost non-existent. Some naxals were caught in a tribal area some 50 miles from Agumbe 2 years ago and TV news channel coverage had further spoilt the reputation of this beautiful place. We then asked him for directions to Chikmagalur and took leave while he closed his shop and went home.

I felt satisfied about staying at this simple place, although there were no frills. My opinion is that the really travel-enthusiastic tourists who visit scenic and culturally beautiful destinations should ditch their inhibitions and false prestige of staying at a "5-star" resort with Jacuzzi(s), private pools, 24-hour room service and blah blah... If you really want to experience the culture of a new place, eat the local cuisine, mingle with the local people and chat with them, stay at local estate homestays instead of the cliche'd, flashy star resorts. The high that you get from experiencing their life and culture defines real "tourism", at least in my opinion. The flashy resorts and their bathtubs, swimming pools and floating bars you can visit at pretty much any resort on the city's outskirts. By the way, most estate homestays can offer you all the facilities, luxuries and comforts of a star resort. So would you prefer to still have your holiday in a concrete building on a main road of the town or in the lap of nature? ;)


Day 3 - Agumbe - Chikmagalur coffee estate - Mullayanagiri peak - Chikmagalur City

We got ready and departed from Agumbe at around 6.30am. There was a slight drizzle in the early morning. We stopped along the way to buy half a dozen of bananas since there was no decent restaurant in sight for breakfast. The bakery snacks and the bananas would keep us from being hungry till we reached the estate for our late breakfast. We had booked our accomodation at a coffee estate homestay-cum-resort called 'The Hidden Valley', around 15 kms from Chikmagalur. From Agumbe, we would hit the resort near Aldur (on the way) even before we reached Chikmagalur city. The 4 hour, 130 km drive from Agumbe to Chikmagalur was the best drive I have ever done till date. The steep, winding rainforest roads soon turned into lower altitude, yet winding roads cutting across lush green coffee estates and tea estates. Vast expanses of coffee estates lay ahead of us. It looked like someone had painted the hills green. Apart from the first 5-10 kilometres of road starting from Agumbe, the entire stretch is almost pothole free and is a pleasure to drive on. Tons of small waterfalls (really ice-cold water) adorn the roadsides at many places. Though average speeds dropped in this Ghat section, no one was complaining. The increase in travel time was worth it, given the marvellous scenery we were passing through.

Delightful Ghat section roads through coffee estates on the Agumbe to Chikmagalur route

A cloudy day at the Hidden Valley coffee estate, Chikmagalur

After a few calls to our resort's manager Mr. Suraj Appaji at Hidden Velley resort Chikmagalur, we were able to reach the spot where the resort begins. We were just about to ask for directions again when Mr. Suraj himself escorted us on his bike into the resort. It is located around 2 kilometres away from the main road and this makeshift road only had pebbles and mud. Quite a dirty, bumpy ride but I had to slot my low-slung car into 1st gear and make sure she didn't bottom out on some of the nasty spots. We reached by 10.15am, checked in and freshened up. A simple, yet tasty breakfast of 'Malnad Kotte Kadubus' was served with chutney and sagu. We were in fact supposed to turn up at the resort for lunch but when we requested Mr. Suraj on the way for breakfast also to be prepared, he obliged very humbly. Any other resort would have turned down this request for preparing a meal with such a short notice.

The view from our balcony's dining table at Hidden Valley resort, Chikmagalur

The good old rough and tough Willy's Jeep, a must-have for every estate

After breakfast, we took a stroll in the estate. There is a small man-made lake where they cultivate edible fish for their own consumption. There is also a coracle in case we wanted to go boating in the lake. I could get some cool snaps of a flock of ducks swimming in the lake, apart from a few other macros of miscellaneous stuff in the estate, all thanks to the 55-200mm zoom lens ;)

A pair of ducks in the lake at Hidden Valley resort

Post the photography session, we went to the badminton court and had a 11 match doubles' challenge among the 4 of us. After around 1 and a half hours of badminton matches, we headed back to the resort for lunchtime. There were a couple of other families who had checked in as well by then and one of them had occupied the lunch table. To kill time till they finished their lunch, we had a go at Rifle shooting at a fake target. We did this for about another 45 minutes till all the bullets were exhausted. It was now time for lunch. We finished it in record time, took directions to Mullayanagiri peak from Mr. Suraj and left by 2.30pm.

Badminton time!

Rifle shooting exercise

The approach road was quite good till the entry to the route of Mullayangiri peak. This is the highest peak in South India, and is one of the highest motorable mountains in the world. It is part of the Bababudanagiri range of mountains which encompass Chikmagalur. After a forest department checkpost does a thorough check to make sure cars don't carry alcohol or any other consumables on board, tourists are allowed to resume the journey. Around 20 km of moderate ghat section roads later, we reach the base of Mullayanagiri peak. These 20 km of roads were amazingly smooth. Once you reach the actual base of the mountain, the climb becomes steep and the roads narrow down even more. This (challenging) actual mountain climb up the narrow and steep roads last for roughly 15 km to the summit. I would be lying if I said this stretch is easy. There is no parapet wall on the road sides. If you take a dip, you will hurtle 6000 feet downwards to your death! You have to stay off the sides of the road. 1 small mistake of going too close to the edge and the loose soil will crumble and give way. The road gets too narrow in some places, allowing only 1 vehicle at a time to pass. We encountered quite a few times on the way up, where we had to reverse to a wider road area to allow clearance for returning traffic to pass.

Halfway up Mullayanagiri peak, the scenery is breathtaking

As we ascended further into the clouds, visibility dropped to just a few feet ahead

Halfway through, I could still manage the climb in 2nd gear with 4 people on board, which is brilliant. We were starting to ascend into the clouds now. The air became heavy and moist. The scenery gave way to a huge white envelope of mist (from clouds). We could see water droplets condensing on our faces, on the windshield, on the car seats, basically everywhere. The visibility started to reduce to around 10 feet ahead of us. I was forced to switch on the headlights and foglamps in full power. The defogger had to be on in full blast. We had to stick to reduced speeds of 20 kmph. Any tricks here and you will reach heaven before you can say 'Jack Robinson'. The breathtaking scenery around us started to disappear as we gained more and more altitude. The last 2-3 kms of the drive had to be done in 1st gear. It is in fact too steep for some low-powered cars to climb. I couldn't find any 800s, Omni(s) and Alto(s) on the top. I don't think they could manage the full climb. There is a parking lot on the top. This has to be among the highest Car parking lots in the country! 6300 feet above the ground and above even the clouds. Doing this hillclimb in my Accent was one of my best ghat section drives till date! An experience to cherish for a lifetime. Bikes can do this easily and there is no challenge! If you would like to do this route in your vehicle sometime, try the car method. It is more thrilling and tests your car-driving abilities to the fullest.

At one of the highest car parking lots in India :)

From the car parking lot, there are 300-350 steps which lead to a temple on the top. Our cameras were rendered useless because we could hardly see 4-5 ft ahead of us in the mist, forget photographing things around us. We went all the way to the summit and came back to the car parking lot. By now, things had cleared up and there was improved visibility. Another traveller was saying this was because of passing clouds. Whenever a cloud intercepts the mountain there is that misty period. When there is a gap between the clouds, there is a 'clear' phase. This made sense somehow, anyway we were preparing to leave so we forgot all that and got ready for the descent.

At the summit of Mullayanagiri

The temple at the top of Mullayanagiri peak

It was 5 pm by the time we left the summit of Mullayanagiri. The descent took us around an hour to the base of the hills. Mind-blowing scenery is visible as soon as you come out of the 'cloud zone'. Since I was driving the car and needed to concentrate on the road, I left my friends to do the photography. It was evening and there was very little upward traffic so we didn't intercept any opposite side traffic and the descent was quite smooth without jams. We stopped at a couple of places to take photographs of the panoramic view. From the base of the hills we took around half an hour to reach Chikmagalur city. We parked the car at MG Road, Chikmagalur and walked around the road casually. We stopped at a roadside gaadi for panipuri and masala puri. After this round of chaats, we proceeded to return to our resort by 7.30pm. We reached Hidden Valley by 8.30, had dinner by our lakeside view balcony and retired for the day. Post dinner, I took an extra hour off to play with Blackie, a friendly 7 month old German Shepherd at the estate and after that, I had him following me non-stop throughout our stay at this estate. My other friends weren't too fond of dogs so they didn't bother much ;)

Puppy moments - Blackie the playful German Shepherd pup at the estate

Day 4 - Chikmagalur Coffee estate - Belur - Halebid - Hassan - Bangalore

We woke up to the cheerful chirping of birds in the estate, and a couple of roosters crowing nineteen to the dozen at dawn. After a wash, we headed to the front porch of the resort where Mr. Suraj was waiting for us to take us on a 2-3 km walk through the 50 acre cofee and pepper plantations in the estate. So was Blackie, the german shepherd, who would escort the group. It had rained the previous night and the plants and the ground were wet. We were shown cardamom plantations, Robusta coffee and Arabica coffee plants and he explained about the process of curing the coffee and how it is manufactured on a large scale. Scores of spider webs adorn the coffee plants. They perhaps have some kind of affinity to coffee plants. We covered almost the entire estate in the 2 hour walk/hike. Post the walk I looked down and to my horror, I saw 20 leeches crawling up on both my feet. I had been extra careful the previous day in Agumbe and I had totally forgotten to take precautions in Chikmagalur. 2 leeches had managed to penetrate a thick woolen sock and bite into the skin. After dusting off the irritating creatures and bathing the non-stop-bleeding wounds with dettol (leeches inject a kind of thinning agent which prevents blood from clotting immediately in the wounds), we freshened up and got ready to have breakfast. Hot idlis, Vadas, chutney and sambar were consumed within minutes of serving, much to the surprise of Pappu, the estate cook and helper.

Chikmagalur coffee estate plantation walk/hike

Berries from these Arabica coffee bushes comprise 70-80% of the total produce in the estate

Blackie in a playful mood with me

Post breakfast, we thanked Pappu and Mr. Suraj for the throughly enjoyable stay here at Hidden Valley Resort. Mr. Suraj, the estate manager was extremely helpful and friendly. He managed our stay at Hidden Valley to perfection. He even offered us a few oranges to munch on, and coffee powder produced from the estate to take back home. After bidding goodbye to them and to Blackie, the friendly German shepherd, we left by 9 am towards Belur.

The road from Chikmagalur to Belur comprised of moderate ghat sections and as we descend from the Western Ghats, the altitude reduces gradually to turn into completely flat roads from Belur. The road quality is not that great in this stretch. We reached Belur by 10.30am, had a look around the temple and left the place by 11.30am. Since we still had some time to kill, we decided to visit another place 'Halebid' - this was another temple similar to Belur but it was not operational anymore. The mughals had looted the idols and destroyed part of the temple. The ruins are now preserved by the Archeological survey of India. There is even an adjoining museum to hold the damaged artifacts and explain their significance. In both these places, I found a large number of foreigners thronging the place, also a whole lot of tourists in general, owing to the public holiday on Kannada Rajyotsava (November 1st).

At the Halebid temple ruins

Intricate sculptures mark the walls of this spectacular piece of 12th century architecture

From Halebid, we took a direct road to Hassan city where we stopped for lunch. Once we enter the national highway from Halebid to Hassan, the road turns into a 4 lane expressway and the car can maintain decent speeds of 100-120 kmph. One of my friends knows Hassan in and out since his relatives stay there. He took us to Hotel Gokul, a branch of the famous Hotel Gokul at DVG Road, Gandhi Bazaar, Bangalore (most people know that one). After a heavy lunch and some Gadbad ice cream for dessert , we resumed our journey to Bangalore.

From Hassan to Bangalore, the road is good in patches in the beginning. There is a kind of expressway being constructed but it is still in progress. Tons of detours and deviations mark the entire stretch. Petrol Tankers are a huge nuisance to car drivers who have to take ages to negotiate an overtaking manouevre with just 1 single lane for all the vehicles to drive on. When we were still left with a 100-odd kms to cover, heavy rain lashed the place and reduced visibility, forcing us to slow down and drive with caution. We took the NICE road deviation at Nelamangala and avoided the Yeshwantpur traffic again. After around 20 kms of driving on the NICE road in the rain, we finally managed to reach Bangalore city by around 8 pm. The total drive from Hassan to Bangalore took roughly 3.5 hours. We were all glad to be back home from the adventurous 4 days that we spent in the western ghats. My tripmeter recorded a total distance of 1384 km in 4 days. We had covered almost 350 km every day and I had done close to 90% of the driving. I hit the sack instantly after dropping the others and reaching home. One of my most enjoyable trips till date, undoubtedly!

Cheers,
Karthik