The experience on day 1, when we thorougly enjoyed the twisty trail (read the post here) and later the beautiful Raja seat and children's park (Read the Madikeri post here), were enough for us to set the expectations of the day sky high. The real cool climate ensured a very good sleep at night and we could not get up at 6.00am as planned. It was almost eight when everyone was ready for the days sojourn.
But first things first, we had breakfast from Hotel Hilltown and found out that the food there is simply superb. On one side of the restaurant there was a big board with photos of all the picnic spots around Coorg. The breakfast proved an ideal time for us to discuss on the plans for the day.
The options were
1. Iruppu falls - 60 kms away from Madikeri - towards the Kutta route. It was on the way which we came. So decided to explore it on our way back, if time permits. Had we known this earlier, we would have checked it on our way to Madikeri.
2. Kaveri Nisargadhama - An island, 30 kms from Madikeri and the pictures were quite tempting too. Location is in the Mysore route.
3. Golden Temple, at Kushal nagar, where there are budhist monastries and the picture of the temple was awesome too. This place is after Kaveri Nisargadhama in the Mysore route.
4. Dubare forest - Which is also in the Mysore route 25kms from Madikeri.
5. Abbey falls - 9 km from Madikeri, which we didn't check out yesterday.
So we charted out a plan as follows.
First visit, Kaveri Nisargadhama then Golden temple and Dubarey forest, return to Madikeri by 3 pm, check out from hotel, do some shopping, then have a quick visit to Abbey falls, and start return journey by 5pm.
All plans set, we started our journey, passed Madikeri Town and took the route to Mysore. A little after 1km saw a junction with two roads, one to the right and one straight. There was a sign board on the right road which mentioned many places and distances to them. But the straight had just one board pointing to Mysore and the road was big too. So we had no doubt on which road to take.
The road was wide, but some construction was happening on one side, the ambience exquisite.
We moved another 2kms and suddenly saw a road closed sign. Do we have to go back?. A police man was diverting traffic to a nearby side road and we confirmed with him whether could reach our destination - Kaveri Nisargadhama, by taking this route, to which he replied in the positive.
The roads eventhough narrow, was really beautiful with long trees on both sides.
There was no traffic on these roads, weather was cool and we were gliding along.
We lost track of the distance travelled, since all of us were busy in singing songs all the while enjoying the winding roads, but no towns were in sight even now.
We had travelled a distance of 30kms from Madikeri, when we reached this open place.
The distance to our destination being 30km we were expecting to reach there in short time.
I spotted a beautiful bridge some distance away and instantly ensured that the light reflected from it fell on my CCD sensors.
That could be the Kaveri Nisargadhama, our intended destination. Moved further ahead and reached the bridge which we saw from distance.It was not Kaveri Nisargadhama, but we to stop there coz I don't think any one who loves the nature can resist stopping on top of this bridge.
If the view on one side of the bridge was superb
The view on the other side seemed to be competing with the opposite one.
The river, the sprawling lawns around, the trees in the background and the Mountains far away all formed the right mix of ingredients for that perfect ambience and we ended up spending about half an hour on this bridge and went on a shooting spree, occassionally modelling in front of this landscape too.
We were even tempted to go down the bridge towards those sprawling lawns, but then our plans may not work out. Also we were aiming for a return trip today evening. It is now 11am and we have still not reached our first destination. So we decided to bid adieu to this beautiful landscape.
Roads suddenly became narrow and there was no sign of our Kaveri Nisargadhama even after 40km from our starting point a good 10km more than what we had expected. We were nearing a small junction.
On enquiry we found that we have to travel another 10km to reach our destination. Even though this amused us coz we have to travel almost 20km more than what the sign board mentioned at Madikeri. We might have chosen the wrong route, but then who cares, we were treated by brilliant landscape all the way.
Just after this junction, the roads suddenly became very wide and seems to be recently laid.
Naturally the speed of the vehicle increased as the vehicle seemed to grip really well in this road even at turns. The sign boards were pointing to Mysore, so it seemed to be Mysore highway and the distance was about 80kms.
All of us were truly absorbed in the drive that we missed our destination on the way and proceeded further ahead, until on enquiry we found that we are 4km ahead. So we turned back, drove slowly and found the sign board pointing to Kaveri Nisargadhama. The place seemed to be a highway side restaurant and nothing more. We entered the parking lot, took the entry ticket and enquired about the activities here to the person at the ticket counter who elaborated the facilities clearly.
Time was 11.30 am when we reached here.The entry to Kaveri Nisargadhama was very inviting.
There was a hanging bridge at the entrance itself which took us to the island..
The walk through this bridge was quite interesting, kids were enjoying too as it was shaking as we move ahead.
We could get a good view of the Kaveri river with a thick cover of lush greenery on both sides.
There was boating facility in the Kaveri river underneath.
When we looked closely down we could see lot of fishes moving ahead in formation. They seem to be quite big fishes coz we could see them even from this much height and the patterns which they formed was interesting too.
We could spot a small deity on the other side of the bridge which was really shining because of its gold plating and the green background, thanks to the lawns.
As we crossed the bridge we got a closer view of the diety.
Once in this place, it seemed to be quite huge, and there were many side roads, one leading to the boating point, one to a viewing deck made of wood, one to a river and one to a deer park.
We opted to do away with the boating and went straight to the viewing deck. The viewing deck made of wood looked a bit dangerous. The kids and lady folks did not venture getting into the deck. Once on top of it, one gets a feeling of flying on top of the river flowing below.
Soon we found ourselves walking amidst the bamboo trees towards the deer park.
On our way we spend sometime near a kids park, to feed the hungry stomachs with some snacks as it was almost lunch time in our normal routines. There were plenty of monkey's around to give us company. There some really scary monkeys too who were bold enough to snatch the eatables, especially from kids.
We continued our walk towards the deer park. Suddenly we saw some movement at a distance. A huge elephant appeared from behind the bamboo trees
There were 6 people on top of elephant. They were enjoying an elephant ride through these beautiful surroundings. We saw the raised platform from where the people get on top of the elephant.
We did not opt for the elephant ride, rather sat and enjoyed the majestic animal from a distance.
The deer park was also nearby, kids enjoyed watching the sedate but beautiful animals roaming around.
This island seems to be a very sprawling one and the really cool climate and the breeze flowing across made walking around a very easy business without getting exhausted and it was a real welcome change from the humid summer back in my home state.
We were soon walking towards the river point. This island is surrounded by river Kaveri and some points the river is very shallow where visitors are allowed to enter.
On our way saw a bamboo house on top of a bamboo groove. It had a fairly good height. But that was not going to deter me or my wife from climbing up. We soon found ourselves in top of the woods and had a nice time enjoying a different perspective of the surroundings.
We also decided to have a photo shoot in various poses over this tree house. The climb up and down through the shaking wooden ladder was a little fearful, but we tried our level best to hide the fear factor while posing
A short walk from this bamboo house and we reached the Kaveri river smoothly flowing across grazing the rocks and tempting all of us to lay our feet on it.
All of us stepped into the river. The bottom profile was rocky and hence sligtly slippery, but there was no depth at all. Moved to the centre point and the view was amazing. Sat on one of the rocks in the middle and this is what you get to see in your front.
The two trees bending over seemed to enhance the total ambience.
The view towards the other side was equally enterprising.
Undoubtedly this is the most beautiful location of the whole island.
We sat there for almost an hour enjoying the water gushing through our feets. Kids also enjoyed this place too much as they really like to play in water and the narrow depth ensured that we could allow them to play fearlessly.
It was almost 2 pm when we decided to move on from the midst of Kaveri river, for this place had some kind of attraction which was not letting us to go. Neverthless we made our walk back through the bamboo groves and big teak trees.
During our walk back our main discussion centered around the slippage in our planned schedule. We had planned to be back at our hotel after visiting this place and golden temple by 2pm. It is already 2pm and we are still at Kaveri Nisarghadama enjoying the ice creams in the cool atmosphere after having a nice walk in beautiful surroundings for the last 3 hours. Meanwhile some one suggested on extending the stay to tomorrow, since we came to relax and not to rush things around and nobody had any objections to that since this place has created an impact on us and we were rather reluctant to go.
Called up Hotel hilltown and asked whether we can stay till tomorrow afternoon, which they readily agreed. So that means we get one more day at Coorg and were feeling very happy, since we need not hurry up things. We did not even have our lunch till this time, but the intake of snacks and the catchy environment ensured that we forgot our hunger.
Slowly we started our journey to the next location - The Golden Temple at Kushal Nagar (To be continued in Part 4)
Quick Facts
Name of Place:
Kaveri Nisargadhama
Location:
80 kms from Mysore in the Mysore - Madikeri Highway.
30 kms from Madikeri, in the Mysore route
Travel plan:
Check out this place on your way to Madikeri, if you are coming from Bangalore. this is just after Kushal Nagar. Easy to miss the board. Hence keep an eye on the left side after Kushal Nagar.
Time needed for a visit:
Ideally you can spend one full day here. A minimum of 3 hours is needed.
Hotel:
Food is available inside the island and also there is restaurant near the parking lot
Stay;
There is a govt owned guest house in the island. Else opt for a stay in Madikeri - the hill station in Coorg.
The story so far
Part 1 - A tale of a twisty trail ( The road trip through beautiful Wayanad to Madikeri)
Part 2 - Explore Madikeri ( The raja seat and children's park at Madikeri)
