Trip: Mysore-Nisarghadham-Coorg(Abbey Falls)-IrupuFall

 

Welcome to the district of Coorg.

North from Mysore, towards the borders of Kerala is the scenic district of Coorg. Coorg is rapidly developing as a tourist destination. Good roads have been laid. Excellent driving conditions. A few things to keep in mind would be, keep your fuel tank full and keep enough cash till you reach Madikere, the main town in the district. 

Approximately 50 kilometers from Mysore, in the village of Bylakuppe, there is Golden Temple. It is a buddhist monastery, maintained by Tibetians. Its an amazing temple which is not very famous.

The deities you see above (from left to right) are King Budha, Lord Budha, and his Guru. The idols are 52 feet tall and are stuffed with holy books inside. All the outer covering is pure gold. Aesthetic paintings adorn all the walls. A place worth a visit. Nice shopping place too ... you may buy some cyrstal chains etc and aesthetic items. 

Now going forward ...

Moving a little forward after few kilometers you get to Nisargadhama. This place has resorts which can be prebooked and its kind of a forest stay. You get to trek, sit next to a stream ... its very cool. Check these pictures.

Aren't these pictures excellent? Lovely place. Lets go ahead.

Moving ahead we went to Madikere, the main township in Coorg district. Just before reaching this place are the most famous Abbey Falls. Its a long walk down to the waterfall and finally the security didn't allow us to get into the water; lovely place though. 

After the disappointment that we couldn't get in to the water stream, we moved to the town to have a late lunch. This is the place you better refuel your vehicle and yourself too. We have booked a home stay in South Coorg.

Silver Oaks

Central B Estate

Manchally Village & Post, Vai Kutta, 

South Coorg

08274 - 244206/244971

9448325906/9945635188

Home stays are a wonderful concept found in Kerala and its border towns in Karnataka. A room with bed and an attached bath costs you Rs.1200 per day. Twice in a day Tea or coffee is free. Lunch and dinner is provided on order at Rs.100. The owners take you around in the estate and help you buy liquor etc. Camp fire is provided upon request. At night its very creepy, darkness all around, not even a single source of light can been seen for very far. Roads are illuminated only by the beams of your car. Trees all around and believe me its really creepy, however its fun. 

However the other side of the coin is ...

Lovely coffee estates surround every house there. Every house is surrounded by very large coffee estate. We were told that during rainy days, wild animals like bears etc come near homes and take shelter. A bit scary. Excellent surroundings make it a pleasant stay. 

Just few kilometers from the home stay was Irupu falls. Excellent falls. Water falls from 52 feet high and is freezing cold in winters. We drove till the parking point and after which we had to walk up for a kilometer to reach the falls. 

Trek all these stairs to reach this amazing view ...

Water was freezing cold, however I managed to get a dip :-) Lovely it was. Post this we left the home stay and started our journey back to Bangalore via the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. Beware of the road, for at least 60 kms is worse than one can imagine. Full tank fuel is important. Drive slow and carefully so that you don't attract the wild.