Madikeri this time

Madikeri (Or Mercera as people say it locally).

Third week in succession i was on the bike tour. After the kerala and the Anthargange tour, madikeri tour came totally unplanned. Everyone in the group wanted a two day tour. The planning for the tour was already done. We decided to go on for some safari as we had been to waterfalls last time. So the place choosen was Nagarhole Forest or called as the Rajiv Gandhi wild life sanctuary. It's is famous for the wild elephants . This sanctuary extends over two states karnataka and kerala.

Starting the trip.

We started from our hostel at 6 in morning and decided to take the express highway, so as to avoid the city traffic and the poor roads. The express highway is really good. six lane road and it directly connect to Bangalore - Mysore express way outside kengeri village. The road is still under construction but 90% of the road is complete and the main thing is that you won't find any traffic on this road. Our first stop was kamat lokaruchi. The same leaf idli or the kotte idli. We took a heavy breakfast and resumed our journey.Next stop was outskirts of mysore. We did face some problems at Maddur and Mandya for the bandh and had to go by walking for some distance as the roads were completely blocked because of the Cauvery water issue and vehicles were not allowed to continue their journey forward. Since we all were on bikes we didi easily pass through the hurdles. We lost some of the time and did reach Mysore late than expected. The next stop was Hunsur from Mysore. Some part of the road is still under construction. But yes the road is good and one can easil cruise at the speeds of 70-80 km/hr on these roads on bike. Also the traffic is less during the day on this road. To go to Nagarhole you have to take a left turn from the bus stop. The sanctuary is 30 kms from hunsur and the road is also good. There are pretty enough road signs to take you to your destination. The main thing was there was no effect of the cauvery issue in this part of karnataka. We reached to the check post No 1 at around 1 pm . But from here started our major dissapointment. The road to safari was closed as their was animal attack that day and no one was allowed inside the forest. The elephants had gone wild. There came the major disappointment for us as the road for the next jurney was on the same route i.e. the route for irupu falls. Also one thing to take care is that no one is allowed inside the forest on two wheelers, only four wheelers are allowed to pass through the forest. There is also another route to irupu. Go back to hunsur, then to gonikoppal (50kms from hunsur). Shettegere, Iriti and then to Irupu. Irupu lies on karnataka - kerala border.So we came back to hunsur and decided to have lunch over there. We proceeded over journey after lunch. 3 kms from Hunsur, there is a Y point, one end goes to Madikeri and the other one the gonikoppal. As soon as we touched the gonikoppal route, i remembered that it's the same route we had taken while coming back from kerela. I also knew that the road is bad after some distance and wanted to avoid it. So finally we decided to change our plans and march towards Madikeri. I knew that madikeri has also some of the good falls and view of the western ghats. So we came to the Y - point and took the route towards Madikeri. The road is good till some point but after that i would say that it is not good. Our next stop was at Bylekuppe, KushalNagar(Tibetian Colony). The colony is really nice and you get a feel that you are in north india. After some refreshments near the golden temple, we started towards Madikeri (30 kms from this point).To go to Abbey falls you have to take a right turn 8 kms before Madikeri town. From this turning the Abbey falls is just 8 kms. we reached there at 6.30 pm. The sun was also down and it was getting colder. We couldn't enjoy much of Abbey falls and decided to come back to the spot if time did permit us the next morning. So back on the same route we did reach Madikeri town by 7 and booked a lodge. The food in town is descent and mix of north and kerala food. The food is spicy and hot. So people who are not accustomed to spicy food beware. As the whole day journey was tiring all went of to sleep very early.

Day -2

After all our daily chores we stared our day with heavy breakfast. First spot of the day was Raja Seat. The king used to sit at this place was did have a full view of the western ghats.The place is nice but not much of time can be given to this spot.Next was the Madikeri fort, which was also of no interset and we did run away from it very early.So after getting the spot list, it was decided to go back to Abbey Falls, wash all our sins in the water, joking have a bath in the water and start back to bangalore. The water at Abbey falls was very chilled in the morning but noting stopped us from enetering into the cold water. Only three of us did enter the cold waters. After having fun in the water for nearly an hour , it was time to pack our bags and return back to bangalore. The coming back route we took was different as we heard incidences of stray voilences in Maddur and Mandya side. So we decided to take the Hassan route to come back. The route we took was Madhavpur-> SomwarPeth-> Hassan -> Banaglore. The entire road is too good to drive. Basically in the end it was change of plans for us at the last moment which worked out for us.

Places to Visit

Attraction Point

1. Abbey Falls Madikeri - 8kms from the town. Raja's Tomb can be covered in this.

2. Kaveri Nisargadhama - Towards Madikeri, just 3 k.m. away from Kushalnagar lies the beautiful tourist centre of Kodagu i.e., Kaveri Nisargadhama. River Kaveri splits forming a beautiful island .This tourist centre is developed by the forest department by providing a hanging bridge into the island, Boating, tree top shelters and elephant riding.

3. Padi Igguthappa Temple - 45 kms

4. Talacauvery - Birth place of River cauvery

5. The Nalkand Palace - Nalknad Palace is not connected by public transport systems. But the nearby place Kakkabe is well connected by private buses from Madikeri, Virajpet and Napoklu.-

6. Dubare Island & Chiklihole Dam

Dubare is a natural island formed by river Kaveri, near Kushalnagar. It is a cool picnic spot. Elephants belonging to the forest department are trained here. One can enjoy fishing here with the pre-permission from the Coorg Wildlife Society - Madikeri.

7. Harangi dam- 30 Kms

8. Raja's Seat - 1 kms

9. Madikeri Fort - 1 kms

10. The Golden Temple - 30 Kms (Bailkuppe) KushalNagar

Trekking Spot

1. Thadiyandamole - The highest peak (5729 ft above the sea level) is known as the trekkers paradise. Trekking distance 15 kms to & fro; 50 kms from Madikeri (Near Kakkabe)

2. Pushpagiri- Trekking Distance 12 Kms to the top and 15 kms towards Subramanya. Prior permission is required

3. Kote Betta- Trekking distance 14 kms to and fro; 22 kms from Madikeri (Near Madapura)

4. Igguthappa Kundu - Situated near the Padi Igguthappa temple, Kakkabe. Trekking distance is 12 kms; 40 kms from Madikeri.

5. Brahmagiri - Another Wildlife Sanctuary near Nagarahole National Park. Irupu Rameshwara Temple and Irupu Falls are situated nearby. As the mountain comes under Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary area, prior permission from the Department of forests in necessary. Trekking distance 24 kms; 80 kms from Madikeri (Near Srimangala)

6. Nishanimotte - The highest peak in the Galibeedu range near Madikeri (4395 ft above sea level) Trekking distance 12 kms; 6 kms from Madikeri.

7. Thunga Pare - As the mountain comes under Talacauvery Wildlife Sanctuary prior permission from Department of Froest is necessary for trekking. Trekking distance 16 kms to and fro; 50 kms from Madikeri.

8. Chomakandu - Highest peak in Udumbe region, near Napoklu. Trekking distance 16 kms; 55 kms from Madikeri.

9. Gaddige Siddeshwara -Trekking distance 8 kms; 45 kms from Madikeri (Near Maldare, Siddapura)

Trip to Anthargange

We didn't knew that bangalore surrounding has so much hidden treasure in itself.During the college days there are so less spots to visit nearby bangalore city.But once we have started exploring places so many places have turned up from nowhere.

After the kerala's exciting and refreshing trip this was second trip. We all were 8 guys on 4 bikes.We started our journey from old madras road towards kolar. Our destination Antahargange 70 kms from the city. Our first stop was volvo company premises. I was the only one who was aware of the route and most probably abhigyan's bhaiya. As it happens no one stopped at volvo company. All the riders were busy riding on such smooth and traffic free road which they would have never got in banaglore. So it was a complete ride till the outskirts of kolar, a 55 km stretch non-stop. Everyone must have touched a speed of 80-90 km/hr on this road.

You take a left turn on the by pass towards chenna- turapati highway and get into kolar city. We reached kolar around 9.30 in the morning probably half hour late from our expected time. You have to go straight till the main bus stand and take a left turn from pallavi theartre for antahargange. There are two ways to reach the top of the village. One is by road by which u directly reach to the top or park ur vehicles at the base and take the stairs route to reach the top. It definately requiers some guts bcos after some time the way is really bad . You have to climb up the rocks but the best thing about this route is that you fulfill your desire for perfect trek of 4kms.It's a full rocky terrain. You can find some very dark and small caves where you can try out your crawling skills.You should have your own water bottles because you don't get any water on the way till the top.I felt that this place was the most hredest trek i had done till now, full of rocks. You have good places for pit stop in the shadow of the big rock. It's much cooler and you can have a good nap that place.But this is only the starting of the journey.We reached at the top after an two hour gruelling and exausting trek through the rocks.

At the top we found a mosque where we got some "thanda paani".

After this spot it a must that you take help of some localite to find out the caves. We took help a little kid who took to us some of the caves that are present at the top. You need to take some loaclite as you will not be able to find the caves on your own. Going through the caves was experience of it's own kind.Due to the time lag, we decided to return after going through 3 caves.Going through those 3 caves took the toil on us.Going down was the risky business but less time consuming job.

We started our journey back at 3.00 PM and reached back bangalore at 5.00 PM.

Kerala's wonder

At last my desire to go on a long bike trip was going to be fulfilled. I missed out the trip on last Saturday with Himanshu and cursed him so much that Himanshu would have thought that he had made a big mistake of not informing me. But this time yes he did inform me in advance about the trip. Ambrish also decided to join me as no body was here in the hostel for the three days holiday and he would have got bored in the hostel. Our journey started on 26th morning at 5.30 am. We met himanshu and company (Ejaz and Pushkar) at banashankari T-point .Our first stop was "KAMAT LOKARUCHI". I had been so many times on tis route but never been in KAMAT. The attraction was the "leaf idli" or "kotte idli" what is called in kannada. After having heavy breakfast over there we decided to start off, Mysore being over next stop. I felt that my bike was giving problems so decided to have a check at Shah Automobiles, Mysore dealership. Since the dealership got moved from it's place we decided to carry on our next stop being gundlupet. To go towards kozikode you have to take a right turn just two kilometers before gundlupet town. The road is really good. If you have a car you can cruise at speeds of 100kms.We then passed through-out the bandipur check post, where the forest range starts. You get the Muttunga wild life sancutary on this route famous for birds. We got a view not of bird but of elephants sawaying their trunks. We continued toward from there toward Sultan Battery(Waynad District), our next destination. One can spend almost three days in waynad itself admiring it's natural beauty. On the way as soon as you enter kerala border, you can contact the local over there for local spots related information. We came to know of Edakkal caves. 9 kms off the way from the main road. The caves are good one , but try avoiding going on public holidays as it has too much rush. After seeing the rush and also the limited time we had we decide to march back to main road and continue our journey towards kozikode , our last destination of the day. After we crossed Sultan Battery, we reached kalepeetha and then to Quilandi. On the way you have to cross the ghat section which is the most adorable one and we all got refreshed by seeing the view from the top. The ghat section is almost 12 kms and really dangerous. One wrong move and you are into deep valley or the heavens. You have the phokuttu lake on the way. Because of the limitedness of time we had, we didn't stop at phokuttu lake also. Our destination was to reach Kappad beach by 6.10 as the sunset for that day was scheduled at 6.20. Somehow we reached kappad beach at 6.15. and we sat off there for an hour. We searched a rest house for us. Kappad has two resorts. First One, i don't remember the name, but too much expensive. The other one is poonur resort and cheaper one. Luckily we got a room over there for 300 bucks. After having good dinner in night we slept at the beach for an hour till 10.30 pm and it feels really nice. We asked the locals over there about the Vasco - da - gama beach , the place where he landed in India and to our surprise it was the same place where we came yesterday , did sleep for an hour in the night. Because of the long driving, everybody was tired and got asleep very soon. The plans for the next day was ready already which was suppose to start at 7.30 in morning.

DAY -2 (27/01/07)

So it was now fun time for us. Everybody was ready for fun now in the ocean water. We reached the same spot i.e. Vasco-da-gama beach and had fun for an hour in the beach. I was reluctant to go inside the ocean water but Ejaz pulled me inside. The best part was that the beach was not crowded at all except the fisherman. After having a nice refreshing bath back at the resort we left kappad and started our journey towards Kannur , “Cannore” what-ever you say. So from kappad next was the abondened light house in Quilandi. There are many light houses in that area and as you go the highway towards Mangalore you get to see many signs of the spot. It would be helpful if you take the help of locals over there, so that you won’t miss out any interesting spot. Light house was an total disappointment for us as the opening time for the light house was 3 ‘O clock in afternoon. We proceeded with our jouney toward Cannore as we didn’t have enough time. The next big town for us was Mahe Pondichery. The attraction of this town is the Wine that is served over here. The cost of the wine is also less than that compared to the other part of the states. I think it’s because of the tax holiday that Pondichery in Tamil Nadu enjoy’s and Mahe pondichery being a part of that Pondichery (Tamil Nadu). The road is really nice but be aware of the private buses which ply on these routes. They are driven carelessly and don’t care for anyone else. There’s nothing to see in Mahe Pondichery. So our journey continued. The next stop was Thalassery Fort. The fort is too small and is for actually a place where the prisoners where kept. We did run away quickly from that place and felt that the day is going as total waste. We were already bored by the beaches so tried to avoid going there and also the last destination of the day’s trip was a beach. So we continued our journey towards Cannore. Himanshu had information about the muzhpalingad beach (also called the virgin beach). It’s on the way from thalassery towards Cannore (12kms). As soon as we reached the beach and seeing the beach, it was like our day was made. Seeing the cars and bike being driven on the beach I got very much excited. I had very much fun when I drove my bike in ocean waters just next to ocean waters at top speed. (click here to watch video)At this beach bikes and cars are given on rent for riding on the beach. It was 2.00 in afternoon and we were very much hungry. We saw a resort next to the beach and went there but the resort served to those persons who had booked a cottage in their resort. So the next option was to ask the locals if they can provide some food to us or some money and too my surprise one family did provide us some delicious food including tomato curry and fish curry. The curries which are made over here are too much spicy and it’s hard for people who don’t eat too much spicy and hot food. One local named shahji helped us too much in that. Now we changed our plan and decided to stay over there for the night and continue our journey further in the morning. The next thing was to find out some good place to stay. Ask the locals over here and you will definitely get something place to stay at a very low price. Even there are some resorts and cottage at the rate of 300/- per room. Shahji assured us for a room and asked us if we would like to have boat ride for Rs 1000/- . That will include a 10 kms deep journey into the ocean, going to the lone island over there and the round trip of the back-waters. We thought that it was expensive but the idea of coming over there and not having fun made us to go forward. Little did we know that we would get the best of that 1000/- bucks. As soon as we entered the ocean in the boat shahji told us that if you people are lucky you will get to see dolphins(Click here to watch video). And our luck was really great we got to see a dolphin and we did chase it to some extent. We thought the 1000/- buck worth has been attained in the initial part of the journey. The next was the island but two things stopped us from going to the island. One is we were not having our boots, any knife and torch light with us. Second was it was getting dark and the back-waters was yet to be completed. So we decided to skip this one and go to the back waters. It was really amazing to see such a thing. I had seen back-waters previously in Mangalore and Udupi belt but their natural beauty is in this part only. We were tired by the days proceeding and also hungry when we returned from the ocean trip. Again shahji had arranged dinner for us. But this time the dinner was better from the lunch. For the non-veg they had fish, prawns chutney and muzzles and for the vegetarians we had dal, plain curry and macroni and yes paratha too. And this was for just Rs 250/- in all. The women villagers have some kind of self help groups where some 12 women’s form a group and do serve to the tourist and earn money. We tried for a rest place and shahji too tried but couldn’t get one as desired. We started our journey towards Cannore at night some 13 kms from this place. We got a decent lodge for Rs 400/- for 5 people. The next days plan was to go to the Cannore fort and to the Cannore beach.

Day -3 28/02/07

After having heavy breakfast we stared our day’s tour towards Cannore fort. Again here we had to face some disappointment as the fort was place for the prison inmates and the beach was not that good. As we had to reach back to Bangalore by evening we started our journey back at 12.30 in afternoon. The back route was through Iriti -> Gonikoppal -> Hunsur -> Mysore -> Bangalore ( Total 340 kms). We reached kamat at 6.45 in evening and had basundi over there. After reaching back I calculated the total kms rum in three days which came to around 850 kms approximately. It was a real good change for me and my bike.

My next post would be the Madikeri tour which I did on 9 – 10 of Feb. Till then bye.

This was our route map how we went.