Scotland of India: Coorg (Kodagu) Coffee Land

Last Princess of Kodagu: Gowramma

This picture embodies the charm of Kodagu (Coorg) with its coffee plantations, cool breezes, mountains and most importantly jack fruit trees. The jack fruit trees remind me of little kids clinging to their moms – see picture – you get what I am talking about.

 

 

 

 

We decided to go visit Kodagu for our wedding anniversary and it was fantastic. We started off in the morning after breakfast and arrived at Club Mahindra in Madikeri by 4pm. We were welcomed by sandal paste and Kokum juice. The resort is nestled in the middle of hills and trees and the cottage was homely  and rustic. We took a leisurely walk amid coffee plants and other trees – came back to our cottage energized and got ready for a dinner at the restaurant. We were treated with a nice and ambient candle lit dinner. The food was great and the resort quickly got shrouded in darkness. We took another walk under the bright stars and  returned to our cottage.

Next day we went to the Omkareshwar temple in Madikeri and had a darshan. The temple is shaped like a mosque –  and the shiva lingam is famed to have been brought from Kashi. The temple resembled the architecture in Calicut in Kerala where the temple represents a human body to illustrate the idea that God is within oneself.  The periphery of the temple is adorned by parijatha, nandi vardhanam, malli trees- flowers ready to be offered to the God. There is a beautiful pond (koneru) outside temple. The temple was reverberating with Rudram chants and we had a divine darshanam.

We came back to Club Mahindra and checked out and headed towards Tala Kauveri which is the birthplace of river Kauveri. The entire Coorg region is indebted to Kauveri for the abundant vegetation that the river facilitated and she is worshiped throughout the region – the picture of Kauveri on the left is from Kauveri Nisarga Dhama. Once again, the entire trip was a treat with nature. The ghat road churned my sensitive stomach but the views from the top of the mountain (3650 feet above sea level) were worth it.

 

We visited Bhagamandala on our way back famous for the Bhagandeshwar temple. The temple had a very distinct architecture on what seemed to be copper plates.

We proceeded to Abby falls but after Niagara it is hard to be impressed by any falls. We left to the Bellarmoitte Estate – our homestay for the night. It was mind blowing with acres of coffee plantations, and various trees including peppercorn vines. Coffee shrubs are interesting.

Each shrub had buds, flowers, and berries and they have to be plucked by skilled workers at different stages. The flowers gave out a nice fragrance – the region gets an average rainfall of 2700mm- no wonder coffee thrives here. The dirt road winded through plantations to finally arrive at Bellarimotte. The hosts Malavika and Sudhir were very gracious and took really good care of us. We took a walk around the vast estate and got ready for a simple dinner home cooked by Malavika from estate grown veggies. It was delicious. It soon got pitch dark. The power was off and we could barely see each other. The stars soon opened up and I have never seen stars shine so brightly. The key word there was ” no service,” on cell phones, internet, no TV nothing. One has to sit and talk to each other or enjoy the nature to kill time. I think every family should spend a couple of days in an estate like that.

We left next morning after a good breakfast and visited an elephant camp at Dubare reserve and enjoyed the Kauvery Nisarga Dhama (nature preserve) where a tree house on a huge Tamarind tree was an attraction.

We had a good time before starting off to Bangalore. We reached by 5pm congratulating ourselves for beating the evening traffic. Can’t wait to visit the Kodagu land again.