Mysore Coorg Wayanad - Travelogue

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Background:

Got a great offer on Spicejet, so we decided to book for return flight to Bangalore back in Jul 2014. The booking was made for festive season of Dussehra. To add some smile to  the faces, Dussehra was coupled with a holiday on 2nd Oct because of Janma Divas of India's great grandfather "Bapu". Advanced booked the tickets and also informed colleagues and boss that I will be vacationing during 27th to 4th Oct 2014. 

The planning: 

We were all very excited especially our daughter Nikita, who is 3 years old. She was very fascinated just by the thought that we are going to Bangalore, where her dad visits for office tours. And add to that we are flying in an airplane.. We decided to make a plan ourselves initially but took lot of time deciding hotels. But finally once after finalizing we found most of them are already sold out because of longg weekends (2,3,4,5,6 Oct being all on state/ national / bank holidays). So we consulted a friend who works at a travel company (Harshad from Simas Travels). He provided us some options of hotels but this time we wanted to something special as this was a vacation after long time...

We decided to alter the dates of Mysore from 3-4 Oct to 27-28 Sept as in Mysore during Dussehra, there is a huge crowd. Dussehra is celebrated like Diwali. We dropped Ooty and added Wayanad as ooty is way too much of a travel, for the last day from Ooty to Bangalore. 

Itinerary 

27 Sept  - Depart early morning to Bangalore from Pune by flight

27 Sept  - Reach Mysore and overnight stay @ Mysore

28 Sept  - Local sight seeing and overnight stay @ Mysore

29 Sept  - After Breakfast proceed to Coorg

29 Sept  - Check in to hotel @ Coorg - On the way visit Golden Temple (Budhhist Monestry) & Nisarg Dham (deer farm)

30 Sept  - Local sight seeing and overnight stay @ Coorg

01 Oct   - Visit Dubare Elephant Camp and overnight stay @ Coorg

02 Oct   - After Breakfast proceed to Wayanad - On the way visit Irpu falls, some sight seeing

03 Oct   - Sigh seeing @ Wayanad

04 Oct   - After breakfast proceed to Bangalore for an evening flight back to Pune.

Point to point Km

Start from Pune to Bangalore Airport 

Bangalore Airport to  Mysore - 186 km

Mysore to Coorg (Ambatty greens resort) - 105 km

Coorg (Ambatty greens resort) to Wayanad (Sunrise Valley Resort) -  125 km

Wayanad (Sunrise Valley Resort) to Bangalore Airport  - 322 km and then flight back to Pune

Last day was the big day for Nikita. 322 Km google shows 6 hours without traffic. 

The Journey:

Started journey with a cab at 5:15 AM the flight was at 7AM. Since I had already checked in online I thought we would zoom in but its spicejet, i still had to wait to get new boarding passes and checkin luggage tags for 20 mins.

Anyway, reached Bangalore on time, where the driver, Sampath was ready. We had to eat something up so we took rolls from Kati rolls eatout outside arrivals on the airport.

without wasting time we headed for the car and left airport for the good.

The road to Mysore passes via some part of Bangalore. Near Yeshwanthpur railway crossings it took around 30 mins to pass 200-300 meters. Akk mismanaged diversions. I believe there is some work of flyover going on and everyone has to go through the crossings where there is no road. I could not see any tar road. The road to Mysore is not a great highway but condition otherwise is good.

We decided to take lunch but Sampath suggested we take it in Mysore as we are close. Finally at the restaurant, we ordered south meal and one north meal. The hotel does not allow drivers to seat in AC, what a shame. I had to get a token for Sampath and then he headed for drivers area. 

We both, me and wife, dint like the food much and we decided that we will decide where we want to stop than Sampath suggesting us. May be if we would have gone a la carte, that would have been better.  Post lunch we checked in the hotel before 3 PM. We decided to take a nap as Nikita was tired and so was Deepti. Nikita and Deepti were both coughing badly and I was worried if we should continue the tour or not.. At 4:30PM, we all got ready and headed to Brindavan Garden. We planned to see the musical light fountain at night so this was what we could do that evening as Brindavan garden is far from city.

We enjoyed dancing fountain and light show and later headed to dinner.

Brindavan Garden:

We asked Sampath to tell us where we can get light dinner like Dosa Utappa etc. and not north indian food as afternoon food was heavy. He showed us an eatery lane (Khau Galli). 

There is no hotel which serves idli, utappa, dosa as dinner or lunch. 

The eatery lane is a raodside eatery but its family place he said and we could see the crowd. We decided to try it out. Nikita did enjoy it. We had Idli, Palak Dosa and rice roti.

After a god sleep we got ready and headed to see the Zoo. The Mysore Zoo is established by  Maharaja Sri Chamaraja Wodeyar in 1890s which is the oldest zoo in India. The zoo was opened to the public in 1902. The zoo is a must see for people of all ages. 

The opening animal is Giraffe. First we thought its a replica and suddenly it moved. whoaaaa...

The Macaws are magnificant. The coloured pheasants, saras crane and hornbill are also beautiful.. In Carnivores there are leopards, tigers, lions, cheetahs and in good numbers. Needless to say deers, elephants, bison, neel guy, rhinos and many more. The snake park is also good. The birds cage is very good where you are in the cage with birds such as Painted stork, night heron, pelican, spoonbills. Rest you only enjoy when you plan a visit. The zoo is maintained nicely. For such a small fee (140 Rs includes 2 Adults and still camera fee), its too good and also very much covered in shade by trees, lavs and drinking water available. There is a good fountain inside as well.

We headed for a lunch at some other restaurant, the food was ok there and we did go a la carte. After a sleep in the afternoon we had planned to visit palace but to our surprise, suddenly it started raining heavily. We visited the handicraft shop but then returned to hotel. We took dinner at hotel. Next day we visited Mysore Palace. Its magnificent the way its built and the expanse is too much.. We skipped the museum as it would have been boring for Nikita to see the clothes of Maharaja and his chair etc for her age. 

The Palace:

We then started our journey to Coorg. We Visited Golden temple, the largest Buddhist settlement in South India. It is situated at Bylakuppe. The monastery is called as Namdroling Monastery and is the largest teaching center of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. 

Some Snaps of the monastery: More at fb.me/niranjandandekarphotography

After visiting this Monastery we had a lunch at a hotel on the highway. Not sure about the name of it but was good in terms of food taste and probably only available to be called hotel/ restaurant.

Our next stop was at Nisarg dham. The Nisarg dham is a deer and elephant farm. You need to cross a hanging bridge and then you arrive at a nature camp sort of place. Kids can enjoy the park (if it could have been maintained properly, which is not actually).

The most interesting part is feeding deers with cucumber. you can buy cucumber and call the deers. There is a fence in between but the kids love to feed the deers. There is an elephant as well but it was in Mysore for Dussehra festival procession.

Nisarg Dham:

We then checked in to Ambatty Greens resort after a heavy rain on the way. The Resort is little bit off the main Madikeri town but is at beautiful location. The cottages / twin bungalow design is very nice. Every room has a balcony and the bathroom is nicely designed. The view of Golf course from the swimming pool is beautiful. There are lots of flowers in the resort and you can try some photography skills. Since we came late, we chose to take rest and get ready for next day sight seeing of Madikeri. We took dinner at Resort which had limited Veg options. The food is good but it would be good to add few more Veg subji options. One more thing about this resort is that the road to resort last 2 kms is not very good and very narrow. The hotel has taken a note of this already and designed way in and way out as different routes but local people may not follow it as we experienced. Because of the location and road, it becomes  difficult if you opt to take dinner out. Also the hotel does not have buffet, at least all 3 days we stayed never had buffet. That limits your options. 

Well that being said, we had not so good experience with Pineapple raita one night. It was salty and no pineapple.. I was shocked to find it and asked him to taste it. The restaurant manager took it inside and we got another raita, where they added pineapple on top of base salty raita. I was shocked to find this out and I immediately asked to take it back as this is not acceptable. Its supposed to be sweet and not salty at all. Little bit of salt for taste I can understand but there was no Sugar and all salt. They didnt charge for the raita after this fiasco. I asked him to add it to bill as I had to finish it, but Nikita could not eat as Subji was bit spicy. To my surprise, next day dinner we again got a pineapple raita without ordering and I was happy to see the way they took care of customers. They dint charge for that as well and it was as expected Sweet Pineapple raita. 

Breakfast @ Ambatty was very good, the spread had bread butter, idli, utappa, pan cake, poori bhaji, juice (2), veg tikki/patty, chocos/ corn flakes, Tea coffee so pretty much of variety compared to a la carte dinner.

Ambatty Greens Resort:

Sight seeing at Coorg:

There are three places to visit, Abbe Falls, Madikeri fort (absolutely Boring) and Omkareshwar temple ( which is closed from 12-5PM, awww? 12-5 thats too much)

Apart from that there is Raja Seat point and shopping >> Home made chocolates and spices.

Abbe falls is wonderful but I wished they could allow to go below the hanging bridge with some safety for photographers. The bridge is not still as its hanging and it moves so its a challenge for slow shutter photos. 
Check out the photos at my facebook page >  fb.me/niranjandandekarphotography.

Abbe Falls:

Medikeri fort is boring , nothing much to see. There is a Museum inside, which is in dire need of maintenance. The names etc are just print outs that too in bad shape. It says its under Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The one point I want to pinpoint is @ Abbe falls and in the Madikeri, there is pay and use latrines / toilets. They charge 5 Rs but they are useless. Its height of cheating as for ladies its in worst condition and they dont have any option but to use them. People are paying but it needs to be maintained properly and they are charging 5Rs which is a good amount for one time use. At both places, we found it in very very bad state, not maintained at all. So ladies be careful and choose a good restaurant where you can use washrooms.

One day we went to Dubare elephant camp where there are lots of different options available. Bathing elephants, riding elephants, feeding elephants. Of course everything comes with a charge but its a unique experience more importantly if you are with kids.

Entry fee is 20 per adult, 30 Rs for Boat transfer. 100 each for bathing, feeding and a 50m ride. Ride could have been more at least 100m. After this, we headed for lunch and there is a food court outside Nisarg Dham. We took lunch there. Its a good place to have lunch, and we could get Dosa, utappa and Ghee roast, idli for lunch. So Niki was happy too.

Dubare Elephant camp:

Evening I was busy taking some Macro shots of flowers at Ambatty resort.

Next day post breakfast, we decided to visit Irpu falls on the way to Wayanad. The road to irpu is narrow and very confusing as there are two roads. The fall is situated in Bramhagiri National park and the authorities have taken care of banning plastic by checking and charging for every bottle of water. Upon returning the bottle, they hand over the charged amount. To see Irpu fall one has to walk, climb stairs actually. Its not a huge distance you need to cover but its not short too so if you are old aged or carrying an infant/ kids, be prepared to carry them.

One thing I dint like much is you can pollute water by sitting in it.

Irpu falls:

After visiting Irpu falls, we headed via jungle to Wayanad. The fall itself is on border of Karnataka-Kerala. After the checkpost while in Kerala, we stopped for lunch. In Kerala you can get Dosa, idli and utappa etc for lunch. This is the place we both cant forget as this was only descent place we found on the way nearby. Plain Dosa for Nikita was for 10 Rs. which was a shocker. I mean what do you get in 10 Rs?.

We had Ghee Roast and some fried rice. 

 

We headed to Wayanad resort and Sampath suggested we visit Pookot lake on the way before checking in to resort. Resort is again little bit off side so that would save some time next day. Edakkal caves and this pookot lake are not nearby. It was a huge disappointment for Pookot lake. Its a lake and a kids play park. This is boring considering there is nothing to see. there is a trail of around 3-4 km around lake which we skipped because of huge rush and nothing much to see.

We visited viewpoint on the same road from where you can see some roads down the valley, and be careful of monkeys there.

Then we saw chain tree which was a disappointment again. There is nothing to see.

We headed for resort which is on other way, as we were tired. Finally got the exit on the highway to reach resort. The road to resort is extremely narrow and in between those 3-4 kms you will think several times if we are driving in correct direction.  The resort is located in serene location. Its almost in Jungle. The cottages are nicely designed but it got compared to Ambatty which is class apart. The washroom could be better designed, as for the cottage it was good. Each one has a private balcony and a view to valley with Minmutty falls. The cottage view is amazing and you can hear birds chirping almost all time. Had Tea / coffee at room and relaxed and took bath. for dinner again there is no option but only Buffet at restaurant. The buffet food was tasty and not much to complain. for 400 a piece the buffet had a soup, 2 veg subji, 1 fish, 1 chicken curry with plain rice, pulao and freshly prepared paratha. There were 2-3 sweets and also curd, salad to sum up. 

The swimming pool is also there besides restaurant. Emu is kept near restaurant, which is good for kids. The resort also has a waterfall running thru the property and also some ducks. Ducks are very noisy when you get close to them so be careful if you are watching birds, once duck starts making noises the birds will fly away.

The most loved part of the resort was surroundings, the jungle. I was able to spot lots of birds though could not capture all. 

Some of the birds I could capture are: (like the facebook page to get regular updates)

1. Purple rumped sunbirds

2. Golden backed woodpecker

3. Yellow browed bulbul

4. Small green barbet  / White cheeked barbet

5. Greater racket tailed drongo

6. Drongo (not sure exactly type, bronze or black , white bellied, was too far)

Post by Niranjan Dandekar Photography.

Post by Niranjan Dandekar Photography.

Post by Niranjan Dandekar Photography.

The best time to saw these beauties is between 7-9 AM just after sunrise they start chirping and as time sets right, you will enjoy the tones and the flying show. The Drongo however is noisiest at dawn. And it actually will irritate you at 5- 5:30 AM. But once you are up, it actually is pleasing song bird.

Racket tailed drongo sings:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6mq4xqaefg5fwbe/Racket.mp3?dl=0

Last day at resort, we visited Soojipara falls. The road to the fall is extremely bad at the end and we had to walk close to 3 km. The parking is way too up but the road is not in good condition, if you have an SUV, then there is no problem.

The road above is well laid and steep stairs in the end. while you have to go down to see the falls, its a challenge to come up as its very humid. If you are carrying kids/ infants, be careful and prepared to climb up carrying them. Also for old people its very difficult, as while going down you dont feel much but when you come back, its all steep climb on a laid road. 

Painted Grasshopper on the way:

Post by Niranjan Dandekar Photography.

The Soojipara Fall:

On the way:

The fall - tilt shift effect > 

We skipped Edakkal caves as some people at resort suggested it could be a challenge to take Nikita and climb and get down the last patch of 0.5 km. and as such there is not much to see if you cant make it to top. So we took an informed decision to skip it and took rest at resort. 

Last day, we had packed breakfast as we left at 8:15 AM because it was 300+ km and road will be blocked near Mysore because of traffic. It was Dussehra crowd though it was one day after Dussehra.

We left with a good feeling of combining all of relaxation with sightseeing with some trekking and lastly enjoying the nature in its lap. While coming back we experienced something surprisingly unique. We were crossing Muthanga wildlife national park. The distance is around 20-30 Km of well laid road in the jungle. 
We came across a bison, a wild bison at a distance of 20 feet. we in Etios and the bison staring at us. There were couple of more vehicles as well. We moved on as we had lot of distance to cover. Next to our surprise, we saw a wild elephant at a distance of around 200 ft. we moved on and saw some Deers and Langoor.
What came next is just amazing while we were about to come out of jungle (around 3km), an elephant with tusks crossed our Etios, wow.. he was fast and was almost running. I tried to capture video but before I could start my mobile camera, he disappeared. I could get a bison video and a noisy elephant who crossed (no video of elephant only noise).
We reached well in time to make the flight. Flight was at 7:25 PM we reached at 5PM.
Still for 316 odd km, it took us 9 hours with 1:15hr break. Thats only because of single lane road, two wheelers and we were lucky as it was Saturday, non working day in bangalore.

Take away:

Mysore Zoo is worth visit for nature loving person of any age.
Coorg is wonderful. You can enjoy even if you spend 3 days there.
Ambatty greens is a wonderful resort a nice gateway from crowded city but outside so be careful when you choose that, you need a vehicle at disposal if you are in interstate tour.
Even if the distances are short, they take more time than your average calculations.
There is nothing much to see in Wayanad except waterfalls and dam but wildlife / nature can compensate that.
Try Sunrise valley resort or Pugmarks jungle lodge both tend to be in jungle

If you are with Kids, make sure you know that you can carry them to and from Irpu, soojipara falls and Edakkal caves.

Suggestions on Hotels:

Coorg: Serene Woods (we dint get this booking), Ambatty Greens is a great relaxing place.

Wayanad : Pugmarks Jungle lodge (again we dint get it as response from hotel was very slow), Sunrise Valley resort is good place to relax in the lap of the nature.

Mysore: you have many options to suite your style and budget.

I did the booking from a friend of mine, Harshad, who works with Simas Holidays in Pune. They also arrange Lakshadweep trips (for government as well, as they are authorized agents).

http://simasholidays.com/

alternately you can call on 020-2446 6955 and ask for Harshad