Memoirs of my Travels: Coorg

Welcome to Scotland of India. Here you will you find yourself surrounded by misty hills, dense green forests and acres and acres of tea and coffee plantations...

On the way i Coorg we stopped to visit the Namdroling Monastery in Bylekuppe. This monastery is a classic example of the beautiful Buddhist architecture. The most attractive parts were the really intricate designs on the domes and pillars and the colourful paintings on the walls. The place had 3 huge (and i mean really huge) statues of Buddhist gods. some pics..

the monastery

The huge statues

A closeup

Dragon on the pillar

Wall paintings

Madikeri is the district headqaurter of Coorg. We reached this place in the evening and stayed here for the night. Throughout the night it was raining and as a result next morning when i looked outisde window, the landscape i saw was of the greenest shade of green possible with a little bit of mist in the horizon

Next on the itenary was Talakaveri, the place from where the river Kaveri suddenly originates. It is just coming out of the ground without any logic explaining its origin. This place is marked by a tirtha kundike or Brahma kundike (small spring/pond) from where the river emerges as a small spring, but flows underground again to emerge a short distance away. It is about 48 kms from Madikeri.
The route to Talakaveri took us through some lovely South Indian greenary which we rarely see in North India.

Talakaveri is situated on a hill which offers a a good view of the misty blue Brahmagiri hills.

There is a shrine near the kundike and a big tank in front of it where devotees baths before offering prayers.

There are 2 temples, a Shiva temple and with a rare and ancient Shiva Linga, and another temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha.

Next we visited the beautiful Abbey Falls. On the way to the falls are lush green coffee plantations and at the end there is a bridge over the river Kaveri. When you stand on the bridge you can feel the cool spray of water from the falls. Some pics..
The plantations

The falls

That night we decided to stay in coffee plantation. So we rented this awesome house in a plantation.
home sweet home..

Next morning we went for a walk through the plantation..
path leading into the plantation

some macro shots

Mausambi..

Jackfruit

Vanilla plants

Coffee plants

the beans

yeh haseen wadiyan..

From the coffee plantation we started back for bangalore. on the way we stopped at the Dubare Elephant Training Camp. To reach it we had to cross a dirty muddy Kaveri. Boating on Kaveri..