In which Leeches feast

So we learn about this place near Ujire which is supposed to be a really nice trekking trail that doesn't usually feature when folks are talking about trekking in Karnataka. While a lot of folks seem to have trekked it, there's not a lot of information floating around.

And the title kinda says it all. We chose November on the premise that the rains would've abated. However, it rained, and it rained copiously all over the Peninsula leading up to the trek. And just to trick us into going, the rains stopped for a couple of days prior to us leaving. Obviously, we weren't going to let a little bit of the damp to dampen us. (Yeah, tired old joke). However on the night we left in the comfortable confines of a new Innova, it rained. Which brought out the collective population of leeches in the entire southern Western Ghats on to the trail leading to Bandaje Arbi. For that is where we were going and where Mr. Murphy decided leeches should be.


This post is going to be short on both details and photos. For the simple reason that on the way up, all of us were worried about not getting feasted upon, so we didn't stop too much. And our confines-of-A/C-offices flogged bodies couldn't take the rush-up-the-hill-before-we-get-bitten pace. So there are no photos going up. Once we got up there, we barely had time to find a place to camp - which was relatively leech free - before we could cook and before the rain Gods descended upon us again. Which left us grappling with another issue. One of our allegedly (meaning the Usual Suspect was lying through his teeth) waterproof tents turned out to be not. So in a tent meant for 3, there were 7 sweaty, hungry trekkers. But then what is life without some breaks? And it did come through with the showers stopping in about 20 mins and then with some amount of water evacuation both the tents were fairly sleepable. Which is a long winded way of saying that we didn't even get to the waterfall. Where by the way, there are excellent spots to camp.

The next morning we woke up as refreshed as we could've been in the circumstances. But again, we didn't go all the way upto the waterfalls. For those interested, the trek begins at Bandaje. This is near Ujire and Dharamasthala. You'll need to call up Narayana Gowda, whose farm is at the base of the trek who'll then arrange for one his trusted lieutenants Vasu to come with you. The actual trek is from Bandaje to Ballalrayana durga to Sunkashale. Or the other way around. Because the elephant grass between Bandaje Arbi and Ballalrayana durga was not cut, we were hesitant to go all the way over to Sunkashale. Like all places remote, transport to and from your entry and exit points are minimal so you'll need to make arrangements.

And yeah, try not going when the leeches are feasting.

In which we partake of freebies

Us desis like our freebies. The more the better. When we book hotels on the Continental plan, we're the ones lining up for breakfast like the way "real estate agents" line up when somebody mentions SEZ. Or how we stampede into Big Bazaar when they offer 50% off on their 100% crap. Now thanks to The Wife, we lucked into gift vouchers to any Taj anywhere in India. Now based on empirical data, you could have a dinner for two at the Taj, Bombay (and shell out some from your pocket to settle the bill) or have a dinner for a family at Taj Westend in Bangalore (and shell out some from your pocket to settle the bill) or go to Taj Coonoor for a long weekend (and don't shell out any from your pocket at all, gotcha there didn't I!). I'm not implying this place is cheap, it is not by any means. But it definitely is worth the money we didn't spend.

Its easy to see why people state that Coonoor is better than Ooty (or Udhagamandalam or Udhagai). It's nice, its small, and if you end up staying in an expensive place, there are still a lot of places you can cover on foot that will not break the pocket. Coonoor is at a lower elevation than Ooty and hence not as cold as Ooty can get during the rains or winter. There are plenty of ways to get here from the Deccan plateau, one is the scenic route through Mysore, Gundulpet, Bandipura, Gudalur, Ooty and thence to Coonoor. Or take the other scenic route through Mysore, Gundulpet, Bandipura, Thepakadu, Kalhatti, Ooty and thence to Coonoor. Or you can take the more leisurely and scenic route from Coimbatore, Mettupalayam and directly to Coonoor. This last part can be done in the heritage railway. The actual distance by rail is about 28 km from Mettupalayam but it takes a long gentle 3 hours to get you there. On the way it covers tons of tunnels and passes over some spectacular scenery before depositing you at the Coonoor station.

You then make your way to Upper Coonoor, past the bustling bus stand and end up at the Taj. The hotel itself was a priory earlier and unlike anywhere else I've been, the driveway into the hotel passes a cemetery. Now, that, you've to admit, is not exactly the welcome you're looking for when you entering the gates of what is one the better hotel brands in the country. However, it's not as if you go past acres of them, and the residence proper will ensure that morbid thoughts are immediately gone the moment you go lay eyes on the entrance. The whole place has a nice laid back feel to it and the red tiled roof and white washed walls with ivy climbing on to them give it a charm of its own.

Coonoor is a town best discovered on foot. If you're staying anywhere in Upper Coonoor, Sims Park is not too far. It is a park laid out in a ravine, and over 12 hectares. It is worth the 5 INR and 30 INR that they charge for adults and their still cameras. Video cameras are charged extra. Over a holiday weekend, it will have it's share of boisterous kids and adults who're trying very hard to enjoy their vacation. However, like I mentioned it's large enough for people to have their privacy. There are the other usual points that most hill stations in India seem to have. Vantage points of view of the plains below, where folks from the plains come to gawk at the very plains they've left behind. Dolphin's Nose, Lamb's Rock, Lady Canning's Seat et cetera would, no doubt, keep you occupied the whole day seeing as they're around 8-10 km all along the compass from Coonoor. There are taxis available for hire at Bedford in Upper Coonoor or near the bus stand. You'll have to haggle depending upon when "season" is. For those inclined towards exertion, the Droog Fort, 15 km from Coonoor would be a good bet. Its also known as Bakasura Malai and the route to the fort passes through the Nonsuch Tea Estate. Nonsuch tea is also highly rated among tea connoisseurs.

The other direction you could go to would be towards Kotagiri and Kodanad. The Kodanad view point offers you a spectacular view of the Bhavanisagar dam's reservoir and onwards to the Mysore plateau. During the monsoon, this view is obscured by clouds of mist and rain, but the whole experience is quite stunning. There is a trek that is conducted by local Forest department. You can contact them at 0423 2443968 or 04266 278020. This is called the Thengumarada Trek and leads down from Kodanad towards Thengumarada. The drive from Coonoor to Kotagiri is quite good with the drive from Kotagiri to Kodanad takes you through some wonderful landscape. About 5 km short of the view point, there is a small lay by where you can sit an take in the peace and quiet.

Another option is to take a bus towards Wellington and spend a pleasant couple of hours walking through one of the prettiest cantonments in the country. The cantonment is about 3 km from Sims Park and you can either walk the whole way or take the bus. When you come back, you can walk about 5 mins on the Kotagiri road and park yourself at Tranquilitea, a tea lounge where your host, Sandeep will help you choose the choicest of Nilgiri teas and even fill you in on the history of the Hills. You can also click here for other staying options.

The long weekend did come to an end too soon. However, we were unable to break the shackles of the daily grind and we very reluctantly turned back. Even though we had some money still left on the freebie. Now, that, you've to admit is very hard for a desi to do.

Animal sightings, or how I don't.

So it's been a while since I've been around in the Peninsula and it's been a long set of journeys to all points due North, South, East & West during this time. And some of these ramblings have taken me to places close to National Parks, reserve forests, forests or just areas where non-humaniod beings are wont to lurk. And in all these times I've seen a sum total of about 75 chital and 3 langurs. And going to Fringe Ford in Wayanad added a grand total of a cobra's ass (or whatever herpetologists call it's tail).

Considering that the rains that were missing all this while did the good thing and stepped in, I overlooked this total lack of congeniality on the part of the mammalian and avian families. Instead, I put my feet up, and took in all the peace and quiet that Fringe Ford had to offer. While I wouldn't say Fringe Ford is at the back of beyond, the fact that the last 3 km took about 40 minutes says a lot. And I'm not talking about the 40 minutes it takes to go past Forum Mall on a weekend. It was a jeep ride that ended with 3 on-the-verge-of-vegetating travellers.

Till you start towards Fringe Ford from Talapuzha (yes it's pronounced the same way rest of India can't pronounce Kozhikode) and get to the edge of town, it does seem that you won't be going too far from civilisation. To be honest I've been to places that have been further from civilisation than this, (Jainkhan is one, Coffee Valley is another). Somehow, this place makes you feel that you're all alone. It might be the fact that there is room for 10 people at the most, and that the estate's structure occupies a very small portion of the 520 acres at it's disposal or just the fact that it's hedged by the Wayanad Nilgiris on three sides that makes you feel that you're now all alone and cosy.

Because cosy it definitely is. Though the rains were not up to Wayanad's sheet-of-water variety this season, it was drizzling quite a bit with the attendant misty weather. All in all perfect weather to curl up with a warm quilt - and Fringe Ford are generous with their quilts. Since I was the only one driving, the excellent lunch that was consumed mandate only one outcome - a siesta. Not that this program would've changed if there were other drivers. Meals at Fringe Ford has to be given it's proper respect and should be followed by siesta.

I was with the Urban Yogi, and this plan was a last minute one. The only wrinkle in the otherwise perfect weekend was a 11 PM call the night before we left from our booking contact who asked if we were a family or group and how groups go to Fringe Ford and spoil the place. A charge dismissed by our host Mamooty. So if you're booking, the site is Fringe Ford and call Hyderabad. We'd decided to stay on an extra day if we felt like it and just before we nodded off the first day, we ensured that Mamooty was clear that we're going to lurk an extra day. That evening, after a hot plate of bhajjis with rain pouring down (the one time it did), we decided to re-acquaint ourselves with that salute to Capitalist greed, Monopoly. It was a while since we all played and the official rules were all junked in favour of the Indian version that we'd all played when we were kids. Yogi's cousin who is at an impressionable age, was impressed by the Yogi to sell some really lucrative real estate which ensured that she lost. The next day when we played again, said Cousin having learnt that the world of grown ups is a screwy one where one can't even trust cousins any more, extracted her revenge by ensuring that the Yogi went bankrupt.

Besides getting back to board games and reading up - there is a small but satisfying library - there are quite a few treks that Mamooty can rustle up. Mamooty himself is quite a renaissance man. There are furniture and art works that he's made in bamboo and metal; he is quite the ornithologist, is a foodie himself and manages to run the place. We were assigned a cheerful lieutenant, Shaji, however. He took us on a short trek - which is when the snake almost-sighting occurred - through a thoroughly leech infested area of the estate to a hillock nearby. This one had a watch tower at some point in history, but geography has ensured that there is none now. Shaji told us that the wind brought it down, and though it was made of stone and mortar, the wind blowing there lent credence to that story. He also mentioned the fact that there was a middle-aged tiger that was sighted within the confines of the estate. This was of course after we'd left the safety of the compound. The view from this hillock is quite spectacular and we can see quite a bit off into Wayanad. We also saw bison on a distant hillock. So yeah, you can add those to my animal sightings. Though it seemed kind of like how Columbus would've seen America. Not at all.

If it's not wet, there is a small machan, just behind the compound that you can climb up and watch birds from. Quite a lot of birds make their home in the estate, especially the Malabar Pied Hornbill. The climb to the machan would be slightly on the vertiginous side, but is worth it. However, since we'd gone in the middle of monsoon and it was raining, all we saw was beautiful mist from there.

Since I've been going on and on about the place with nary a glimpse of photos, here are some from the other member of the League of Extraordinary Travellers, as I am still too lazy to go develop mine. Be that as it may, since The Better Half was not with me this time, another round of food and place appreciation is on the cards. Maybe then I'll get to see the whole snake. And some chital.

Missing Crowds

An indication of long weekends is the huge traffic jam outside of Kamat Lokaruchi on Mysuru Road. I'm sure there are indicators on Hosur Road, Hyderabad Road, Old Madras Road, New Madras Road, Tumkur Road - you get the drift. Since travelling with the Usual Suspects usually involved bolting awake at 05.30 and out of the house in 15 mins, we usually missed this mass grazing where assorted mothers, fathers, screaming kids and frazzled grandparents converge. I'm glad to say that TBH and I missed this too. On account of the screaming kids being a little away in the future.

We were on our way to Wayanad - new Palace Hotel beckoned, but that itch was left unscratched. This time we checked into Edakkal Hermitage near Edakkal (and hence the name) and stayed put. Considering the hordes that have now invaded Bangaluru; Wayanad and Kerala are no longer out of bounds for anyone. Getting there is not a problem, in fact, I believe going to Wayanad is probably the only route out of Bangaluru that is gauranteed not to jar your bones during any stretch of the journey. Any travel to the West coast involves travelling through the ravines that go under the name of NH 17 and the Charmadi Ghats. Ditto anything beyond Chikkamagaluru town. Getting to Coorg is now an excellent excuse to off road. OK, so maybe getting to Pondi is tad better.

We teamed up with the New, Usual, Suspects. Getting out and away was a breeze. It took us just a tad over 5.5 hours to get to Edakkal. Considering I drive a trusty, but slow ride, this is more a testament to the roads than the said ride. Most folks know the way to Bandipur so there is not much to say for that. You follow the same route till Gundulpet, and turn where the "good" road turns right for Wayanad. There used to be a hotel just outside Gundulpet that didn't advertise itself as a hotel. Instead it had a huge board that said Clean Toilets Here. Considering that there was nothing since you passed Mysuru and now, most folks stopped there. You could see it from all the skid marks. It used to serve decent, vegetarian fare. This has now passed into the hands of some solid meat eating Mallus and now serves decent, non-vegetaran fare. The toilets, though, are still clean enough.

Due to the rains early in March, the weather in the hills of Edakkal was very pleasant. The folks at Edakkal were very helpful and unobtrusive. Two diametrically opposite traits that they managed very well. The Edakkal Hermitage is spread on the lower foothills of the Edakkal caves. A word of advice would be to skip the caves if you're travelling over the weekend. There are hordes of idiotic software types from Bangaluru, with overly enthusiastic local school and college kids who tend to cause a jam on the way up to the caves and further towards the peak. If at all the weekend is all you can have, then try it early Sunday morning when there's likely to be lesser crowd.

All in all, Edakkal gives you solid value for money. For those who are more snobbily inclined, Vythiri has lots of places that can help you contribute heavily to the GDP of that area and said resorts. Problem is resort development in Vythiri has gone a little amok. With too many of them around, you can then soak in the atmosphere you gave a miss at the Kamat Lokaruchi. Or you can stick to Edakkal and miss all the crowds.

On Tanning Solutions

Someone tells me that the Brits swarm in hordes to Goa for the winter, slather themselves with suntan lotion and roast. So, besides the blue waters of the Arabian Sea, there is a sea of pink sunburned blubber on the sands. Be that as it may, we figured setting aside the sun burn part they're all onto a good thing. Which is why exiting Coffee Valley found us pointing our way westwards.



Now it's all right to say we're going to the coast from Sakleshpura. As the crow flies or as NH 48 goes (since we're not going to fly like crows), the distance is mere 120 kms to Mangalore. However, since that excellent piece of rallying ground, Shiradi Ghat is closed, we chose it's upcoming (some would say overtaken) competitor, Charmadi Ghats. And since we'd used that road on our way to Magundi earlier in the year, we figured the journey would be a breeze. We figured wrong. It was a bone jarring, potentially axle breaking, dusty 20 kms just getting to the Ghats. Somehow, in the 5 months that had elapsed since our last crossing, this stretch of tar had converted to something that resembled the mountains of Ladakh with all the dust of Thar. There was an excellent view of the sun setting just below the forest guest house at Charmadi. Eventually, we pulled up in Mangalore, instead of the original destination, Udupi and bedded down for the night.

We were up with the lark the next day and a friend of ours pointed us to a beach near Mangalore. Penambur I think. Unfortunately, the signposts were not encouraging - we didn't see one at all - so we went to the next beach, Kapu. We were the first ones there, at about 7.30 in the morning. There were others who were there as well, but they were there to commune with nature, and I guess they did that everyday. The beach is excellent with the lighthouse in prison garb with a red top. There was a nice feel to the whole place with the spray in the soft morning light. The beach is not very wide, but it is long and the light house end is where it ends. There are remnants of a an ancient structure, but I couldn't find a way of getting on it. TBH, enjoyed this better, what with me thinking of capturing all this on camera. As soon as we hit the highway from Kapu, a wonderful mist surrounded us. All the time I stayed on the coast, I've never seen mist. Ever. This was a nice grey morning, with minimal traffic and coconut palms sticking out and the vapour rising from the creeks we crossed adding to the views.


We stopped for an authentic Udupi breakfast. On my last visit to Amgol, we'd briefly stopped at Malpe and I wasn't particularly keen on going back. However, since we didn't have a particular destination in mind, we went back there anyway. Instead of stopping at the beach, though, we stopped a bit further up, near a temple. We walked past a school and soon were on the beach. Malpe has it's charm, though my money would be still on Kapu. For a start, there is the jetty further up the beach, plus the beach proper had a line of last night's dinner bobbing about in the waves. And from the looks of it, it looked like the entire village had a gala time the night before. You've to admit that that kind of puts a dampener on Baywatch-esque ideas of a beach.

When we started back, we decided to take back roads of coastal Udupi. Like an earlier trip, it was fun just going through a place and enjoying the sights. However, the boffos at the NHAI have decided that to appreciate the beauty around, you need to be reminded of the hell below your wheels. The road is good in patches heading out of Udupi and there are patches where they exist merely in a hypothetical way. Though having been battle hardened by the Charmadi Ghats, which is not even hypothetical - being more in the realm of mystical, we weathered it. It definitely put a dampner on things though. Next port of call was the ever charming Maravanthe, lunch at Murudeshwar (thought I wonder just why I go there) and on to Baiyandooru. This beach is absolutely blissful and because it's at an inaccessible place - well it's not really, but then who makes the effort when Goa is just a little while away. Maybe that's it's charm. No people, a temple whose provenance or denomination I didn't bother to check perched at one end and a creek at the other. The drive from here onto Goa gets progressively worse till after you cross Karwar. At the Goa Karnataka border we ran into familiar territory. Payment for no service rendered. For whatever reason, we were asked to register our name at the border crossing and leave something for "tea & water".

Goa in Christmas is wonderfully decked up and we had booked a place at Morgem. However due to all our stops and the state of the roads we were only able to get there by night. Morgem in the morning looked absolutely wonderful. It doesn't have the hordes that plague Goa's other beaches. It might also be that we plonked ourselves at a time in the morning when Goa is still dreaming about last night.

Next port of call was Vengurla. However, the map and it's actual corporeal existence diverged. Which is me putting my showing off my English skills to say that the map showed the road passing through this beach and the it actually being 22 kms away. Since we were a little pressed for time, we chose to go to Malwan. There is a short ride to Sindhudurg fort from Malwan jetty and people who'd help you snorkel as well. Neither of the choices appealed and we left for Ganapatipule. There is a temple to Lord Ganesh here. While TBH went into the temple, I took a short walk beyond it. MTDC has beach huts and tents. If you go beyond the small crowds on the beach nearer to the temple, this is an amazing beach. Towards it's northern end there is a creek that meets the sea and the view is absolutely amazing.

Later, I spent a weekend driving around with my earlier companions, the Usual, Suspects. The journey brought us to the destination of Bankot, a sleepy village that has a ST bus wide road, an excellent beach and no food and then hunger took us onwards to Anjarla, with a little-wider-than-a-ST-bus road, an excellent beach and fish meals. We camped on the beach star gazing till the cold and the wind pushed us in to the warmth of our modest homestay.

So, yeah, all this rambling is to agree with the Brits. There's a lot more places you can go roast yourself though.

Coffee & Conviviality

I've an excellent idea for the start of a vacation. Take the road. Better yet, take the road late so that you are in the Nelamangala sector by mid-morning. As is its wont, it'll server a peach of a jam. In my opinion, nothing can be guaranteed to help you appreciate the fact that you'll be away from all of this madness more. Be that as it may, I spent an excellent weekend in the hills. With an invitation to come back when coffee flowers, I might add.

Our drive - I was with The Better Half - took us to Coffee Valley, Sakleshpura. The drive after you take a left onto NH 47 is excellent, if a little narrow. To get to Sakleshpura, you drive past the right turn that welcomes you to Hasan and onwards to Belur and Halebidu. The road turned progressively worse as we took the by-pass. It was a portent of things to come, but that is jumping ahead of the story.

Once you get to Sakleshpura, you count down roughly 4 kms to a turn to the right that goes to Davalkere. As soon as you take this right, there is a fork on the road, the left leads to Mudigere and the left to Davalkere. We reached Coffee Valley just after lunch - anything after 1 and before 5 is lunch - and were welcomed by Mr. Manjunath, the squire of all Coffee Valley.

Mr. Manjunath is a host who believes in the old adage that "Atithi Devo Bhava". We're not left alone a minute from the time we got in to the time we left. After a never-before-tasted lime juice (TBH claiming that it had honey - we don't know the secret ingredient though) was followed by excellent lunch of akki roti, a veg palya and chicken. Mrs. Manjunath, for she was the cook, over the next couple of meals, succeeded in demolishing all "diet"ary plans that TBH had. As all my friends know, I don't even attempt going on one when on a trip like this.


There is not much you are legally allowed to do after such a repast - going horizontal is mandatory I believe. I tried fighting it but eventually succumbed to Morpheus. The small rooms that they've built down the hillside from the drying yards is cool even though the sun outside attempted to huff and puff. True to his nature, Mr. Manjunath walked us to our rooms. Along the way, we stopped and gleaned some info about the various crops that he grows on his plantation, his routine and his estate. Considering that the walk is only about 5 mins, you can bet that there was a lot of stopping!


Post this, we were supposed to go some distance from the estate to catch a glimpse of the sunset. We met up with a couple of other folks staying there and we all piled in on the Hosamane Gypsy. Considering that we'd made solid inroads into lunch and the beds really warm and inviting, we were a little late in getting to the location and missed the sunset. This was to be the leitmotif of this journey, but more onthat later. We did manage to get the last farewell that the evening had put up for us however. The moon compensated - a golden disc rising in the east. We lingered as the both celestial bodies put up a show and silently took in the vista spread out before us. This seemed like a good place to camp, but I didn't see any water body around. The moon rendered the torches that we'd got superflous. Snacks and coffee awaited us. Camp-fire followed and we enjoyed excellent food and company around the warmth. Once dinner was done, we had to persuade Mr. Manjunath to rest for he was still hovering about like a mother hen. Our conversation followed around the campfire where everything from malls, childhood stories, Awesomely bad movies and college anecdotes were shared.


The next morning saw some of us (read yours truly) get up early to catch sunrise. A short walk outside the estate led to the discovery that Sakleshpura dogs do not like me. Since I'm such a wussy around them, I decided to curtail the walk to a short perambulation and made tracks back to the estate. I joined Mr. Manjunath on his morning inspection through the estate. Another mouth watering delight followed and we made tracks to Pandavagudda. It's a 20 minute ride from the estate to the base of the hill. A small temple to Ishwaran stands here and after the mandatory Patel shots, we moved towards the hill. It's a pleasant walk up the hill and it gives you a panoramic view of Sakleshpura countryside. We reluctantly moved from there, only the visions of epicurean delight that awaited us at the base driving us down. While we would have liked to stay back and enjoy a siesta, the road beckoned all of us and we very reluctantly took leave. Our next destination was Udupi, but the good people at the PWD and NHAI connived to ensure that we only reached Mangalore. More about that in a bit.