Dubare

We decided to bid farewell to 2010, being in one the most captivating attractions of Karnataka-Coorg. It was a planned trip and hence anticipation began to grow as and when the end of the year came closer and closer. A 3 day trip fun packed with destinations like Dubbare Elephant camp, Talakaveri, Madkeri and Nagarhole indeed brought eagerness in us. It was 31st Dec 2010, the morning was hazy but had settled by the time we started. We kicked off the road by 6:30 and started towards Mysore. Being quite near to the ring road, we dint have to cut through the city traffic and an early morning start was an add on savior as well. The drive is pleasant , the road being a 4 lane state highway, immediately brings us out of the city hustle and hits us through a fresh breeze of the non suburban expanse..well it doesn't last much before we hit bidadi and then followed by Ramnagara. Open fields and vegetation in between the towns of Ramnagara - Channapatna - Maddur and Mandya seems to have quenched over a period of time and the drive majorly is palpable to the traffic of the townships than to that of the herds , the shepherds and the greens.. Nevertheless we approached the Maddur town in Mandya district, famously known for its "Maddur Wada". We stopped by Maddur Tiffanys, a very small and an old eat out for our breakfast.

Our 1st destination of the day was to Bylakuppe, a tibettian settlement in Kushalnagar town which is the 1st town we would come across in coorg on the Mysore - Madikeri strech, it was a must visit while heading to any place in Coorg. After travelling 140 kms from Bangalore.We took the ring road bypass of Mysore and headed towards Hunsur - Kushlanagar - Bylakuppe. It was around 10:30 a.m. by the time we reached. Around 110 kms frm Mysore, and 30 kms to Madikeri town, its a small refugee area provided by the Govt of India to the Tibetans. We reached the Namrodolin monastery established in 1963, popularly known as the golden temple and were amazed to see the huge statue of Buddha, almost of and above 18 mts high ..plated in gold. The monks in their long red robes were chanting prayer and performing rituals by sounding horns, believe me it was such a rejuvenating experience to hear. It was so very unlike our normal Hindu rituals. The bells, the prayer flags, the chants seemed to release energies, as though they meant only for purification of soul, the mighty structures , the smoke clad roof tops, the royal paintings, and the holy silence had its own sweet faith and discipline in it.

Captured some moments of that divine place, there was a small shopping arcade out there ..looked seemingly colorful ..went and got some scarfs and even checked out some soverigns of Buddha, a resounding vessel, bells and many other peculiar things ..was quite lost .. by when I realised that I was being looked out for, and then was dragged back to the car..we were to hurry up as we had to check in to dubbare jungle lodges by 12 which was around 20 kms from there..the elephants were waitingggg... 

dhoop ke makaan sa yeh..hai safar dhallan sa yeh...mod meherbaan sa hai yeh....MOM

It was 12:30 p.m. After heading 15 kms towards Siddapura, we reached Dubbare Elephant camp..we parked our car in front of the river bank, which we had to cross in order to reach our cottages. Consisted of 10+ cottages on the river side. We hopped into the motor boat and crossed the river with a zoom.


There we were.. on a splendid landscape, with plenty of trees in midst of the gushing sound of the water..wht more could one ask for.. was so close to the nature. We were taken to our cottages and were told that the jungle safari would start by 4 p.m. and that we could have our lunch meanwhile. The cottage interiors were a make of wooden logs and had a wall mount board that described about wet lands - swamp, marsh, bog, slough etc.

We quickly freshened up and went around the place to come across a tree house and a hammock to lay on. There was an old tree trunk leaning completely towards the river which added so much beauty to the waters. It looked like glass under the cobwebs of bare branches..It was fun playing around that place and ran for life when we realised that the crocs take an afternoon nap out there !!!

It was finally 4 p.m. time for some adventure..the jeeps that were to set off to the jungle were ready. We took our favorite seats, i.e. at the back of the jeep where in we could stand as well and take a 360 deg view. We were lucky to get to go with a naturalist who seemed to know quite lot abt the jungle. All set and boom, we dashed out of the check post in the deep woods to explore the wild. The jungle was quite dense, the brown bamboos which bloomed flowers once in 60 years were also seen, which was in its flowering spree at that moment. Seems that, after flowering, these bamboos die after which they are left as rots to rodents and when this happens in mass, sometime has lead to an epidemic (flocklore). Other flora consisted of teak, matti tree (that resembles the skin of crocodile) , bamboos , silver oaks and yes lots of unwanted parthenium & lantana.

As the jeep growled by, we came across a wild bison, which posed an emotionless stance, the nearer we went, the mightier it looked..there it stood..no matter how huge it was, it was petrified by us .. it gave us a stare and vanished behind the bushes. Soon after, we happened to see a whole big gang of bisons, trying to cross our trail. We went ahead, and stopped by a place. It was quiet, the sounds of the jungle is unexplainable, the birds chirping, the bark of the deer, the lou lou of the peacock..these are some of the sounds that are unforgettable..and lingers in my mind even now when remembered.                                  

We stopped by a place which the naturalist said was believed to have the ruins of an old temple of 17th century..There was a Ganesha Idol and few other stone structures protected by a shattered roof damaged by the wild elephants. The idol is believed to protect the wild in the jungle and also the visitors. We heard a small story of a range officer who confronted a wild mast elephant face to face and just contemplated the mercy of god.. the moment he did so, there was a deer that came across from no where and diverted the attention of the elephant..hmm no wonder people believe so!

We continued..the trilling part here is when the naturalist indicates the driver to stop and the driver switched the vehicle off to reduce the sound..This indication is given when the naturalist spots an animal and wants the driver to slow down. This time they were elephants..


Yippie finally we found one.. but ..these were having chains at their feet.. they were tamed ones ! we stopped by and saw the amazing gigantic creatures from so close ..waited for a while and then reluctantly started off again... We :(saw some amazing bird species as well.. We had almost covered 15 kms in the jungle and now we were heading back..we took turns and sprung out of the jeep from back side, stood up...head out ..breathing that clean/unadulterated air...and exposed completely to the wild :P what a thrill it was ... we spotted a barking deer . the oldest known deer species ..it had tiny antlers..we passed by it and then after traversing a short distance, heard it bark. As per the naturalist's experience ..A barking deer barks only when it sees a tiger/leopard not on scent. Not sure how true it is.. We exchanged some OMG looks ..held our cameras tight and then The jeep stopped .. It was pin drop silence ..we knew that the tiger was not very far from there..we waited for 10-15 mins.. this seemed to be a longest pause.. frightened we felt like dashing back to the check post..and ecstatic to stay back and look just once at the most ferocious beast ..but alas.. we weren't that lucky at the moment ..


We had to head back as it was getting darker and there were other activities planned for the evening.. The jungle safari ended .. but I must say it was an enchanting experience as it has always been..to be within and experience the wilderness ..the unexplored..

It was Dec 31st night.. there was a huge camp fire lit, the night was cold.. sat by the fire.. and stared at the innumerable stars that shone upon us.. on thr spur of the moment, it occurred to me how much of a hustle we live in, and have no time to stand and stare.. Reminds me of a beautiful poem by William Henry Davies that we read in school time:

"What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."

 Woke up to the chirps and the wind in trees. It was a beautiful morning.. the scene of the waters, hugged by the mist , the reflection of trees on the quiet waters.. the fog droplets on the green grass.. wow what a scene to wake up to see.. We had our morning cup of tea on the bank of the river, and got ready for the most exiting activity.Since it was an elephant camp, we would get to bathe them and feed them. We had our breakfast and hurried to the spot where the elephants were to be brought by their respective mahouts.There was a common tourist place outside the jungle lodge, where an elephant was brought. People flocked on around it to give it a brush and bathe it. The brush to the scrub the elephant was so harsh and wondered how it could take, coz though it looks thick skinned , it is very sensitive, even to mites and small insects. As a natural resistant it sprays mud on its body. A regular bath is very essential for it as it tends to accumulate a lot beneath the grooves of its sagging skin. It would definitely resist if we get tough on it! It felt so nice to be so close to it, was confident as the mahout was right next to it. The moment the elephant was made to stand and then turn around we would all run away and then again forgather the moment it slept on the shore of the river. I wanted a one to one space with the animal (of course in the presence of the mahout) and was not much satisfied with seeing the number people gathered there for a single elephant. We spoke to our naturalist, who said that there were 3 more elephants and its small one also that would be brought in and people from the jungle lodges would be able to interact closely. Gala time i thought it would be. And yes, it was a gala time..scrubbing the elephants ..pouring water on them ..the back of their ear (Knuckle), is said to be the softest part of their body which the mahouts were using to give commands. God! I wondered if I could ever get so very close to an animal so enormously huge.

The elephants followed the instructions from mahots and it was too overwhelming to see that. Well, the affection they can have on its mahot is immense. There was a small orientation session about the elephants which the naturalist gave to our group. He mentioned about an elephant whose mahaut was currently unwell and was in his death bed, since it was not seeing its mahaut around, it became very uneasy and was not having food as well.(Was thinking of the news that I'hd read about an elephant killing its mahot, during the movie shoot of Ravan, and many other such incidents..wondering what would have made it do so!)..he continued.. the elephants are the only creatures that think twice before attacking. Unless they feel threatened they would never hurt anyone.They have a poor eye sight with sharp hearing senses.With the hearing receptors even in their trunks, they can sense sounds at a distance of 10 miles. They flap their ears to the front and touch their truncks on the ground to estimate how far the confronter is, this is generally considered as an indication for the confronter to back off, as the animal  could attack/charge upon any moment.

We even got a chance to see what they are fed in the training camp. ragi -jaggery each the size of a football. Before this session, they let us watch them eat ragi feeds, which were prepared in the kitcken then and there, and were served in multiple rounds. We got to touch their tusks and even feed them. We missed the joy rides as they were currently not being conducted. Oh yes ! In the whole fervor to narrate the elephant story I missed to mention of the splendid coracle ride in the early morning. It was misty and the visibility was very low. As the ore struck the placid waters, we gently glided through, and experienced blissful peace and tranquility .. Hmm.. these were some unforgettable moments that held me back. But nevertheless, we had to leave, it was time to check out. We packed our baggage and bid adieu to this incredible place, pacific, but yet, full of vigour and adventure. 

 20kms frm dubbare via Chetallahalli is Madikeri/Mercera - the headquartes of Kodagu/Coorg district. This is an epicentre to many major attractions in Coorg and tourists flock from several places on earth to visit this splendid town intoxicated with the smense of coffee, pepper, honey and cardamom.. We drove by the coffee estates on either sides of the road. It was lush, dense, and greener than ever. Coffee needs lot of shade and hence there were many silver oak trees planted that routed the borders of the estate, to provide the required shade. The pepper vines had ran up the oak and had curled on to it..The rays of the sun, filtered by the oak, touched the greens and looked amazingly graceful.

In a short while, we heard the splashing sound of waters and predicted that there are falls around. yes there they were..we stopped by for a while and then continued.. the entire stretch till Madikeri was lush green and scenic. We reached madikeri and stopped by Athithi Hotel to have lunch. It majorly served udupi style food, with other delicacies as well.Though there was a space crunch, food was good.


Our next destination was Bhaagamandala temple which was 35-40 kms from madikeri, in the route to talakaveri. Its situated near to the banks of triveni sangama i.e. kaveri joined by 2 other tributaries : sujyoti and kanike -this is one of the upstream stretches of kaveri river.   

Bhaagamandala temple

Triveni Sangama

We met a very spontenous person there, who worked with the temple committe and impulsively explained the history/facts of the temple. The temple is considered to be 1000 years old, and had very interesting wooden carvings in the kalyaana mantapa. The roof while looked made of tiles were actually copper plates and bore lot of resemblance to kerela and malnad architecture. The temple held an archelogical significance and being one of the most sacred since ancient times, had undergone a lot of renovation in S.M. Krishna's tenure. Unlike the common trimurties bhramha, vishnu and maheswara, we saw  Vishnu, Bhagandeswara and Subramanya, Subhramanya being the major deity in northern kerela.

Next destination? talakaveri.. the birth place of Kaveri river..this place was around 7 Kms from Bhaagamandala and situated 2785 mts abv sea level. It is on the slopes of Brahmagiri hills. We parked our car and walked till we reached the gundige which had a small spring and also a pond in front of it. People were taking bath in the holy river before worshipping the gundige. It was around 4:30 p.m. a very pleasant evening. It was quite windy as we had already ascended to a height of some 1350 mts.

Each and every scene of the hills were breathtaking. After visiting the temple, it was time to climb up to the peak. There were around 300-400 steps that led us to the top. We climbed a few steps and looked back and at the sides, it felt like being on top of the world. The air was pure, untouched and serene. It became more windy as we climbed higher and higher. We strode by the stairs with a restless breath and puffff with palms on the knees we reached the peak finally.

The view of Brahmagiri hills from the peak was mind blowing.. the coolest of the breeze hit the face, it was as if we were one to one with the infinite blue skies, mesmerized and lost ,if constantly looked at..one could loll for hours trying to catch the sight of the farthest horizons of the skies and the peaks.The world seemed to be suspended in time and space.It is said that the sapta rishis had, in ancient times, performed yagnas here. Yet again..time to go back...

That night we were to stay in Skanda resorts which was near tithimathi, 60kms from talakaveriWe took the virajpet- gonikoppal route to get there and on the way stopped by a coffee pub. There was a woman dressed in coorgi saree who served excellent coffee to us. Was flipping though a book about coorg that was kept in the coffee pub, which said: kodagu/coorg has been derived from kodimalenad which means higher forest land and as per ancient literature, In Kodava- kod means bless and avva  means Kaveri - people blessed by mother kaveri. Hmm it went on with some interesting facts about coffee plantations and other coorgi tradition which I was going to explore in the day to come!

Skanda home stay was located in south of kodagu in tithimathi. We reached gonikoppal and then the hotel manager escorted us into the estate. It was late in evening as we drove into the one part of the lush 350 acre plantation. Since it was a new year day, all the rooms in the resort were booked, but we managed to accomodate ourselves in the yoga center with prior booking. The original estate home (now the yoga centre) was a complete getaway from the resort and also from other tourists. We were welcomed by the manager in charge, the courteous cooks and a cheerful yoga instructor (Rashmi) who conducted yoga classes on weekends. Rashmi familiarised us with the place, the cooks prepared and served hot chapatis and rice while the manager informed us about the next day activities. It was a tiring , eventful day and we rested soon..  
Early in the morning we woke up and took a walk in the estate. It was a lush green estate full of coffee, silver oak and pepper planatations.

While stolling by, we met the watchman of the estate who was walking towards the entrance. When asked, he mentioned about the estate owners , how and when it started and how it has flourished till now. He showed us, the different stages of ripeness in coffee bean, and at what time it is plucked. Coffee bean emerges out of a flower in form of a cherry, initially. It looks light green in colour inside the pulp. The skin of the pulp takes diferrent shades of red, and at the time of harvest it takes the cresent red shade.

   The first harvest takes place in apprx. 5 years after the intitial plantation. And the flowering happens 3-4 years after it is planted. In skanda, the beans were handpicked at the time of harvest. We saw the bean in various stages , just ripened, little ripened, and fully ripened. The estate belonged to Prathap Chittappa and his brothers. We got to know a little obout their family history in coorg as well. The watchman took us towards a small water reservior that was used for irrigating the plantation. It was enclosed by a series of coconut and oak trees on one side and the fence on the other. Other side of the fence was the forest area. Yes it was.. we heard some interesting facts from him about elphants rampaging the crop after entering the plantation area. Now the estate was enclosed in solar powered fences and hence these incidents reary occured. The watchman said "Early in the morning when i was brushing my teeth, i saw 4-5 elephants strolling around near the pool and rampaging everything that came its way. They are very smart , they fill muds in the man made traps and walk by, drank water from the pond, and also short the wires with wodden sticks to enter the fenced area.." . The pond had various variety of fishes and a stream of tadpoles marching together in straight lines. We went back to the estate where the manager in-charge had brought in his jeep. We had a yummy breakfast and then hopped into the car to take a look around the actual estate which was a short drive from there.




   

Skanda estates was established a century ago, and its homestay was a perfect blend of modern amenities and the old planation lifestyle.The resort had furniture of that of olden days but yet had a classic look.The beneficiaries being the descendants of the family had well preserved the traditional belongings of the family like gramophones, records, armouries, furnitures etc.. There was an old kodagu map hung as well. We had a cup of coffee in the sitout, and then headed to the pulp house where we actually saw the processing of the bean once harvested. Firstly, the bean along with pulp is immersed in water where the spolit ones float and are removed.

The pulp gets saperated in this process and the ones that dont undergo saperation in another machine. Once the pulp is removed, there are 2 other layers that still surround the bean. Now the bean undergoes the drying process, which is typically dried in the sun. 
We saw huge areas covered with light brown seeds, resembling jute carpets, spread across. These were the beans after the removal of 1st layer. It is constantly raked to avoid development of moisture. The last process it underwent is the milling which was done in the machines again for the removal of the innemost skin and then undergoes , sorting, polishing and roasting. We were shown the Pberry variety, which is a single bean inside the last layers of its skin. Skanda, in earlier times, had the traditional holey (paddy feilds) and a square acre of it has been retained , in rememberance of their ancestors who had laid the foundation of the skanda empire. During shankranthi, they worship the paddy harvested from here. It was a lovely estate and homestay and people were very affectionate. we were to return to banaglore the same day and suddenly planned to visit the much talked about "Nagarhole". We headed back to goniloppal. We enquired with locals, about the route to nagarhole. One being, goin to Irupu falls which was + 25 kms from there and then reach kutta and nagarhole , or straight way head to nagarhole which was around 50 Kms from there. Both the roads were bad, but we decided to skip irupu and rather spend the same time in nagarhole. We decided to take the nagarhole forest road to reach hunsur. Gonikoppal to hunsur would have taken 45 kms, but since we were taking the nagarhole route, it was going to take us 50 + 36 i.ie.  86 kms. Never mind, we were keen on hitting the forest road, but we had to get there before 5.pm. as the check post gets closed and after that vehicle entry is prohibited.

We reached the checkpost and entered the forest area. This one was amazing, entereing the forest in your own vehicle..Wow.. with only a few kms inside, we founds herds of chitals, grazing at their own will, and hardly distracted by the vehicles. They were letting us get so close to them.There were many humps in between, and the speed limit was around 30 Kms. 


We stopped by near a chital, and looked at it very closely, took pics and yes, they too stared at us constantly and posed a stance for us. After a few kms inside, we found various sign boards, indicating the types of animals that could be looked for in that area. There were elephant zones, bison zones  etc.

We reached the NH National PArk and decided to take a quick safari. All this was unplanned, but we dint want to miss out the safari. There were no jeeps that could be hired and hence we had to get tickets for the govt mini bus. The safari started at 2:00 p.m. The people in the bus, were making racket and did not have the discipline to be maintained inside the jungle. The anger went on our nerves when the started playing music. We were very disappointed by the way people were behaving and it looked more like a joy ride than a jungle safari.


The forest dept had cleared the shrubs on either sides of the road increasing the visibility to the insides of the forest. The terrain of this forest being flat, did not have much high shrubs and thick dense trees as we saw in dubare. Hence Nagarhole is said to have the highest sighting of animals. On our way back, in that hustle made by the bus and the people, we were able to spot grazing elephants , chitals, langur and yes wild dogs in midst of the lantana. The view circles, maintained for this safari is the outermost, compared to the safaris organized, by private and jungle lodges. Yes, indeed, the sighting was high considerding the fact that we were in the outermost view circle. It was a one hour joy ride :) after which, we got into our car and continued to the other end of the check post. There was no hotels, nearby for us to have lunch, and hence, stopped by the kings sanctury (Deluxe jungle resort) to have our lunch. We went around the place and saw few of its suites, cottages and the pool. This was the end of our journey. We headed back to bangalore apprx 200+ kms from there. This was one of the most  fun filled , exploratory expidition we had ever had . Looking forward to have more and more getaways like this..Yes..and get time out to stand and stare !