Coorg Is the Scotland of India

Coorg Is the Scotland of India

Coorg, ‘The Scotland of India’ also known as Kodagu, is a rural district in the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. To explore Coorg, We need at least a week. But somehow, I managed to visit some good places in just two days. So if you have just two days to explore Coorg, then my plan might suit you. Best time to enjoy the serenity of this beautiful place is from June to March. Visiting Coorg both in monsoon and post monsoon are treat to your eyes. During monsoon, heavy rain and fog enhances the beauty. Post monsoon, whole Coorg will be very chilled and green. Coorg is destination for all types of travelers. It has hill stations, temples, water walls, adventurous sports like trekking, rafting, farm touring places and lots more.

People out there are great in hospitality, They let you stay in their own houses. Due to which you get to see and live according to their lifestyle. They don’t let you feel like you are away from home. Because of this, the concept of home-stay is famous in Coorg. Home-stay is also very economical and a friendly place to stay during your holidays.

I had noted down the tourist places to be visited in our two days trip to Coorg. The date was fixed and we had to find a place to stay in Coorg. Since it was the weekend and the year end too, already all the hotels and home-stays were full and slightly overpriced. One of my friend made use of his contacts and managed to find a good home stay near to Virajapet town.

Since I am from Mangalore, my trip starts from this place only. We started on 30 Dec early in the morning at around 6.00a.m. Early morning drive is much better, as less traffic and morning views of hills are so mesmerizing. We headed towards Madikeri hill station town in Coorg which is around 138kms from Mangalore and takes about 3.30 hrs of driving. Coorg and Mangalore are well connected with a very good state highway. On the way, We had to pick two of our friends from Puttur. We had our breakfast in Puttur and picked those two friends and headed towards Coorg. Just after passing Sullya, Sampaje ghat starts. Awesome driving experience starts from here, Its a 55 km of smooth & uphill drive surrounded by beautiful mountains.

As per my plan our first visit was to The Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery or the Golden temple in Kushalnagara which is around 31 km from Madikeri.. We reached there at around 10.00am. The Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery is the largest teaching center of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Namdroling has been dedicated specially for the study, practice and preservation of Vajrayana Tibetian Buddhism and is home to over 5000 Tibetian monks. You can see beautiful Tibetian style architecture and artworks in this temple and its surroundings. This place is so silent and peaceful and best place for meditation. We spent almost 1.30 hrs in this place and then decided to leave for our next destination, Dubare - Elephant camp.

On the way to Dubare, there are two more places you can visit if you have enough time. One is Harangi dam and other one is Kaveri Nisargadhama. Before you visit Harangi dam, find out whether there is enough water and is it allowed to visit the dam. We didn’t have plans to visit these two places, hence straight away reached Dubare. River rafting and Elephant camps are the main attractions of Dubare. To visit the Elephant camp you have to cross the river by boat. Also you can try river rafting in this same place. This place is so crowded often, So I would prefer that you visit the elephant camp and do river rafting in some other place on the way back to the main road. There are many river rafting spots available. The attraction and thrill of river rafting depends on the time you visit this place. During rainy season, It will be too adventurous as there will be strong water flow. But at this time river is very calm, still you can paddle and enjoy. After paddling and rafting for nearly 45 minutes, we were exhausted and hungry.We had our lunch in the small restaurant nearby, where we enjoyed good and tasty local food.