‘Mudumalai’,a quiet and peaceful place nestled in the Nilgiri range of mountains, far away from the hustle-bustle of the city life.
The best way, rather the only way to reach there is by Road. Take the newly done Mysore highway all the way past Mysore until Gundlupet via Nanjangud. The roads are good till you reach Gundlupet. Once you pass Gundlupet and get off the State highway, you hit the most worst road that one could ever come across and this road that passes through the Bandipur-Mudumalai sanctuary is supposedly a National Highway,but expect the unexpected.
After a bumpy and jumpy ride of about 30 odd kms, the sanctuary of Bandipur comes into sight.
Bandipur and Mudumalai are divided by the Moyar river gorge. Bandipur falls in Karnataka while Mudumalai is in Tamil Nadu. From Bandipur, you need to go further for about 30-40 minutes till you reach the village-town of Masinagudi.
The road (8 km stretch) get very narrow from Masinagudi. There are numerous resorts that have their boards with directions once you cross Masinagudi.
Jungle retreat is where we camped. Its one of the resorts that is in the interior and close to the forest area.Approach roads to this place is pretty bad, but the resort is a good one.
The rooms/cottages are spread over a wide area and it involves a lot of walking around to get around within the resort. There are no telephones to call for room service. Nor do the mobile’s network reach . In all, its a totally isolated experience.
If you want to cool your heels off, this is an ideal place. Also one could go out on guided tour (safari) inside the sanctuary. Not much possibility of spotting a tiger, but you can do this if u need that been-there-done-that list.
Make sure that you have accomodations before you set out to this place.
Dalhousie-Khajjiar-Chamba Excursion Apr 12-15, 2007 - By Ripple (ripple4it@gmail.com)
It was a Thursday before a long weekend, due to elections in Noida on Friday & we had an opportunity to go out for any hill station in hot summer days of April. Vikas suggested Dalhousie & I agreed for the same. Without any plan we moved to ISBT-Delhi & found that there is no direct bus for Chamba at around 2300 hrs. Without wasting time we left Delhi to Pathankot at around 2300 hrs in night on Apr 12. We planned it late to visit Dalhousie but one can plan and leave Delhi via train to Pathankot and then take another short journey to Dalhousie or Chamba. We took a bus to from Pathankot to Banikhet (A station between Pathankot & Chamba) & changed the bus for Dalhousie.
Day-1: 13th April, 2007 (Dalhousie & Panchpula)
We reached Dalhousie at around 1300 hrs on APR 13 (half of our day gone astray). We were really impressed by the beauty & weather there. Then we started searching a good Hotel. One can find numerous numbers of Hotels, Resorts and Guest Houses there. After negotiation, we got a discounted room in Hotel Geetanjali(HPTDC Hotel) for around INR 400. One can have a decent single room for INR 300-1000 in April, but in May/June it’s very difficult to find rooms even for 1200 min. After checking in to the Hotel & taking Lunch we went to the Mall. Spent some time in Gandhi Chowk & then had a round back through Subhash chowk. Dalhousie city is spread over three little places connect to each other with road, called as The Mall. Gandhi-Chowk, Subhash-Chowk and Bus-Stand. Dalhousie is a gateway to Chamba (10th AD primordial state), with its innate exquisiteness. Situated at an altitude of 6800 ft., it’s an incredible place. Dalhousie in its present shape was founded in 1850’s when the British acquired five hills from the ruler of the ChambaState for developing the area as a sanatorium.
Dalhousie is better known for its stretch over 5 hills. But I liked the cool breeze with fairly good amount of sunlight at the ridge. We took some snacks and without delay left for Panchpula.
Panchpula is 6620 feet above from sea level, 5 km from Dalhousie, have a historic effigy of late Sardar Ajeet singh (Bhagat Singh’s paternal uncle). Panchpula has a beautiful waterfall. It was a good walk from Gandhi Chowk to Panchpula. After some discussion with some local folks we came to know about a waterfall on a hill which was about 400 m. from Panchpula Stand. We moved towards the waterfall & reached there within 10 min. we spent some time near this waterfall & came back to the mall. Vikas was very happy to be back in the town (He was waiting for something??). Now search started for a wine-shop. We got it within 2-3 mins. We had some beer & then had a round of whole town. Then we spent some time in Subhash Chowk & had dinner at ‘Sher-E-punjab’ not ‘Shere Punjab’. Actually there were two hotels in Subhash chowk ‘Sher-E-punjab’ & ‘Shere Punjab’. We tried both the places in two days & food at ‘Sher-E-punjab’ was good, especially Butter Chicken. There we met a foreigner who was here in India for last 4 Months. He was actually aware of most of the items in the Menu & ordered Chana-Poori. It was a coincident that he was also staying in Geetanjali. After some good discussion about Indian food, fashion & fairs, we went towards Court-Road of Dalhousie. There are some good resorts on the other end of Court-Road. It was about 2200 hrs when we reached Geetanjali. We had gr8 fun that evening.
Day-2: 14th April, 2007 (Bakrota Hills, Khajjiar, Chamba, Ravi, ChameraLake, Rock Garden)
After a 6 hrs sleep, I awoke at 6000 hrs in the morning, took bath and had little walk on the Mall. These were the most relaxing moments of whole trip. We went to ScottishChurch, but since it was closed we got no more information. We booked a cab yesterday evening with Prince Travels, who have well settled transport business in Dalhousie. They charged INR 250 per person and accommodated 8 people in that cab. Our cab left towards Bakrota Hills, which is 7640 ft. above the sea level & 8 km from Dalhousie. On the way we saw very good boarding schools ‘DalhousiePublic School’ and ‘HillTopPublic School’, having very good infrastructure. On the northern side of this Bakrota circle, there were beautiful views of the Pangi range & on the southern side, one can enjoy the vistas of the valleys and rivers of the Panjab plains below. Noble laureate Rabindrabath Tagore spent a few months with his father at Snowdun cottage in Upper Bakrota. We got a chance to meet Satish Koushik & have a photograph with him. He was there for a movie shoot out in Bakrota hills.
After Bakrota hill there is a station ‘Bara Pathar’, there is a tea stall and outdoor amphitheater. Also located here is an open-air temple of Bhuvani-Mata. These open-air temples are unique to the hills.
Khajjiar is the most exotic and scenic beauty place around 22 Km from Dalhousie. Khajjiar is officially proclaimed the mini-Switzerland of India. At an altitude of 6450 ft, this saucer shaped green meadow, ringed by Devadar Trees has a lake in the middle complete with floating island. I liked horseback riding and strolling. It’s the best place to spend more time as compare to the other places. We spent around 2 hrs & enjoyed Horse riding there. After negotiation you can get a peripheral Horse ride for 100 Rs.
We reached Chamba city at around 1500 hrs, but got disappointed after looking at chaotic condition of Chugan promenade.
The famous Minjar festival takes place in Chugan. We had our lunch in Chamba & tried some local dishes. Then we went to Lakshmi-NarayanTemple. This is in the middle of Chamba Market. This temple has lord Vishnu and Shiva effigies. There are Sui mata and Chamunda temples uphill around 3 Km away.
We missed the opportunity to visit Rang Mahal due to shortage of time. Also, adding to our bad luck, the Bhuri Singh museum was closed for state holiday
Chamba is situated along side river Ravi (locally known as Iravati). There was a marvelous view of snow on 11000 feet high mountains of PangiValley. From local people I came to know that river Chandrabhaga (or Chenab) gorges through Pangi. One should stand for a while near Chugan and experience soothing sound of Ravi.
Next we moved on to Chamera Project in kriyan village. NHPC Chamera is divided into 3 stages as Chamera 1, 2, 3 located at different places - Kheri, kriyan, garlot. Kriyan project generate 540 MW Electricity. After Chamera we also went to Rock Garden, it was not interesting for us. Actually that place was a normal place, but seen a lot of tourists there. So people from big cities might be interested to that place since it’s a dry river with big Rocks & few artistic pieces made out of rocks. Both of us were used to of this kind of places & not enjoyed much. Now came back to Dalhousie at 1900 hrs. We found that the town is very crowded & realized that the day was Saturday. Most of the Punjabis (belongs to north side to Punjab) like to come to Dalhousie since it’s the nearest hill station for them. Vikas was really happy to see the crowd & we spent 1:30 hrs on Gandhi Chowk & then went to Tibetan Market near Gandhi Chowk. This market was respectively very costly & came back without anything. Vikas was really interested to buy something from Dalhousie and we started exploring the market for some unique things. Finally we spotted to a shop having some local craft works. Shopkeeper showed us some hankies and told that these are hand made; even thread used is also made by the local people of Chamba. When we asked for the cost, it was 1800+. Vikas came out & said that I will try this myself, Thanx.
There is good shop (Himalayan Handicraft) on Mall road (between Gandhi Chowk & Subhash Chowk) where you can get some good handicraft(Kullu Shawl, Chamba Shawl, Himachali Topi & some other winter wears) items on reasonable rates. Again we had dinner at ‘Sher-E-Pujab’ & came back to Hotel.
So, second day was a round trip covering a lot of places on the way. (Dalhousie-Bakrota Hills-Lakkar Mandi- Khajjiar – Chamba – Ravi River – Chamera Project – Rock Garden - Banikhet - Dalhousie)
Day-3: 15th April, 2007 (Dain Hills & Kala Top): the best day of our trip
After a sound sleep last night we were ready to go for trekking at 8:00. After breakfast we took HRTC bus to ‘Lakkar Mandi’. There is a hamlet of Dhogria tribals here. A few tea stalls and country stores are here, for refreshment and recuperation. From here, one trek leads to KalaTopForest rest house. This is a pleasant, plain walk. The other uphill trek goes to Dain Hill, the highest point around Dalhousie. From Lakkar Mandi we started moving towards Dain-hills. It was 5 km from Lakkar Mandi.Dain Hill is toppest hill in Dalhousie (9500 feet). There is fantastic 360 degree view from the top. You can have a view of two RaviRiver & RanjeetSagarLake.
Then we moved towards Pohlani Mata temple, which was 2 Km on feet from Dian Hills. The motivation to there was snow & we enjoyed it a lot. There is panoramic view of the ice-covered PirPanjalRange. It is surrounded by thick forests, and the treks through these forests & the slopes of the mountains are most rewarding. So now we had to go back to Lakkar Mandi on feet. After covering 14 odd kms on feet we reached Lakkar Mandi at 1:30. After taking some drinks & snacks from Lakkar mandi we moved towards ‘Kala-Top’ National Forest Sanctuary. There is also a wine-shop (I thought, it’s important to mention because some trekkers might be interested to have beer on the way to Kala Top).You can go by your personal vehicle by paying 100 Rs. at the gate as Entry pass fee. Located almost midway between Dalhousie and Khajjiar, Kalatop is a beautiful forested area. A very thick and dark forest crowns the hilltop and perhaps that is why the place has derived its name as Kalatop which literally means a black cap. It was really a fantastic stretch of 3 km. I will recommend not missing this place, you will enjoy a lot if you can manage to go on feet. We shot a lot of photographs here. Pheasants and Monal and various other birds can be frequently seen in the place. Leopards, black bear are also found by travelers occasionally, but we were not able to see anything except some colorful birds.
We came back to Lakkar Mandi & took a bus to Dalhousie. We reached at 1700 hrs, took late very late lunch.After checking out from Geetanjali we reached bus-stand to take bus back to Delhi. There is a last bus at 1830 hrs & we took the same. Suddenly we realized that the trip was over. After some time Vikas says – “Kash hamara Office Dalhaousie mein hota” & immediately said that “To shayad Dalhousie bhi Noida jaisa polluted hota”.
Last day was the best day of whole trip. Kalatop & Dain-Hill are the best places if you are interested in natural beauty & fond of Trekking.
Ultimately it was very good time in Dalhousie!!! The best places were Dalhousie, Khajjiar, Dain-Kund & kalatop according to our interests. If you are more interested in Temples then Chamba is the best place.
Many a times I have come across people who tell me that they have visited Coorg and my first question would be “Where in Coorg?”. “Cooorg” comes the answer. Well..not many people realise that Coorg (aka Kodagu) is actually a District, and the town Madikeriis its district headquarters.
Coorg is known for its coffee plantations primarily.But then there’s a lot of other things one gets to see in Coorg.
Getting there
The town of Madikeri is around 230 kms from bangalore. The only mode of transport is through road and it takes abt 5 - 5.5hrs.
The first time we (Vijay and me) went there by KSRTC bus and it was then that we learnt it the hard way that having a own vehicle is the best way to get around,else you need to be at the mercy of the local auto-rickshaw fellows or the private bus operators.
The next time that we went there (Priyam, Krishna, CV and me), we drove down to Coorg.
Route : Take the four laned Mysore road till Ranganathittu and proceed till you hit the Hunsur road,then on to Hunsur, and to KushalNagar.
Madikeri is 40 kms from Kushal Nagar.
My personal opinion is to stay in Kushal Nagar rather than Madikeri for 2 reasons
Most of the places that one would visit are near to Kushal Nagar
It is less crowded than the town of Madikeri
Before I get on with the nitty-gritties of the “what-to-do”, one word of advice “Ensure you have made arrangements for accomodation”.
Orange County in Kushal nagar is a nice option if you are willing to shell out a decent amount of money.Other good option is Hotel Kannika International in Kushal nagar.
Madikeri has loads of options close to Bus stand.
Day I (Oct 30 2004) We started from Bangalore early in the morning and as usual stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast. After this , we proceeded to Srirangapatna ,10 kms before the city of Mysore, to visit the temple of Ranganatha swamy.
By the time we reached Kushal Nagar after the brief stops, it was around 2 PM when we checked into Kannika International.
We decided to take it easy for a couple of hours before we decided on an agenda for the evening.
In the evening, we decided to visit Bylakuppe , which houses the largest tibetian monastery in India. There is this Golden temple in the Namdroling monastry which is a must-see. Streams of monks wearing yellow and maroon robes can be seen all around this monastery.
Its a good idea to visit this place in the morning or when there is ample lighting. The walls of the prayer hall have colored glasses that let the natural lights into the hall.There are 3 statues , each of 40 ft high inside this temple.
The statues are of Padmasambhava, Buddha and Amitayus.
It was getting dark as we got out of the monastery and headed towards Kushal Nagar. With no specific agenda and time in hand, we decided to explore the place. We then headed towards Veerbhoomi, a place where one gets to see the cultural side of Karnataka with folk dancers performing while the dinner is served. The approach road was very bad and the experience inside also was not all that great for us.
After a long day , all we wanted to do was to have a good rest and gear up for the next day.
Day II
Coorg is said to be the place from where the river cauvery originates. So, we set out in the morning after a light breakfast to TalaCauvery, which is around 30 kms from the town of Madikeri. From Kushal nagar, it took us almost an hour and a half to reach as the roads were bad. The place of origin of cauvery is a small tank. We took a dip in the tank. The cold water was refreshing enough to beat the heat of the day.
From this place, steep steps lead to a hill top (Brahmagiri) from where one can have a bird’s eye view of the whole area around.The climb is steep and there are no support railing to hold on. The view and the breeze are worth the climb.
On the way down from Talacauvery, there is a temple known as Bhagamandala. This temple resembles the temples of kerala in its structure.
After a brief stopover in the temple,we headed back to Madikeri for lunch. Madikeri has few options for vegetarians near the bus stand. One place that you would probably want to skip is Raja’s Seat. Today this is just a park with a toy train for the kids amusement.
Since it was around noon that we landed in Madikeri , the Omkareshwara temple was closed.The architecture of this Shiva temple is muslim-like structure, with a central Dome and four minarets. A tank in front of the temple provide serenity to the temple.
Off we were, bidding farewell to Madikeri ,and heading towards Nisargadhama, a place where Cauvery has been diverted through. We spent close to an hour sitting on the rocks in the water and cooling our heels. The quite atmosphere adds to the calm. It was beginning to get dark and we decided to head back to the hotel.
Day III
This was the last day of the outing and we had saved this for Dubare , an elephant training camp ,around 8 kms from Kushal Nagar. The roads are narrow, but motorable except for the last stretch of 100 metres. Hang on, you are still not there yet.The last leg of the journey to the elephant camp has to be covered by boat across the cauvery.
As we were getting out of the boat, the first of the big visitor was on its way into the river. You get to spend time with the elephants, bathing them, feeding them with the specially-made food.
There is a doctor in the camp who explains all about elephants. Pretty interesting lecture. Finally the elephants get ready to give the visitors a ride on their back. All these activites are a part of a package that costs INR 150 per person.
If you are a person who is not fascinated by the huge creation of Mother Nature, then you could sit among the rocks in the river and enjoy the serene settings.All in all , this place has something to offer for everyone.
Plan to reach here as early as 7.30 or 8 in the morning so that you get to spend time with the elephants and also enjoy the nature sitting on the rocks.
Finally, the time had come for us to bid adieu and get back to rozi-roti. A long weekend well spent..
Last but not the least, the machine that helped us make it …. my fav.wagon
There are few thousand people who go to Haridwar everyday and most of them use the traditional route of
Delhi - Meerut - Khatauli - Purkaji - Muzaffarnagar - Chhapar - Roorkee - Haridwar
and then there are some who go much less often and take the road less traversed.
which even though being a national highway is actually nothing closed to being called one. This highway is actually not better then any small town road and can actually get worse then that courtesy the usual traffic rush and impatient drivers. Also, the towns which fall on the way are not too great outsiders-lovers and their own life revolves around this highway, unlike NH1 esp between Delhi and Amritsar section, where you do get long stretches of no-habitation. So all this heavy traffic is dealt with bad speed breakers and what not.
So in one of our trips, we had the same dilemma and we were struggling hard to figure out whether an alternate route will make sense. We were essentially thinking of a way to avoid this highway as much as possible and if somehow we can connect to NH24, which is much better and quicker.
And after lot of calculations and some brave calls, we decided to do the following
This route will connect us back to the standard road at Meerut and was coming out to be about 25 KMs costlier but we took the bait and boy, it was worth it, every meter of it.
Haridwar - Kotdwar / Najibabad : From Haridwar, turn right at the gol chakkar (roundabout) towards najibabad / kotdwar. This is a big turn and anyone would know it. As you turn right, you hop on to a bridge ending in a temple. If your taste buds dont need the certificate of city-clean-food always and are permeable enough for street food then have some fresh fruit chat. If you love visiting temples then there is this famous temple on the river bank, I think it was Durga, I am not 100 % sure though. Keep driving on this road and you will notice that you are actually driving along a animal sanctuary, Rajaji. All those years, we used to look at Jim Corbett map and wonder that how come this is so big, as big as 500 Sq KM and we never know from where it starts and where does it finish. So actually this road connects to the Kumaon and you can go to Kashipur and to Corbett. Rajaji has lots of Elephants and you may get lucky.
The road is very well laid, the tar was fresh but it was not meant for a high speed drive so be careful as it can get a little bumpy and the curves could get dangerous. Keep driving straight till you get a gantry where you need to take a right which goes towards Bijnaur and then further to Delhi.
Najibabad - Bijanur : In this section you hit smaller towns, villages but no traffic. You keep going straight, occasionally you will have a tractor or two to maneuver or a group of cattle but thats fine. Again, you dont hit more then 100, usually you drive at 70 but with no traffic, fields on both sides and a countryside to cherish, you wont get fatigued.
Bijnaur - Mirapur : Bijanur is the biggest town in this route so you would want to stop and take a bite, there are some decent option. We stopped at ‘Vyanjan Vatika’ which is just after Bijanur. From here you need to go straight to Mirapur. This section is the best section in terms of driving pleasure and speed. The road is really impressive, you can push the pedal and you still dont see too much of traffic. But now we are entering into the sugrcane belt.
Mirapur - Mawana - Meerut : From Mirapur, you go towards Mawana, the town which has made its name in Sugar trading. Mawana is a decently sized town and you can get your provisions here incase you are a long drive and most likely coming from Delhi. It takes a while to clear Mawana owing to petty traffic and from here you head on to Meerut.
Getting Through Meerut :This gets a little tricky so avoid this route in odd hours since you would need to ask your way through. Go towards Cantt, then towards jail-chowk or karagar-chowk or something like that. Move towards Chaudhary Charan Singh University and you will reach a fork, take right and then first left again. There is a minuscule, hidden cut on your right so be very very vigilant. Once you take this right, you will wonder that where-the-hell you are driving since now you are a narrow tar-strip with fields on both sides. Again avoid this in odd hours, keep going straight and you will meet the main highway. Go a little further and now you are on partapur bypasss, hooooh you are back.
From there you just go straight towards Ghaziabad and then hit Delhi.
So if you are looking for a countryside drive which is away from the maddening crowd on the main highway then take this one and you will thank your stars. We did this in Apr’2007 and roads can change over time but its well worth it.
