Karnataka

Karnataka is a land of ancient temples, wildlife sanctuaries, unexplored forests, awe inspiring waterfalls, beautiful beaches, sprawling coffee plantations and much more. This southern state has a varied geography with and climate. Coastal plains lie on the western side bordering the Arabian Sea sporting a warm and humid climate for most part of the year. Mountains, valleys and farmlands in the interior regions have hot summers and cool winters.
Karnatakas rich heritage and history are evident in the numerous temples and heritage sites present in the state such as Hoysala temples at Belur, Hampi, Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, Ibrahim Rauza, cave temples at Badami and the rock-cut temples at Aihole, monolith of Gomateshwara Bahubali at Shravanabelagola and Mysore Place. Karnataka invites beach lovers to Murudeshwara,Gokarna and Karwar and the religious to Udupi Sri Krishna Matha, the Marikamba Temple at Sirsi, the Sri Manjunatha Temple at Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya Temple and Sharadamba Temple at Shringeri, Kudalasangama, Basavana Bagewadi, Mudabidri and Karkala.
Karnatakas natural heritage, the forests and wildlife are fondly cared for in Bandipur National Park, Bannerghatta National Park, Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary, Dubare – Elephant Camp and Kudremukh National Park to name only a few. Natural wonders abound in the state in the form of Jog Falls (India’s tallest single-tiered waterfall), Gokak Falls, Unchalli Falls, Magod Falls, Abbey Falls and Shivanasamudra Falls among many.
Karnataka has a good network of railways, national and state highways and has international airports at Bengaluru and Mangalore.

COORGI DELIGHTS-GOLDEN TEMPLE AND NISARGADHAMA

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The place has a guest house and treetop cottages run by the Forest Dept. I heard from the regular visitors to the place that tourists were allowed to enter into the river at certain safe and shallow points to enjoy themselves under the watch of the guards. But I found all those entry points locked and out-of-bounds for tourists. The guards at the place said that this was a precautionary step to avoid any mishaps because of flash floods which were possible sometimes in January. He also added that in March and April, there was no restrictions for tourists to enter the river. I wondered how much water will be there in the river then !

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COORGI DELIGHTS-SRIRANGAPATNA

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Pet puja done, we moved on past Channapatna(famous for its toys), Mandya and at 10.30 AM reached SriRangapatna, a place of great religious, cultural and historical importance. Located 20 kms from Mysore City, the entire town is an Island enclosed by the River Cauvery. The town gets its name from the famous Sri Ranganathasamy Temple. The temple, one of the important Vaishnavite pilgrimage centres was built in the 9th Century and is a mix of Hoysala and Vijayanagar styles of Architecture(Thanks:Wikipedia).

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Coorgi Delights – Reaching Coorg

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The shortest route from my hometown in Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur to Madikeri (Coorg’s largest town) passes through Mysore and is around 315 kms. But going by this route meant a difficult climb on the Dhimbam Hills from Bannari Checkpost in Tamilnadu right upto the TN-Karnataka border just past Hasanur (An almost vertical climb with 27 continuous hairpin bends in just 16 kms). This was a strict no-no because my wife has a chronic allergy to hill travel and vomits incessantly during hill rides, of which I have had many unpleasant experiences, especially during one trip to Munnar on a packed Innova and during another ride on the Palani-Kodaikanal route last summer. Inexplicably she never has any problems when riding up hills on a bike and that is the reason for my many bike trips to nearby Ooty (Thanks for small mercies). So, I had to choose a relatively less adventurous route and picked the Bangalore-Mysore-Madikeri route as my best option. Although this doubled my travel distance (Tirupur to Bangalore to Madikeri is 575 kms by road) there was no other choice.

Travelling to Coorg from Bangalore, though has its own attractions. The stretch between Bangalore and Mysore is dotted with many tourist hotspots. The ride is almost a tracing back of river Cauvery from the plains to its birthplace in Coorg district. Srirangapatna an island situated in the midst of Cauvery river, is renowned for its famous Ranganathasamy Temple and the historical sites connected with the reign of the brave Tipu Sultan and his encounters with the British. Further on the route, a mere 6 kms after Srirangapatna is the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, the largest of its kind in Karnataka. Here guided Boat tours are available throughout the day to watch the birds. Along with the birds, the riders on the boat can also enjoy the thrilling sight of huge crocodiles, sun-bathing on the rocks, precariously close to the boat’s edge.

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