Monsoon Magic in Malnad

Malnad:

    Monsoon is the season when the nature has loudest conversation with people. And we were about to discover how loud it gets.

  "Malenadu (also Malnad, from either male, 'hill' or maļe, 'rain', with nādu, 'land') is a region of Karnataka state in South India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range, roughly 100 kilometers in width. Malenadu covers portions of Belgaum, Shimoga, Chikkamagaluru, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu and Hassan districts.The hills of Malenadu are richly forested. Coffee and Arecanut are grown in many places. Sagara, sirsi, Siddapura, Yellapur, Mudigere, Sakleshpura, Aldur, Balehonnur are in north part of Karnataka. Madikeri and Somavarapete are towns in the coffee-growing region."

  This trip was a round trip which covered our native places as we had family functions to attend after which we went to Thirthahalli to enjoy the monsoon season in Malnad region and the trip concluded back in Bangalore.

Route map of the round trip

First 4 days ( 30/6/2013 - 3/7/2013):  

   We left Bangalore at 5:00 AM and reached Kushalnagar by 10:00 AM with a usual stop for breakfast on the way. An uneventful and peaceful early morning drive. Even the rains stayed away along with traffic during this drive. We had a family function next day and few of the relatives had already gathered in my in laws house, so the day went catching up with them and chit chatting.

   We attended the function next day and left for Mangalore after lunch and a coffee at around 2:30 PM along with my parents who had come to attend this function. This section of the road has excellent road till Sullia. Sampaje ghat section had been relayed and enjoyed the freshly laid twisting road and light drizzle thoroughly.

Sampaje Ghat

  The stretch of road from Sullia till we hit Mangalore - Bangalore highway at Mani was under construction and with all the potholes filled with rain water going was slow. And rain was giving us company through out the journey and became heavier once we descended from Sampaje ghat. We reached home by 7:00 PM.

  Next 2 days were spent in Mangalore, attending another family function and enjoying the continuous downpour with occasional splash of lightning and thunder.

Life is everywhere and monsoon brings it alive

Day 5 (04/07/2013):

  We woke up early at 5:00 AM. My parents were joining us for this trip, we all got ready by 6:00 AM and left home. It had rained through out the previous night and was still drizzling when we left.

Early morning rain flagged us off for this journey

  Patches of roads were still under construction so had to maneuver through water filled potholes. But roads were empty and weather was pleasant. In no time, rain transformed itself from steady drizzle to heavy downpour.

 We reached Manipal by 7:00 AM and drove towards Hebri. By now rain had stopped and surroundings had become much greener as we had moved away from highway closer towards the ghat section.

 It was very foggy and cold outside. Though the roads were narrower, with almost no traffic driving was easy. We crossed Hebri at 7:40 AM and reached Someshwara at 8:00 AM. We stopped here for breakfast. Had breakfast in Hotel Ganesh, bought a pack of home made mango pickle (Appi midi). This entire region is famous for this pickle and for any pickle lover it is worth a try and is available only during late summer and early monsoon season. 

Someshwara town

  Someshwara is a small town on the base of Agumbe ghat. Lot of eateries here with malnad special breakfast menu. And here you can shop for spices and pickle too. After breakfast we started our onward journey. I was exited to drive in this ghat which is famous for its hairpin bends. I have my childhood memories of going through Agumbe ghat in mini buses, but that was good 25 years ago. Roads have become much wider now, especially in the hairpin bends.  It was still drizzling in patches and very foggy outside with minimal visibility. Honking away to glory was the only option to let others know about your presence on the road.

Agumbe Ghat

  We stopped at the sunset point (though it was early morning) to soak in the beauty of the surroundings. From here you can see Arabian sea and sunset on a clear evening. I still remember passengers collecting money and tipping the driver and conductor of the mini buses to stop for viewing sunset here. 

Sunset point @ Agumbe Ghat

And now, this is what we get to see

    And once we reached top at 8:50 AM, we had hardly driven 2 odd kms, nature which  was  whispering to us till now has its first loudest conversation. It tells us to take a diversion and go around through Kammaradi to reach Thirthahalli as Tunga river had decided to take the road instead of her own path today. We reached Kammaradi at 9:35 AM and proceed towards Kalmane. After crossing Kalmane, we were welcomed by river Tunga, and she was on the road again. We waited for a while as no body was venturing into crossing this section of road.  Then i saw a mini truck coming from other side and had a fair guess of how deep the water was and decided to take the car for a swim.

Water crossing near Thirthahalli

  Water was deeper than i had expected and at one point reached bonnet level, but we crossed without any damage done. Stopped for a quick check and we drove on to reach Thirthahalli by 10:20 AM. We continued our journey and reached Sagar by 12:00 PM.  We stopped for a early lunch at Hotel Pavithra, Sagar. And entered Jog at 1:30 PM. 

@ Jog

 It started to rain once we reached Jog falls. We waited for the rain to stop and then went out to see one of the famous water falls in its full glory. We hired a guide who took us around to see the falls from different view points.

Jog falls

Bird's view of Jog falls

There is a Govt guest house too if you wish to stay there

   After thoroughly enjoying the beauty of of this majestic falls we left at 3:15 PM and reached Vihangama Holiday Retreat in Thirthahalli at 6:00 PM.

Vihangama Holiday Retreat, Thirthahalli

  We had a early dinner at 8:30 PM and retired for the day.

Day 6(05/07/2013):

 Woke up at 7:00 AM, freshened up, had breakfast and left from resort at 10:00 AM. First we went to Thirthahalli town to fill fuel, from there went to Kuppalli and reached at 11:00 AM.  When we reached Kuppalli, it was raining, so we waited for the rain to stop. First we visited poet Kuvempu's house.

Kuvempu's house @ Kuppalli

They have an exhibition too

From there we went Kavishaila, a place which inspired Kuvempu to pen down those beautiful poems.

Kavishaila

Kuvempu and his better half

 After spending more than 2 and half hours in Kuppalli we left from there. We also shopped for CDs of Kuvempu's  poems and books written by him. My parents wanted to leave back to Mangalore as their main purpose of the tour of seeing Jog falls was done. We drove to Koppa. Had lunch there and went to bus stop. We left from there once my parents got into a bus towards Mangalore. By this time it was already 3:30 PM. We had plans of visiting Kundadri Betta, but as the time did not permit. We came back to Thirthahalli town by 4:00 PM, did some shopping and went back to the resort at 5:00 PM.

  Once in resort, had a coffee and with weather permitting, went for walk around the resort property and clicked some pictures.

Vihangama Holiday Retreat

They have a dog too

To measure the rain fall

Vihangama Holiday Retreat

  And it started raining

  We went back to the room, asked them to prepare hot bajjis and coffee and enjoyed the rain. Had dinner and bid good night to the day.

Day 7(06/07/2013):

  Woke up at around 7:00 AM, freshened up and went for a walk in the resort property. Soon it started to rain again, so we returned back. Had our breakfast, got ready and left resort at 10:30 AM to Kaveledurga fort. Road was in excellent condition for most of part of the drive. Slight drizzle was giving us company throughout.

En-route Kavaledurga fort

  We reached Kavaledurga at 11:30 AM. From base of the hill, it is a 3 KM trek to the fort at the top of the hill. There is a govt. appointed guide who stays at the base of the hill. He advised us not to venture into this trekking as the entire path has become dangerously slippery due to heavy rain. So we decided to return to this place in a drier season. Took some pictures of the surroundings and started our return journey.

There is a temple at the base of the hill

Around Kavaledurga hill

  On our drive back, we took a deviation to Hosakoppa to make the day more interesting. This stretch of the road is very narrow and curvy, but hardly any traffic. We reached resort at 1:15 PM after a quick stop at Thirthahalli town for some shopping. Had our lunch and rested for a while.

  We left the resort at 2:30 PM and drove towards Mandagadde bird sanctuary. Its about 27 KM drive towards Shimoga. Road is in excellent condition here, but need to be careful about the local buses. We reached Mandagadde at 3:00 PM. Water level was high and most part of the island where the birds reside was under water. We climbed the watch tower and watched the birds at a distance.

  We left from here after spending an hour at 4:00 PM and returned to Vihangama at 4:30 PM. We went out for a walk on the banks of the river Tunga which flows adjacent to the resort's property after enjoying a hot cup of coffee and assorted bajjis. 

  We tried chinese food for dinner and for the first time we were disappointed with the food we had in this resort.

Day 8(07/07/2013):

  We woke up at 7:00 AM, got ready, had breakfast, settled our bills and left from resort at 9:15 AM.  We drove towards Shimoga, excellent roads and you get to cross some thick teak wood forest on the way. We stopped at Gajanur Dam. But as the water level was dangerously high, no visitors were allowed. So we drove on and crossed Shimoga at 10:30 AM. Our return route was Thirthahalli - Shimoga- Bhadravathi - Kadur - Birur - Arasikere - Tiptur - Gubbi - Thumkur - Bangalore. We stopped at Tarikere at 11:15 AM for a tea and crossed Arasikere at 12:30 PM. We had lunch at Kamath Upachar at Thumkur and reached home by 4:30 PM.

Review on resort:
   
  We stayed in Vihangama Holiday Retreat for 3 days and had a pleasant experience. We particularly enjoyed the greenery around, they have a well maintained property. This place is less than 5 KMs from Thirthahalli town and on Thirthahalli - Shimoga highway which makes it very accessible. River Thunga flows right next to the resort and people who loves swimming can take full advantage of it (not during monsoon though) . Food was excellent and was served in time every day. Evening snacks are available on demand at an extra cost. All in all an excellent choice for stay in Malnad region. 

Malnad, you are beautiful...