As the vacations were about to end, we wanted to visit a cool place to beat the heat of Bengaluru. Though we had visited Madikeri individually, all of us wanted to visit it together as a family before the monsoon set in.
How did we go?
We started at 6.30 am by car on a Friday. We had breakfast on the way and made an impromptu visit to Brindavan Gardens. There were hardly any visitors during mid-morning. We resumed our journey after about an hour at the garden and reached Madikeri at about 2.30 pm.
What did we do?
We first visited Madikeri Fort. Beautiful elephant statues and a long walkway adjacent to the fort boundary wall were the highlights at the fort. Next, we visited Raja’s Seat, where a view of the nearby hills provided a beautiful backdrop! Bhagamandala, which was about 40 kilometre from our homestay, was next on our list. The Bhagandeshwara Temple and Triveni Sangama, where rivers Cauvery, Kannike and Sujyoti meet at one point, were the highlights here. The next point of our visit was Talakaveri, the birthplace of river Cauvery, which was eight kilometres away. We had an exhilarating experience of clouds passing through us as we approached Talakaveri. We climbed an adjacent hill from where the view of the surrounding hills looked splendid.
We took a detour on our way back to Madikeri to visit Chelavara Falls but found the road closed for repair. We were surprised to come across an impressive Kalabhairava temple at Kakotuparambu on the way to Madikeri. An adjacent hillock covered with grass turned out to be another beautiful spot. Abbey Falls was about seven kilometre from our homestay. Though one cannot reach its water as the viewing area is fenced, it was a pleasure to behold its beauty. Next was Dubare Elephant Camp. We reached the camp around noon on that day but the time was not right for elephant-related activities. However, one thing that we really enjoyed there was the rubber boat ride in river Cauvery. We had lunch at a restaurant on the banks of the river and left for Bylakuppe, where we visited the Golden Temple of Tibetan settlement.
On Monday, we packed our bags and returned to Bengaluru with many sweet memories of our trip.
(The author can be contacted at vidyasagar.mundroy@gmail.com)
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Vidyasagar Mundroy / July 13th, 2017
