Source: Deccan Herald

By:
Vishalakshi Rao,
Bangalore,
Sunday, January 11,2004

Coorg is one of the favourite holiday destinations around Bangalore. With endless coffee estates, winding roads hill terrain, nippy climate, numerous treks, Bangaloreans can explore the possibility of seeing different areas in Coorg, every time they need to take off and unwind. So did a handful of us.

On our last trip, we stayed at the hospitable chilligiri estate 4 km from Kutta town, where the hostess, with her delectable cuisine and home made wine, made our stay very delightful.

With us were some Italians who had come to travel across South India and a French couple who were exploring south India by bicycle (and nearly had a runin with an elephant in Nagarhole!)

On our last day, we decided to do an interesting trek from Irpu Falls up Brahmagiri peak.

Irpu Falls is actually a short walk from Chilligiri, but we first had to stop by at the forest ranger in Srimangala and take permits to explore the area around the falls. We then drove down to Irpu, seven km from kutta town and first stopped at the ancient Shiva temple below.

Its architecture is very similar to the temples in Kerala, with a huge courtyard and small structures around. The belief is that Lord Rama himself dedicated this temple to Ishwara and it's a "must" to pay homage here before we take a dip in the Lakshmanthirtha river close by.

We then trekked up a kilometre or so to Irpu and reached the forest officer's camp from where we took two forest guards to accompany our group of six. The forest is extremely virgin with huge bamboos and dense foliage playing host to a range of wildlife from the tiger, leopard, jungle cat, barking deer to gaur, sloth bear and, of course, the wild elephant.

Our final destination was the Brahmagiri peak at 5700 feet, an uphill trek of approximately five hours. Our route initially was winding along the forest where we came across a sprinkling of bird life and spotted macaque to our surprise!.

There was tons of fresh elephant dung along the way and the thought that kept crossing our mind was that if we do encounter a wild elephant then what? All of us were geared up to climb the nearest tree, as the path was too narrow to run anywhere else!

As we went higher, the foliage gave way to shold grasslands and we could clearly see the Brahmagiri range, extending to the Aralam Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala and Nagarahole in Karnataka. I could now understand why Coorg is called the Scotland of India. The fantastic views, cool breeze against our face, and the soft sunlight on our skin kept us going.

We decided to take a break at Narimalaibetta (which actually means Tiger hill), where the forest department has a camp house. If you visit for a couple of days, an overnight stay can be organised here, but you have to cook your own food.

We replenished ourselves with some fruits and snacks and with a rush of adreanline, made it to the top that was another four km from this site.

The views were stunning from here and we were wished we had planned an overnight trip. But it gave us an incentive to come back again. It was getting late (descents always being much faster) and ran right into the falls where we "cooled off." Then, we drove back to the estate for a hot bath, early dinner and some home-made wine by the fireplace, and were really glad that we had taken this little detour off the beaten track for a truly memorable day.

Travel Tips

To get there Irpu is a short drive (14 km) from Nagarhole National Park. Alternately from Madekeri take a detour after Srimangala, situated on the kutta Road.

Stay : Numerous private estates like Chilligiri Estate (08274 444265), RamCad Guest House (08274 426228), High Falls Holiday (08274 426027) Home, all close to Irpu.

Alternately any hotel/inn in Nagarhole.

Permits: Approach the Range Forest Office, Wildlife Range, Srimangala - 571217. Tel : 08274-426331 or Deputy Conservator of Forests, Hunsur Wildlife Division, Hunsur, 0821-652041.

Time of the Year: Best time to trek is between November and February. Avoid the rainy season as the whole area gets leech infested!