+For more information and places to see in Coorg, see my post on driving to Coorg
As we drove up the hills beyond Kushalnagar early in the morning, the ubiquitous fog announced the arrival of the town of Madikeri. On a wet, cold and foggy Saturday morning, with visibility reduced to near nothingness and no soul seen on the roads, we arrived at Madikeri on our way to Kakkabe in Coorg. I first drove to Raja Seat – a garden where the king of Kodagu once used to sit and relax against a picturesque valley, but was predictably rebuffed by endless fog blocking the views, and the incessant drizzle of the cold morning. Despite the fog and the drizzle, it was beautiful, comforting and elating. A plate of steaming Idlis and hot coffee later, we were quickly on our way to Kakkabe.
More about Coorg on paintedstork.com
* Hiking up the Brahmagiri
* Driving to Coorg
On the few occasions when the rains did not lash the car‘s windscreen, a constant drizzle still kept the wipers busy. Every inch of the road was wet and every bit of earth was green. Distant hills were covered with clouds indicating many more rainy sessions ahead in the day. We were on our way to climbing Thadiyandamol, the tallest peak in Kodagu or its more popular anglicized name – Coorg.
Views of the distant hills from the place where we stayed
We reached Kakkabe village at the base of Thadiyandamol at around nine in the morning. One look at the cold and cloudy weather and we decided against climbing the mountain and check-in to the cozy and comfortable home-stay resort run by Poovannas on the way. To tell you the truth, even when we started from Bangalore, I secretly dreamt of sitting and relaxing in the lobby of a warm Coorgi house, though I put up a brave face and made claims of climbing up Thadiyandamol. To my delight, I realized that my fellow travellers were no different and had the same thing in mind! And the fact that I had already climbed up Thadiyandamol twice earlier helped making the decisions. But end of the day, that‘s just an excuse, and we were just being lazy and looking forward to indulge in good things that came with the rains!
The estate of Poovannas is at a picturesque location
We settled down to the warm hospitality of Poovannas and hot fresh coffee made from homegrown beans. We did not need much to do beyond sitting on the lobby and relax with a book or a cup of coffee while we watched the raindrops come down. In fact when I called the Poovannas previous evening telling that we shall be arriving tomorrow, the lady of the house said – “It‘s raining heavily here, are you sure you want to come?” And we had smiled, since it is the rain that we wanted to experience.
There is water and greenery where-ever you see
After we settled down, Prasad, the younger one of the Poovannas directed us to a waterfall close by. It turned out that the fiercely roaring waterfall was just five minutes walk behind the house and right inside their coffee estate.
Waterfall at the estate
I wonder how does it feel to live in a coffee estate with plenty of greenery and a private waterfall at your expense! We definitely relished the experience as we walked into the stream that flowed with full vigour. We stood in front of the fall, with its droplets lashing us as the wind blew into us, making us all wet, but completely amused. But for the cold weather, it was tempting to walk right into the falling water and get a back-massage from the pouring water – something I always look forward to when I am at a waterfall.
The stream is beautiful and was full of water when we were there
When we were not visiting the waterfall, watching the heavens bless the earth with raindrops or not indulging in the coffee, we spend our time talking to the Poovannas. By their own admission, they seemed to live a happy life with little to worry about. They spent a good part of their time looking after the coffee estate or setting little things right, like fixing the small leak in the roof or worrying about the slippery ground on the rainy days.
Coffee estate
But not everything was that simple. Being a little far from town, they had a hard time trying to get a mechanic to come all the way to where they live and see what‘s wrong with their new Maruti Omni. And then they spoke about all the good time they had entertaining eccentric foreign guests like the one who loved climbing tree after tree or the one who walked and walked and ate coconuts and nothing else!
The estate is a quiet place to relax and rejuvenate
Wind, rain and good views were always there
Another thing that we looked up to was food. The good thing that comes with a home stay is sharing the meal with the family and enjoying good local food cooked with love. You don‘t need bother to tackle professional waiters with a fake smile sticking on their face or run through obscure menus only to find nothing worth eating. Instead, sit with the hosts in the dining hall and serve yourself with all the delicious home cooked food piled on to you over an interesting conversation. Kodava food is delicious and especially worth remembering is the Kadambuttu with great chutney, ghee and honey to go with!
The Nalknad palace
View of the hills from the palace
The next morning we walked down to Nalknad palace that is just five minutes walk from the estate. The palace, built nearly 250 years ago was a retreat of then king of Kodagu – Doddaveera Rajendra. It looks hardly palatial but is pretty and is an ideal retreat. Anand, the resident in-charge who was looking after the palace showed us around and explained us of the courtyards, darbar hall, living room, escape routes for the king etc. It is built using plenty of teak pillars with carvings of designs and pictures of reptiles. Some faded paintings of animals and images of king‘s court on the wall are now being restored.
Darbar hall of the palace
Courtyard of the palace
After returning from the palace, I decided to sit quietly and listen to the sounds of the forest. Having missed my usual bird-watching sessions due to incessant rains, I decided to listen to them instead. The most raucous of the forest dwellers are the cicadas that never seem to get tired. Occasionally a bird or two was heard close to us somewhere in the bushes of the estate or in the forest near the waterfall. A pair of magpie robins and a few red whiskered bulbuls that I spotted moving around were the most prominent. Sunbirds and flower peckers came and went occasionally. Not to be seen, but heard often were woodpeckers and an army of malabar parakeets. The loudest of the lot was the unmistakable call of greater coucals. There was so much life in the estate and the surrounding forest, but it needed some careful listening to realize them. Unlike us human beings who always look for a shelter, they seem to go on with their life, come rain or come shine!
Along with coffee, they grow many other things in
the palace, including oranges
As the sun moved up(which we never actually got to see, thanks for the ever-present cloud cover) it was time for us to move on. We thanked the Poovannas for their wonderful hospitality and the great time they gave us. It was a pleasant journey back on the curved and inclined roads of Kodagu that gave way to the plains of Mysore and then Bangalore, with Dr.Rajkumar‘s melodies running on the tape. And as I write this, it is raining outside and I am still thinking of delicious Kadambuttu, the non-stop rains and the call of the cicadas.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The home-stay resort of Poovannas, called Palace Estate is located in the village of Kakkabe, around 40km from Madikeri and approximately 250km from Bangalore. The trek to Coorg‘s tallest peak Thadiyandamol starts from here. Other nearby attraction includes the Nalknad palace, which is just 5 minutes walk from the estate, a seasonal waterfall within the estate and the well-known Iguthappa temple that is a 10-minute drive.
To reach Palace Estate from Bangalore, drive on the Mysore road. Turn right 2km after Srirangapatna and continue till Madikeri. From Madikeri, take Bhagamandala road and ask for directions to Kakkabe. Once you are in Kakkabe village, it is another 10 minutes drive to Palace Estate. There are also state government buses to Madikeri and Virajpet from Bangalore, and Kakkabe is well connected by buses from both the towns.
For more on things to do and places to see, see my previous post on Coorg.
I have always wanted to go to Coorg, but kept on delaying. After seeing the amazing pictures you have shown here, i don’t have a reason to delay any more — Just booked my travel to Coorg during the second week of Dec.
Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics.
Are there more instances of such structures around the place near there?
I find the palace structured similar to those ones I saw in Chertala in Kerela, a few years ago, though they weren’t palaces but ancestral homes, and worthy of being called palaces.
I don’t suppose those columns are made of wood, or are they? If they are, then I must say there is something extra that wood brings to these palaces, more so because they’re so different from our conventional, story-driven image of how palaces should be.
Bharat ki Khoj gave me the same feel with its sets, if you remember it was based on Nehru’s Discovery of India.
Good pictures, Arun, rather good perspectives.
Anil, such structures are common in Malnad – in parts of Uttara Kannada and Shimoga district. Yes, they were homes too and many of these homes are bigger than this palace.
A lot of ancient structures in Kerala seem to be of similar kind. Haven’t seen them there personally, but many times in pictures.
Yes, the columns are made of wood! I am often surprised how wood endures for hundreds of years.
Very true. There is nothing ever like wood. The character wood brings to a structure, as also antiquity is amazing. Only stone comes close to it, especially basalt, stones that let time etch its passage on them.
Hi,
Please share the Contact number or email id to contact Poovannas for advance booking of rooms in Palace homestay resort.
prasanna_kr@yahoo.com
Hi,
Thanks for such a wonderful post…could you mail me some contact details for this place…Plan to visit in Feb/March. It will really help. My id is: deval@mica.ac.in
Thanks
deval
Hi Could you mail us the contact of this home stay.
santro_maars@yahoo.com
Hey could you please send me contact information of poovannas for the advance booking at gaurav.nirvana@gmail.com
thanks in advance
These kind of places are very common around the area. Always better to check around before going with one location. Some places are however far more exclusive and harder for most people to get to let alone live in.
Atre
Hi, It is very nice to see your post… From last few days I am just searching places to stay at coorg…. Would you please send me the phone no for Poovannas at basudhamisra@yahoo.co.in?
thanks for posting this nice blog with all these nice pics….
Basudha
Sorry but I seem to have lost their number.
Hey I have got Palace Estate’s number from some other source… if anybody needs it, it is 08272238446.
Cheers,
Basudha
hi im from coorg and its nice to know people from outside appreciate the beauty of our homeland,i too run a home stay called the jade and it is in the southern part of coorg near the nagarahole sanctuary.palace estate is a beatuful place and u have done justice to the place by those pictures uve posted.u can log on to http://www.thejadecoorg.com for more details.and thanx for promoting our beutiful lannd.
Hi Guys,
Can anybody give some info about the Poovannas (Palace Estate) It looks great in the picture. Can any of you rate it and also mail the website id if they have one to vaikanda@gmail.com
TK
Hi,
Planning to go there..is there a contact number ?
thks , lakshmi
Have lost it Laxmi. But some one has left a comment above with the number. 08272238446 Try and see if it works.
The number of the palace estate is 08272 – 238446. same as in above posts. The place also has a website check it out http://www.palaceestate.co.in/
I did go there this time arun ..and what a place ..
[...] once we arrived and instead settled down cozily in a coffee estate home stay. Extract from the trip report on this [...]
[...] We decided to head towards Coorg on a pleasant winter morning. There were four of us, and we took my car. My car was pretty new for me, I was new to driving, and so were rest of the gang. This was my first outing in my car, and I was then not used to travelling much as I now do, so we were a bit anxious. Things worked out fine though. Though this was my first trip, I went back to Coorg many times later. More about Coorg on paintedstork.com * Hiking up the Brahmagiri * Relaxing in Coorg in the monsoons [...]
[...] Monsoons in Coorg. When I called up a home-stay at Coorg in the middle of monsoons two years ago, the hosts politely said that it is not a good season. It was raining heavily. But it rains that we wanted to see. Two days drinking coffee, eating heavy and delicious food and sitting in the the balcony with a book watching the rains come down. One of those things called perfect holiday! Coorg in monsoon travelogue. [...]
[...] Narimale camp is built to shelter forest guards who are on duty to watch against poaching. It serves as an excellent base camp to visit nearby peaks – Narimale peak and Brahmagiri peak. The presence of the camp also reduces the load of the trekkers by not having to carry any camping material. More about Coorg on paintedstork.com * Driving trip to Coorg * Relaxing in Coorg in the monsoons [...]