Tweet If you are planning a trip to Ladakh, here are a few travel tips you may find useful: * Getting there: For best experience, go by road. The drives are some of the most beautiful on this planet. Many airlines operate regular flights all year round. Weather can play spoilsport anytime of the year, and may disrupt plans.
TweetFew travel experiences on this planet can beat a self drive expedition to Ladakh. If you have not done this already, now is your chance. With Expedition on Wheels, a partner we trust at Club Kunzum. These are the same guys who once drove to Ladakh in a Nano.
TweetWheeeee! I am on a toy train ride. Starting from Ooty or Ootacamund, now officially renamed Udagamandalam going downhill all the way to Mettuppalayam in Tamil Nadu. And it figures in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
TweetThe Rain Country Resort sure lives up to its name: as you go off the highway at Lakkidi on the Wayanad – Calicut highway, and drive through tea estates and woods, you know you really are in rain country. As you drive into the resort, you cannot help but giving a thumbs up to the landscape and architecture of the [...]
TweetI checked into Banasura Island Retreat in Wayanad in Kerala in the afternoon, least prepared for what awaited. Having driven most day under a blazing sun, I settled into my cottage only to have a wonderland unfold before me. Located on a hill overlooking the Banasura reservoir, a water body created by a dam closed by, the view from my [...]
TweetVisualise this: You are sitting in the verandah of your cottage in grasslands extending for miles around. A gentle breeze is caressing your face while you sip a hot cuppa of your favourite tea, even as the setting sun lends a glow to your immediate universe around. And the picture gets complete when a group of Blackbucks amble in to [...]
TweetNot too many properties deserve the tag of being destinations in themselves, but Swaswara in Gokarna, Karnataka does. A CGH Earth resort, it sets standards in hotel design and service. Of course, being set against the beautiful Om Beach on the foothills of the Western Ghats only adds to it attractiveness. SwaSwara means the inner voice of the self and, [...]
TweetThis will go down as a very disappointing day in my travelogue: I missed spotting a tigress with four cubs by just a couple of minutes. In Bandipur National Park, Karnataka. I was staying in Wayanad in Kerala but headed out for a safari across the state border in Bandipur; although not staying at the Jungle Lodges property there, I [...]
TweetIt’s festival time: at the Valliyoorkavu temple on the outskirts of Mananthavady in Wayanad in Kerala. And I have Suresh Babu, a former BSF employee, to thank for alerting me to it. I happened to be around on the last day of the 14-day annual festival attended by tribal folk from surrounding areas. It would a long night of prayers, [...]
TweetThe evergreen forested Kuruva island (Called Kuruvadweep locally) lying in one of the tributaries of Kabini river in Wayanad seems a popular picnic spot. Rightfully so. I am not a fan of popular picnic spots but this was different. A cluster of islands that emerge or submerge with water levels, and home to a variety of birds, butterflies and orchids, [...]
TweetThe Banasura Sagar dam in Wayanad is the largest earth dam in India. Without getting into technicalities or its environmental impact (if any), I would say it has resulted in creating some stunning features. The resulting reservoir is a large water body whose water level rises dramatically during the monsoons. Sprouting throughout are islands created when the reservoir submerged surrounding [...]
TweetI finally leave Karnataka – and drive into Kerala. I am not in Wayanad area for too long to understand why Kerala is referred to as ‘God’s Own Country.’ The disappointment first: almost across the border was the entrance to Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary near Manathavady in Wayanad. I was looking forward to a safari inside – I had been told [...]
TweetSo what if it is like a pet elephant facility? A visit to the Dubare Elephant Camp in Coorg is a must visit. You can go there as a day visitor or as a guest at the accommodation run by Jungle Lodges and Resorts. An alert first: to have real fun, be at the camp by 9:00 a.m. – else [...]
TweetIt happens very often in the Himalayas, but I never expected to be inside clouds down south in Coorg in Karnataka. It happened in Talacauvery. Located about 42 kms (26 miles) from Madikeri where I was staying, Talacauvery is said to be the origin of the Cauvery river. Of course, you really don’t see any visible signs there: a spring [...]
TweetIt is peak summer in the south, when the sun is at its harshest. The monsoons are some time away, and the skies are cloudless. But not much to worry in Coorg, referred to by some as the Scotland of India. Comparisons apart, you know you are in beautiful country by just driving around. And this is my first bit [...]
TweetThe Hoysalas were at it in Belur even before they reached Halebidu – building beautiful temples. Belur, called Dakshina Varanasi (Benares or Varanasi of the south), was known as Velapuri, Velur and Belapur in olden days; it was the second capital of the Hoysalas after Sosevur but before Halebidu. Located on the banks of the Yagachi river, it is famous [...]
TweetWhenever I see any great works of design and architecture from times gone by, I wonder why the modern world cannot emulate these? Is it lack of skills? Or did royal patronage and vanity allow public expenditures not justifiable to democratic set-ups of present times?
TweetThere is something enchanting about early morning and evening cruises in rivers and lakes – and I sure was looking forward to one in Bhadra Reservoir. The staff at River Tern Lodge had requested I be very punctual for all activities – and I was. Only for the guide and some other guests to keep me waiting for 45 minutes. [...]
TweetThe day started with a flat tyre. Then I took the wrong road from Chikmagalur to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary – drove 20 kms (13 miles) before coming all the way back.
Tweet They advertise themselves as a hotel on their website but they really are a true homestay. Where your hosts, erstwhile royalty Major Durga Das and Jyoti Jasol, treat you royally. And for once, you can take what they say on their website to be true. If you are in the romantic city of Udaipur, this is the place to [...]
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