Thoughts in Progress...
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I needed a break badly from grinding work. Along with couple of like minded (in terms of needing a break - and nothing else;) ) office friends (Vijay and Arup), searched the net and narrowed down on this seemingly distinct place - Hunkal Woods - a coffee estate in Chikmaglur - as our destination for the week end of Sep 29th. All of us ditched office on Oct 1st so that we get 4 days to spend. This place is disconnected from city, crowds, cell phone signals and television. Essentially, it is a 100 year old British time bungalow in the middle of a huge coffee estate of Thogorihunkal Group - which is converted into a home stay destination after some remodeling inside.

The special thing about this place is that there is only group (min. of 4) allowed at a time to spend in the bungalow. There is no sharing. So, its absolutely private. There are three helpers who will stay in the near by quarters taking care of food & any other things the guests might need.

The route is Bangalore-Nelamangala-Kunigal-Chanarayapatna-Hasan-Belur-Chikmagalur-Hunkal Woods - total distance of around 270 km.

We started on Sep 29th in my Innova - total of 3 families (6 adults + 3 kids) around 11:00 am. We planned a late start intentionally. By the time we crossed city limits it was around 12:30 pm. We proceeded and halted at Mayura, a KSTDC restaurant near Chanarayapatna, for lunch around 2:00 pm. Lazed there for a while before starting again at 3:15 pm. By around 5:15 pm we were in Chikmaglur. The last stretch from Hasan to Chikmaglur is very scenic. From there on, we had stop at few places and had to call the Hunkal Woods few times asking for directions. Finally, we managed to spot the sign board “Hunkal Woods - 3.2 km). This strech of 3.2 kms was very bad and Innova bore the brunt of this :(.

We lost our way a little bit as it got dark & driving on a extremely narrow mud road when raining is not best of the things to do.




After landing, we were very warmly welcomed by Nandan Gowda (the owner of the property) with mirchi bajji and hot coffee. The coffee is amazing and really the best coffee I have ever tasted. Almost all of us instantly became good fans of this coffee. For the rest of our stay, we had mirchi bajji every evening and multiple cups of coffee multiple times. Dinner was a usual home stay affair. After dinner, we ventured on to the tree top machan in the night and spent some time in the forest breeze.

Next day morning (Sep 30th), we went to a near by trekking point guided by Nandan after the breakfast. There’s a separate dining area away from the bungalow that adds more charm to the place where we were served breakfast and all meals.

Nadan took all of us in his vehicle (4-wheel drive) through the coffee estate to the foot a mountain to begin our trek. The place is absolutely pristine with no living things other than trees, birds and us. The only sounds we hear are of birds and a of a small waterfall in distance. Its absolutely the closest one can get to nature. Few of us stopped after walking for around half an hour. The rest ventured further for another 30 minutes of trek and returned back.

After lunch, we relaxed in the hammocks for a while and then started off to Mulyangiri - the highest peak in Karnataka. It was approx 30 kms from the bungalow. The drive to Mulyangiri is beautiful on a very narrow mountain road. It required lots of concentration to drive on this road. We parked the car near the foot steps and trekked till the top of the hill (there are 400+ steps to the top). There is a small temple of Lord Siva at the top of the hill (which hill does not have a temple in India?).  We were literally in middle of clouds.

We trekked back before it got too dark and drove back to the bunglow. Spent time around campfire & dinner.

Next day (Oct 1st) we walked to the near by Hunkal Creek - a narrow water stream - just behind the bungalow for a walk. Kids loved it and they really enjoyed themselves in the water.

While having lunch, it started raining and that pretty much spoiled our plans to relax in the hammocks. But it was definitely a lovely sight to see the area in rain!

Towards the evening, tried to capture the beauty of Hunkal Woods in our cameras while the lanterns are being lit - but miserably failed :). We had Nandan join with us for dinner where we learnt a lot about coffee business. Post dinner, once Nandan had left, Arup, Vijay and I had a long debate comparing IT industry with coffee industry before hitting the bed.

Last day (Oct 2nd), woke up very late, had breakfast and started back to Bangalore. Nandan gave complimentary Hunkal Hieghts coffee powder packs to all of us before we left. One of the tyres burst after hitting a sharp stone immediately after we started. After changing the tyre with help of Nandan we moved on. We tried to buy a new tyre in Chikmaglur - did not succeed. So, we risked to travel till Bangalore with out a spare. We stopped at Kamat before Chanarayapatna to have lunch. It was raining through out till we reached Nelamangala. But thankfully we did not have any breakdown due to tyre. We discovered a puncture after we halted in Bangalore - thanks to tubeless tyre - we never felt it during the travel.

Overall, a very satisfying and rejuvenating trip.

Filed under: Off beat places, Travel