[KK_HakunaMatata]

It's been a while I wrote a travelogue on the forum, though this is a short one, I thought of writing it, more so for the reason I am going to tell you at the end of this post.

It all started when we had been on a day trip to Kaigal falls in search of a water falls after seeing many images online, but it turned out not so enjoyable because of slippery rocks due to heavy moss grown, which made it really difficult to get in to the place where the water falls.

Kaigal falls


My daughter was upset of not being able to play in the water and not having a proper access to the falls area due to slippery rocks and so on the way back from Kaigal falls I had to promise her of a trip to Iruppu falls, which I knew will have enough water to quench our thirst of water falls even during summers, given my two earlier bike rides, both during the month of May.

With my daughter's school exams out of the way by the end of March and another plan for the Sunday getting cancelled, made a quick plan on April 9th to drive to Iruppu falls the next day, April 10th being Sunday.

Coming to the drive companion for the day, I had no doubt in taking Jetta over XUV5OO for this fun route with some good roads.

Jetta basking in the sunlight on the way


While planning for the Iruppu falls drive, I already had a route map in mind and places to cover. Come on, when I am driving 500+ kms in a day, I would definitely try to spread it over the day and have something else, which was Kuruva Island in the Wayanad District Kerala.

Trip details

Kms covered – 538
Route taken - Bangalore - Kanakapura - Mysore ring road - HD Kote - Antharasanthe - Nagarahole tiger reverse (south side entry) - Bavali - Kuruva Island - Kutta - Iruppu Falls - Ponnampet - Gonikoppa - Hunsur - Bangalore
Places visited – Kuruva Island, Iruppu Falls



Like in case of any bike rides or drives, my brain alarm wakes me up much before the actual alarm goes off, glad to say, there was no exception this time too

We (me, wife and daughter) set out for our day long journey at 4.50AM sharp, given our home is near Konanakunte cross, it took only few mins for us to be on the Kanakapura road, waving past the Art of Living.

Till the last year the road to Kanakapura was in a very bad shape with lot of pot holes, but recently they have done up the roads and glad to say that the roads are in more than decent shape now and actually good in most of the way. This was a not a surprise for me as I had taken this very route just the previous week on a day drive to BRS Hills with friends.

Somewhere on the Kanakapura road


Jetta 2.0 TDI is a very beautiful machine to be driven on these roads and you won't really need to listen to any songs or anything, but to just drive the Jetta and enjoy its smooth ride, with insane pickup in each of the gears.

While I enjoyed my drive, my wife was listening to her favorite songs with my 8 YO daughter was finishing her quota of the sleep on the rear seat.

Disadvantage of taking Kanakapura road and an early morning drive is that you won't get proper breakfast on this route and without me being aware, my wife had packed few chapatis for a rainy day, and this came in very handy on the way. We stopped for a short break around 8.15 somewhere after Antharasanthe.

At the breakfast break, somewhere after Antharasanthe


We entered the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve at the Udboor Gate at 9 AM and had to stop to make an entry at the forest check post.


Rajiv Gandhi National Park, south part of the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve






Inside the forest area



Drive through the forest was refreshing to say the least with windows down. In my initial planning I had wanted to enter the forest area between 6 to 6.30 AM to spot a few animals, but given the 4 hr journey from Bangalore, it was not practical to leave at 2 AM, so had to do with entering the forest at 9 AM. But it was not a completely bad time to be there, as we spotted lots of deer, once just next to our car in a one feet distance (off course, we closed our windows and didn't disturb them). We also spotted two wild dogs, standing in the middle of the road and it hated our interference. The wild dogs looked very sharp.

Deer




Wild dog




My daughter was overjoyed seeing these animals in their natural habitat and was she also enjoyed seeing the treetop built to guard.

Treetop


Soon, by 10.10 AM we reached Kuruva island, 254 kms from my home in a comfortable 5 hr 15 mins time with a break.




Kuruva island (Kuruvadweep) is located on the banks of Kabini river in the Wayanad district, a serene place, with a forest surrounded by water. Ferry on bamboo rafting is available to enter the island side, and you can take a walk in the forest area, interested ones could also play in the backwaters of the Kabini river.

Ticket for bamboo rafting, to island



Bamboo rafting

PC to respective owner, I missed to click this image, sharing it for representational purpose


Wayanad district map, I have marked the Kuruva Island


When we were there walking, there was some sort of guarding going on, few guards were standing on high planes observing. Speaking with a guard, he said there was an elephant nearby and they were guarding and observing, to avoid it going towards the walking path used by the tourists. The guard showed us the direction of elephant, but we couldn’t spot the big one.

After the long walk on the island and photoshoot, it was time. We also had delicious raw mangoes, pineapples, amla dipped in salt/ spicy water followed by butter milk. Anyone visiting should try these things at the few shops located at the parking space.

It’s a 32 km journey from Kuruva island to Iruppu falls, takes an hours’ time and it was 1.30 PM by the time we reached Iruppu falls. Must say it was the perfect time to experience the waterfalls, refreshes you like magic.


Iruppu falls base



Iruppu falls is located in the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Kodagu district. The main attractions of Kodagu district are located at the central part of the district and Iruppu falls is at the south end bordering Wayanad District, Kerala.


Bramhagiri Wildlife






Once there, we need to walk for about a km climbing steps in between to reach the mighty waterfalls. Seeing the waterfalls from a distance, you are sure to go as fast to reach there.


Iruppu falls from a distance



Though it is summer, there was enough water to stand and enjoy the water falling straight on your head. I had come here twice before; both were bike day rides from Bangalore. I can’t really explain the pleasure of standing down the water stream after you have ridden so far and walked some distance in the hot summer, the water just takes away all your tiredness and calms your body and mind like a magic. I can drive/ ride here just to experience this.

That's the one



My daughter was so happy with this kind of experience. What adds to this experience is the way the administration has built an iron ramp there so that you can walk properly and stand right below the stream. Without this ramp, it makes it more difficult, for, you have to climb the rocks.

We repeatedly went four or five times to stand below the stream and my daughter wanted to play some time in the flowing water, it was her day.

We were so fresh after this and spending more than an hour there and climbed down. Yes Café in the parking space served quite a few good dishes and we had Maggi and Chapati, both were good. Mind you, the portions of maggi were sufficient for one and half person.


Maggi......






It was 4.30 PM when we started from there and we took Ponnampet – Hunsur route.

The roads from Iruppu falls to Ponnampet was very good, it was a forest area (not restricted forest). While we were driving, out of nowhere a big peacock took off from left side to right side of the road and its sudden take off coincided with our passing and though I tried avoiding, it still brushed its legs on the roof and we were worried if it was alright, but we couldn’t spot it as it had already flew a distance.

Rest of the journey was uneventful, save from the still not so good roads of Mysore – Bangalore road, I was really tired driving on this road. Wanted to have dinner at Shivalli Restaurant, Channapatna, but I missed it somehow in the traffic passing and ended up having dinner at Rasta Café at Ramanagara.

Reached home at 11PM with 538 km drive which ended our beautiful day drive.

Parting this with a story of the day written by my daughter, which actually inspired me to write this travelogue









See ya...
KK

[Jeevan Sukumar]

Nice Travelogue. Please convey my heartiest congratulations to your daughter for such a marvelous writing. All the best for her future endeavors.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by Jeevan Sukumar

Nice Travelogue. Please convey my heartiest congratulations to your daughter for such a marvelous writing. All the best for her future endeavors.

Thanks Jeevan for your nice words . I will convey it to my daughter.

Mid April we did a 5 days trip to Alleppey, it was a group trip, now my daughter is onto write this.

KK

[Gannu_1]

Lovely travelogue man. Reminded me of our trip to Wayanad back in March 2019.

Your daughter wrote it so well man! Cute!

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Kuruva island (Kuruvadweep) is located on the banks of Kabini river in the Wayanad district, a serene place, with a forest surrounded by water. Ferry on bamboo rafting is available to enter the island side

Here's a close-up of the raft:

[Jeevan Sukumar]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Thanks Jeevan for your nice words . I will convey it to my daughter.

Mid April we did a 5 days trip to Alleppey, it was a group trip, now my daughter is onto write this.

KK

Eagerly waiting for her cute wordings on that.

[Raghu M]

That's a neatly written travelogue. I meant, the one that your kid wrote! Good to see the amount of water in summer too.

[Atom]

A Buy one get one free on the travelogue. A very cute travelogue by your daughter to add to an amazing travelogue by you. Her writing in particular takes you on a visual treat of how things turned out all through the trip. Very cute!!!

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Lovely travelogue man. Reminded me of our trip to Wayanad back in March 2019.

Your daughter wrote it so well man! Cute!

Thanks for your nice words. I will convey it to my daughter as well.

Wayanad has its own charm, though I have visited many other places of Kerala, like Idukki, Alleppey, Vagamon, Nelliampathy, I kind of like Wayanad for its distinct charm.

Originally Posted by Raghu M

That's a neatly written travelogue. I meant, the one that your kid wrote! Good to see the amount of water in summer too.

Thanks Raghu for your nice words. Exactly, even for me, I felt what she has written as more lively and written from the heart.

Yes, Iruppu falls will have this much water in summer too! This joins the Cauvery river further.

Originally Posted by Atom

A Buy one get one free on the travelogue. A very cute travelogue by your daughter to add to an amazing travelogue by you. Her writing in particular takes you on a visual treat of how things turned out all through the trip. Very cute!!!

Thanks atom for your nice words.

KK