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-   -   Day drives around Mangalore (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/280875-day-drives-around-mangalore.html)

This new thread is intended to list out possible drive option that can be covered in a day from Mangalore.
This should help people visiting Mangalore when they plan their trip.

I do not intend to cover beaches in this as these are most popular travel options and enough information is available in the forum.
Beaches starting from Mangalore all the way till Gokarna are good and clean so there are enough options.
Among the beaches around Mangalore Tannirbhavi Beach has got blue flag status recently.

I have done couple of day drives as of now; will add more as and when I cover more places.

Malyadi Bird Sanctuary

This bird sanctuary is about 80 KMs from Mangalore and 30 KMs from Udupi on the way to Kundapur.
Best time to visit is early morning. You can spot some migratory birds here.
There is a temple near by where one can park the vehicle and walk through couple of paddy fields to reach this wet land.
This was a clay query in the past and rain water accumulation converted it into a wet land attracting quite a few variety of migratory birds.
Closest breakfast option is Paakashala, Kumbashi which is about 4 KMs away.

We left home early morning and reached there right after the sunrise. It was about 90 minutes drive.













The birds I spotted there.



Purple Moorhen



Bronze winged Jacana



Common Kingfisher



Red Watted Lapwing



Purple Heron



Indian/Lesser Whistling duck



Indian Otter

A short video of the bird sanctuary

https://youtu.be/lhE38WcV2cg

7 Durga Devi temples of Tulunadu

According to Legends, Mother Durga incarnated as Saptadurga sisters. Each form of this Durga Devi is believed to have stayed as Shaktidevatas at Chitrapur, Sasihitlu, Polali, Kateelu, Murdakur, Kunjaru and at Bappanadu respectively.
This was after killing of the demon king Darigasura by Devi Durga. The seven places where these sapta Durga devi stayed, later came to be called a Shakthi kendras.

For details of this mythological story refer to 'History' section in the following link:

https://shivallibrahmins.com/tulunaa...shwari-temple/


Note: None of these temples allow photography from inside and all of them are located in crowded place making photographing them a difficult task.

We left home around 7:45 AM and our first destination was Chitrapura Durgaparameshwari temple. This place is less than 5 KMs to my house.

The route we followed is as follows:

Chitrapura Shri Durgaparameshwari Temple
Polali Rajarajeshwari Temple
Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple
Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple, Mundkur
Kunjarugiri Shri Durga Devi Temple
Bappanadu Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple
Shri Bhagavathi temple, Sasihitlu

Route map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7jZqGdS3N1ozyTLk8

Sequence here may depend on the starting point of your trip.

Chitrapura Shri Durgaparameshwari Temple







Polali Rajarajeshwari Temple









Kateel Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple



Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple, Mundkur





Kunjarugiri Shri Durga Devi Temple





This temple is on the top of a hill, so you get to see some amazing view of the greenery around. Also beware of the monkeys here.





Bappanadu Sri Durgaparameshwari Temple







This is the famous Bappanadu Dolu (Drum)
Beating of the drums during annual festival of the temple is an important factor of celebration.



Shri Bhagavathi temple, Sasihitlu



Specialty of this place is, the temple is surrounded with sand so when you go for pradakshina (circumambulation) of this temple, you feel like you are walking on the beach.

We had some pre monsoon showers before we went for this drive. Hence the surroundings were looking lush green and almost felt like a monsoon drive.
Road condition is good except for few patches here and there.
It was about 150 KMs of drive and we were back home by 2:30 PM including a lunch stop.

Amazing compilation. Hope to see it grow. Is there any similar thread for Bangalore?

Yes there is , here is the link.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...bangalore.html

Beautiful places. Serene and unpolluted by over tourism. Thanks for bringing out such hidden gems.

Gundiadka Waterfall

This was an unplanned trip. We were going to Mudbidri and decided to give a quick visit to this waterfall.
This waterfall is about 35 KMs from home and about 9 KMs from Mudbidri town.
It took me an hour to reach there. After some rains the last stretch of road had become bit slushy so we parked the car about 700 mts away and walked the last part of it.
It turned out to be good decision as the final 300 mts mud road had got washed off and there was not enough space for the car to turn around.



There is a small deviation to left halfway through this walking section and when we went there this is what we got to see.
This is the top section of the waterfalls from where river flows further to form the waterfall.



From here instead of coming back to the main road we walked through this narrow path amongst the thick vegetation which looked like a shortcut.
We could hear the waterfall but couldn't find a way to reach to it, so we retraced our footsteps to main road from where we had taken the left and continued our search of the waterfall.



Finally we reached the waterfall area after passing through some real narrow passages in last 50 mts. May be there is a better approach route.





There was indeed a shortcut route which we had taken before which would have got us to this bridge if we had continued a bit further. But again, this is at the top of the falls.



We could hear the waterfall continuing further beyond this point but couldn't find a passage to walk to that area.



We visited this place after couple of pre-monsoon rain, during monsoon the flow would certainly be much more and few of these paths might not be accessible.
When we went here there were 4 other people here. This is not a popular tourist spot and it is better to avoid late evening visits if you plan to go here.

Location:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/V5kagCN8JSWofL2m9

A short video of the waterfall : https://youtu.be/g1Oz60fBMwc

4. Birding at Hebri

This is another short drive I went for on 14/03/25, this time for birding.
A 90 KMs drive started at 6:30 AM and we reached the place at 8:45 AM after a breakfast at Hotel Seethanadi at the foothills of Agumbe ghat.

As the heading says this drive was about birding, here are the photos of the birds I clicked on that day.



Orange Headed Thrush



Malabar Whistling Thrush



Jungle Babbler



Rufous Babbler



Spotted Dove



Indian Koel Male



Rufous Woodpecker



Rufous Treepie



Common Myna



Flame Throated Bulbul



Oriental Magpie Robin



Indian Koel Female



ಬುಲ್ ಬುಲ್ ಮತಾಡಕಿಲ್ವಾ (Rufous woodpecker trying to have a conversation with Red vented bulbul)



White Cheeked Barbet



Chestnut Tailed Starling



Lesser Goldenbacked Woodpecker/Black Rumped Flameback



Yellow Browed Bulbul



Golden Fronted Leafbird



Malabar Grey Hornbill





Black Naped Monarch


Birding @ Hebri

Left from Hebri around 6:15 PM and reached home by 8:00 PM.

Note: Contact details are in the description of the video, in case you want to visit this place.

Wonderful photographs. May I know which camera you are using. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

Thank you for the appreciation.
All photos were clicked using Nikon P900 and video using Nikon P900 and Panasonic FZ1000.

Very nice photographs!

I've been to Mangalore a few times but never knew there was such great birding just 90 kms away.

Will certainly save your post for my next trip.

Cheers

I could sense these pictures are from Nikon superzoom series. It's unfortunate that companies have stopped producing superzooms. Post my Nikon P600 failed I was looking for a replacement and realised that nothing similar exists now. Even Nikon P1000 is out of production. These were great low weight superzooms excellent for birding.

5. A short trek to the hill top temple:

This was a short trip to Shri Karinjeshwara temple located in Batwal.
It was about 50 KMs drive and we started from home around 6:30 AM and reached the parking area at the base of the hill at 8:00 AM and had breakfast on the way.



This entire route is 4 lane highway and only the last couple of KMs is narrow winding road once you take deviation from highway.



There is this huge lake at the base of the hill next to the parking area.



We started to climb the hill at 8:00 AM, there are a total of 600 steps to be climbed to reach the top.



First stop on the way up is this Ganesha temple.



After climbing 300 steps you arrive at this temple dedicated to Devi Parvathi. This temple was just opening and cleaning process was going on, so we decided to continue our climb to the top and visit the temple on our way back.



Next section of about 100 steps is at very steep incline, and it takes some effort to climb this part. After this section there is a small resting area for people to sit and take a break.





It was cloudy and pleasant so climbing up was not difficult. Also it was early morning so sun was not yet harsh.





This old priest was carrying a pot full of water on his head for his morning rituals at the temple. There are easily 200 steps to the temple from the well he had collected this water from.



We reached the top in about 45 mins and visited the Shri Karinjeshwara temple.





Last line on this board caught my attention and it says they also welcome tourists and not just devotees.





We spent about 45 mins on top of the hill and started our journey back to base. On the way visited the Devi Parvathi temple and was back at the parking area by 10:30 AM.

Thank you for the wonderful write up on Shri Karinjeshwara temple. It is in my list of places to visit since few years now. I hope that I can visit this place during the second half of this year.

Also appreciate your efforts to pen down the list of places around Mangalore with your valuable insights.