Coorg - A surreal beauty of Nature
- shalu
- Dec 1, 2021
- 10 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2021
Coorg is a landlocked district in the State of Karnataka. The district is spread across an area of 4,102 square kilometers.
Coorg is basically a hilly area and covered with forests and plantations.Coffee plantations being the most noticeable area of the segment.
Three wildlife sanctuaries and one reserved forest in Coorg are listed as World Heritage Site, by UNESCO
Coorg has an average elevation of around 3000 to 5000 feet above sea level. Coorg is rich is biodiversity and is a fragile eco-system.
EVOLVE BACK, COORG
Bordered by the legendary river Cauvery and surrounded by virginal forests,Evolve Back, Coorg or Evolve Back Chikkana Halli Estate, "Evolve Back "the new name of Orange County.
Coorg is a 300 acre working plantation resort perched at a height of 800 m that gives you the most luxurious introduction yet into the deepest secrets of this mystic mountain.
Come, allow the spirit of the land to infuse your very being and coax you gently on a personal voyage of discovery.Enough about the intro of the resort .Lets come to our personal experience.
PERSONAL SAGA
Its 200 km from Bangalore we started at early morning 5 we proceed via Mysore to visit shiva temple Nanjangud after a blissful Darshana we had a piping hot idli sambhar , Masala dosa & coffee in Namma Mtr around 8:30 missed bisibele bath prepared after 9:30 so..damn!
Yes folks! stunned too see MTR in Mysore 100% exactly the same flavour. The weather is super warm here first time in history I felt good about the sunlight. [Bangalore people will agree to it]
From Mysore nearly 3 hours outstrech the ghats area ac off windows open with cool breeze and amazing 90's melody (90's kids yay!) blissful! & a fight for Tamil or Telugu songs with my husband!
Ever wondered why Orange County ? Renamed into evolve back ?.My curious aesthete pondered about it ....answer to this oops at the end of the blog!.keep reading something to think about...
Day 1
We stayed at Lily Pool cottage there are several categories like Lilly pool villa & Bungalow, heritage pool villa & bungalow luxe private pool with jacuzzi and temperature control pool according to the budget , occasion & family members they give you really a lot of options.
We went around November end freaking afraid about the rain but luckily the climate was pleasant not so cold not too warm just perfect! we wanted it to be special & peaceful after 2 years of no travel elsewhere [thanks to the covid] desired the break immensely.
After reaching the property [google map our saviour] Birds chirping voice once we enter felt like greeting us warmly.
Hailed with Kodava style dance ,drum beats .Ofcourse India is indeed a Secular State.
Already we contacted & confirmed our booking so our room was ready to take us.
Welcome drink is coconut milk with coffee powder its quite interesting & tasted good.After drinking a gallop in one shot oops! lactose intolerance ouch! Thank god I'm ok continuing.....
Even the staff members dressed in a Kodava attire that's the beauty of the culture & tradition.Our room is very near from the reception so we didn't take a Buggy ride we walked and she explained us about the property and various activities to do inside the resort and pre booking the restaurant etc...
Once we entered the room I want to take a panoramic video of the room before clutching chaotic and it got a beautiful lemon grass smell surrounded the room.The staff patiently explaining about the room amenities .
Its a luxury plantation suite with a charming ,spacious bedroom , living room , dining area & ensuite washroom.
Perfect for couples! this elegantly designed suites comes with a spacious sit-out overlooking a courtyard with a private pool set amidst a tranquil lily pond
Subsequently bye bye-ing the staff we both jumped into the bed napped like a log for 2 hours.
Its almost 4PM when "I" woke up , refreshed and waked up my husband we already super hungry missed our lunch we didn't speak a word "Hungry mood swings" lol. We reached the granary restaurant around 4:40PM already people mulching evening snacks we took lemon tea some sandwiches & cakes our tummy is full at least till dinner .
Later, we just wandering around the property , few selfies....by 7:30 PM there is a cultural dance in granary restaurant ,a half an hour program with a intro about culture , tradition about Kodava people, cultural dance and photos with them quite good number of people attended the program.
Kodava Native culture ( My love for History)
Coorgs or Kodava people are distinguished from other Indian communities by their unique customs, traditions, beliefs, family structure, food and traditional attire.
Because of their customs and traditions, so different then their neighbors, and physical attributes of many Coorgs, their origins has always been questioned by historians and ethnologists.
Sir Herbert Risley went as far to describe the Coorgs as the “finest race without any exception in Southern India”.
Most agree that, though their male ancestry is questionable, their female ancestry is from the neighboring surroundings of Coorg. They speak Kodava(Coorgi) Language which has been influenced by Tulu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada languages.
The traditional attire of the Coorg people is unlike any other in India. The men wear coats that hang down to their knees with sleeves that only come down as far as their elbows; a gold and scarlet sash; a gilted turban or a red and white checkered scarf called Mande-tuni, and a silver or gold sheathed ornate dagger with sword called Odi-kathi. Women of Coorg wear their sari in a unique way by tucking in the pleats in the back, typical Indians tuck the pleats in the front.
War & agriculture were their only occupation pre – 1900’s. The martial desires of Coorgs did not subside even when india became independent. Albright their negligible population in comparison to other communities in India, Coorgs joined the Indian Army in hordes.
Even today, each family had at least one member serving in the Indian Armed Forces. Hundreds of ex-servicemen reside in Coorg.
Field Marshal Cariappa, the first Chief of Indian Armed forces, of independent India, belonged to Coorg. Traditionally, at least one member of a Coorg okka(clan) always joins the army.
Following, For dinner reservations we should inform them and prebook at the beginning of the day there are three restaurants
PEPPERCORN RESTAURANT - Kebabs , Grills & unlimited platter Perfect 7 course Meal
GRANARY RESTAURANT. - gourmet continental spread or the Indian
PLANTAIN LEAF - Pure North & South Vegetarian [ thali]
We can choose according to our tastebuds but we wanted to explore every restaurant cuisine so today chosen the famous and most booked , my personal favourite PEPPERCORN RESTAURANT.
Sharp 8 pm we booked our reservation for dinner according to the property map its nearly 2km from our room and very dark , so we took a buggy ride to the restaurant .It's very romantic with a view of private lake & perfect candle light dinner vibe.[almost can't see each other face clearly]
The best thing about the restaurant if you insist they provide you in small portion so we don't waste whilst we can taste different options, we started with our favourite broccoli soup it was yum and lets appreciate the aesthetic way of food presentation .
We ordered a salad we took our time and enjoyed every food immensely again a small portion nothing special but taste so good....
For starters our favourite mushroom tandoori kebab wholesomely amazing everything is spicy which is enough to attract us.
Main course we ordered a panner sizzler again a small portion separate for both with a little amount of ghee rice , roasted vegetables, smashed potato, cottage cheese grilled & moist soft. Wow never tasted a sizzler like this before still oozing about it .
Our tummy is already happily aching didn't allow for anymore biryani or naan varieties .Ofcourse always there is a room for dessert.And the chef personally spoke to every table members my husband & the chef acquainted [while I finished half of the dessert] well he is from Andhra and we suggested for our own menu he was very happy to make it for us just told us to inform early.
We ordered a typical sizzling brownie the taste was quite different the cake kept above the apple slice so it gave some unique taste . Its not our favourite ....
Tummy full started walking to the room (food will digest) in the dark by holding hands , making fun of each other and its quite spooky, pretty late we found our room lol.The whole property is eco-friendly so room number is not highlighted .We looking through our next day activities we found something quite interesting a walk around property 6 am oops too early ... 7 am Birds watching yeah I thought this we can make it up.
Our Saga of the first day.
SECOND DAY
4am alarm rings......Wow my husband forgot to off the yesterday 4 am alarm [crings.....] But He is sleeping peacefully I done how guys can do that...then I gave him a kick please off the alarm then somehow by 4:30 slept again .We forgot to keep our bird watching 6:30 alarm then I woke up at 8:30am Simply WOW!
Our own selves didn't feel bad about it common we loom for a peaceful time off ,Later few selfies in my new pink pop corn pyjamas lol had a long bath and we headed to granary for breakfast [breakfast option- Granary or Plantain Leaf restaurant]
Following a passably continental breakfast we took a walk around our property weather was amazing , took a stroll near the man made lake varieties of fishes, tadpoles and fed them food.
Grasp some decent number of pics .According to my Apple Watch Activity my husband made me we walked around 3km .
Surrounded by coffee plantations , Birds humming,lush green beauties are the most peaceful scene to the eye, different varieties of tree planted by Aishwarya rai, Rajinikanth , Late Puneeth Rajkumar etc
lot of celebrities ... my husband became my personal coffee plantation walk guide and explained to me about the process of extracting the coffee from the fruit .It was Fun & learning with him always that's what I love about him!"
After a morning stroll my husband musing to visit Cauvery lake just outside our property .We both are drained and ended up reaching up the room.Its really a fantastic idea!
And the weather was warm we dived into the pool finally in our cottage .We were listening music [marshal speaker was indeed good idea] sipping ginger ale, and enjoyed in pool.We never knew we spent 2 hours in pool
Later both are hungry ordered biryani & panner tikka amazingly hot and tasted yum.We had our lunch in pool lol and took a tiny nap.
Following we had an activity called "PLANTATION WALK" at 4:30 its a two hour walk around the property .Every activity starts at beehive centre which is almost 2 km from our room so we took a buggy ride and reached the centre.
First they gave intro about the plantation by a botanist and withdraw through the resort by a walk .
Learned a lot about coffee plantations which is completely new to me. My husband knew about it well because he worked on a coffee industry so .He visited lot of plantation.
Main coffee plantation is Robusta & Arabiaca . Like how to extract , collect & identify the ripe condition etc & different type of trees like rosewood tress, insulin tree , medicinal trees, sitapal trees etc he identified and delicately he explained.
Architecturally speaking every single wood used in evolve back {Reception, spa, rooms,dinner area}is Rose wood no wonder the stay cost is steep .We had our coffee in granary and reached our cottage .
We chilled in our room watching random series in Netflix by 8:30 we tried The PLANTAIN LEAF restaurant .Greeted with chaat foods- sev poori , Dal Kichadi insanely good ordered thaali just to taste it. Dal khichadi have my heart.
We both indulged North Indian thali DAL MAKHANI is particularly pretty good with any phulkha or naan our wish, aloo palya, mushroom gravy , panner gravy , dal tadka , ghee rice ,cutlet, soya chaos , raita Wow Relish! . Wholesome northindian typical thali must try!
Around 10:30 we reached our room , end of the second day .
THIRD DAY
After a late night binging on movies we woke up very late around 9 am today we chose the plantain leaf as our breakfast place possesed a quality Mysore masala dosa , hot chocolate and a fresh orange juice weird combo!
Then we hitted Cauvery lake didn't take the boat ride , following we walked around the property , think out for a spa.
Amazing two hours with a sooting Ayurveda spa (vaidyasala) especially in luscious green , humming sounds of bird destination(felt like living with nature ) we both enjoyed and rejenuvated amazingly well .
Following the spa, we hitted Coffeology centre they teach you to make different kinds of coffee & tasted authentic capparchino , expresso with and without milk ,Irish cold coffee , filter coffee , latte...we had in small shots.
Later I wanted to visit reading lounge, huge stacks book arranged neatly .Luckily I had my My fav author book [whose doesn't?] MURAKAMI - KAFKA OF THE SHORE in my backpack ,read for half an hour , supply you coffee , my husband enjoying his Irish Cold Coffee whilst I enjoy reading my book .
Following reached the room dived into the pool , the sun was piping hot so we couldn't stay longer and ordered our lunch Penne Alfredo . Pasta was scrumptious , white sauce and good amount of mushrooms.We stayed in our room go through a laze evening .
Night dinner of course chose today Peppercorn restaurant at morning we requested for special authentic spicy Hyderabadi biryani & caramel custard . Amazingly delicious! . We had our soup , starters platter one word flavoursome , Custard Carmel freakshingly delicious . Guilty Pleasure!
TRUMET Of DOOM - Final Settlement:
Birds watching activity raised by 6AM , a serious discussion whom to get ready first , by seven reached beehive centre .Quite number of people assembled , due to the rain last night all things foggy couldn't identify hell lot of birds , Binoculars they provide to look preciously the birds .
Two and hours STROLL we lucky to identify BULL BULL , SUN BIRD , SOUTHERN HILL MYNA , DOVE, WABLER, TREE DWELLING, LORA, ROBIN, HORNBILL, DRONGO, BEE EATER, NUT HEDGER, HERON, BARBETTE, WAG TALE, MUNIYA
Of course I noted ! lol the list for the birds enthusiast in you and hell lot of leeches on the go look for it .Wear an attire covers the whole body . Me and my husband dressed up "DENIM ON DENIM".
He was complaining about overdressing .....thank god at least leeches didn't tasted our blood lol.
We took bath again thanks for the leeches , for breakfast tried Hot rice poori & peas curry Simply delicious , sad face waved bye to evolve back and headed out to Mysore had my Hot piping BISIBELE BATH& CURD VADA in MTR . Visited chamundeshwari the powerful temple [favourite temple for Rajinikanth & late CM jayalalitha ]. In due course "HOME SWEET HOME" .
Final Verdict
Utterly worth every penny, we regained our peace and sanity on this vacation.lol
Hustle & Bustle of the big city ,wearing mask everywhere. Endured a relaxing break, breathing the fresh air and we just see others mostly at Restaurants .
No need to panic on this covid era.
Orange County Renamed Evolve Back -
AHH ! Orange County name derivation -Besides coffee & spice , the property is filled with finest oranges as reflection of this initially decided to name the resort Orange County to cue in the produce & the colonial planter legacy, but later due to some unknown disease the orange get decayed following every tree to suffer so they cut down every orange tress inside the property
Now no orange tree whilst in other property like Hampi, Kabini doesn't match the history of the name it got changed into "Evolve back" because of their evolving properties! It doesn't change because of ownership given to somebody else is a false gossip ....voila the answer...
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