[snaronikar]

Thanks for sharing Ravi. Enjoying the pics. Gives us lot of options for a day/2 days trips now.

[ravibhat]

Hi sreeni, snaronikar,

Thank you. thanks again.

My Team has all sorts of people, Its good they all are like minded especially when its paid trip I really enjoy taking everyone for more fun!

Right now no vacancy, already feeling heat from USA.

Regards,

Ravi.

[akroy]

Hey Nice pics Ravi, dont know when i will be able to see those falls which are in the interiors of Karnataka...

Abhi

[ravibhat]

Hi Members,

Last month I decided to check availability of rooms in GreenDale HomeStay after couple of TBHP members visited in the past. On the way to my native place we decided to stay 2 days in KemmanGundi area.

First day stay at GreenDale then proceed to RajBhavan Kemmangundi. I called Arvind and booked GreenDale home stay well in advance and visited Lalbhag Main Gate Horticulture department to booked room in Rajbhavan.

March 15th 2008: We started at 7:30AM from Bangalore and after crossing Hassan decided to drop for few minutes when we spoted water reservoir I guess thats Yagachi damm.





We reached Chikamagalur by 1PM I guess and proceeded towards Kaimara.

We drove as per directions given by Arvind the excellant host!

On the way shot few photos.







Mullayana Giri



We reached GreenDale at 2:30 PM and welcomed by people over there had our lunch and rested for 1 hour.

I will be back with next part very soon.

Ravi.

[ravibhat]

After lunch and rest we decided to visit Sitalayana Giri and Mullayana Giri and walk through GreenDale estate as well. Already Samurai has explained about these places so i will load just pictures.













Then we headed back to GreenDale to see wonderfull suprise with clouds surrounded there! We realized it would rain and it started within 30 minutes.


Regards,

Ravi.

[ravibhat]

Wow that was amazing experience! Our daughter really enjoyed the place once it started raining!

Once rain stopped we walked in the estate, We could spot few birds, flowers so on. everyone enjoyed the climate over there. We were serviced very good tasty food and we eralized its already 10PM and decided to log off for the day!





Next day morning get up at 7AM and view from our room was amazing.

The Muttodi forest range seen from this home stay is fully covered by clouds. Kid started thinking its either water or cloud.





I met Arvind and we all travelled in his jeep with him one round estate. Excellant off roading experience. he is simply amazing person!

When he used crawlor gear and got out of the Jeep my daughter shouted no driver in the Jeep and she realized its still going forward automatically!

We had Yammy breakfast then packed food (BisiBele Baath and Curd Rice) and logged out of the home stay.



Thanks to Sushruta, Samurai and other TBHP member for helping me giving contact details of home stay and directions.

Regards,

Ravi.

[ravibhat]

It was sunny day with clear sky, Once we left GreenDale area we headed towards Dattatreya Peeta area and Amrata Dhara Water Falls and then ate the food at 1PM, we had packed from the homestay.





Road through out these areas right after KaiMara is in very bad conditon, so my driver was going dead slow. We decided to skip Hebbe (I guess spelled right) falls since we had to go by Jeep and water falls is nothing new to us.

We proceeded further and checked into Rajbhavan at KemmanGundi at 3PM and roamed near by places like Gardens, Shanti Falls, Z point, SunSet till evening.







Room is not clean at all but food is quiet ok. There were quiet lot of guests but still maintainance is not good there because this is my 3rd visit that area.










Morning view from Rajbhavan was wonderfull.



We checked out from the hotel and started our journey towards Sirsi via Tarikere - shimoga - sagar - siddapur.

Regards,

Ravi.

[ravibhat]

Every time I travelled via Shimoga I always wanted to visit safari and ZOO I see next to highway. Since my daughter is very much interested this time i had ample time as well so while going to Sirsi from Kemmangundi we decided to drop into Safari and it was another exciting experience.

It cost us around 500 rs since we hired govarnment vehicle just for us by paying their minimum 10 seats payment for safari and entry , ZOO fees.

But its worth it because our daughter could spot her favourite animals from 2 feet distance.

Few animals posed for the picture : Let picture do the talk




























It was already 12:30 PM so we drove fast to sagar to have lunch at 2pm and reached Sirsi by 4PM and parked our Innova in our uncle's house.

Travel Details:

Vehicle: Innova G3 Petrol
Distance: Bangalore - Chikamagalur - GreenDale : 250km aprox.
GreenDale - KemmanGundi : 40km aprox.
Kemmangundi - shimoga - Sirsi : 250km aprox.
FE with 60% AC on: 9.9kmpl
Max speed: 120kmph
Excellant Road From Bangalore - Chikamagalur - Kaimara.
Average road between Kaimara - GreenDale - KemmanGundi - Linganahalli
Excellant road between Linganahalli - Tarikere - Shimoga - Sirsi.

Regards,

Ravi.

[HappyWheels]

That was a wonderful journey, you took us through Ravi! Especially with the photo's, it is a great write up! :-)

The close up shot is very 'close-up'!

[snaronikar]

That was really good travelogue Ravi. Nice pics.

[menonrajesh]

Another great one Ravi!
Congrats.

[spadival]

Great travelogue series there. Just a query, Is Rajbhavan you mentioned a Govt guest house? How do you book rooms there. I guess its the only accomodation available there.

[sreenidhibr]

Another nice travelogue. The photos gives the effect of "virtual tour" to the readers (for me, anyway). Thanks for sharing.

[ravibhat]

Thank you everyone

Hi spadival,

In KemmanGundi at the hill top there are lot of rooms available inclduing dormateries owned by governament and few private owners sharing based on what heard.

Rajbhavan is at the top most place where we can sunset directly from west facing rooms.

Dattatreya bhavan is 200 feet down in same hill it has lot of small to big rooms. In that hill there are more accomadation available but I don't have much information.

Regarding booking we need to call Kemmangundi office or best bet is visit Lalbhag main gate forest/horticulture office in Bangalore to book the rooms.

Things are quiet ok there its ideal for 1 day stay.

I prefer 1 day stay in Rajbhavan and another day in home stay like Greendale (the best place available in that area) and I love to visit Kemmangundi area once in 2 years!

Regards,

Ravi.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by ravibhat

When he used crawlor gear and got out of the Jeep my daughter shouted no driver in the Jeep and she realized its still going forward automatically!

Looks like now it has become standard part of the tour for Team-BHPians at Green Dale.

Great trip report Ravi.