Sakleshpur – Kaptivated in Kadamane Estate!

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We are now in green country. The drive from the gate to our cottage is soothing through winding roads of the estate. It is miles and miles of greenery. Thick evergreen forests and valleys of Western ghats mark the boundary of the estate. 

The Green road!!

Notice Shola forests acting as boundary at the edge of the estate

The twin room cottage. Notice the setting. Lovely.

The cottage with single room. Lovely.

The Porch – Notice the valley view in front

Freshened up, we sit out for sometime to savour the fresh air and soak in the greenery of the place.It is dead quiet out here. Clouds gather in the sky and we are hopeful to experience the rain. The location of the cottage overlooking the valley of Kadamane is a perfect place to enjoy the rain.

Prabhu calls us for lunch. We are served lunch in a makeshift dining hall inside the bungalow. The food  – South Indian vegetarian – is good and tasty. Since it is early in the afternoon, we start planning our post lunch activity. The plan is to go to the famous temple of Kukke Subramanya and drive back via Bisle ghat, time permitting. Prabhu provides guidance on the route to Kukke and we hit the road after lunch.

We are now on the ghat road. The signage says that distance to Bisle village as 16 KMs. We start driving and realise that there is virtually no road. It is more of a gravel path with potholes and craters. Having driven on worst of the roads in Madhya Pradesh in Central India, we are still comfortable. We are betting on the villager’s guidance and hope that the bad patch last only 8 KMs. But the bad road continues beyond that. We are also worried as there is virtually no traffic on the road and we are driving through thick forest. Though there is not much of wildlife, we are more worried if something happens to the vehicle and get stuck. 

Suddenly, we see a car behind us. It is Maruthi Omni driven by local driver. We are happy to let him overtake us and we start following him. Being a local guy, he will  manoeuvre well and act like a pilot. The road is pathetic and we take one hour to cover 15 KMs. It is a backbreaking exercise and Brinda is not very happy either. We reach the viewpoint and notice a TATA Sumo – a SUV – already parked. We could hear people speaking loudly. It seems like an all male gang having a party. We don’t climb up but savour the views from the roadside. The valley view of Bisle ranges is breathtaking. I have never seen such a valley and huge expanse of virgin forests. It is mind-blowing.

 We wake up to the calls of birds in the morning. We look at the watch which tells me that it is only 6 AM. Being summer, the sun is already up. We open the door and come out. It is a lovely morning. Refreshing and soothing. There is a nip in the air and the sky is overcast. We walk around the cottage and see beautiful sights of clouds hugging the forest behind the cottage. We go for a morning walk through the estate clicking some nice pictures. The vistas of Kadamane looks lovely in the morning.

Kadamane estate in full glory in early morning light

These two tufts of forest on top of a manicured tea bushes looked like a young boy with mushroom cut!

The clouds were chugging the trees and sun plays hide and seek!

Pathway between cottages – notice the valley view

Tennis court built by British!

Thick shola forests populate the valleys

Green, Green everywhere!

This is my favourite……the monotony of green broken by white of the workers’ shed

Wanted to experiment…….Tagore and Tea!!

Time for flowering of lovely Orchids

Tea garden bordered by forest. The contrast is great.

We return and Prabhu is ready with freshly brewed tea. We sit in the porch and sip the freshly brewed tea and watch the lovely surroundings. Cariappa who has finished his morning rounds join us and we start chatting. A young and energetic guy, Cariappa says that we should not miss visiting “5 Acres” a beautiful view point which is at a distance of 2 KMs from the bungalow. He confirms that we can take our Scorpio. We are game and plan to see this place after breakfast. He also talks about a trekking trail to a nearby falls which would take around three hours. We tell him that has to wait for next trip as we had to return to Bangalore by afternoon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs3_Rmkx4QU

Radhika – Cariappa’s wife – who is the Managing “Sinnadorai’s Bungalow” meet us and we settle the bill, say goodbye to “Kadamane”. An awesome place,we are sure to return to explore further when it is pouring. We missed the rain in Kadamane – a reason for us to get back in Monsoons. But we had an experience of our life as we went up to “5 Acres”.

Once the renovation of the Bungalow is completed, the place will have nine rooms inside the bungalow and two cottages outside of it. Once done, we have no doubt that it will be a charming addition to list of places one should visit from Bangalore.

Returning back is quick as usual. We stop over on the highway near Solur to pick up fresh mangoes and jack fruit. We are back at home by 5 PM after a weekend spent amidst greenery.

Kadamane in Sakleshpur is a perfect weekend getaway from Bangalore.


Here is their website – Sinnadorai’s Bungalow

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