I had traveled to Chikmagalur two weeks ago. I was there, among other things, to have a look at the rare Neelakurinji flowers which are known to flower only once in 12 years. This was the year of flowering and they were in full bloom. In Chikmagalur, they bloom around the hills of Bababudangiri, also called Chandradrona Parvata.
While Kurinjis were the flowers I was looking forward to, I saw plenty of flowers different varieties all around. My first sight of flowers in abundance were much before I was at the hills. It was fun to see some jolly folks plucking lotus from a pond.
I also saw many touch-me-nots spread out in large numbers. Though they are pretty common, I think it has been a while since I had seen them before. So much for living in a city!
As I approached the town of Chikmagalur, I saw this hoarding inviting people to visit the hills to see the Kurinjis.
According to this, the flowering season is from September to November. So if you haven’t been there yet, hurry before they are gone!
As I climbed up the hill, it did not take me long to see the Kurinjis. They were in plenty, and they were everywhere. Some hills were entirely covered with just the Kurinji plants.
They looked beautiful and covered vast vistas of the hill range.
But they were not alone. There were so many flowers, many of them tiny, I could not not even count how many types were there.
And they had generously spread out all over the slopes and made the hills look prettier than ever.
And they came in many colors and sizes.
Some of them were so small, I would never have sighted them without looking hard for them!
But the most beautiful of the lot that I saw was also the biggest among them.
There were plenty of visitors to the hills, but to my surprise, almost everyone seemed to be oblivious to the flowers. But I was having a great time among the flowers and had no time to bother about that.
Purple flowers, I guess were the most dominant of all the lot, with Kurinjis having taken up most of the space. Small white flowers came next, followed by yellow ones.
Flowers of many colors spread together on the slopes was a treat for the eyes.
This pink flower below was one of uncommon ones on the slope. I would not have found it, had I not walked around so much around the hills.
But alas, it looks like we just can’t enjoy the beauty of these hills without doing our bit to spoil them. There were some disturbing sights too. Like some garbage, etc..
It was very pleasant day among the flowers, and watching the sunset among the Kurinjis before I headed back was a blissful moment.
Let us hope to preserve this pristine place and keep it clean and beautiful!
As we descended from the heights of Bababudangiri, we could sight some evergreen forest below, thick and dense as usual. But I did not expect to see so many tall and beautiful trees fighting within them for more sunlight. Muthodi, a small village located in the Bhadra wilderness is the place where we were headed, and planned to stay for that night. Bhadra is a protected tiger reserve located in Chikkamagalur and Shimoga districts of Karnataka.
The approach to Muthodi from Bababudangiri
The first thing we noted as we approached the sanctuary in the evening is a remarkable increase in the bird population. And few minutes after we reached Muthodi, I got to see a baby Malabar Giant Squirrel exploring a tall tree. The place we were staying in Muthodi is fairly deep in the forest and has a stream running just behind it!
The stream at Muthodi
The next morning, we headed deeper into the forest. Our jeep dipped into a stream and continued further away from the road. As we headed further, it was forest all around with trees taller than I had ever seen. It is one of those thick forests where sunlight tries hard to reach the forest floor, without much success. We saw quite a few barking deer which are not commonly seen; a peacock, a bison and many chitals in the next hour.
A Wire Tailed Bee Eater
The birds seen included wire tailed bee eaters, rocket tailed drongos and probably a tawny eagle. The best part was listening to variety of bird calls when you switched off the engine – all of them sweet but different. On the way back from the forest we could witness a pair of Malabar Giant Squirrels relishing on a breakfast of raw custard apples!
Pair of Malabar Giant Squirrels
After some refreshing and a lunch later, I decided it was time for another drive. We decided to drive and explore on the main road until we saw a muddy deviation. The small road offered us many surprises. It eventually took us to the top of a hill which offered a panoramic view of the entire Bhadra range of forests. We also saw many beautiful vistas of the hill ranges on the way. The best thing was to listen to funny calls of a lone hornbill calling, sitting on the top of a tree(You should witness that to enjoy it!).
A Malabar Grey Hornbill calling
To our surprise, we encountered some coffee estates deep in such wilderness. The friendly estate owner advised us to go up the top of the hill which gave us such a great view that we felt the entire journey of an hour’s drive and an hour’s walk further was completely worth the effort. He also invited us to his estate and treated us with some nice coffee.
As the sun moved down the horizon, we returned to Muthodi. It was time for us to return to the bustle of Bangalore.
Also read about other places near Chikmagalur on paintedstork.com
* Belur and Halebeedu
* Mullayyanagiri and Charmadi in the monsoons
* Kurinjis in Bababudangiri
* Chikmagalur image gallery
