Simha farms - homestay near Kodachadri

Simha Farms - A homestay in Malenaadu at the foothills of the mighty Kodachadri!

What else do you need? Exquisite environment, beautiful locales, Hornbills at your doorstep, Non-stop bird watching, Cosy cottages, Delicious home food and Hospitable friendly hosts.

Malabar Grey Hornbill had eluded me so far and seeing one such image on INW left me dumbstruck and from there got to know about Simha farms and Adithya Biloor through Ashwini Bhat. More info on this homestay here. Another uniqueness in Simha farms is Mr. Udaya Simha, father of Adithya and who is a sculptor and whose carvings are spread across the estate and they look very real and the pieces of work are exemplary. They also arrange jeep rides to Kodachadri, Hidlumane falls and nearby places.

Nag was not in this time, and Raja had a Sunday wedding to attend at Shimoga, so I, Raja and Guru for a change decided to travel by bus this time around as it was more convenient. 4th and 5 dec were our planned dates. We took the 8:30pm Rajahamsa bus that goes to Kundapur via Shimoga, Ripponpet, Nagara and Madodi, this is the only one that plies on this route. We reached by 5 in the morning the the conductor was familiar with the stop and the homestay and there was a person waiting for us to guide us home. It was still dark as we approached the homestay and there we started seeing the sculptures of deer, bison, apemen who looked like real in the dark. This place is famous for the hornbills who perch at striking distance from you when there is nobody to disturb. The cottages were very good, cozy and traditional and with slight chillness in the morning we had no intentions to sleep.

Adithya came a little later and he also being a photo enthusiast and bird watcher, our conversations started off with both of us having common interests. The Malabar grey hornbills came and perched on the fruit tree right opposite the sitting area and i made some good shots moving at a snails pace. We spent the early morning watching and photographing the hornbills and few other ones that were visible. Then time to fresh up and a heavy breakfast. Strolling around the farm, birding and after a brief rest and lunch, we met the hosts - Adithya's father and wife and saw some of his sculptures. Looks like Adithya's father Udaya Simha's hand is "Made of Gold", seeing the various sculptures you cant hide your amusement and excitement.

Later we hired a jeep to the Hidlumane falls that is at the foothills of Kodachadri. A few kms of nerve wracking jeep ride and then further a small trek to view the falls. The falls is in 4 stages and it needs some trekking skills to reach the last stage. Water was less but the rocks slippery and there were absolutely no souls around to disturb, it was fun time for the three of us. After whaling some time here, then back at the homestay and after a hefty meal, time for some rest. The evening passed with us loitering around doing some birding activity around the farmhouse and near the backwaters close by. Wooly necked storks were the highlight for the evening. Evening time some hot tea with pakodas and games of carrom, what more you require!

Next day myself was the first to wake up past 6, immediately picked my camera and went out for the hornbills. No luck this time, met Adithya and both rode off to the nearby waterbody to shoot some birds in the golden rays. Munia, Barn Swallows and the Vernal Hanging Parrot gave some good moments and there was knowledge sharing b/w both of us on the use of light and background. Raja and Guru joined me later and after spending some time came back to our cottage.

After breakfast we went around the sprawling farmhouse cornering all ends and also to view the sculptures spread across the estate. Heavy lunch and after casual talks we left the place bidding goodbye to the wonderful hosts on our way to Shimoga town.

Raja had a reception to attend, me and Guru whaled time and then we boarded the 11pm Volvo towards nama Bengaluru.

A lovely place, wonderful ambience, lovely weather, humble hosts and a good weekend place away from home.

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Kodachadri - 1 year later!!!

2009 April 10-12...

Kodachadri has been always special to us and when its time to celebrate the first anniversary - we were filled with thoughts of how to go about it?

Finally the best way I could imagine is to go there again and again...! Our thinkings are weird and we would not like to visit the same place again till all the others in our wish list are conquered and it was a bit tough to convince my team to trek up Kodachadri again! This time around, the group was bigger with Badrinath wishing to team up along with his wife.. that made the group 6 with Raja, Guru, Nag, me, Badri and his wife Anu...

With the people in place, next was on how to reach the place? Badri came to the rescue and his grand old Tata Estate vehicle was the knight in shining armour and the Good friday weekend was fixed for this activity.

Accomodation was a problem this time... Rajendra (the guest house guy) could not accomodate us this time as being a holiday weekend, mad rush of people were expected... and he had started a package trip too! how weird and he suggested us also to go in for the package trek! We being freelance trekkers were now in a fix! But as we had been earlier there, he gave us the contact of the Bhat living there who also hosts guests and trekkers. The contact person was Parameshwara Bhat (main Archaka @ Kodachadri temple) who was more than glad to host us.. but he had a condition.... we had to be like staying at home... i.e., do your own cleaning activities and stay as if its your home not a hotel! Well, that was a not a problem for us and thus all things in place... we were off again to reconquer Kodachadri!

Finally the D-day came... and our expected start off from Bengaluru @ 10 pm got delayed and by the time we left it was almost midnight... Badri's sedan was very comfortable and Guru loved his "dikki seat" all through the trip... Badrinath was the lone driver and he had no intentions to share with anybody too...! The drive was smooth and good except for a few hump jumps whenever Badri & his wife missed seeing them.. This time as were in a car, we drove up to "Hotel Santhosh", i.e., the initial 4.5 kms of walk-trek was covered driving! (this was in some way compromising on our actual trek plan...) Hungry stomachs and you gobble up whatever is served.... the same old "Puttus" and "Idlis" with lime juice were gobbled up by all of us in a flash and after a few minutes rest we were all ready to start...

We started off enthusiastically carrying a medium sized watermelon for a break mid way... things change and the weather was not pleasant, it was hot, dry and even the hillocks were sore all thirsty and dried up desperately waiting for the rains!

Badri and his wife Anu were the slowest (I imagine forget trekking would I be able to even walk around normally another 10 years down the line? kudos to them for their agility and courage...). With a few breaks we reached the top this time quite faster within 2 hours from the hotel santhosh.

The IB was swarming with people all around and we went ahead to Parameshwara Bhat's house that is situated at the back end of the temples and the IB. No bathrooms and we were asked to go to the Agastya theertha for bathing purposes. Leaving Badri's wife there, 5 of us went ahead and somehow finally managed there to find water dripping through a small pipe.. the force of water was decent but the chillness never subsided. Turn by turn standing on the edge of the rock, we bathed in the cool water and then we came back after gulping down few glasses of Majjige.

Heavy lunch, some rest and we were off to view the sunset at the Shankara Peeta (last year we had some fabulous sunset view from here)... and we were there early as the crowd was more and we expected them all there! Our gamble worked and we occupied the balcony seat (edge of the cliff from where you can view without any obstructions in front...) but as the saying "Man proposes god disposes". It was cold and overcast weather and the clouds were playing spoilsport all along... (they were not relenting to let the sun shine through!). We were also not there to give up and slowly the crowd was thinning... and we just sat still enjoying the cool breeze and the groundnuts sold there hoping for the sun to be out! Finally just to please us, the sun was out just for a few minutes to allow us click some snaps and then vanished again behind the clouds. Badri and his wife left early as it was getting dark and chill, but we 4 stayed chatting and enjoying the cool breeze.

We left the place not till we were convinced about no chances of the sun coming out again and slowly trekked back to our resting place. The main disadvantage of staying at the Bhat's house is that you dont get any space of your own... its a common hall let out to all the trekkers and the family uses it too.. so either you watch the tv with them or sit out in the darkness chatting with your group! With the stay being not so comfortable and convenient, the next day's plans were 1. to stay back only if we could manage a room in the IB or 2. trek back and halt at Shivamogga (Badri's relatives house)... Again a heavy dinner and a heavy sleep... lazy bums... we were the last ones to wake up to find the entire hall empty.. @ 7.30 am, all the other groups were out and we were still snoring!!! Woke up finally and checked in the IB with no luck, then went again to Agastya theertha for bathing and decided to trek down back... We thanked and bid goodbye to Bhat's family paying the charges (only the food and tea were charged!) and started our trek downhill stopping for some photographs in between. Plastics were still abundant everywhere and I did my bit ragpicking some strewn plastics and collecting it to dispose in some better place than the hills. At the tea stall in between the guy offered to dispose these plastics at some better place and we reluctantly gave it to him. 90 minutes of downhill trek and we were back at the mallu hotel santhosh for more refreshments and to move ahead.

Change of plans.. we guys were wanting a night out at Shivamogga, Anu was willing to stay back at her relative's house there but Badri wanted to go back home! Finally convinced Badri to stay at his in laws house for the night and we 4 took a room for the night near Shivamogga bus stand. We were out for Bengaluru the next day morning by 9am, the highway was good with minimal traffic and we reached home in a span of 5 hours time!

We ended this trip by watching the movie "Jhossh", in which Rakesh Adiga, my relative is one of the lead @ the Garuda Swagath mall.

Happiness for conquering Kodachadri for the 2nd time with a bit of dissappointment for not able to view the sunset, neither the sunrise nor getting the IB and the hot weather in all - all the hills looked brown in dark contrast to the green cover it was last year during the same time.

Trek route: We took the Karakatte gate as the previous year. However there are routes from Nagara and Kodachadri cross. All routes converge near the mallu Hotel Santhosh.

NO PLASTICS please... as mindless people come, dump and go! Am really thinking of alternatives on how to check this dumping!

Accomodation: IB - Mr. Rajendra - 092428 92299; 08185 290368

KK Parameshwara Bhat - 08185 295934

Next time I will ensure I'm there at the right time when there is no crowd and spend some quality time there in the heavenly abode!

Happy Trekking! Preserve Nature!

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!