Honey Valley Resort: A Peaceful Homestay in Coorg

Honey Valley, in my personal opinion is a great place to spend your holiday in Coorg (Kodagu). It is situated in the heart of tropical paradise and is your perfect hill station destination. Right from the time you climb the three kilometre 4x4 steep cobbled path to reach this homestay, it is just peaceful bliss all the way.


Honey Valley is a 56 acre property that belongs to the Chengappa family. What started a long while back as a small homestay has morphed into a full fledged homestay with lots of accommodation options. But, at the same time, this development has hardly changed the ecology of this place.


It still remains laced with coffee estates and spice plantations. Tropical rainforests are situated in its boundary and a lot of colourful flowers and plants spring pleasant surprises right through this homestay.

 
Honey Valley is situated close to the Kabinakkad bus stand that lies on the Virajpet – Madikeri road. Virajpet is about 26 kilometres from Honey Valley and about 15 kilometres from Kakkabe.


The accommodation options here suits every kind of traveller right from the backpacker, trekker, birdwatcher, family to honeymooners. The cost is also very reasonable. Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks and Dinner come for an additional nominal price and is served at a common dining hall.


The kitchen here is known to cull out some mouth watering Kodagu food. Don’t miss out on the Pandi (Pork) curry and the coffee grown from their own coffee estate. Both these are specialities of Coorg.

 
Honey Valley is also a birdwatcher’s paradise. A lot of terrestrial species can be spotted here throughout the year, though winter is considered the best time for birdwatching. A lot of tropical trekking trails also originate from Honey valley. The most popular one being the trek to Thadiyendamol peak. Mr. Chengappa has documented more than 25 odd trails from his estate to exotic locations.


If you are interested in spending your holiday at the Honey Valley Resort, then you can contact Mr. Suresh Chengappa at 0827-2238339. I have personally visited this place five times from 2003 through 2010 and have come out mightily pleased every single time. In fact, this is one of my most favourite places in Coorg.

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Monsoon Trek to Nilakandi Falls, Coorg, Karnataka, India

The Nilakandi Falls is set amidst the dense tropical forests of Coorg and starts somewhere in the Thadiyendamol range. A three kilometre trek from the Honey Valley Resort takes one to the stream that flows down from the Nilakandi Falls. And another four kilometres from there takes you to the source of the waterfall, which is a small lake.

  
Honey Valley is a 56 acre resort and private property owned and run by Mr. Suresh Chengappa and is situated 4 kilometres from the Kabinnakad bus stop, that is close to Kakkabe.

 
A forty five minute easy walk through more or less level ground takes one to Nilakandi Falls from Honey Valley. Me and my friends did just this earlier this month on what was a rainy monsoon day.

 
We finished our breakfast and started climbing towards the dry pond from where the trail splits into a small one that passes through grasslands and dense evergreen forests.

 
Since it was raining and the ground was slushy, we found a lot of leeches, but somehow managed to get bit by only a few. Guess we had got used to them after our series of monsoon treks.

 
One can get a grand view of the Nilakandi Falls in just about twenty minutes into the trek. The view is that of a milky white waterfall amidst dense greenery. It is here that one can take a good long break to admire this stunning waterfall view. Though, you should watch out for the leeches as they cling on to you easily.

 
Another 25 minute trek from this location takes you to the stream that tumbles down from the Nilakandi Falls. This is a great place for a shower in the 15 foot waterfall and/or a dip in the small pool. The water is completely clean here, though a bit chilly when we went there last. But, a dip in the waters takes care of the chill factor.

 
You can climb further to reach the top of the waterfall, which is a small pond, else return to Honey Valley via the same route to make this a short and sweet tropical trek from Honey Valley and a refreshing experience overall.

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Weekend Getaway to Honey Valley Estate in Coorg, Karnataka, India

Five of us left Bangalore one fine Friday morning to spend the weekend at Honey Valley Estate in exotic Coorg that is nestled in the Western Ghats of Karnataka.

 
It was smooth travel till we reached Hunsur. We had sumptuous breakfast of steaming hot idlis, maddur vada and filter coffee at Maddur Tiffanys’. But, just after Hunsur, we had a bad flat and the tyre itself had cracked open.


We fixed the spare tyre just outside Hunsur and then bore the brunt of the extremely bad roads till Virajpet.


At Virajpet, we had a brief stopover for chai (tea) and some snacks to go with it. Then, we took the small winding roads that took us to Kabbinakad. It was already night time by the time we reached Kabbinakad.


From here, a steep dirt track took us to Honey Valley. We lost our way once and then our SUV lost grip at a couple of places, but we overcame these small, yet eventful hurdles to make it to our destination.


At Honey Valley, we were taken to our cottage rooms by the hosts, the Chengappa family, where we freshened up before heading down to the common room for a great dinner.


Post dinner, most of us decided to explore the territory nearby under torch light. It was a great experience, though we could hardly see anything.


Next morning, was an early Coorgi breakfast. The homemade jam and honey are a real treat here. The hearty and healthy breakfast got us all charged up for our day’s trek.


We ditched the traditional trekking route to Thadiyandamol and instead opted for the more steep route to the top of a nearby waterfall.


The ascent was fairly easy as we climbed up with the support of the long grass blades, but when we looked down below us, we knew that we had to find an alternate route for our descent.


While we were searching for the alternate route, we came across a large group of gaurs and this freaked us out completely. We stood frozen till this large bovine group moved away from us.


Soon, we found our way down. Enroute our descent, we enjoyed a great dip in one of the many streams flowing down from the waterfall. Lunch, as with all the other meals, was sumptuous. All I can say is that the Chengappa family have a great cook.


We relaxed for a while after lunch, bought ourselves some original Coorgi coffee, honey and jam and then packed up to make our way back to Bangalore.

Honey Valley nestled deep in Coorg is a great weekend getaway from Bangalore!!

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