Coorg, Karnataka, India

Staying at a coffee plantation –

The best holiday of my life!

Coorg, also known as Kodagu, is an incredibly beautiful rural district in the state of Karnataka, India.

For my readers who are closer to home, just to give you an idea, Coorg is known as the Scotland of India.

Coorg is made up from vast areas of both Teakwood and Sandalwood forests which are living wildly alongside what must be hundreds of tea and coffee plantations.

I can’t quite express enough to you how beautiful this district is…but I’ll try.

Coorg, has a large population of Buddhist monks who live either in the beautiful temples, some of which if you’re respectful you can freely explore, or they live in smaller temples amongst the misty hills which give the entire vibe of Coorg a truly magical feeling.

My trip to Coorg was with the community I was living with at the time, we were a group of 45 people and it was hands down the best holiday I’ve ever had (so far anyway ;))

We stayed at PN Heritage, a coffee plantation & resort which gave us the best experience.

It was only us staying on their grounds (we used all their space) so it was perfect for the holiday. The plantation is surrounded by nature and of course nature attracts birds so the bird song chorused throughout the days, making the time there very peaceful and idyllic.

I would start my mornings with a swim as the early morning sun was rising and then dry off and dress in time for yoga and Organic India Assam tea.

The food that this place made us was super yummy and not oily at all (in the community all our food was organic and grown in the garden so most outside Indian food would upset my stomach) After breakfast depending on what we had planned we would do different activities.

During ‘free time’ – when I wasn’t engaged in community activities I had the opportunity to just sit with my mini sketchbook and create art, aiming to capture my experience. This was needed! For me art and creative writing is my therapy.

I never knew anything about coffee before this trip, we were given a tour of the plantationand taught about the process of the cherries (I found it so cool that they start as little red ‘cherries’ and you can bite them to see the coffee bean inside!) and all the work that goes into turning them into your morning cup of steaming hot coffee.

On the tour I also learnt about black pepper plants, I’m not sure where I thought black pepper came from but I didn’t think it was a tree…and it is from a tree that you can eat it straight off! Cool right.

Not only did I learn lots of awesome things on this tour provided by the resort but also it was a beautiful walk through the plantations.

One of the days we also took part in an arranged sports day at the golf course owned by the resort, it was only a short drive away and it was a really nice golf course. (we didn’t play golf but if you wanted to then it would be a great place to do so)

The plantation was our base, we explored a few places nearby on day excursions.

I wish I had longer to explore more places but I’m satisfied with the quality of the places I did explore and hey…there’s always next time J

So where did we go outside the plantation?

The Golden Temple– a large beautiful Tibetan monastery, housing a large colony of training Buddhist monks. During my visit the monks had exams going on, many were busy revising and certain areas were blocked off due to exams however every monk I approached greeted me with an equally accepting and peaceful smile and gave great conversation. I did a lot of reading about Buddhism when growing up and for me this was the best field trip in the world. I admire the monks so much and find their lives so inspiring and extraordinary. I did find it funny though how under the robes I could see the newest Nike trainers on a few of the younger monks! I guess this showed me the sad truth that materialism sneaks its way in everywhere. The community I lived in was very anti materialism (no clothes were allowed to be worn that showed off a brand logo or designer name)

When leaving I asked around to a few monks to find a monk who’s spent his life here and could talk to the community and give his life advice, I unfortunately can’t remember the name of the elderly monk who ended up sitting down with us but he was telling many things that I shall treasure forever. He spoke about dedication and inner peace and the highlight of this trip was that when we learnt about the community he said ‘ I may have spent my life learning how to be a good person, learning how to be kind and giving but you guys are living the lesson and that is truly rare and beautiful’ I was so happy with this, I can still replay it exactly in my mind with every detail.

The one thing that ruined this day for me a little bit was the disrespect of some of the other visitors, there were large groups of Indian males who were being very rowdy and loud and only focussed on taking selfies. Come on guys!! Show some respect.

Visitors are allowed until 6pm, so make sure you get there early enough. I’d recommend around 2pm because you can experience prayer in the main temple hall ! Infact it is a cultural must!

Dubare Elephant Camp, here I washed and fed elephants. Defiantly a highlight of this trip for me! – For more details and photos about this amazing experience, read my elephant post.

So that sums up the highlights of my holiday in Coorg, I hope I’ve inspired you to visit this amazing place for yourself.

Love love love, Chloe

Xo

P.S If you’re interested in the community I was living in, I’ll be uploading a post soon!