Trekking in Coorg - All Great but the Leeches

Well, since we've had layout problems these past few posts, on the next couple of posts I'm just going to provide a little background text, and then let you scroll the photos. Coorg is an area of Coorg in the hills of the Western Ghats, also home to the headwaters of the River Cauvery, the longest river in South India. It's quite a rural area with forests, coffee and spice plantations. The major activity in Coorg is 'trekking', or what we in the US would refer to as hiking. We took two lovely hikes in Coorg, with the aide of a lovely guide, Chinappa. (a guide is essential since there are no marked trails or readily available maps). After a bumpy jeep ride past paddy fields and pastures, the first hike started in the rain. It was marred only by the presence of a gazillion leeches, which were teeny little critters that dropped onto your shoes and socks looking for a meal. Fortunately, the rain stopped, the trail opened up as we climbed higher, and the leech problem abated.

Out second trek started in the field in back of Chinappa's brothers home, and climbed up through a coffee and spice plantation (photos below of Prabhu with his favorite plant, the coffee tree). Then we were up over a ridge and on to the Abbi falls, where locals love to gather and take a dip - even though the water contains the untreated sewage of the neighboring town of Madikeri (so we stayed on the shore!). We then crossed an exciting bamboo bridge, were up over another ridge and done. Ashwin and Priya were great trekkers! We hope you enjoy the photos.