Kadkani Riverside Resort, Coorg

Kadkani is a riverside resort located in southern Coorg (aka Kodagu – a district in Karnataka state), on the banks of Cauvery river surrounded by coffee estates with distinct flora. If you are not aware, Coorg is known for its coffee plantations. Here the nature is at its best and the weather is salubrious throughout the year. For past few quarters at work we were all running release after release without much needed getaway from officious oracle. As the famous proverb quotes “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, to break the jinx, we decided to go for an outing and we picked Kadkani resort in Coorg for an overnight stay. This place was a choice of majority since the tranquility and the closeness to nature was everyone’s idea for outing.

There were about 43 people who had signed up for this outing and a bus was arranged from office to Kadkani resort. Just a day before the departure, my manager’s boss asked if I wanted to join him for a drive on his Volkswagen Jetta. Without much hesitation, I said ‘YES’. I will post another article on that car in my next article. We took the route as mentioned on Kadkani’s website, this was enroute Ramanagara – Mandya – Srirangapatna – Hunusur – Titimati – Gonikoppal – Ammathi – Vontiangadi and then the Kadkani resort. Using the Garmin GPS gadget, it was fairly straight forward for us to reach the venue at least a couple of hours before the rest of the group could reach. The GPS gadget was to the dot in precision till Hunusur, after that there was a bit of delta in mapping the actual road to the map on Garmin. Also, the roads were pathetic and full of pot holes everywhere after a deviation from Hunusur towards Kadkani. This stretch is approximately about 80kms and takes a minimum of 2.5hrs. If you are planning to drive through your personal vehicle, think about it!

The smell of fresh air while driving through this route is something one shouldn’t miss. The coffee estates are all over through the last 40+ kms stretch. Upon reaching at the gated riverside resort of Kadkani, we were received by lady staff who were dressed in blue saree uniform resembling the ethnic wear of Coorg. We checked into the deluxe cottages. There are premium duplex cottages as well as dens. Cottages were cleanly set up for our arrival I suppose. They were neat and very well maintained. Deluxe cottages are independent, traditionally designed with a bedroom, skylight bathroom and an open veranda with seating arrangement. These cottages can easily accommodate 2 adults and a child. I must confess that the hot water was made available throughout our stay.

At lunch we were offered pretty standard north indian style food without any element of local culinary. After that long strenuous drive, may be our expectations were a bit high. Oh yeah, there was an Andhra Style fish curry! Started exploring the resort after lunch and we could see some of the facilities like a swimming pool, volley ball court, boat paddling in a small pond, Burma bridge, not so well maintained shuttle badminton court and a shoddy hobby center having a ping pong board (Table Tennis), carrom and chess. I was indeed disappointed with the state of most of these facilities. For the entire resort, there was just one hammock! Walked around the riverside area, clicked few pics and it started raining around 4pm which continued to pour down and drizzle until the next day morning! The rains weren’t sufficient to stop us from playing volley ball and getting into river rafting.

River rafting was the only thing that I enjoyed the most. Though the water was very calm and greenish, we had a great fun. Half the way while rafting, the rain started to pour down heavy and the experience we had is beyond words! A couple of folks jumped into the river to swim while the others were rafting. There was an expert to take care of us though we all were wearing life jackets. Since almost everyone was drenched in rain, I doubt if anyone got into swimming pool. Though the pool is small, it is maintained very well with exclusive kids area. Once the dusk had set in, we settled around the open lounge for a singing party. Folks were picking a random number and others were joining voices to keep the fun rolling while others were busy gulping a drink of their choice in between the breaks. As the time progressed, the signs of alcohol effect was visible in some of the folks through the dances and shaayaris!

I was disappointed by the dinner spread too. There were noodles and fried rice kind of stuff, Coorgi relishes were certainly missing from the menu. One thing I liked about the restaurant/dining hall at Kadkani is that they don’t entertain liquor inside. Those who wish to enjoy their food with liquor can always go out in the open space having a covered roof. After so much of singing, rafting, playing tt, carrom, volleyball and all I was too tired and hit the bed around 10:30pm. Got up early around 5:15am as usual and had a brisk walk within the gated resort until the sunlight was bright. Thankfully the rain gods had some mercy on us and it was a wonderful morning with cool breeze! Got an opportunity to click some of the shots using my camera and then we headed for a plantation trek with the help of a guide.

Trek through the coffee plantation was an awesome experience. We could differentiate Robusta and Arabica varieties of coffee plants. There were palm trees, Areca trees with pepper creepers, turmeric herbs, ram phal (custard apple), both bitter and sweet orange trees, banana plantations etc., The amount of sweat that was getting out of my body during that trek was probably the highest of this year so far! Very good workout for the body. Had a nice shower followed by a king size breakfast! Checked out around 10:30am and started our journey back. I strongly recommend this place for nature lovers who love to spend time in tranquility far from city life. Don’t have high expectations regarding the sporting facilities. I couldn’t get a chance to visit the 9 hole golf course operated by Kadkani and hence no comments on that. Food is not too great and my overall rating for this resort is ‘Average’ and probably not the best value for money that you pay.