Keeping Still

With verdant hills and a virgin landscape, Coorg, Karnataka is perfect for an idyllic holiday in the Western Ghats. Make Ayatana Coorg your base for an experience truly immersed in nature.

- Rashima Nagpal

HISTORY TELLS of Coorg as a land of abundance. Even today, numerous waterfalls fill its landscape, and the Brahmagiri, Talacauvery, and Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuaries frame the region, making it a nature lover’s dream. It further entices your senses with its sprawling coffee estates, lush spice gardens, and a treasure of herbs.

Deep in the woods, ahead of countless sylvan hamlets near the districts headquarter Madikeri, sits Ayatana Coorg, a nature resort from the WelcomHeritage group of hotels. When in Coorg, a base like this is fit for an active holiday as it is for a laid-back retreat. In my case, I was destined to experience the latter.

Call it the downside of being a frequent flyer, if you will, but not all trips begin with a dose of excitement. In this particular context, it had only been 10 days since I got back from an astounding work trip to Switzerland and the experience was yet to sink in. So, even though I looked forward to my first time in coffee-laden Coorg, I wasn’t ‘ready’ for it. This, I realized in retrospect.