Birding ! Driving ! Soul-searching !: Bird Watching in Chikmagalur

Drive from Hyderabad to Chikmagalur

Distance: 670 km one way

Time Taken: 11 hours (including R&R)

Depart from Hyderabad: 4-15 AM

Reach Chikmagalur: 3 PM

Place of Stay: The Serai (1 night) & Taj Gateway (3 nights)

Both the Hotel properties are great for birding, although I must admit that we didn't go there primarily for birding. Our objective was to have a leisure vacation but then again - "Once a birder - always a birder". Serai is so huge that birding can be done inside the property itself. Taj isn't that big, but the whereabouts of Taj is at a location which is perfect to do some leisure birding. Variety of bird species is more around Taj, however there is no comparison to the landscape which Serai has. Hospitality is better at Taj and for that matter even food is better at Taj. Serai on the other hand is more luxurious, can't blame Taj there as it is not the top-end Taj, it is the Gateway chain.

Besides, if you want to taste the best available coffee in India, one cannot beat Serai Chikmagalur. It is worth to stay there even if it is for that one cup of coffee.

We managed to click a lot of species during our brief stay and were pleasantly surprised to find that we even got 2 lifers. Add to that the fun of driving the car for such long distances, and it becomes a trip worth memorable. After many years, we managed the courage to drive for 11 hours in a day. It wouldn't have been so easy without the comfort that the Audi A4 provides in these long drives. No complains there, nevertheless we started pondering over the missing features of massage seats with ventilation. Are we going in the direction of Audi Q8? Maybe some day in the distant future, who knows!