Excursion Programs in Karnataka and South India
Karnataka is a tapestry of colors, cultures, flavors, landscapes, timelessness and heart stopping beauty. It’s a place where vibrant worlds seamlessly meld into one another every few hundred kilometers. Host to some of India’s largest and most powerful dynasties, the state has across the centuries, carried a legacy of art and culture.
Duration: 5-7 Days
Best Time: November-April
Bengaluru- Bengaluru is the number one city in the India blessed with a benevolent climate. It’s not necessarily a place to be wowed by world-class sights, but instead to experience the new modern face of India.
Hampi- Unreal and bewitching, the forlorn ruins of Hampi dot an unearthly landscape that will leave you spellbound the moment you cast your eyes on it.
Nandi Hills- Nandi hills ,were once the summer retreat of Tipu Sultan (his palace is still here). A good place for a leisurely hike, panoramic views of sweeping plains and two notable chola temples.
Kodagu (Coorg)- Nestled amid ageless hills that line the southernmost edge of Karnataka is the luscious Kodagu (Coorg) region, gifted with emerald landscapes and acres of plantations, it is a major centre for coffee and spice production. The uneven terrain and cool climate make it a fantastic area for trekking, birdwatching or lazily ambling down little-trodden paths winding around carpeted hills.
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is the homeland of one of humanity’s living classical civilizations, stretching back uninterrupted for two millennia and very much alive today in the Tamils’ language, dance, poetry and Hindu religion. To the very end of this state, three seas mingle, the cool, forest-clad, wildlife-prowled Western Ghats. It’s all packed into a state that remains proudly distinct from the rest of India, while at the same time being among the most welcoming.
Best Time: July-September, January-March
Ooty- Ooty, ‘the Queen of Hill Stations’, opens to quieter, greener areas where tall pines rise above what could almost be an English country lanes mixes up Indian bustle and Hindu temples with lovely parks and gardens and charming Raj-era bungalows. The town was established by the British in the early 19th century as the summer headquarters of the Madras government, and memorably nicknamed ‘Snooty Ooty’.
Kodaikanal(Kodai)- This misty hill station, 120km northwest of Madurai in the Palani hills, is more relaxed and intimate than its big sister Ooty. Kodai is the ‘Princess of Hill Stations’, while Ooty is the Queen. Centered on a beautiful lake, Kodai rambles up and down hillsides with patches of shola forest, unique to the Western Ghats in South India, and evergreen broadleaf trees like magnolia, mahogany, myrtle and rhododendron. Another of its plant specialities is the kurinji shrub, whose lilac-blue blossoms appear only every 12 years.
Kerela
A sliver of a coastal state in India’s South, Kerala is shaped by its layered landscape: glorious Arabian Sea coast and beaches; a languid network of glistening backwaters; and the spice and tea-covered hills of the Western Ghats. Besides its famous backwaters, elegant houseboats, ayurvedic treatments and delicately spiced, taste-bud-tingling cuisine, Kerala is home to wild elephants, exotic birds and the odd tiger, while vibrant traditions such as Kathakali plays, temple festivals and snake-boat races frequently bring even the smallest villages to life. It’s hard to deny Kerala’s liberal use of the slogan ‘God’s Own Country’.
Best Time: September-March
Kochi (Cochin)- Nowhere else in India could you find such an intriguing mix: giant fishing nets from China, a 400-year-old synagogue, ancient mosques, portuguese houses and the crumbling remains of the British Raj. The result is an unlikely blend of medieval Portugal, Holland and an English village grafted onto the tropical Malabar Coast.
Munnar- The rolling hills around Munnar, South India’s largest tea-growing region, are carpeted in emerald-green tea plantations, contoured, clipped and sculpted like ornamental hedges. The low mountain scenery is magnificent, often up above the clouds watching veils of mist clinging to the mountaintops.
Alapuzzha (Alleppey)- Alappuzha (or Alleppey) is a city on the Laccadive Sea in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It’s best known for houseboat cruises along the rustic Kerala backwaters, a network of tranquil canals and lagoons.
Thekkedy/Periyar National Park- Thekkady is the location of the Periyar National Park, which is one of the most popular national parks in southern India. It stays open all year round, even during the monsoon season. Safaris are carried out by boat, with the lake being particularly captivating at sunset.
ORGANISER – Explorer & Adventure
Why chose EXPLORER & ADVENTURE?
The educational excursions we design, emphasizes the attentive mind, enabling a sense of learning, discovery, exploration amidst the nature and wilderness, self-discovery in the adventure and a quality of quietness amidst nature. And this emphasis need not come in the way of such trips being FUN, as they are meant to be.
