Misty Palms-Coorg-Terelu Village

Bringing in 2011 at Misty Palms, Coorg ( located in Terelu Village, South Coorg, at the foot of Brahmagirihills)

It wasn't supposed to be this way. We had been promised a home stay within a coffee estate, a fishing trip and most importantly complete seclusion from the banalities of

city life. Gypped by Spen who had the nerve to actually offer us ice cubes in a chembu (small pot) for use over the new year celebrations, what we got was a house on the main road between Hunsur and Gonikoppa. We refused! city slickers we maybe, idiots? certainly not! We worked the phones and found a home stay in Virajpet for a day.

If it wasn't for the fact the place had already been booked for new year's eve, we would have continued to stay there. Working the phones again we found Misty Palms. Ravi who manages the place initially assured us rooms, but backtracked later and offered one room for the five of us! and the word 'adjustment' kept surfacing through out the conversation. He also warned us that they completely depended on the sun for electricity and the nearest town to buy anything was 30kms away. Intrigued and also bereft of places to go, we said yes and took off.

Getting to Misty Palms from Virajpet was quite easy, after passing Gonikoppa we headed right towards Kutta. On the way in Ponnampet there is a village called T. Shettigere, at the village junction there's a road that goes north called Birnani road. Take this road and you will go past KKR Tea estate and Tata Tea Estates. Halfway through the estates there is a sharp left U turn, we took that and the board said 13 kms to Misty Palms. The roads are ok, but the final approach to the place signifies in no uncertain terms that civilization has indeed been left behind.

The place is beautiful! and the people that run it, i mean the manager, cooks, guides etc are extremely friendly and helpful.

Misty Palms is still work in progress, a lot of construction work is happening to make sure that they can meet the surge in demand and tastes. But one thing that they are clear about, and i do hope it remains that way, is that it will never turn into a resort that brings in hordes of city dwellers only to frighten the wildlife whose home it actually is.