Hotel Reviews - Bethel Home Stay, Coorg, Karnataka

Hotel Reviews of Bethel Home Stay

6.44
Sharath, Bangalore | 25^th November 2008
Hotel Review of Bethel Home Stay
Comments: Having planned a holiday a week in advance to beat the holiday rush of the Oct 2 weekend (we were in bethel from Sep26 -28)... we the five of us ; Ravi, unni,sindhya, latha and myself were thrilled about our newest destination; bethel homestay, near kutta in coorg.
Being wildlife enthusiasts and the lucky few ones to come across a tiger in the wild during a trek in masinagudi in our previous holiday ; we were very sure on our minds that our next holiday should also be a wild one.
So me and unni was searching google to help us find a place which suited our requirements; having heard a lot about nagarhole and having traveled through it while on our journey from kannur to bglr, our searches were confined to nagarhole national park; and in popped up bethel estate; a neatily laid out simple site with all the necessary details and also a blog; along with some customer reviews. We went through 2 ?V 3 reviews and then decided to give it a try. We called the contact number given and found rakesh who completely explained us everything; the facilities, tariffs, treks and most importantly he emphasized a lot about white water rafting. He was very comfortable to talk to, comparing to other travel people we had interacted before. We requested and he gave us an option of paying 50% advance as against bethels policy of 100 % advance payment; and also since rakesh was based in Bangalore for 2 ?V 3 days in a week we decided to meet in a mall in Bangalore and give him the advance payment.

So early morning on 26th we were about to start in our santro and we got a good morning call from rakesh ; and he promised to keep calling in between. We entered nagarhole at around 1pm and got a quite a lot of wildlife sightings ; a pack of wild dogs; hundreds of deers; a long shot of a bison ; and also had a tusker crossing the road and mock charging at us.Phew!! that was one experience and we have a, now hilarious video clipping of that tusker encounter. We reached kutta and then rakesh guided us to srimangala where he was waiting with two ??commander?? jeeps along with his trusted ??pilots?? manju and hamsa. We parked our santro at a safe place in srimangala and had to shift our goodies to the commanders for our journey towards bethel. The journey itself was an experience passing through some scenic tea estates ; I was wondering why we had to leave our santro behind ; and then I got the answer ; the last 5 kms was a ride of a life time ; and only the commanders could have made it ?K All of us pretty much had an exercise for all the bones in our body ??. Then finally we reached bethel in the middle of nowhere; the scenic view from the homestay was breathtaking; after keeping our luggages in the two spacious swiss cottages allotted;it was clean and well maintained. By the time we freshened up lunch was ready to eat?K I never have seen so many dishes to choose from at a travel location.And nevertheless we had to our fill. Our host rakesh was with us all the time and he really made us feel very comfortable and at home.
Then we sat and planned for the things to do ; and rakesh again emphasized about the rafting for the next day ; we told ya we will decide tomorrow and then in the evening we went for a trek inside the estate; had some beautiful views of sunset and then while we returned and freshened up bonfire was ready; and then came the next surprise some 5 different types of bhaji??s, and chicken fry ?KRakesh again asked us about rafting since we would have to inform in advance so as to book a slot. We were still hesistant and one of the main reasons that 3 of us were non swimmers and also that we dint carry much cash with us; so we dint want to have a embarrassing situation in the end ; but rakesh coaxed us into telling him of the hesistancy and then offered to take us to an ATM on our return journey and we can pay the remaining amount to him from der.At the same time then ;entered our next host Arun , a cc of rakesh when it comes to hospitality and friendliness; After lazing around the bonfire then we had dinner again so many tasty dishes laid out ..Wow everyone had to their fills and had a good nights sleep, dreaming of the rafting to be done on the next day.
Next day morning, after some bird watching on a treetop inside the campus & yet again a sumptuous breakfast we moved towards the rafting facility in the barapole river. After all the helmets, life jackets, paddles we were ready for the initiation or I should say induction into the world of whitewater rafting.Our nepali ??teamleader?? explained to us all the commands, the moves and finally what to do in case of emergency ;)?Kwith our adrenaline rushing & heart thumping as fast as it could; we set out to this once in a lifetime experience in two rafts and had a thrilling ride through the different rapids.Rakesh was right, we would have missed something if we had skipped the rafting.
After the rafts was carried on our heads back to the jeeps , arun was waiting for us in the sumo and then he took us to nearby stream where we had lots of fun.

After a quick shower we had yet another ??big?? meal with our kerala favorite, fish fry and curry.In the night we went for a safari inside nagarhole national park; and saw elephants,wild dogs and lots of deers..

Night again ; a bethel special pork fry... pork never tasted better ?? , all these time rakesh and arun kept us on splits by telling their numerous anecdotes about bethel and the earlier visitors.

Sunday morning and it was time to leave ?K after the breakfast we said goodbye to rakesh arun & the team at bethel ...

This was undoubtedly the best tour that I had been a part of; and the hospitality and friendliness of rakesh and arun was uncomparable. We will definitely recommend to anyone who wishes to travel to bethel and we ourselves will return to bethel for an other holiday?K

Best Experience: Hospitality of Rakesh & Arun ; food and white water rafting !!!
Worst Experience: Nonesoever