A pack of tropical cherry-flavour Tic Tac, a hand sanitiser, anti-sickness tablets, some wet wipes, lunch break at Kamat Lokaruchi with a yummy Karavali thali and you are set for the six-hour road trip from Bangalore to Coorg. The reason? The launch of Vivanta by Taj — Madikeri. Nothing quite prepares you for this Taj Vivanta property. Built 4,000sq ft above sea level, the hotel offers a breathtaking view of the rainforest. After landing at the lobby in a golf cart and sipping on jaggery-sweetened coffee, take your time to plan your stay. Here’s what we saw and did...

A trek through the rainforest

We heard a king cobra rustling on dry leaves but missed seeing it by a nanosecond. Nevertheless, the forest walk was action-packed, led by Abhishek, our Rainforest Insider. From rare mushrooms to rarer orchids, we saw it all. From the song of Malabar Whistling Thrush to Little Green Bee-eater, we heard them all. Track pants and full sleeves, caps, sunglasses to shield the more-off-less-on sunshine and binoculars — the forest walk was dotted with creepy crawlies including a feisty Funnel-web spider!

Ah! Spa

The itinerary read ‘Forest Walk with a Rainforest Insider (optional)’ but when you spot the keyword in brackets and a small voice in your head reminding you that a Jiva Spa is on the premises, well, you know where you’re headed. Madikeri houses a 30,000sqft Jiva Grande Spa. A stream of water with rocks and pebbles forms the access to the spa, so hop, skip and a mini-workout done, there’s nothing you deserve more than one (or four or five) of their signature spa treatments. Lie back on a recliner on the deck, sip on their delicious ‘detox drink’ (lemon, holy basil and jaggery) and pick a therapy that catches your fancy. The wood-fired Gudda Bath is highly recommended. Or try a traditional champi or a neem facial.

Clay therapy

A clay therapy session at the potter’s studio under the supervision of Ganesan M is just what the doctor would order after a hectic night of “healthy, vitamin-infused” cocktails and dinner under a starry night. All that talk about clay being therapeutic is so true. Lessons learnt at the end of an hour and a very abstract-looking (okay, strange-looking) pot:

1. Don’t focus on the end product. Enjoy the process.

2. Don’t rush. Feel the clay. See how the clay reacts to your pressure. Don’t stop as soon as you get some shape... in fear of ruining it.

3. Keep your nails short. Avoid expensive clothes — unless you fancy that mud-splattered look.

4. Finally, don’t be attached to the end product.

5. Katrina Kaif gets it all wrong in the Titan ad.

Soulful music

A chilly December night. Deep Forest takes centre stage at the amphitheatre. Ducks that were swimming in the pond settle down in a corner, the select audience who have been flown in for the launch take their seats on the concrete steps and everyone raises their champagne flute to toast Madikeri. “It’s such a pleasure to play in the forest,” smiled Deep Forest’s Eric Mouquet. Sweet Lullaby, White Whisper and Cafe Europa apart, Eric and his boys did a couple of numbers from Deep Africa and Rahul Sharma joined in for some tracks from their collaborative album Deep India. #win

Shradha Agarwal