BharatSangraha

Malnad · Deccan Inland Plateau

Terrain and eco-zones

The most extreme rainfall gradient in the peninsula. Agumbe's mean annual rainfall is about 7,620 mm, with a recorded 4,508 mm in the single month of August 1946; Sringeri and Hulikal are comparable; Chikkamagaluru town takes around 1,900 mm; and Kushalnagar, in Kodagu's eastern rain shadow, gets barely a fifth of what the western taluks of the same district receive. Temperatures are mild — 15–30 °C for most of the year, and cold enough at 1,700 m for frost on the shola grassland in January. Between June and September the sun is not seen for weeks at a time and leeches make walking off the road a specific decision.

Landforms

The Sahyadri crest, a continuous escarpment falling steeply west and sloping gently eastLaterite plateaus and cliffs, porous, iron-red, and the reason the water table behaves as it doesShola-grassland mosaic above about 1,500 m on Kudremukh, Baba Budangiri and the BrahmagiriMullayanagiri at 1,930 m, the highest point in Karnataka, and Kudremukh at 1,894 mThe Sharavathi gorge below Jog, and the Bisle and Agumbe ghat descentsValley-bottom wet paddy (gadde) below terraced areca gardens, the standard Malnad land unit

Rivers and waters

Tunga and Bhadra — both rising at Gangamoola in the Kudremukh range and rejoining at Kudali near ShivamoggaSharavathi — rising at Ambutirtha, ponded behind Linganamakki, and falling 250-odd metres at JogCauvery — rising at Talakaveri on the Brahmagiri and gathering the Kodagu drainage before leaving eastHemavathi — the Hassan river, rising on the Chikkamagaluru ghatsNetravathi and Kumaradhara headwaters, falling west off the crest towards the coastLakshmana Tirtha and Harangi in Kodagu, and the Varahi and Aghanashini headwaters in the north

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
MonsoonJune–September18–26 °CThe defining season rather than an interruption to one. Estates close to visitors, roads slip, leeches are everywhere, waterfalls run at full volume and a great deal of the year's work simply stops. Some of the best travelling here is done in it, on purpose.
Post-monsoonOctober–November17–29 °CCoffee flowers have set into cherry, the paddy is cut, and the Kodagu festival calendar runs — Cauvery Sankramana in mid-October and Puttari at the end of November.
WinterDecember–February12–29 °CCoffee picking, the Yakshagana season on the crest, clear air, and cold nights on the high ridges. The best months for walking and for the temple towns.
SummerMarch–May20–34 °CHot by Malnad standards and dusty on the eastern edge. Appemidi mangoes set on the riverbanks, jackfruit ripens, and pre-monsoon storms break in May.

Best time to visitOctober to February for everything at once — cut paddy, running falls, the Kodagu festivals and clear ridges. June to August if the rain itself is the point, which for a fair number of people it is. Agumbe's sunset viewpoint is only worth the trip in the clear months, and Jog is only worth it when the reservoir is spilling.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Malnad, and the best time of year to visit. (4)