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Photograph by T.N.A. Perumal, F.R.P.S., M.F.I.A.P.

Mullayyanagiri
(10 km from Chikmagalur)

Chikmagalur district has some of the most impressive ranges of the Western Ghats. Covered by deciduous and semi-evergreen shola forests and fed by rivers, streams and waterfalls, the mountain ranges here have some of the highest peaks between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris. The highest of them all is Mullayyanagiri, 1925 metres above sea level. The other lofty peaks include Baba Budangiri (1894 m), Kalhatgiri (1876 m) and Kudremukh (1894 m).


Inam Dattatreya Peetha, Baba Budangiri

Offering panoramic views of mountains and valleys, proximity to beautiful coffee plantations and a salubrious climate, the Baba Budan range—the closest to the Cascades Hill Resort & Spa—has become an increasingly popular trekking destination.

From mythological times, the Baba Budan range was known as Chandradrona Parvatha. It became known as Baba Budan in honour of Sufi saint Hazrat Syed Meeran Baba, also known as Baba Budan, who lived in these mountains around 1600 A.D. According to legend, after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he visited Yemen, where he smelled coffee flowers for the first time. So captivated was he by their scent that he brought back seven coffee seeds, hidden in his robes. These he planted on the mountain slopes near Chikmagalur, thus sowing the seeds of the coffee industry in India. In the 1800s, European planters began developing coffee plantations in Chikmagalur, which is now known as the coffee cradle of Karnataka.


	Horanadu (100 km from Chikmagalur) covered by mist

Located in the Baba Budan range is a very unusual shrine: the Inam Dattatreya Peetha. Here a laterite cave is believed to have sheltered, at different times, both Muni Dattatreya (an incarnation of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva) and the Muslim saint Hazrat Dada Hayath Mir Khalandar, sent to India by Prophet Mohammed. Both Hindus and Muslims visit the shrine seeking blessings.