Friday, December 31, 2010

Brahmagiri Trekking and Irpu falls.


Brahmagiri is one of favorite destination to see wild elephants. It is very nice during monsoon, we might walk just beside elephant without knowing about it because of clouds. We had many trekking without our big group. This time wanted to gather all our friends for this trek. Ramdas mayya had come from US for renewing his VISA, so I took this as an opportunity to gather all and arrange a trek. Totally 9 members Vikram KG (KG), Kiran Talur (Kiran), purandar (Puru), Vishal, Harsha Hegde (Hegde), Ramdas Mayya (Mayya), Guru Kulai (Guru) and myself (Hari) got ready for this trek. This is the last trekking of Ramdas Mayya as bachelor.

Plan:
·         Reach Gonikoppal by bus. Meet other friends from Mangalore on 26 Jun 2010.
·         Get permission from RFO in Srimangala.
·         Start trekking to Brahmagiri with guide. Stay in forest guest house.
·         Start back to Bangalore.
As per our plan Kiran, KG and I gathered in majestic at around 9:30pm on 25 June 2010. We had not reserved tickets. After gathering in majestic, enquired for bus to Gonikoppal. They told there is no bus to Gonikoppal from majestic and all starts from Satellite bus stand. We decided to reach Mysore and catch a bus to Gonikoppal. At 10:45pm we boarded to Volvo bus to Mysore. Purandar was waiting in Mysore bus stand. We got a bus to Gonikoppal and reached by 4:10am. Sat in Gonikoppal bus stand waiting for some more people to join us from Mangalore.

Starting to Gonikoppal from Mysore with Purandara, Kiran and KG.

All trekking members gathered in ಗೊನಿಕೊಪ್ಪಲ್.
It was drizzling in Gonikoppal; other 4 people reached Gonikoppal by 4:35 am. We thought of taking rest for some time and start by around 6:30am. Searched for lodge, all were full. Finally Mayya, Hedge and myself went in search of lodge and found a lodge. Lodge was looking posh; we still took chance and asked in charge for a room. Mayya by mistake told him we are 6 people and need a room to get fresh and we will leave in 1 hr. He agreed for that and told it costs 480 Rs even though it is for 1 hr. We got our group of 8 people, Mayya had told we are 6 people and if all 8 people go in front of in charge it would be a problem. Mayya found an “Obavvana Kindi” of the lodge. All of us reached the room and got ready. Room was not good, it had broken window, and we thought amount paid to it is more.

Bhootayyana Maga Ayyo room
ಈ ಹೋಟೆಲ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ toilet ಬಾಗಿಲು ಸರಿ ಇರ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮ ಗುಂಪಿನ ಒಬ್ಬ ಅಪ್ಪಟ ದೇಶ ಪ್ರೇಮಿ ಹುಡುಗ Mr. VVV western toilet ಮೇಲೆ ಹತ್ತಿ ಅಪ್ಪಟ ದೇಶೀ style ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೂತಿದ್ದ scene ನ Mr. RRR  ನೋಡಿಬಿಟ್ಟ.  ನಂತರ ಮಾನನಷ್ಟ ಮೊಖದ್ದಮೆ ಹೂಡೊ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. More details could be provided on request.

Nice Memories:
Started to move out of hotel by 6:45am. In charge was counting how many people are going out hence this room was given the name Bhootayyana Maga Ayyo room (This is very famous kannada movie instance).
In Gonikoppal we searched for cricket bat, loked like people there don't play cricket.
Since it was drizzling Guru and KG went to buy cap for rain, they bought two cap and got one cap free, actually they has paid money for three caps unknowingly. 
We got a bus to Srimangala around 8:00am and reached by 9:35am, met Mr. Pramod for permission to trek in Brahmagiri. This is the highest amount paid for any of our trekking. Trekking to Brahmagiri starts from Irpu, so we hired jeep to reach Irpu. We asked for guide, there was bit of unhappiness.

Guide: ನೀವು ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು?
ಪುರಂದರ: ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಗಿರಿ ತುದಿ.
Guide: ನಾವು ಕಾಡು ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳಲ್ಲ ಅಲ್ಲೆಗೆ ಹೋಗಕ್ಕೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ತಂಬಾ ಮಳೆ ಬರ್ತಿದೆ, 2 ಸಾರಿ ನದಿ ದಾಟ ಬೇಕು.
ಪುರಂದರ: ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ ದಾಟಿ ಹೋಗಣ.
Guide: ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೋ ಮಳೆ ನೋಡಿದೀರಾ ..
ಪುರಂದರ: ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ ಆಗುಂಬೆ ಪಕ್ಕ ಇರೋದು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಮಳೆನೆ ನೋಡಿದೀವಿ ಬನ್ರಿ ಹೋಗಣ.
Guide : Shocked
Our guide Poonaachu went to get his clothes and required things for trekking. He took 2 hrs to come back. We started our trekking at 1:30pm.
Ready to trek Brahmagiri..

Irpu falls
It was drizzling. Trekking was not much tiring. We walked for approximately 4km. When we reached the Narimale guest house it was 3:35pm. Rain god added its own color to our trekking. Poonachu told he can not take us anywhere after 4:00pm due to cloud and rain.
Enjoooying in a stream. On the way to Brahmagiri. Mayyas usual adventures..

Got a horn on my head.
There was lot of leaches, so we could not play cricket also. Cleaned up the Narimale guest house for sleeping.

We were all looking the beautiful nature. Mayya was missing from our sight. After 45 minutes Mayya appeared in front of us. He was bit by lot of leaches.

ಏನೋ ಮಯ್ಯ ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗಿದ್ದೆ? ಇಸ್ಟೊಂದು ಜಿಗಣೆ ಕಚ್ಚಿದೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ಅಂದ್ವಿ.. ಅವ್ನು ಹ್ಹಹ್ಹಹ್ಹ ಅಂದ..
ನಮಗೆ ತಕ್ಷಣ ತಿಳಿತು ಅವನ ಮನೆಯವರ ಜೊತೆ 45 ನಿಮಿಷ ಮಾತಾಡ್ತಿದ್ದ. ಜಿಗಣೆ ಕಚ್ಚಿದ್ದೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಿಲ್ಲ. ಒಂದು ಜಿಗಣೆ ಅವನ ಕುತ್ತಿಗೆ ವರೆಗೆ ಹತ್ತಿ ಕಚ್ಚಿತ್ತು ಆದ್ರು ಅವನಿಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ.
ಅವನ ಮನೆಯವರಿಗೆ ಕೆಲವು ಜಿಗಣೆಗಳಿಗೆ ರಕ್ತ ದಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ ಪುಣ್ಯ ಬಂತು. ಇಲ್ದೆ ಇದ್ದಿದ್ರೆ ಒಂದು ಜಿಗನೆಗೂ ರಕ್ತ ಕೊಡ್ತಿರ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ.
.
We played bluff game. Hegde is expert in playing. Kiran, KG, Purandara and I were first timers for this game. After knowing rules we started playing, Hegde used to guess very precisely. Almost every match he used to win first and supporting others to win against bluff master Mayya. KG cheated ಪಾಪದ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳಾದ  purandara and Kiran like anything and won the match. Whenever Mayya was bluffing he used to be caught by others.

It was very cold weather. In the night we were very scared to go outside due to unseen place and forest had surrounded us. Finally we slept at 10:30pm

Got up early morning 5:45am. Had chapathi as breakfast and started trekking at around 8:30am. Poonachu was very adamant to take us to Brahmagiri peak. It is because of Brahmagiri is a place which hosts wild elephants and its movement is quite often.  We called Mr. Pramod and told him about adamant Poonachu, and then Poonachu agreed to take us to take to peak. Happily we all stated.

It was very cold morning, on the way we spotted smbar which just crossed in front of us.
There was not much leach. Karnataka and Kerala border could be seen here. Sometimes visibility was less than 100mtr
Residents...Local Boys and Girls
Celebration on Brahmagiri peak.

Crawling Hegde in steep terrain.
Hegde and Mayya have trekked most difficult treks. Last stretch to peak was very inclined, most of us started walking with 2 legs 2 hands, including Hegde and Mayya. KG was as usual slow and steady. This inclination is approximately 1.5 km. We celebrated on top of Brahmagiri.
.
Hegde and Mayya had already seen Brahmagiri some time back. While returning back they started discussing till what point they came earlier. They were able to recollect that, they did not reach peak.
We reached Irpu by approximately 2:45pm. Had lunch in Hotel Lakshmana Teertha in Irpu. Got bus to Gonikoppal by 3:00pm.
ನಾವು ಗೊನಿಕೊಪ್ಪಲ್ ತಲುಪಿದ್ವಿ  ಮಯ್ಯನಿಗೆ ಒಂದು shocking ನ್ಯೂಸ್ ಇತ್ತು, ಅವನ ಮನೆಯವರು ಪ್ರೀತಿಯಿಂದ ಕೊಡಿಸಿದ್ದ T-Shirt ಇರ್ಪು ಫಾಲ್ಸ್ ನಲ್ಲೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದ್ದ. ಇದು ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಥರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅವನಿಗೆ ವರನೆ ಆಗಿತ್ತು ಯಾಕೆಂದ್ರೆ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯಿಂದ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಹೊಸ T-Shirt ಕೊದುಸ್ತಾರೆ ಅನ್ನೋ ನಂಬಿಕೆ ಇಂದ.
ನಮ್ಮ ಪುರಂದರನಿಗೆ ಕೂಡ ಒಂದು shocking ನ್ಯೂಸ್ ಕಾದಿತ್ತು. ಅವನ ATM ಕಾರ್ಡ್ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಗಿರಿನಲ್ಲೇ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಬಂದಿದ್ದ. ಪಾಪ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಯಾರಾದ್ರು ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡ್ಬೇಕು ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಬ್ಯಾಂಕ್ ನವರು ಮಾತ್ರ. ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಹಣ ತಗೊಳದೆ ಕಾರ್ಡ್ ಕೊಟ್ರೆ ಸಾಕು.

Over all it was soo much fun filled rain trek. And we created many Blood Relations in Brahmagiri. Then started to Mysore and then to Bangalore

Contact Numbers:
Srimangala RFO Pramod: 9448813835

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Kudremukha Trekking, Hanumanagundi(Sutanabbi) Falls

Kudremukha is known as crown of Western Ghats. It is well known place in Chickmagalore district. 9 people decided to trek in Kudremukha. Purandar, Shashi, Ravi, Raghav(Tunta), Santosh(PJ), Ravindra Holla(Mari),Ajith, Raghav friend and I(Hari). Second time trekking Guruprasanna (Guru), Shashi and I(Hari). I have trekked to Kudremukha 3 times with different teams. In this blog I will add best possible combination to cover many places. This is my dream trekking.

Plan:
  • Start to Kalasa on May 30 2008
  • Get permission to trek Kudremukha in Kudremukha RFO. Visit Hanumanagundi (Sutanabbi) falls and reach gowdra mane.
  • Start trekking to Kudremukha and back to Bangalore by night bus.
Information:
Trekking place          :Kudremukha Peak.
How to reach             :Bus is the best mode of transport.
Number of days        :2(Saturday and Sunday) days 3 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
                        Nights.
Accommodation/Stay  :Mulladi Godra home, Bhagavathi Nature Camp, KIOCL guest 
                                    house in Kudremukh or Horanaadu Lodge.
Food                           :Food available in Godra house, Small hotels in kudremukh,
                                     KIOCL Guest house hotel else carry ready made food.
Nearby places           :Bhagavathi Nature Camp, Kurunjal, Gangadikal, Hanumana
                        Gundi/Sutanabbi Waterfalls, Horanaadu, Kalasa
Contact Numbers      :Mullaadi village Godru: 08263249333
Trek Distance            :From Mullaadi Godra house Kudremukha is 9 km one way.
Trek Difficulty Level   : 3.5 out of 5
Trekking Attractions  :Animals like Deer, Bison, and Beautiful nature.
Best Time to Trek      :Oct to Jan and early June. Best greenary could be seen during rainy  
                                     Season.

This blog has combined information of trekking starting on May 30 2008 Friday and Aug 14 2009 Friday. We stated to Kalasa by KSRTC Kempu Dabba. We reached Kalasa by 7:30am. Few of us got fresh up in the hotel guruprasad in Kalasa. Had coffee and started towards Bhaghavati Nature Camp. Bhagavathi Nature Camp is very nice place. Here river Bhadra flows. It is very clear water. We can swim here. Here accommodation like tent, dormitory is available. We have to book in Kudremukha RFO to stay here.
Cristal clear water.
 
Mirror Image seen in Bhagavathi Nature Camp.
There is no need to get permission to trek Kudremukha from RFO itself. We can directly give money to Gowdru, RFO collects money from him.
Now our plan is to visit Hanumana Gundi water falls. This water falls is very nice during summer. In rainy season water current would be high. We enjoyed a lot here. 
Hanumana Gundi water falls on 29 May 2008.
Hanumana Gundi falls on 14 Aug 2009
After taking bath here started towards lakhya dam. We can not get down anywhere in the road except Bhagavathi Nature Camp, Hanumana Gundi falls. To get down anywhere in the Kudremukha road we need to have either permission from Baghavati Nature Camp or trekking permission from RFO. If we do not have any of these forest officers will catch us. Near to Lakhya dam, Bhadra River flows. It is very nice to see, also dangerous due to whirlpool.

Bhadra River beauty.
During our journey in Kudremukha road we saw a  board it was written as “Animals have first way of right”. we were impressed by looking this board, at least here animals are valued, latter we realized it is just board, people were moving at high speed, with loud noise of songs etc.
Our Group with Gowdra family in the center.
Somavati (ಸೋಮಾವತಿ) falls just beside Mullaadi Gowdra house.
Our Loved PJ had a doubt of where exactly leaches reside. Here is the conversation.
Question by PJ: ಹೇಯ್ ಜಿಗಣೆಗಳು (Leaches) ಎಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುತ್ತೆ?
Answer by PJ: ಗೊಜ್ಜು ಇರೋ ಕಡೆ ಇರುತ್ತೆ ಅಲ್ವ?
Others: ಅದು ಗೊಜ್ಜು ಅಲ್ಲ ಕಣೋ PJ , ಕೊಚ್ಚೆ (ಕೆಸರು).
PJ in action has attracted all.
View from gowdra mane was very nice. His house is already on top of hill. All small hills surrounding the location was filled with white cloud, looking like heaven.
View from Mullaadi Gowdra House. Heavenly view.
From Hanumana Gundi or Bhagavathi Nature Camp or Lakhya dam catch a bus to Balagal village. From here we walked for 6km to reach mullaadi village gowdra home. Jeep is also available to reach Mulladi godra home from Balagal. Gowdru provides accommodation to stay. We can have food also here. We have to inform them in advance..

Reaching his house itself is a nice trekking. Surrounding our way to Gowdra house is very nice. Gowdra house is the last house towards Kudremukha peak. We had our dinner chapathi and MTR ready made food in Godra house. Balagal also has few hotels, food is available there.

We slept for the day. Got up early morning 5:30am. Everybody got ready by 7:00am. Started to Kudremukha trekking by 7:00am. From Gowdra house Kudremukha peak is 9km one way. On the way to peak it was very very beautiful, I have never seen such a beauty in any other trekking. My suggestion is go to Kudremukha trekking at last, because you will not like any other place after visiting Kudremukha. Now I realized why kudremukha is crown of Western Ghats, it really deserves
Don't have any words to describe Kudremukha beauty.
Crown Of Western Ghats.
During our journey, Mari told me
ಮರಿ : ಹರಿ ಒಮ್ಮೆ ಬಜ್ಜಿ (Another Friend) ಮನೆಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಒಂದು ವಾರ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಇರ್ಬೇಕು. ಗದ್ದೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು.
ಪಕ್ಕದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದ ಪುರಂದರ: ಮರಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಊರಲ್ಲಿ ಬತ್ತ ಕತ್ತರಿಸೋಕೆ ಯಾರು ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಗತಿಲ್ಲ. ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಗೆ ಬಾರೋ ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಗದ್ದೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.
Happily wandering family and friends.

Bison moving around.
There was lot of leaches, particularly in 3 places of forest crossing. Ajith was main target of all leaches. Once we saw his leg, there was almost a layer of leaches in his feet. He was moving at slow pace to get attracted by leaches.

As we moved ahead to top of Kudremukha, surrounding was looking beautiful. It was green every where. We spotted deer, Sambar, Bison. It took approximately 4.5hrs to reach peak. Beautiful surroundings forget us of leach bites. We enjoyed on top of Kudremukha. Took rest for some time and started descending by 2:00pm
Is this Heaven..

White clouds hugged to high standing hills.

+6
MTR Pickle advertisement.
When we reached the top of Kudremukh, we had chapathi as lunch. We carried Sugar, pickle and chetnipudi with chapathi. Guru likes sugar more than pickle. Shashi and I had chapathi with pickle, Guru had chapathi with sugar. After eating too much of sugar he wanted pickle, then asked for pickle which was already over by that time. Then he started scratching MTR pickle cover for pickle.
Old Church on top of Kudremukha.
Almost on top of Kudremukha there is old church, most of it has already fell down due to heavy rain. We reached Gowdra house by 5:30pm. Had bath in Somavati falls just beside Gowdra house. This falls is also nice. Staying here in Gowdra house itself is heaven. According to me even if I don’t see jog falls we should trek to Kudremukha peak in rainy season.

Latter we started to Balagal village by walk. Got a bus to Horanaadu. Visited ”Annaporneshwari” temple had dinner and started to Bangalore by reserved bus.

For my Personal Use:
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Kemmannu Gundi (ಕೆಮ್ಮಣ್ಣು ಗುಂಡಿ) bicycle trekking.

I have bought new two wheeler, want to use it as part of my trekking. Thinking of going to trekking with my two wheeler, also want to create awareness among people. Nearest place to which I can carry my bicycle is to Kemmannu Gundi. I opted this because frequent train service is available, and very close to my native village in kadur taluk. Kemmannu Gundi is famous hill station  in karnataka. I had enquired in railway station to carry our bicycle to Birur. He advised me to carry it by passenger train which starts at 10PM everyday. I decided to go by same train.

Plan:
  • Reach Birur Junction by train.
  • Start trekking in early morning to Kemmannu Gundi.
  • If possible, go to Hebbe falls and stay in kemmannu Gundi guest house.
  • Start back to Birur and catch train to Bangalore.
As per plan we started to majestic by our bicycle. Trekking group included Naveen, Bharath and me. We all started to majestic by 9:30PM on 31 July 2009. We asked in railway station for carrying our bicycle till birur. His response was negative. We requested many times, he told us to send it from goods section. Unhappily we left railway station and turned to bus stand.

We were looking for KSRTC which goes towards Birur, which should have luggage keeping top. We found one and we requested him to allow us to carry our bicycle. He agreed, and told us to wait at the end of bus stand. After some time bus came to end of bus stand, since the bus was empty conductor asked us to keep our bicycle inside bus.

We all kept our bicycle inside the bus at last seats. We reached Birur by 5:00AM. Birur was calm. We saw Nandini milk dabba, We planned to buy curd for our breakfast cum lunch chapathi. No one came to that place to sell it.

Kemmannu Gundi is 37 km from birur. 37 km is easy task to achieve by bicycle; I knew that it is uphill and would be difficult to peddle. We started our journey to Kemmannu Gundi by 5:30AM. It was dark, each of us had torch, so started our journey with torch light. Even though it was rainy season, it was not raining.
Bharath(Left), Naveen(Right) and Hari(Centre) starting Kemmannugundi trek
Guest appeared during our journey.

 It was apparently 6:15AM, slowly dark was disappearing. We heard some sound from a farm nearby. Barath and myself could not recognize what was it. Immediately Naveen told it is Giduga (ಗಿಡುಗ) . We thought he may be aware of it. When moved closer to it, it was donkey, from that day he became famous as giduga.

Till Lingadahali it was up and down and easily reachable. We reached lingada halli ಬಿ approximately 11AM. We visited a bicycle shop for pumping air to our bicycle. I got my bicycle break tightened. We paid less than 10rs. It would have cost 10 times more in Bangalore. We had breakfast in a hotel in lingadahalli and started towards Kemmannu Gundi. People in villages were looking us like aliens. In a field beside us something was grown, bharath and myself were thinking  what was that, Immediately Naveena interfered and said, it is Jasmine (ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆ) hoo. It was actually potato. Then we realized naveen’s capability to become Bangalore Farmer.

After we left Lingadahalli, bharath’s bicycle tube started coming out. We thought it might explode if any stone touches it. It was getting very steep. We reached Kalhatti falls by 12:30PM. Visited kalhatti falls, took some snaps. Kalhatti falls is very nice and safe falls to enjoy. We can take bath in many places as we move ahead we encounter new falls. 

By now bharaths bicycle was almost unusable state. Since tube was coming out, he released some air from it. We enquired for bicycle shop to repair bharaths bicycle in Kalhatti village. They told, no bicycle shop is available here, You have to go to lingadahalli and get repaired. We were unhappy. It is still 10 km to Kemmannu Gundi. Then we decided to get a room in government  guest house in kalhatti. It was available but I had already booked a room in kemmannu Gundi. At one point of time we were ready to cancel next programme and start back to Bangalore. Bharath was suggesting to stay in his relatives house in Kadur and start to Bangalore later.

Then one of naveen and bharath’s friend Deepak joined us in Kalhatti cross. Then we planned to reach Kemmannu Gundi by bus and start back to Bangalore by morning. There are only 2 bus which goes to Kemmannu Gundi.  One reaches Kemmammnu Gundi by 10:30AM, another reaches by 3:30 PM. The bus which reaches Kemmannu Gundi by 3:30 PM came.

We all loaded our bicycle on top. Bharath and myself sitting on top of bus with our bicycles. There were few hen’s put on top of bus. They were tied in their legs. Since the road is ghat section, bus was moving randomly, without support hens were also moving in all directions. Once, hens started waving her wings, most of dirt (dung) sticking to it fell on Bharath, because Bharath was closer to it and bit on me, We reached Kemmannu Gundi. Got our bicycle from top of bus and started to our booked room.
Travelling from kalhatti to kemmannugundi.

Kalhatti(ಕಲ್ಹತ್ತಿ ) falls
Kalhatti (ಕಲ್ಹತ್ತಿ) falls another fall..
We unloaded our luggage and started to Z-Point. Deepak was suggesting us not to go to Z-Point because it was already 4PM, and more over it was rainy season and was fully cloudy. We still took chance and started. Z-Point is 3 km from Kemmannu Gundi. It was lush green everywhere. There were not much leaches. We were moving in clouds. We reached Z-point. Wind was blowing at very high speed. It is called Z-point because it is end of hilly region. On the way to Z-point a small falls called as Shanthi falls can be seen. This can be seen only during rainy season. It is very safe and enjoyable.
Shaanti (ಶಾಂತಿ) falls.
It is completely flat after Z-point. We started back to Guest house. Had dinner in night and slept. Guest house cost 350 rs per room. 

Inside dark cloud.

I got up early in the morning. Started wandering in Kemmannu Gundi, It was chilling cold. I always had seen cloud on my head. Here we werw inside dark cloud.. We all started to Hebbe waterfalls by jeep. Even though we go by jeep, it does not take us till foot of Hebbe falls. We have to walk for approximately 1km, in which 3 times hebbe falls has to be crossed. Hebbe is very nice falls. It is dangerous(slippery) during monsoon. Should take extra care to avoid slip(s). 

Earth worm

Roaring Hebbe falls
 We immediately started back to Kemmannu Gundi to catch 10:30am bus. Jeep driver dropped us at exact time of  bus start. Naveen and I decided to reach Birur by bicycle, so loaded only bharath’s bicycle to bus.
What a beautiful..



Starting back to Birur.
We started towards Birur. It was completely downhill. We never peddled for approximately 15km. Now we realized bicycling also gives such a maja(happiness). It was very nice journey. Naveen was never coming behind me. My bicycle tire is big, it was sprinkling the rain water  on road to him. So he was moving ahead of me.

We reached Lingadahalli by 1:00 pm. One bus was about to start to Birur, we loaded our bicycle inside bus. All people were asking why we brought bicycle. We reached Birur, had our lunch in a north Karnataka mess. In this mess while having lunch we had a conversation, Here goes conversation. 

ನವೀನ: ರಸಂ ಕೊಡ್ರಿ
ಭರತ್: ಹೇಯ್ ನವೀನ ರಸಂ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಭಾಷೆ, ತಿಳಿ ಸಾರು ಅನ್ನು ಅವ್ರಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಥ ಆಗುತ್ತೆ.
ಸೆರ್ವೆರ್: ಅವ್ರಿಗೆ ರಸಂ ಅಂತೆ ಕೊಡಪ್ಪ.
ಭರತ್ shocked , ನವೀನ happy ..

started to railway station. We took 3 tickets to Bangalore. TT told us to keep our bicycle in luggage room. We paid money to TT. He told us to get down in malleshwaram. We got down and started to our home.

Contact Numbers:
Kemmannu Gundi Guest house: 08261237126 Mobile:9481583444(Divya)
Kalhatti Guest House: 9480672803 (murthy).
Greenary of Kemmannu Gundi would be impressive during Mid June and November.  Rest of the year also it is good.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Narasimha Parvatha, Sirimane trekking
Agumbe is a place of diversified vegetation. It has very dense forest. We 5 people Ravindra holla (Mari), Guruprasanna, Ravi Krishna, Shashi and myself(Hari) decided to trek in this dense forest, that too narasimha parvata. Narasimha parvata is mari’s choice. This is the last trekking for our Ravi as bachelor.

Plan:
  • Start to agumbe on 29 May 2009 by bus.
  • Meet Mr. Sudhindra malya for trekking guide.
  • Stay in Narasimha Parvata to 30 May 2009 night.
  • Climb down from Narasimha Parvata. Visit Sringeri.
  • Start to Bangalore.
As per plan we were suppose to start to agumbe on 29 May 2009 by 8:45PM Rajahamsa bus. As usual Shashi, Ravi led by their brother Guru came late at 8:50PM. We started our journey with welcome scolding from Bus conductor and Supervisor for late arrival of 3 brothers.

Bus was reserved up to Teerthahalli. Bus conductor woke us up and we got down in Terthahalli at 4:30 PM. This bus was going towards kundaapura.Bus went 100 meters and stopped for 5 minutes. We sat on steps of a shop, it was stinking. Mari and guru were telling we could have come by direct bus to agumbe which starts from Bangalore at 10:00PM. I wanted to reach agumbe and start trekking early. Spending time outside Bangalore is more happier than in bangalore. Soon street lights in Teertha halli went off. Nothing was visible in the early morning 4:30PM. Mari asked me where is the thermal sheet which we carried to sleep in the night. I had forgotten in the bus. Immediately one more bus came.

We asked him
ಸರ್, ಒಂದು sleeping mat 'ನ ಕುಂದಾಪುರಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋದ ಬಸ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿದೀವಿ ಅದು ಸಿಗುತ್ತಾ?
conductor: ಇಲ್ಲ ಅದು ಸಿಗಲ್ಲ ಅಂದ. ನಾನು ಅದನ್ನೇ ನನ್ನ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರಿಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಮರಿ ಹೇಳಿದ, ಕಳ್ಳ ಅವ್ನೆ ಮೊದಲು ಹೋಗಿ ಹುಡಿಕಿ ತಗೋತಾನೆ ಅಂತ.

We reached agumbe at 5:40AM. We were happy reaching early. Hotel Krishna was open, we completed all our morning formalities and had breakfast in the same hotel.

Trial usage of few items in agumbe shot.

Head on collision in agumbe.
Then we started to Malya residency. We met Mr. Sudhindra Malya, he called Mr. Thimmappa who would guide us to narasimha parvatha. Timmappa stays in a village named Mallandur which is 6 km from agumbe. We bought crushed tobacco powder and caster oil from Malya residency shop. We reached mallandur by an auto and paid 80 Rs.

We started our much awaited grand trekking at 7:30AM. We changed our clothes and started trekking. Mari was looking very nice in his new dress.


Nice dressing
After we walked for half an hour leaches started. Timmappa mixed tobacco and caster oil well; we all applied to our legs and started our wild journey.
Colorful frog.
It was really diversified forest; it had different species of trees. It doesn’t have valuable trees, it has only wild trees. There is no trekking route. We would definitely get lost if go without proper guide. Monsoon is yet to start, in previous week it had rained 2-3 times.Leaches started getting dense. But it did not bite us due to our medicine. Whether humans know or not leaches certainly know “Tobacco is injurious to health”.We reached barkhana falls at around 10:00AM.
Barkhana falls water.
Barkhana falls, looking down.
We enjoyed in barkhana falls. We have to bow down and see the waterfalls. It was fantastic view. We had bath in barkhana. Not much of water in barkhana. We took rest for 1hr.We started moving towards Narasimha Parvatha. Guide was saying there was road few years back. Road was made to cut the trees for rail-path. It was very steep terrain. Even lorry cannot climb the uphill. They used to use elephants to move lorry. Humans are so bad.
Dense forest of agumbe.
Huli Muddu maaduttiruva Guru.

Special tree has only flowers in it.
Beautiful colourful centipade. Don't know how much poisonous it is.
This is not green tree. I never saw white plant except mashroom
Snake Sneaking outside.
Our longing was to stay here, on top of Narasimha Parvata
Timmappa told they would go to forest to hunt animals and distribute the flesh to all people of village. I was really unhappy with him. Moving ahead we reached a place where there was no forest. We took rest for 15 minutes. Reached top of Narasimha Parvatha by 1:50PM. Now lunch time, all went in search of water, 2 wells which were there had dried. Fact is for first few rains earth drink lot of water, it had rained 3 days back so earth was very thirsty and drank all water. Our plan is to stay in a room made by forest officials for Naxialite operations. Unless it rains, there is no hope of getting water. Since it did not rain for more than 1.5 hrs of our wait, we were supposed to leave the Narasimha Parvatha. We paid Timmappa 500Rs and thought of moving slowly. Had lunch with limited water and started climbing down to kigga at 2:45PM.

Distant view of Kudremukha, Seen from Narasimha Parvata.


Nice flower in Kigga.
We reached sringeri, we stayed in a room in a home. It is on upper part of home called as atta (ಅಟ್ಟ) in kannada.We had bath in the night instead of having next morning. I met my relative in sringeri and came back to room to join my friends.
On 31 May 2009 I got up at 5:30AM. Mari and myself we started to river Tungaa. We carried biscuits to fishes. There were few fishes in the river. It was not as usual, someone told fishes have been poisoned. We were unhappy for this.



Shila Baalaka.
 We got ready and started to sirimane waterfalls. We got a bus to kigga at 9:10AM. Kigga is around 10km from sringeri. From kigga sirimane is 4.85km. Shashi was really very sharp in finding fruits on the way Guru is the man who first stole the mango from field, and then I stole some more mangos.

Stealing mangos.

Stolen Mangos.
Shashi showed one more fruits which was yellow in color. Its name is different in different places. It was sour and sweet, we call it as “Saroli kaayi”. Reached sirimane falls at around 11:30aM. We enjoyed in waterfalls, took bath for more than 1.5hrs.
Sweet and Sour fruit, called as "Saroli Kaayi"
Now time to return to sringeri, all of us wanted lift till kigga. We did not get lift, walked till kigga. On the way snake was moving. It is common in Western Ghats.


KCC (Kigga Cricket Club) match.
We were hungry, mari suggested to have in Holla’s hotel, also he added if food is not good in Holla’s hotel he would sponsor. Immediately we decided that food will be bad. Mari had unbiased opinion from me, But I was already biased. We had Idli-Chatni, Poori, Vada. Chatni was too hot. Initially Mari was telling everything was good, later he ordered for sugar and accepted that it is not good. After eating all left to wash their hands. Guru and myself still eating. Guru was licking the chetni which he told very hot and not good to mari. Guru told Chatni was very good, I too felt the same, later we realized that except mari all liked every thing. Later we revealed this fact to mari. We reserved bus tickets to Bangalore.
Vegitatian food at some Holla's  home

Later wandered in sringeri matt. We gave banana to elephant, when Guru tried to give banana, elephant threw away banana. This could be seen with keen observation at the end of  the below video. It was very nice incident.

Contact Numbers:
Agumbe Sudhindra malya: 9448759363
Guide Timmappa: 9343687911, 08181292021


Sudhindra Malya ia owner of Malya residency. One can stay in malya residency. He arranges trekking in and around agumbe like Narasimha Parvatha trekking, Kundaadri trekking or koodla teertha trekking, Barkhana trekking, Jogi Gundi, Barkhana View point, Onake Abbe falls. He arranges guide. Car is also available.