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.

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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