Kodaikanal to Munnar Trek - A Bittersweet Escapade

at 12/08/2009 11:24:00 PM 2 comments

Introduction:

Sounds very much like a office document or an school essay isn't it? but If i start it with poetry (ofcourse inspired), I am sure I'd not be able to wrap the two days expedition up in one post. So I am gonna narrate the whole experience, but would try to remain to the point and as specific as I can possibly be.

So since this passage is headlined as "Introduction", lets go to the beginning, at the time of the birth of this thought, and then  introducing the two places in  focus here. I was in a trip to Pondicherry, rather a drive from Chennai to Pondicherry via ECR (East Coast Road)  with Anindita and Imran. The trip was close to successful ( based on the overall fun quotient), and thinking to replicate the fun, Imran suggested to have a trip to kerala soon. The indicatives were Vellarimala-Vavulmalai trek, and  "Kodai to Munnar Escapade road trek", The latter been done by CTC as a 3 days trek. coming back to bangalore, we started a mail-thread, with the idea of doing a kodai-munnar trek, sometime in the end of November (2009) and pulling friends in.  the list in the "cc" went huge in a short span of time, and well of course, the thread still isnt' mute. ( Thanks to our typical characteristic of talking too much - bother not the medium used.) This was the thread from which I pulled out the Bandajje Thread, and we did trek Bandajje falls on Oct 31st-Nov1st, so I guess this one is like, some 2 months old right now with 500+ mails in it. Good record for the second "self planned" trek, I must say.

So I'm gonna give you all the names very shortly, of who all came and disappeared from the thread while we were still in planning stage. By the names 'emselves, these two places attract many people, including those looking for a relaxing vacations/honeymoon and now trekking as well. Kodaikanal is a famous "crowded" hill station in tamilnadu, Dindigul District, on Tamilnadu-Kerala border, in Palani hills at height of about 2133 mt above sea level and approx 1 lac of population. Where as Munnar, another beautiful tourist spot, located in Idduki district of Kerala. from Kodaikanal (here after referred as Kodai) to Munnar, There are many reserve forests like Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary, Palani hills reserve forests and Allinagaram reserve forest etc. That means while providing ample trekking/hiking and wildlife witnessing opportunities, getting in is bound to permissions from Tamilnadu, and Kerala Forest Departments. Out of Multiple treks options, in this close to 100 KM stretch one is very famous "Escapade Road"  (Trek Route:

Kodai-Berijam (23 Km) - Konalar (5 Km) - Sebastian Odei (3 Km) - Marion Shola (2Km) - Kathirikkai Odei(1 Km) - Kambippalam (3 Km) - Pulavachiar (5 Km) - Vandaravu (10 Km) - Top Station (10 Km) ) trek, which supposedly is an old british era road, turned in to trekker's paradise, afters its closure for vehicle moments, and development of Greens around, and this is what we plan to trek.

A: Preparation & Permission

The first thing to look at was the trekwiki page, and as Imran suggested, I spoke to 'Kodai Mani' the Ultra modern guide from kodai, who organized the trek for CTC (Chennai Trekking Club) before. The quotations were shocking enough, specially when we are used to pay some fair amount to Guides here in karnataka. I decided to check with another person called Murugun, again taking the number from trekwiki page, who otherwise a busy guy, assured me from the first call itself, that, he's gonna get everything ready including the permission from DFO Kodai, DFO Munnar, and I should be at ease.

Outta habit, I went through the blogs and other pages available on internet to understand the geography of the place, and for the first time, I find it pretty confusing. the blog specially weren't to the point, and were more about how much fun the writer had rather than how did he/she got things organized at the first place. most of the blogs were from the people from same CTC' trip.  the route was confusing as well. specially after speaking to Kodai-Mani, and Murugan, who were talking about Kavungi-Kovillur and Mannavanur respectively, I was kind of lost, as I dint' really find any of these places nearby Escapade road. pretty late that I realize that there aint anyone who has taken the escapade road except the one group of 3-4 people who did it some 3-4 years back and who's write-up excerpts are on trekwiki page.

Anyways, I spoke to Murugan telling him, how determind we were to follow "only" the escapade route, and he came back with the permission problem. it was just a week before the trip. yea.. real mess, you bet we were in (n Now I go in present tense).... not being very sure, about the reason of why the permission can't be availed, I call up DFO Kodai, on Monday morning, The 23rd of Nov. who' tells me, that the letter should be obtained from PCCF office, Chennai. I call up PCCF Chennai office, and after talking to T.Sekar, CCF, I decide to fax a letter to PCCF, with the trek details, and Mr Sekar assures me, that, though late, we should be able to get the letter by Wednesday. (2 days time frame). Imran being local, gets on the job, and so does karthik from Bangalore (PCCF office speaks tamil). But when thursday arrives, all we get to know is our letter is been rejected by higher officials and the not so precise reason given is that the permission is only available for School Kids and College Students. ( Yes! Believe it. )

Our tickets are booked and Friday is we are supposed to leave, and we don't have the permission and the guide. (I ditched murugan right after the call on sunday). out of luck, I try to call the third number in the trekwiki page, and from him I get the number of another local called  Raja. Raja, informs me, that due to heavy rains, The road is been blocked for quite a few days, and hence no permission. he suggest the alternative route to go to Village poondi/pundi, via Bus or some transport and start the trek from there. which we had thought of as our back-up plan anyways. we cancel the idea of going to DFO Kodai on Saturday morning and taking any permission and decide, we'd take the connected trail from the village to the escapade wherever it meets, and reach top station half way through the escapade rode.

So Now our schedule looks something like this.

Reach Kodai by Morning 9 AM Saturday, Freshen up.

Take a vehicle to Poondi (36-40KM) (3 hours) Lunch at  Poondi.

Start the trek from the Poondi, till dark, mostly reaching a tribal village called Nattampatti or escapde road- Vandaravu forest quarters and Halt for night. ( Night trek??)

Sunday - Vandaravu to Top Station in 3-4 hours

TopStation to Munnar by Bus ( another 35 KM),

Lunch and sightseeing at Munnar, and Bus to Bangalore at 4, and 5 PM (since we haven't got all booking in one KSRTC bus)

Back in bangalore, Monday Morning. ->> Easy Office.

B: Reaching Kodaikanal.

Though we gotta a miss, one of the best attraction of escapade road, Berijam lake, the plan still doesn't look bad, folks are happy that the plan isn't cancelled, Friday arrives and we look ahead for another set of good adventure coming weekend. we meet around 8:30/8:45 PM at Shanti Nagar Bus Stand and We includes Sathya, Vaidehi, Vani, Abhilasha, Saritha, Sushmita, Nandita, Benjamin,Joydeep, karthik, pavan, and Me. While weekday adventure of getting trekking permission was on, Peevee and Naresh dropped out, and Cuba aka Ravi, Joined in. and so we 've turned 13. (Someone said its a unlucky number, hmm..letsee i say!)

Bus starts late, good that it does so, cause, 'The Sisters' (Nandita-Sushmita) are not quite on time. besides we sharing 400 mails (or is that the reason?) they go to some other bus station in bangalore, and are now diverted here. Having Kartik around, one doesn't need no instrument for entertainment. Cuba turns first in the witch-hunt list, and he's executed sophistically.

in close to 12 hours of journey to Kodaikanal, we stop twice, once in the night, to some place in tamilnadu, and then at a restaurant on the way 2 hours ahead of Dindigul Stop around 7 AM for breakfast. ride inside Dindigul which is spread over 6000 sq km of land, is a delight. the ghat section starts and you could enjoy the view of small hillocks, numerous falls, dam, reservoirs and lakes, for 2 hours, which flies of in a blink of an eye, and you reach kodaikanal, and thats pretty much a perfect start of the day.

C: Valley of Gold, & Ride to The fairy-tale villages.

I am walking rounds and rounds around the mini-bus fuming and irritated, at Kodaikanal bus stand near BSNL office, whats' been going on in here I wonder.

"Around 9:30 AM we reached kodaikanal bus station; kartik went out finding a reasonable lodge ( INR 500, 2 rooms 1/2 hours) for freshening-up, while I called up Raja, to get a vehicle and the guide for journey ahead.  Locals informed, the road to poondi goes up to kavungi, so we should rather go to kavungi and start our trek from there. later Raja confirmed the same, he arranged for a TT (INR 1700) and also a guide, (200 per head for entire trek) but I decided to find a guide from the village, and settled just over the vehicle. Saturday being the Bakrid, most of the market was closed, so we quickly finished our task in hand, and came to the vehicle, only to find Saritha was already on a sightseeing tour taking along Vaidehi.

Saritha arrives and we start our journey to village kavungi. kavungi is last village on that road stretch around 40KM from kodaikanal and it takes around 3 hours to reach there. road crosses through, kodaikanal lake view point, a church 136 years old, and a stream/tiny fall in surrounded with Tall Pine trees. Stream though not very attractive to us 'the trekkers', had quite a number of tourist at that hour. specially the view up on of  tree leaves, the tall red-brown trunks of the trees lead you to, mostly green all year round, shining radiant white, with the strong sun light is spectacular. we stop there for a while, spotting all genres from honeymoon couples, kids and retired.


In an hour and half, we reach a scenic village, called kumbur, in upper palani hills. light green step fileds, miniature red roof houses, and hillocks at the distance, the village is surep picture perfect .Another half hours drive and we reach Mannavanur, another very beautiful village with a lake in the center of green mounded grassland valley. I heard there is sheep research center and some Tamilnadu club as well, which provided staying and trekking facility to the visitors. Many of the south indian movies are also said to be shot at the this place.  our lunch is set at the bird-eye-view hotel/restaurant in mannavanur which we had ordered when we were in kodaikanal only. (INR 50 per meal) and its sure is the one of the yammiest. the cook also arranged for a guide whom we pick up a little ahead, from Mannavanur only. and well rest does make history, Watch out how.

After much negotiation we settle on this guide named Adaimalai on 2000 bucks, like some 150 per head which is okay as per the standards there, but Since I wanted to make sure, that he is gonna take us through the escapade road only to top station and no other forest route, we convey it to him clearly by showing the map, red lines and telling the same in all possible languages we could, finally when we think that he has understood. and the info, that Mr. Adaimalai is a retired forest fire watcher, takes our tension away from permission front on entering escapade too, we happily take him along.

We cross another village Poondi and get down at Nattampatti village, some 5 Kms before Kavungi. we take the left trail which goes through pine forest and meet escapade after some 8 KM trekking though Nilgiri forests. This area is home to wide variety of flora and fauna typical of  south western ghats,  which is profoundly called southern himalaya, and surely have got some natural vegetation some of which I spotted in my trek to Roopkund, Garhwal this year. overall the trek is easy walk in the midst of natural habitations, falls, and streams around, till we reach the haunted house.

D: The Haunted Night.

The place we choose to halt at night is some 3 hours trek from Vandaravu forest quarters, and is another set of demolished houses (~10 KM trek total) , quite like the old english ones in the forest. the stream is a bit down and far, and the area is prone to wild animals, such as mammals, tigers, elephants and leopards. we clean one of the two rooms for the night, and prepare campfires, have our cup noodles dinner and tea, and after enough scaring the wild by our laughters and making sure no animal can dare to get inside the the room, we close the night with everyone in certain finger crossed position only to stay that way through out the night, till early morning when temperature drops to less than 10 degrees and the sleeping bags fell short on saving us from stuttering cold.


E: The Series of Shortcuts

Morning we start a bit late, thinking Top station is just 10-15 KM  away and we can trek till there in maximum 3 hours time. the guide suggests us some shortcuts and we follow him. crossing couple of hills, I realize, if we somehow have been diverted from the escapade road and so I share my doubt with kartik and decide to talk to the guide and asking him to get back to the escapade road and not take any more shortcuts, but he goes on, on and on to find the road, until our GPS locates us in region some where close to Kovillur. Till we realize that he is meddling us around in the forest and escapade is too far back on the same trail we took to reach this point, its almost 12 in the afternoon. finally we see a trail to Kovillur and decide to go there rather, and dropping the plan to Top Station which is still around 10Kms away and uphill, we trek on to the known trail, and soon see the village Kilavarai on our right, with the trail to Kovillur going to the left, and getting narrow and narrow every further step.

Kilavarai is another tribal village on the border of Kerala-Tamilnadu, and as per my readings, previously, the CTC trip has taken this route, and not the escapade one while trekking kodai-munnar. So I figure the guide never knew the escapade route and hence came all the way back to the village. we see some villagers too, walking uphill to kovillur, soon disappearing in the forest reins, that making me feel the village is close by only. but to our surprize, we keep walking and walking straight n up and the village never shows up.


F: Kovillur

Around 5 pm, after almost 8 hours (25 KM of going round n round) of continuos trekking, we reach Kovillur, and village cum town in Kerala, the most beautiful of all and a treat to the eyes. the way to here has been gorgeous, but we had been running all the way, we have missed both our buses, the 4 PM and the 5 PM ones. and there is no direct bus to Bangalore from Munnar. According to Benzamin, we are officially screwed up. so what is that we are supposed to do now? Enjoy the mess created by our guide. who's still with us and is our responsibility to trek him safely to Munnar. :)

We enjoy few cups of tea, and the attention of the village people and specially the kids, who are ready to pose seeing the camera around. I must say I totally enjoy the opportunity to interact and shoot with 'em and  so do they. an hour of break, we take two jeeps to Munnar, which is 43 KM from here, but takes only 1 and half hours to reach, thanks to good road condition in Kerala. Its get darker as we reach Munnar, but whatever we could see, e.g. the long and wide spread TATA tea estates around kovilur-top station-munnar road, the bisons of Chinar wildlife santuary, (which is only wildlife we have seen till now), and the mattupetti dam 14 KM from Munnar, we love it ALL.

G: Munnar-to-Bangalore

Munnar to Bangalore would'nt have been this eventful if we would have been on time, and could catch our buses, but we haven't and so we all set to yet another adventure in the night of 30th Nov, 2009, to be remembered for long.

we arrive at munnar bus station at 7:30 PM and go directly to Saravana Bhavan which is walkable from there, and first feed our belly to the full with another yummy south indian meal. with no direct bus going to bangalore, we board a 9:30 PM bus to Theni, 3-n-half hours from Munnar,  hoping to get one from there. 1 PM and we board another bus to Dindigul, which I must have rated the best out of all, with heavy bass and catchy music and being so alive in the mid-night to early morning hours, but then they played this sad movie and I get thoroughly disappointed. :(

The life on the road passing through Kerala, tamilnadu several times is buzzing. there are muliple factories on the way and people are sure up and going at the wee hours of the night. we shouldnt have realized it that much till we reached Dindigal, where the Bus station was as crowded and moving as it could be at 2 PM in the afternoon. Tea was readily available and lot of us were sure happy. but we had to wait, and wait and wait.

The buses to Salem another 4 hours away from here, were mostly coming from Madurai and were jam packed. we waited till 3:30 and finally realizing we'd never get a place, we caught this one bus looking like a monument inside out, with the space enough only to stand. few of girls got the space in the front, few sat on the sleeping bags in the mid way,  few stood all four hours and tolerated the horrible music the driver kept playing, happily. Till we reached Salem it was around 7:30 in the morning. Another Sarvana Bhavan meal, this time no better, we board a "highway rider" to Bangalore at 9:30 AM and finally arrive in Bangalore at 2 PM on monday sleepy, dirty and exhausted.

H: The route, the itinerary, the summary, contact numbers, etc

Ok so if incase you find the story/essay to be too long, and exhaustive ;) you might want to go through the little what i write here. we planned to the escapade route, ( violet color line in the picture below) and we ended up doing what you see as the dotted line. thanks to our forest ranger guide adaimalai. huh! but we are glad that we touch escapade and we plan to do it again sometime.. yup.. not touching it in the middle but from start till the end.

so now the facts and the details,

1.  first is the permission. No need to go to Chennai office, I think DFO Kodai and Munnar is capable enough providing the permission for escapade. get in touch with some locals. who can provide the status of the route.
2. from berizam to top station is around 40KM and is doable in 2 days weekend timeframe. if you get the permission, the route is as i stated in the Introduction, and CAN be done with out guide too. but have the letter ready with you.
3. if incase the route is not open and you still want to do kodai to munnar, follow the below itinerary
1. start from Bangalore/chennai on friday. 
2. Reach kodai Saturday morning. 
3. Kodai to Kavungi via bus/mini-bus
4. kavungi to kilavarai trekking in the later afternoon
5. halt at kilavarai in the night. 
6. kilavarai to kovillur on sunday, you should be able to do it in 5-6 hours. 
7. kovillur to Munnar by Jeep 
8. catch the last bus to bangalore from munnar at 5 PM

or

1.  Start from Bangalore/chennai on friday
2. Reach kodai Saturday morning.
3. Kodai to Nattampatti village via bus/mini-bus
4. Trekking Nattampatti to Escapade road junction 
5. Halt at our haunted house for night.
6. Trek from the house to Top Station, Munnar on Sunday (5 hours my estimation)
7. Top station to Munnar by bus (34 KM)
8. Munnar to Bangalore by Bus.

Contact Numbers:

Mani- 98940 48493
Murugan - 9842316973
Charles: 9884642211
Raja : 9842188893
Driver Raj : 9942472553


More Photos here

Strange Love

at 12/06/2009 05:35:00 PM 0 comments

This weeks' "Song of the week" is by Artist Koop, called strange love from the album Koop Island. first heard in the Cocacola advertizement, The song has simply got that jazzy mood to it. Enjoy!

And the lyrics:



Strange love
Even though you hurt me I feel blessed love
Baby I'm your puppet on a string
Making me tumble and swing
Trouble's what you bring
Strange love
Strange love

Strange how
You control my every little move now
Hanging from your strings is all I know
Starring in your puppet show
Never let me go
Strange love

(Instrumental)

All the things you've said and done
There's no space for me to run
Baby I've lost and you have won
cause' all I really want is
Strange love

Even though you hurt me I feel blessed love
Baby I'm your puppet on a string
Making me tumble and swing
Trouble's what you bring
Strange love
Strange love
Strange love

and here is the software I used to trim it for my mobile's ringtone. pretty simple and free!!  I guess, there is some noise in the saved/trimmed mp3, though negligible.

http://www.mptrim.com/

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds - No vember!

at 12/03/2009 12:06:00 AM 0 comments

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds - No vember!
Originally uploaded by ♥ butterfly ☼ flutter-by flutter-by ♥


One of my favorite shot from my last week's trip. may be its the color. or simplicity, randomness or what.. ! just liked it as it is.

Entire set on flickr is coming up  here

Kodai Kalling

at 11/27/2009 06:10:00 PM 3 comments

Gonna go get lost in some greens/malai's in this map this weekend. Any guesses where I 'm headed????

:-) Cya' all Next Monday, when I 'am back from the tribes. Happy Thanksgiving and Eid everyone. Have a great weekend.

Find me if you can

Seashore Temple Mahabalipuram

at 11/25/2009 11:44:00 PM 0 comments

Seashore Temple Mahabalipuram

Originally uploaded by ♥ butterfly ☼ flutter-by flutter-by ♥

"Mahabalipuram, the famous centre of Pallava art andarchitecture, is situated on the coast of Tamil Nadu.The local traditions and the foreign accounts vividly refer to the submergence of six temples out of seven that existed here. Recent underwater archaeological explorations in the area have revealed many structural remains including fallen walls, scattered dressedstone blocks, a few steps leading to a platform and manyother structural remains. The structures were badly damaged and scattered owing to strong underwater currents and swells. Due to thick biological growth,engravings on the stone blocks, if any, could not benoticed. Based on its alignment and form, they are con-sidered to be of man-made in origin. Based on the archa-eological evidences on land, the earliest possible date of these structures is estimated to be around 1500 years. The major cause of the submergence of these struc-tures is severe coastal erosion prevailing in the region. 

Oh!

at 11/22/2009 05:14:00 PM 0 comments

Oh oh i really wanted that thing

I just want to sing

I love you baby

Won't you bring

All the flowers you

Find out in the garden

Don't tell me the truth

That your heart has hardened

But you don't want me anymore

How can it be

Look what you've done to me

Oh oh

Oh oh the bee does quickly sting

I was wondering

If you could maybe darling

Think? I'd give everything

If you'd grant my love a pardon

And all the fruits

Again would fill the garden

But you don't want me anymore

How can it be?

Look what you've done to me

Quiet Earth.

at 11/21/2009 12:39:00 AM 0 comments

I lingered around them, under the benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet e
Originally uploaded by ♥ butterfly ☼ flutter-by flutter-by ♥

"I lingered around them, under the benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth"

Back on Trail - Bandajje

at 11/20/2009 02:06:00 PM 5 comments

And i'am back on trail again,

missed you like some long lost friend,
Sometimes I think I am just part of the wind,
When I am back on trail again.

"Once a failure, Always a failure" if you believe in the quote, We wouldn't sound you much real. 7 of us, first planned this trek in September, and we were pretty excited about it, as this one was supposed to be our maiden hiking trip, organized by us and with no club/group involved. but 2 folks backed out at the last minute, and we specially me and pavan, spent entire weekend snatching hair, scratching heads.

Imran was keen on planning a trek to kodai-munnar, and with some forgettable calculations we decided to keep Nov last weekend for this trip. the mailer was on, and it was still more than a month, so here striked the idea of doing Bandajje (Agumbe was the first option washed over by YSR/rain/Naxal/permissions) again. I pulled out another thread for Oct last weekend, and Me, Pavan, Benjamin, & karthik, were the first confirmees.

The home work was already done by pavan previously, All we needed was to, have few more people, like max 8 or so, and with some 200 mails in exchange, even before the trek, we became a group of 10 with Saritha from Makkalidurga, and Bindu from Kudremukh trek, and Cuba, HTTP, Sangram and Shruti too joining the bandwagon .

rDid we meet/socialize before the trek? Umm..dont think so, the post-trek (oops pre trek i mean) latememories are little faded now. Me and Pavan were excited as we were able to execute a trek which failed in the first place. All we could have been hating be some cancellation. But everything went fine this time. Booking, Itinerary, meeting at Bangalore, Majestic Bus station platform no "23 " around 8:30/8:45 PM, catching the bus, until at the last minute the duo (Cuba & HTTP) disappeared, giving us a headache, but well that was just the start.

Being in a small group is much more fun, one can interact with every other, while Benzi kept himself busy in some serials episode (@Benzi -mention in the comment, I forgot which one it was), we all were amuzed pulling each others legs, but soon slowed down realizing its not a private bus we were traveling in. Bus dint stop for dinner anywhere I think, and we reached Ujjire (~350Km) around 6:30AM.

Saturday morning, and let me ride back in time machine, and bring it in present. There is a small restuarent at the circle where we get down from the bus (@karthik -fill in the name if you remember), we choose as our breakfast point. we pack our lunch and hire a vehicle to go to Mundajje - Narayan Gowda's House, Who has arranged a guide for us. (Charges 300 per day). we are all set to get in the Jeep and the "duo" again disappears. few minutes and they appear with big bags, full of food items, observing which we give up the idea of scolding and complaining.


Mundajje is a village approx 8-10 from Ujjire, the drive is slow, and beautiful, which KD and Pavan enjoy the most hanging at the foot of the vehicle. Driver speaks kannada and tulu and I dont understand a word. Well soon we reach Gowda's house, spend sometime there freshening up. around 8:40 the guide rather 2 guides show up and we start towards a trail on the right side leading to the end of the village and to the dense forest.

12 people, or should I say, 12 sleeping bags ( @Srushi listening??? ;-)) get on to hike, in unknown region (read - full of naxal activities) trusting two guides of ours, one of those, I feel don't knw the route much, and the steepy jungle hike last till 1:30 PM in the afternoon with few breaks in the middle, (rather i should say as many as we want). the Jungle though interesting, is dry, full of colorful juicy mashrooms, not so much of wildlife ( this we say cause we only see foot prints of wild elephants and not them really), and once we cross a stream which I think should be coming from Bangajje falls only. HTTP take a long dip, others just wet their feet. some photography and leech execution and we move on. [ there is no visible trail to the falls and offcouse there are plenty of leeches in the forest. so dont be brave, go with the guide only and take precautionary measures as well]

12 kms of Jungle hike when ends in to green grass land even in bright hot sunny day, it feels great. a good, relaxed lunch we start for the rest of trek in grassy land, which quite opposite our expections go till 4:30 pm and we reach to the top of the bandajje/ Bandaje Arbi falls, a 200 ft tall beauty in Charmadi hills.

Benji, our head cook greets us with an awesome tea and we let ourself free, on the edge of the falls, hanging, looking down, making scary faces yet enjoying the splendid scenic beauty of the valley. the sunset seen this evening, should be recorded as one of the most beautiful sunset we have observed in any of our gtreks before, and above that, tonight being a full moon night, the charm of the wild hits the top of our head, until the ghost story from HTTP starts and girls run in to tents ( Nope- they dont get scared, they get BORED). for that matter, this is one unique trek, where we chose to have ghost stories at bonfire rather than regular antaksharies or dumb sharads.

Night is windy, our tents blow up once and we pitch 'em again doing all the arrangements of putting heavy backpacks on the sides hence stoppin 'em from blowing away in the night. Oh did anyone said, we hear elephants ???

The first day must have been 15 km or so. Sunday morning, we start a little late to Ballarayan durga, a ruin fort, 5-6 KM or rather "few hills" away from Bandajje falls, towards the left. the hike initially is a little steepy but later its kinda easy. and a visible trails takes you too the fort. in the middle of our trek we meet some local villagers too making strange sounds to control their cattles. Pavan informs later, one of those, spoke to the guide and scolded him for not carrying any fireworks and calls us crazy to come here, as some wild elephants were seen on this side 2 days before. and it was dangerous trekking there around that time and that too with out any preparations. he also tells the story of the tigers in the jungle, for whom the villagers sacrifice their old cows to keep 'em "HAPPY" or away from coming in to village.

Ballarayan durga is a ruined fort, walled on a hill and watch towers in all 3 directions. the view is beautiful though. we finish our lunch there, and decending to Sankasalle (12 km approx) around 1 PM. The path is clearly marked, and goes through a little of grasslands, the jungle, and later a jeep track of 7-8 km. some how the last few hours of trek are always tiring and you just pray for it to end. but here it isnt that boring, BUT, we run, and the reason is we need to reach sankasaale by 4:30 as the last bus to horanadu (from where we have booked our bus to bangalore at 9 pm). The information later turns out to be hoax, but by that time we already finish our trek, completing last 2 KMs of jeep trek in 2 Autos, ( second comes as a relief - dedicated to Cuba, HTTP, Saritha, ask 'em why?). Nice tea/coffee with snacks at a tea-stall in sankasaale, we wave goodbye to our guides, and at 5 PM catch a local bus to Horanadu. which reaches our final desitation at 6:15PM via kalasa ( the famous kalaseshwar temple, also this is the place where we stayed in our kundremukh trek).

Horanadu, apart from that its one of the pavan's native/relatives place, (so what, thats what each knwn/unknwon place in south india is) is famous of Annapurna Temple, where food is served 24X7. we take two rooms in a lodge (150 per room) near the temple which is at the bus stand itself, and after freshing up visit the temple and dine with 200 people in the temple hall. (amazing exp after a long time). 9:15 PM, and the bus is ready to leave, and we wait for the "duo" who by now have turned quad and ran of somewhere, taking the lodge room key with them. KD finally manage to find 'em and get the key and we catch the bus to be back in Bangalore monday morning 6:00AM.

A little but no so unknown group, a tough or rather moderate first day trek, perfect sunset, and moonlit night, and not to forget the first waterfall I have seen hanging upside down, the trek should be called nothing less than successful. and we feel really proud that we could kick it off. on retun we found ways to hang out together in the city, having met up 3 times already, and planning the 4th one, The Mail-thread subject: Bandajje/Agumbe is still alive and kickingm, and damn, I see no sign of having in muted in near future.

Flickr Set

Detailed Itinerary for reference.
Friday Oct 30
8:45PM: Meet at Platform 23, KSRTC bus stand, Majestic
9:20PM: Departure
Saturday Oct 31
7AM: Reach Ujire, Have breakfast/ try parcel lunch for afternoon
8AM: Take a jeep to Mundajje Narayangowda house
9AM: Start trek.
3-4PM: Camp at Bandajje waterfalls.
Sunday Nov 1
7:00AM : Have packed breakfast
7:30AM : Trek to Ballarayandurga fort
10:00AM: Reach Ballarayandurga fort
10:30AM: Trek to Sunkasaale (We managed to reach here by 4:30PM)
1:PM Sunkasaale, lunch(packed)
10:00PM: Bus to Bangalore
Update: Horanadu is about an hour bus journey from Sunkasaale. Bus comes every 30 mins. Our bus from Bangalore starts from Horanadu anyway. So we took this route instead.

Monday Nov 2
6AM: Back to Bangalore.
(Bus details )
Bangalore - Ujire
Trip Code --> 2124BNGMNG
Time of Dep - 21:24 Hrs on 30th Oct
Platform Num 23
(Service End Point - Mangalore)
(Passenger end Point - Ujire)
Horanadu --> Bangalore
TripCode - 2115HAOBNG
Time of Dep - 21:15 hrs on 1st Nov
Platform Num HAO
(Service End Point - BLR)
(Passenger end Point - BLR)

[Images & Text Copyright Poonam Parihar. No Derivatives Allowed.]

What will you do?

at 11/20/2009 11:41:00 AM 0 comments

Simple Plan - NO LOVE

Crossing Nine Hills - Ombattu Gudda Trek

at 11/19/2009 11:33:00 AM 2 comments

"Take nothing for granted. Not one blessed, cool mountain day, or one hellish, desert day or one sweaty stinky hiking companion. Its all a gift."

photo courtesy: adi

If it wouldn't have been, why would I still decide to do a hardcore trek?...that too, after a hectic week at office, and friday no better either. I call up Ravi, from CTC (1) friday afternoon, Nov 13th, telling that, I am'nt sure of making to this trip. probably calling him around 7pm to confirm. The last time we spoke on phone, I assured I can get out this weekend, and he informing me that we need to reach City station a little later and 11:30PM instead. I take Vinod's number from him to sync up our travel to the station, and we three, Vinod, Bhargav and Me, reach station around 11PM to find Chennai group already there and few of bangalorean making it to the spot as well.

Since 2 of chennai people had missed the train, we wait for them to catch us, get out of bangalore around 1 AM. by this time the familiarity index rises, and Pavan, Ravindra and Neelima are not the only one I knw personally. The UNO session goes great, (I like it) and soon after it lights fade off and we wake up to notice we are in Shiradi Ghat, a little ahead of Gundiya checkpost near a bridge and few houses cum shops. meanwhile I keep struggling with the glass window and cool breeze hitting me hard through out the night and this goes with out saying that I hardly had a sleep. :(


We are 36 people, heading to Ombattu Gudda hill range, in Sahyadri Mountains profoundly called Western Ghats in India. whats so special about this trek is the stories of people getting lost in jungles, wild life, and no trails. from CTC this is 6th hiking trip to OG termed OG-6. we have 2 GPS, maps of the terrain, ration, precations, and attitude, and we are all set. soon after the distribution of food and common stuff, we start our trail towards north, around 8:40 AM. If I am missing out on something, indeed that'd be leeches, and precautionary majors would be snuff power mixed in oil, eucalytus oil, salt and yes, quicklime (calcium carbonate).

I should refer to the indicativ map -jpeg in my previous post now, The trail which take you through bamboo and thick forest, crosses multiple "small" 2 steps streams until we we reach the water park. thats the river/stream in west-to-east direction and possibly meeting another North-South stream (see map) which is flowing beside us, but in opposite direction. there cant be a better place to have breakfast, sitting in the midst of river on slippery rocks and water sliding on you. we should have covered some 6 kms in 2 hours by now, and everyone takes a good break before we start our journey ahead.

In my last approx one year of trekking, I havent seen these many leeches before, and not been bitten by 'em this badly, but this is just the start. and then comes the mashrooms, which I avoid having taking so many pictures already in Bandajje. Oh, did I mention, I am not carrying my 450D, The reason I remember talking to Ravi, some time in September for tada nagala trip, and he asking me to keep the heavy cam at home, if I am slow pacer, secondry thinking how many varied options and situation, I'd get I relied on to canon powershot, and brought it with one set of batteries. hence the result, I am not clicking many pictures this time.

it seems to be easy going trek, until claudy makes us go upside down bring us back to same trail, again n again and making fool out of us. or is it warm-up session, I doubt. the stream on our right keep on growing in it width and roar. i spot a beautiful playful pool made by rocks in the middlemost of the stream, which looks like made exclusively for angels. A little ahead is where we hit the stream and rest on the big rocks and falls created by those, while few of us jump in to water again. snacks time I think.

So well, Looks easy till now isnt it. my camera battery goes down here and I take some shots from Ravindra's camera. we must have walked 10+Km by now, and I was wondering if I am gonna see a gorgeous fall. but it doesnt appear. all I see is the stream or call it river, gives it a better perspective. here we do see another group as well, or I am not sure, My eyes could be mistaken, because I dont see 'em again. The path ahead surprizes me, what are we up to?

here we go try cross the stream, but our shoes in Knee high water, and then we think we can save the other, and keep on attempting the same, not to realize the river is our TRAIL for the the day. walk in the middle against the flow, over the rocks in the corners, or make your way through the thick and thorny jungle on both sides, the choice is all yours. so here you find the uniqueness of this trek. waterfall no where to be seen, no plain land either, not even a spot, its just the river and the jungle and in the middle we are, wet and bitten by leeches, stinking, struggling, slipping, and making our way through the bushes.

1 hour or 2, could have been enough, but this goes on for the day, and we get used to of it, until its dark and we encounter a situation or two where one group is left behind and all I remember is a count from 1 to 36, Oh someone suggested counting ABCD too for a change. anyways, we find our camping site in the center dot of a place in Y shape (see map again, its quite prominent) made by the stream. its dark and late, and we are wet and hungry. the cooking session by expert goes for long, and everyone doing there bit, we set up a night stay quite unusual and something we have never experienced before.

Most of the time in my treks, I'll jump in to the water as soon as I see it, but this time, I am keeping a distance, I had been wet through out yesterday and I slept the night off in wet clothes. so morning when most of the folks are back again playing in water, I just go near it to shot some pictures, and yea troubling Ajay a little bit, making him do Yoga in the middle of the stream. We finish oure breakfast, and tea, and start the day, which is yes, crossing the "waist high waters". Leech Akraman (attack) was over the previous night. today it is 85 degree slope, loose rocks and sand. in that shape of Y we hike to the hill on our left across the stream. and reach to the top and did you imagine a trail? then sorry, Nope, no trail. its wherever Claudy takes us.

only one small stream, and we reach the top of the mountain, and finally our DOF increases, it must be around 1PM and we see a glimpse of the valley, finally feeling we're out of the jungle and finally about to reach grasslands and the peak. for OG we have to cross the hill, meaning go a bit down and cross the jungle on the other side of this hill, of which with curiosity I ask Vinod to tell me the name, and he is :-~ :-? :-} .

The direction must be a little north west right now., and in no time the Jungle is finally over. 2 PM Sunday and sun is bright, the pickle-chapati lunch and from here, the slow - nice - full of picture hike (should I say -walk) to the OG hills starts. Does it ever ends?
Everyone keeps on thinking this must be the last hill, and another shows up. numerous hills with sharp grass spread over, to cross and finally we rest our bodies on OG2. In the middle we enjoy the view of hills on the east side named Deepadakallu and another one I need to research and put. across those must be the most gorgeous Kumar Parvatha, around 30-40KM aerial distance. towards the south in the midst of the valley we see a glimpse of a stream, guessing this should be the same stream but at far distance, then where we touched it first and last.

From OG2 (Second of the series of Nine Hills- Ombattu means 9 in Kannada) the decend starts. the target is to reach Hosakere, via the Jeep trek visible on the last hill, and for that we need to cross the remaining of the grasslands, and jungle and a private estate (Lakshmi Estate I think) we miss our entrance in the jungle once, and then find anther tailor made trail ( I am naming it Guna Trail - dedicated to Guna who found it) which must be the happiest moment for us. since it is around 4:30Pm and is getting darker, for us to get lost again can never be an option. well thanks to the folks who made that trail, crossing jungle for the final time has been a pleasure. and soon we cross the estate and reach the jeep trek only to know its another 10 km left still.

Lightining, Star lit Sky, cool wind, rocky, grassy, muddy path, and the walk in the dark, add some more leech drama to it, make up to our last 2 and a half hour walk on the OG hills for the day. This is when we take a shortcut to the bridge where bus arrives and pass a few paddy fields and a village/resort gate. hardcore trekkers must still be alive, but others are exhausted. the bus arrives and goes 1 KM ahead to the way we came from, just to take a reverse, and we curses why couldn't we have stopped there only.

Dinner at Nakshatra Garden Dhaba, must be one heck of hillarious experience too, with All pulling ramjan's leg and delay in food, switching of lights deliberatily to that gaurd coming out teasing the bus driver again and again and poor guy just making a wish to leave the place and go. We reach Bangalore around 6 Am monday and after some fun head home while chennai gang wait for their train at the station.

OG is long over, pictures, mail-threads and blogs are pouring in. The usual rituals or call it the must thing. I am sitting at home , with hanging my legs upside down with bandages in both. There is a itch in both mind and the body. Body is healing, Mind had his good time and is back in turmoil again.

photo courtesy: pavan

There are few things left over to do with the post still, firstly the pictures, taking which out my flash card, is a big job. have to collect the pictures from friends too, so you gotta wait for those, till then imagine, as you walk through the post, and if you cant' let me knw, I think I need to write it better..

Second is to mention about the group, which went a day before us, and got lost, Not sure if they were well equiped but thankfully they reached back safe. Well, I am no expert trekker, but Just one thing to mention, bravery is not in getting lost but to find your way out with out trouble. use anything for that, a guide, gps, trails or your brain & senses. everything is good.

As per my observations, if we stay close to the water source, its easy to figure out where you are or probably look for help too. so have your ear open when your in there. you know only a river would lead you back to civilization.

(1) CTC - Chennai trekking Club
(2) MAP
(3) Total distance ~20Km each day.
(4) Start point - Gundiya, Shiradi Ghat , Opposite to where you start from Kukke Subramanya & Kumar parvata.
End Point - Hosakere.
(5) Road Taken - NH-206 to Arsikere and NH48 to Sakleshpur--> Shiradi. till gundiya check post. & from Hosakere to Sakleshpur and back to the same route.
Road Distance 500/550KM To and Fro.

PS. Thanks to all the volunteers, Claudy, Guna, Vinod, Ravi, Asvin, Ajay, Vipin, Sibin, and all the Names I may not remember, but the faces I do.

The Lost Region - Ombattu Gudda - Trek Route

at 11/16/2009 07:59:00 PM 0 comments

Trek route to Nine Hills peak, in karnataka, we climbed a day back in a two days trekking trip, full post here

[click to Enlarge]