Exploring Lanka alone

                                       
                 Exploring Srilanka was always on the back of my mind but didnt find suitable time and people to move around , but my desire of exploring lanka was only growing stronger. so I picked my phone and called couple of my friends  and told them that "I am going to Srilanka on 14th Dec till 23rd Dec and I have booked my ticket anyone interested could join me" .This motivated some people to join me but they were bound to their personal commitments.I kept asking many people on this and atlast one guy confirmed his arrival with me. He confirmed me to the extent of booking the ticket . So I was quite happy that someone else is joining me for the unexplored trip.Always when you think of something adventurous like this first  name that strikes my mind is Ramesh Pal Yadav and explained  this plan of exploring Lanka on our own . Even he joined the list of exited people  "who wanted to come but  may not be able to join ".But he connected me to his cousin in who resides in colombo and passed over his contact to me. I called him and asked about Srilanka and this gentleman extend the hospitality of joining him for the stay in his house during my stay over in SriLanka.
So I was quite happy that we have someone in Lanka whom we know and where we can stay.

                    It was on 12th I got a call from the same guy telling I may not be able to join you as I have some personal work.I was left again alone not knowing what to do , where to go in Lanka and if I have to go all I have to do is on my own. It was a tough decision , I had two options either to cancel the ticket or proceed with the journey alone.It was a tough decision but I thought of going with the later one , by proceeding with the journey to Lanka.

                 I had already booked a ticket to Colombo from Chennai and for the turnaround trip by then , the cancellation mean loss of money instead of that going ahead was far more better option.So i chose to go ahead with colombo trip.The scheduled date to colombo was on 13th Dec. This is my first overseas journey. So was excited to go to this place.I had collected the general information about cities in Srilanka like Colombo, Kandy ,  Nuwara Eliya.

               The day had come and it was 13th December and I started my journey from Bangalore to Chennai.I reached I had flight to colombo at 2:30 A.M. I was patiently waiting for my flight time and in mean time I bought  the book which named "Sachin Tendulkar".The story of sachin cherished my old memories with which we used to associate him. The time finally striked and I was in the flight to Colombo. The journey started towards  Colombo.

.................................................. To be continued..............................................................

EtthinaBhuja

                                                          ETTHINABHUJA 

                          Yes everyone goes through same line of thinking when we hear this name , this name looks very interesting at the same time also ticks the curiosity  among the trekkers.In kannada ETTHINABHUJA means OX SHOULDER.This was the same feeling when I heard about Etthinabhuja for the first time from Hemanth Prabhu. Hemanth prabhu always come up with new name to trek across in western ghats and we just follow his directions. This time we were all excited to go this place instead of he motivating us to go for a trek which happens for other treks.

                        We packed our bags from Bangalore and all reached Majestic Bus stand around 10 P.M . Myself and Hemanth were the first comers and Sanjay as usual was a last comer and till the last moment he never appears. His arrival itself creates lot of excitement among group where he will never turn up till the last moment. He will always make entire 40 people excited adding to the count of already excited trekking group and  impatient driver who will keep telling "Naavu horedteve next bussali barlie heli" for every 5 min like a snooze of the alarm. Atlast Sanjay reached Majestic around 10:10 P.M and our bus started 10:10 P.M. Then we started discussing about trek plans and where will we have our campsite.Sanjay always has the very unique dialogue " Enri Hero , King ri neevu" . So then we did self introduction to others in the team as we were not familiar with half the folks in the team.Then we all relaxed to catch the wink.

Jeep Journey towards EthinaBhuja

5:00 A.M  : We all got up when we heard conductor yelling "Dharmastala, Dharmastala". It was we got down and refreshed in the public dormitory.Had breakfast in the nearby hotel with an authentic Dakshina kannada food - Neer Dosa. It was 6:30 A.M and we marched towards jeep which goes to Shishila. Shishila is small town which is around 25 Km from Dharmastala and situated at the base of River Kapila and 7 km away from the base of Ethinabhuja. The journey of jeep is one of the most awesome experience , with coming in close touch with local people.The Jeep guy dropped us at Shishila and took around 400 Rs , we convinced him to drop him close to last traceable point which is around 6 Km from Shishila town. The last traceable point is Gowdra Mane and the family is so generous that they extend help in coordinating with Jeep guy, also served us with water . From this point we can sight the view of Ethinabhuja.

First View of EtthinaBhuja

On the way to EthinaBhuja

As you proceed for some long you will come across small forest and you have proper trails , so we kept following the trails.Then we could hear tranquility of water which excited us. We went following the tranquilty which ultimately led us to the awesome river untouched by human population.

River Kapila

10 A.M : After having bath in Kapila River and refreshing our selves we proceeded towards EthhinaBhuja, We didnt have any directions from guide to back us up , We went just with the assumption and with guiding directions of our navigation expert Hemanth Prabhu. Once we cross the river we could spot the small trail which we assumed will lead to the proper destination. With the gut feeling we followed the trail.We went for some long and again we could hear the tranquilty of water.We proceeded bit further and could spot a small falls.Though it was very small, it was very beautiful.




12:10 P.M: After having short break,we proceeded ahead.Fortunately entire trail was covered with forest and we have very little exposure to sun . So we were protected by the harshness of the Sun. We realized how nice it was if our Indian city like Bangalore , Mangalore, Mumbai and other places would have been covered with trees.
It would have been pleasant experience going through these city if we had trees covering most of the streets.
We kept on going and our teammates were very tired and requested to take break. We were now going at snails pace taking break at each and every juncture . We were also wasting lot of time . We didnt have any idea about how far was the peak from our current location and we also didnt have any idea about where to tent the pitch and time was also running out

3:00 PM : At 3:00 P.M we realised we are moving around the same point but we are not at all making any progress This also made us realize we have missed our trail and in no way could reach the peak. We thought we will give a try .Here on one side all our water were dried up and couldnt find a single source of water on other side all our food reserves were also getting  finished up and no were we had clue about our presence. No we didnt know how to go ahead nor how to go back. We didnt loose heart , we still went in search of peak but all in vain . At one point we were able to spot the peak which is so prominent with its monolothic structure but we had no idea of how to reach there. We were totally embrassed. We had so much experience of trekking in our portfolio but we were not able to scale this time.

5:00 PM : At 5 P.M we decided we will give a shot this time as we are not aware how far was the peak and also we know that base is quite far. So we decided we will go back and either pitch the tent near the river kapila or go back to Dharmastala. we made a quick move . No we had no option as time was running out and we were aware we cannot any pitch in the mid of the forest as we don't have any water reserve and we have to reach river at any cost. So all opted from taking break though they were tired . One advantage while getting back is that gravity helps you in going faster and we wont get tired while scaling down.

6:00 P.M : We didnt have any clue where we are , we are just following the trail, only clue we had is the river flows perpendicular to the entire trail and our expert (Hemanth) had some native intuition and we just followed his intuition . We also made a call to Gowdra mane that we might reach the house any time and instructed them to arrange for the jeep. We also gave a clue of our tragic trek so that even if we miss we could get help from locals. We stick to our basic that none of them will deviate away from the group.

6:30 P.M : We could listen to the tranquility of the falls , now we got some cheers amongst the team and we were very sure its the same falls which we found while scaling up . Infact we were back on track and we knew river was very close by and also Gowdas House.We changed our gear and shifted to 4th gear. we infact started runnig as dawn has already shown its presence and if we miss the timing we wont be able to pitch the tent .

6:50 P.M : We reached river and Gowdas house is another 20 min walk from the river.

7:10 P.M : We reached Gowdas house and as informed jeep was waiting for our arrival and we thanked Gowdas family and we all go into jeep . This time Jeep guy was asking us 500 bugs and we happily agreed.
The jeep guy took us till Dharmastala. There was no excitement as all were tired and were fast asleep.

8:10 P.M: We reached Dharmastala and we headed straight to Annagraha ( Place known for serving food). When you are hungry food tastes so great and were happy to have food in Dharmastala.

Little bit of Dharmastala is given below

Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala

10 P.M : We got some random bus which goes to Bangalore and we all set to Bangalore. 

Though it was a failure trek , this trek remained in our mind for long beacuse of the journey.

Journey is better than destination

How to go : Dharmastala (270 Km from Bangalore)

From Dharmastala catch a jeep/ Bus to Shishila . 

From shishila catch rick/jeep to Gowdra mane. 

From there you can trek to Etthina Bhuja (preferably take Guide  till half distance) 

Team

To be continued with part2 of EtthinaBhuja

Bababundangiri to Kallahatagiri Falls

                                              Bababundangiri to Kallahatagiri Falls

                                                     We dropped at Chickmagalur Bus Stand in the wee hours of Morning (Around 4:30 A.M). We were 5 in numbers namely Hemanth , Sanjay Krishna , Nagarjun  , Dileep , Subrahamanya .We normally dont opt any private vehicle while going for a trek and as much as possible we opt for the local travel options. So the first bus that would set to Bababundangiri from Chikmagalur was at 7:30 A.M. So we were only bothered about killing our time till then. We slept till 6 in Bus stand and refreshed and we were all ready around 7. We went to nearest Hotel,  had breakfast and were all set to new challenges that is posed during trek by 7:30 A.M . Our Bus set for a journey around 7:45 A.M.We took a seat which is adjacent to the driver. This seat gives us a panoramic view of the landscape.

                                                 

Landscapes of BabaBudangiri

                                             

L-R ( Nagarjun , Dileep , Hemanth , Sanjay ) 

                                        Small Insight of Bababundangiri is explained well in the link provided

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Budangiri.

Bababundangiri Town

We started from BabaBundangiri towards west to Kallhatgiri Falls. First thing you get to see once you move across a distance of around 2Km  from BabaBundangiri is moderate big lake Gaalikere .

GaaliKere Lake 

                                       
This is a index point to the trekkers moving towards Kallahatgiri Falls , from this lake you need to take a right direction which has a trail following the same.After following small trail  uphills western ghats opens up its mesmerizing beauty which is not accessible so easily otherwise.

The images of the beauty of western ghats is shown in the images below

     

View opens welcoming trekkers

View of Western Ghats

Subbu and Sanjay Posing with the tent

This reminds me of movie cliffhanger

All look tired

                                 We then reached a juncture where the stream bisects entire hill and the whole stream is covered with a thick bushes which encapsulates the stream . The below image will give you a picture of how it looks like.

Clusters of vegetation around the path of the stream

Stream flowing underneath the bushes

once you surpass this stream crawling through the bushes you will notice that the trail of humans which leads till the stream which started from Babundangiri is suddenly vanished.It gives us the impression that any humans didnt go past beyond this point. This mean that we totally lost our track and are clueless of our destination. Now we are at a juncture where we need to decide whether we are going forward which is totally unexplored and not sure of consequences and backward which is very easy but will not serve the purpose. Even in life we will come across such juncture where we have to decide to go forward or backward, though tracing backward looks easier it is worthless.We decided to go forward and take up the unexplored path and accept the challenge. Though this might look crazy but its very exciting to take up the things which is unexplored and gives you immense confidence.

We went on and realised we have lost our track during the course of our trek.now there is no option of returning back only option left is to go forward and explore the path.Our navigation expert Hemanth Prabhu came to our help . He told us to go to the peak and get the directions,probably we might end up with stream which leads to kallahatgiri falls.so one side we could see forest and entire terrain was covered with grasslands and other side was hill. We were totally confused and drained by the harshness of the sun.
Even our water was almost exhausted and left with limited resource. We sat down to have some bread which we carried all along Bangalore. This short refreshment could replenish our energy and we were back on track.now only options left for us was to move ahead, we always carry tent . we could see a valley and another stream bisecting the entire valley . This gave use some hope and we were blessed.

Flowers decorating the grass lands

Atlast we came to point where entire grassland was covered with small flowers as shown in the pic. This really mesmerized us and gave some hope of returning  back as this small flowers gives the hint of vegetation and people . so kept going ahead in the hope of finding some clues of people staying around.

By the grace of god we could spot the trace of trails at the far end of the horizon. We jumped with happiness and went ahead to chase it. Finally we could find a trail which leads us to the proper destination and we came across a trail which looked like a jeep trail. We were very happy to see this as this gave a hint that we are close to human population.We went bit further and we could see a curve and once we crossed this we could see abadoned palace which dated back to 17th century. Went further and could hear the stream flowing.The time was tick sharp 5 P.M.and we thought this is the right time to pitch a tent and call it a day.


Tips to pitch a tent : Always make sure your tent is at the proximity of stream , so it will be helpful to cook.

Luckily we were able to spot a stream and also we found abadoned fort . Some people told we will pitch tent near fort , but always stick to basics of pitching tent near stream. Fort was atleast 200 m from the stream. so we started taking out all our food items , which included ready to eat items like MTR fast food , Maggi noodles,bread toast and miscellaneous food items,. We didnt carry even plates and spoons to eat so we made plates and spoon

Having Dinner at campsite

Camp site

Sun blessing us with ray of hope

Unwinding the tent

          The morning rays of sun is so refreshing and will always be cherished

Team Set for departure

     Then we set ahead to find the falls which leads to kallahatgiri falls but we were never been able to spot it      as the stream took lot of deviations and covered lot of bushes. We thought we will give a try next time as      we were running out of time.As we moved we could  see small trails which leads to the stream and we tried exploring the trail which lead us to  opening of the falls and we were mesmerized to see the beauty

Kallhatgiri falls

  We took some photos and  called it a day for the trek and we went down the jeep trail which led us to the nearest village and we had some refreshments. Then we continued in bus till chikmagalur and caught a bus back to Bangalore and made this trip one of the trip to be cherished in our life.

Blogger : Dileep Kudva
Team : Hemanth , Sanjay , Dileep , Nagarjun , Subbu
Place : Babbudangiri to Kallhatgiri
Distance : From Bangalore 250 Km
Nearest Place : Chikmaglur

Trek from Donigal to Yedakumeri trek

                                 
                                              It was a Dusk during wee hours of Saturday. We set out to trek from Donigal which is around 8 Km from Sakleshpur a small town which mesmerises with its beauty. We were 5 people who set out to trek from Donigal to Yedakumeri . Donigal is a small town which in the highway connecting Sakleshpur to Mangalore. Probably you need a help of GPS to spot this station if you are going by a bus , there are some small tea stalls which is near the Railway station adjacent to the highway.

                                             It was 3:30 A.M when we reached Donigal Railway station.so we waited till 5:30 A.M til the dawn welcomed us . we could see other trek teams coming to Donigal Station . we had 2 tents which we carried along with us all the way from Bangalore but never got the opportunity to use it unless in Railway station where we took rest for sometime. Initial stretch of the trek was during dawn and couldn't spot much of the greenery but as sun started welcoming even western ghats started showing its splendid beauty.But the track always gives the impression that it will converge at the far end but our wisdom stops us from accepting this fact.This trek is composed of 16 Bridges and 23 Tunnels each tunnels ranges from 250m to 900m . Knowing this fact we were very excited to explore the nuke and corners of this trek.

Western Ghats with its mesmerising beauty

Mother Nature with its Lush green Colour

Namma WesternGhats

Far View of Western Ghats

                  Fog Adding its attributes to the beauty of western Ghats

After walking for 5km we came across a first tunnel seeing which we were very excited and were equally excited surpass the tunnel

Gururaj Photographing the first Tunnel

                                                   

Sarvesh and Dileep Posing in Front of Tunnel

                                         

                                       

L-R (Sai , Dileep , Sarvesh) 

As we walk passed the tunnel we could see the small opening which lead us to mesmerizing view of Yettinahole rushing with its full momentum. The river reminded me of Ganga flowing in the Uttarakhand.

Breath Taking Yetthinahole Rivere

Yettinahole in its full Momentum 

As we walked pass the Tunnel we came across a Bridge built over a stream . we were stunned to see both the human engineering and breathtaking view of the nature

River Flowing beneath the Bridge

Human Engineering sublimed with Nature 

After walking for around 16 Km we reached a intermediate railway station which was almost abadoned except station masters who reside here.We stayed here for some time and then started towards yedakumeri which was around 6 km from this place and we were almost tired at this time . we stayed in the middle were we could find some shadows and had biscuits and our water bottle were replinished by the streams. We came across around 12 Tunnels and 10 Bridges each one was entirely breathktaking.

Also people need to be extra cautious regarding the train that commutes over the track and its functional . Though the siren of the train is audible at the fare end we will be deceptive for small trolleys which can be very dangerous.

We came across 3 trains through our journey from Donigal to Yedakumeri and station master threathen you of imprisonment as the trekking over this trail is illegal.

We didnt have exit route from Yedakumeri once we reached Yedakumeri , only option was to crosss yetthinahole which was furious flowing during that time. Then fortunately we go to know from station master that 3:30 P.M there is a train from yedakumeri to Sakleshpur.

We waited till that train and got into train and came back to sakleshpur by which our trek also get ended.