Mullayanagiri Trekking

After many years of my life, some how Trekking came to my mind all of a sudden. As soon as I got this idea, Searched for places where I can take 2 days out of my busy life. Saw lots of places where people do trek, read lot of blogs, inspired and made my mind and said to my self... "Let do it"

As it was my first time, I wanted to try some thing which my body can support. One of the interesting place came in my search was this Mullayanagiri. 

Feeling like Birds...

Quick Facts of this place: 

• This is the highest peak (6,330 ft from sea level) in Baba budangiri range of Western Ghats of Chikmagalur Taluk, Karnataka. 3rd highest in India!!!

• July-Dec is the best time to go.

• Make sure you go with proper guide or you will be roaming in mountains for days to find a way out of it. :(

Days of Travel: 2 Days... Just perfect for my weekend :)

Date: 29th July 2012

Trekking Guide: Bangalore Mountaineers Club  (For more details: www.bmcindia.org)

Distance: Total ~600KM.

Best Time to Visit: July-Dec.

Tips: For free :) 

• Rainy seasons are not good as the path will be very slippery and lots of leaches.

• Avoid night treks and make sure you are out before 7pm.

• 100% guide is required even you have a great GPS tracking system... Because in clouds your GPS also may not work accurately.

• Water proof bags, Jackets, Very less luggage. 

• Medicine.. mainly pain killers and allergy one

• First aid kit.

• Dettol, Move spray, salt, and the list goes on to make leaches leave you from sucking blood. Simple rule: Leach just leave you from sucking blood as soon as the taste changes. So just put some thing near the wound, it will go off...

Story Begins...

   Started our Journey from Bangalore at 10pm Friday night. BMC people picked us from one of stops. We were around 25 people where most of them were first time trekkers. 

 Slept in the Bug for entire journey. Reached our homestay "Mugila Mane" around 3am. This is very near by place for trek start point. This was a very small homestay with very basic facelities. But our guide always remained us ----- "We are here for Trekking not for sleep in resort :) "

HomeStay...

Entrance to HomeStay

Read for Trecking...

  Slept till 6am. Had bath and junk breakfast was ready. Remembered the Guide words again and eat that only. And our trek started at 7am.

 From bottom we were able to see only 25% of the peak due to fog and hence we were all not sure how big the mountain is. Below pic is the starting point of Trek. From here it looks like we have nice path, but later we found that only entrance is good and rest all path is unknown. 

The entire trek path is called as "Sarpa Dhari"... Mean snake path. Once we started climbing we came to know why it is called so. The path will be like snake only... 

Entrance of SharpaDhari... 

Trekking was really great. It was almost 4KM up trek and 5KM down trek.  Just standing for 1min for rest will bring back all energy in us. There were 2 guides, one at front and one at end. They make sure that no body is missing all time. 

Just show the slope

Check out the back..very slope...

Some places needs an extra effort...

Very Windy....

Feeling Great to Reach till this height...

Finally We reached the the Temple which is at the top of the Hill... Wondering how priest can reach this temple everyday? That's simple... There is a road till that place... We came for trekking so no steps, no road, only Mountain path....

Took a few minutes break on top of the hill and started the trekking down the hill in different route...

It almost took 3.5 hours to reach top and another 3 hours to come back down.

Finally our body was completely down and no more support for any other work... We badly need rest... Went to base camp, Had lunch. And our Guide declared one more trek to Baba budangiri Mountains which is again 10KM trek. Asked us to get ready with in 10 min for next trek... I and Vandana was completely down and dropped from the plan and lied on bed peacefully. Out of 25, almost 15 went for next trek. Had a nice time in base camp and a nice sleep.

Other batch completed the trek and came back at 6pm. Walked on road for few km to find some shop for some food. Found one shop where we bought maggi, and cooked in our base camp kitchen. Seriously it was our maggi moments...

Took rest again and our dinner was ready. Eat dinner and chatted for time in front of fire camp...
One side cooooool breezzz of coffee plantations and other side a warm fire...Enjoyed the night and went for sleeping....

BMC provided us sleeping bags where we enjoyed the warm sleep in that cold climate.

Day-2:

 Woke up early in the morning 6pm. Got ready and had break fast and started for next trek... But this time it was not mountain but trek in small muddy roads in between coffee plantation to reach a water fall. It was almost 3KM walk... Enjoyed the walking on beautiful Sunday morning... Reached Water fall...

Path to Water falls

Best way to enjoy a Fall... :) I Love it

Water was chilled and we can hardly touch also. But we all took deep breath and entered the falls. Our body got freezed for few moments... Later we adjusted to it and started enjoying it...

Spent good 2 hours in falls... Hey here is where I first met with my Enemy... A leach... It got stuck on my leg and already started sucking the blood.. I was too horrified and shouted for help..Guide put some salt on it and it left me. Later 2 more leaches attacked me but I was already used to it and applied the same technique. Best part of the leach is it wont pain you even little bit. You will not sense anything and a big thanks to the anesthesia that it applies before sucking blood...

Now biggest problem is that we need walk up the path for again 4KM to reach road. We were very much tiered playing in falls and pulled up all energy and started walking.

Started back journey to Bangalore at 2pm. Had Lunch In dabha near Hassan. Then playing few games in bus. Finally reached Bangalore at 6pm... Our Nose started smelling pollution and ears started hearing noises of road....

Finaly reached home at 8pm. Played with Kid which we missed for 2 days... Had Moms great Dinner and Slept with remembering great memories of our journey...

Thanks for reading this blog... See you all in next trip.....

Trip to Kabini

First I would like to thank for visiting this blog.

This was planned trip for our 5th Marriage Anniversary. Kabini was in our travel list from long time and finally it happened now.

Here are quick info before going to story.

Places: Just Kabini River Lodge.

Days of travel: 2 days, 1 night.

Date: Feb 7th 2012

Total Distance : 450km (From Bangalore)

Resort: Kabini River Lodge. This is a govt authorized one which is maintained by jungle Lodges and resorts Ltd. Booked entire stay using below link. This is the official link and don't get cheated with fake web sites. You will get additional 5% discount if you book through net.

http://junglelodges.com/index.php/online-reservation.html


Route: Bangalore to Mysore directly on state highway. Just before you enter Mysore City you need take the ring road and go towards HD Kote road. Anybody can guide you if you ask for HD Kote road. Then travel on that road for about 60km. Just 2km before HD Kote, you need to deviate and travel for another 12km. This 12KM stretch is very very very bad road and takes more than half an hour. Just follow the boards for Orange County and Jungle Lodges.

Best Time to Visit: Depends on what you want to see...

• Avoid Rainy Seasons
• Winter: Beautiful forest with think habitate. But can spot less animals due to big bushes and fog.
  
• Summer: Little Dry and all leaves will be falling and you may not enjoy the forest view but you can spot lots of animals as they come out and clearly visible.
  

Recommended Hotel:

There are mainly 3 resorts Kabini River lodge which come under Govt, Orange county and Serai. Last 2 are very costly (Aprrox double) and they have to come in same Jeep and Boat Safari of River Lodge as they are not allowed to take thier personal vehicles in to forest. As Safari is main thing to do , I suggest Kabini River Lodge.

Story begins:

We are travel lovers and love to drive long distance and always wait for an occasion to travel. And here comes our 5th Marriage Anniversary. It was really great feel that we have completed 5 years of marriage life so soon... All credits goes my better half for making this 5 years of journey a great one.

Started our journey at sharp 6pm. Last night itself my wife and Mom prepared chapatis and packed them as safe side food. With 1 hour of journey we hit Kadhambam restaurant which is our favorite. Had break fast (Pongal and Idly) and started our journey. Till Mysore it was smooth journey and then we asked many people to get in to the right track towards Kabini. Last 12KM stretch of road is realy bad one and took almost more than half an hour. Finally reached Kabini River lodge at sharp10:30am.

Day-1:

We are supposed to check-in at 12pm but we were very early to that place. Resort fellow explained about the place and plan for 2 days. Had a small boating on coracle and walked through the resort and took pics. Finally checked in to our room sorry Tent at 11am. Took rest till 1am and had lunch. Lunch was typical south Indian and hence didn't like much as it our day to day food. Then again took rest till 3pm.

We were already bored of this place as we didn't start doing any activity till now. At sharp 3:30pm we started our Jeep Safari. From that point actual fun of trip started. Safari took us in to deep jungles of Nagahole forest. It was amazing to sit back and enjoy nice weather and cool breeze while roaming in wild place.

Watching animals is purely matter of luck as it all depends on the time. We can watch wild animals only when they come near to our Jeep. We have to maintain silence and must have lots of patience to watch animals.

Animals Spotted in Safari: Few wild ox, lots of deers, lots of stags, many wild pigs, 2 peacocks, one Cheeta, many langoor monkeys, few wild squirl, Many Elephants and also visited Elephant camp where they domesticate few elephants.

This forest has 1500 Elephants, ~250 Tiger and Cheeta as per them!!!!

It was almost 3 hours of Safari and finally came back to our tent on 7pm. Took Body Massage in Ayurveda center they have in that resort. It was very bad and I would suggest not to have. It was 1500 bugs and defiantly not worth it.

Finally had dinner. It was much better. Sat in front of fire camp for some time and went to banks of river. Sat on bank for around 1 hour in moon light and complete silence. It was amazing and no words to explain. Finally slept at 11pm.

Day-2:

Woke up early in the morning 5am. As Boat safari starts at sharp 6am only. Had tea and started our safari. This Boat Safari is same as Jeep Safari but this time we take river way rather road. It was an amazing ride. Watched the forest from river and spotted again few animals. Watched many many birds. It was cool weather and just enjoyed the moments. At one place which is territroy of one big tiger and 3 cubs, we waited for about 10min with pin drop silence on boat. Our bad luck tiger didn't turn up near to water.

Ended Boat Safari after 3 hours again. It was very long and enjoyed every moment. Very soon 3 hours went off. Reached the resort at 9:30am and had breakfast. Then checked out from resort at 11am. Took some pics for memory and left the place from there.

Started return journey to Bangalore. had Lunch again at Kadhambam at 3pm and reached bangalore at sharp 4pm.

Ended our journey by celebrating our sweet 5th Anniversary.

Best of Tour:

• First of all the day as it was our 5th anniversary.
• Jeep safari was nice to enjoy forest in cool breeze.
  
• Saw peacock dancing. It was amazing.
• 1 hour spent on River Bank at night in moon light with pin drop silence.
• Early morning Boat Safari. Even we didn't spot much animals it was very nice ride.
  

Bye bye and catch you in folks in next blog... Thanks for reading...

Trip to Balmuri Falls

First of all thanks for coming to this blog. After a long planning for celebrating 2012 New Year, we finally decided to go for a long drive on Mysore road. And decided to visit few places also. Here is the story....

Places: Kokkare Belluru Bird Sanctuary, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, Ballmuri Falls, Edmuri Falls.

Day of travel: Started Early in the morning (5:30 am) and returned home at 8pm. Basically a good one day trip.

Total Distance: 300KM

Route:

Kokkare Belluru: From Bannerghatta road, joined the nice road and then joined the Mysore road. Drive towards Mysore on state highway. After Channapatna continue the drive towards Maddur on state highway only. Just 2 KM before Maddur a village Rudrakshipura comes. There you need to take left to travel 12KM on Village roads to reach Kokkare Belluru. Just 2-3 KM before Maddur watch for sigh board indicating the cross to this place.

Rangnathittu: From Kokkare belluru, come back in the same road and join back to state highway and drive towards Maddur. After Maddur, drive till exit of SriRangaPatna. As soon as you see a exit board of Sri Ranga Patna you will get a circle where state highway continues towards mysore and another road takes right U turn towards KRS. Take that U turn and with in 2-3 KM you will find the big arch for Ranganathittu on your right.

Balmuri and Edmuri falls: Come back to same Ranganthittu arch and continue in the road towards KRS. With in 12 KM you will find Balmuri Falls. Ask on the way if you get stuck somewhere. Balmuri and Edmuri falls are co-located nearby.

SriRangaPatna Temple: Now you need to come back in same way back from Balmuri Falls to SriRangapatna to visit final destination, Ranganatha temple.

From SriRanganaPatna come back to Bangalore on the same state highway...

Food Availability:
There are many good hotels like Kamath, Adigas, KFC, McD, Anandh Bhavan etc etc between Channapatna to Maddur. So try to fill your tummies before you leave Maddur. After Maddur you will not good food on the way. At Ranganathittu there is a small hotel but food was ok. There are lots of small hotels in Ballmuri falls but they are all pathetic and unhigene. Avoid that street food as you may have to take bed for next full week.
Make sure you eat lunch in Kamath on highway or if you can wait till 3pm, you will get good hotels after Maddur on the way to Bangalore.

Best Best thing is to pack food at home itself....

Story Begins....

There were hundreds of party options in Bangalore for celebrating new year 2012. After thinking a lot, finally we planned to skip the city and get out of city to start the new year in a fresh way, with a fresh breeze, zero polluted air, Out of crowd, out of noise, out of tensions, which is a long drive towards Mysore.

Kokkare Belluru:

Started our journey early in the morning 5am. My Wife woke up 4am itself prepared the breakfast also. With no stop drive, reached our first place "Kokkare Belluru Bird Sanctuary" at sharp 7:30am. As soon as we entered this small village by name "Kokkare Belluru" We didn't know what to see. We asked few local fellows and came to know places where we can see the birds. In Kannanda Kokkare mean “stork” or “Pelican” birds. Belluru is Village name. From Start of Jan these birds migrates to this place from far distances and goes away at the end of March. Birds here more like a family for these villagers and they treat them with all support. Many water bodies, lush green and climate is what attracts these birds during this season. You can see hundreds of birds during peak season. Our bad that we went very early in the season and saw only few tens of birds. But they were really great to see.

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

After watching them for some time, Journey started back at 8am. Hit the highway and hitting 120 speed we reached next place "Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary" at sharp 9:30am. There are no hotels open at that early time and packing the food was a great idea. Eat our breakfast in the Sanctuary itself and rested for some time to enjoy the cool breeze. Our souls were so fresh that we can feel it. Called all friends and wished a great new year.

Entry fee was 50 per head, Parking for car is 30/- and boat ride is 100/-.

After some time, started exploring the Sanctuary. Main thing to do is, take a Coracle ride. They take you to a big round in lake where you can see all birds. Birds here are very seasonal. You can see some birds in some seasons, so any time is a good time to visit this place. But June-Nov is the best time to visit as we can see many varieties of birds during that time. As we were very early to this place, it was very quite and great to enjoy the nature.

It is interesting to see that the birds from all over the world come here for breeding. Can see many crocodiles all the time.

Balmuri Falls

Sun was slowly warming up the air and started getting bit hot. So its the time for swim. At sharp 11am started our journey to our main destination, "Balmuri Falls". Ballmuri and EdMuri are co-located and Ballmuri is the best one to visit and you can skip the other one. Road is pathatic for EmMuri and very narrow rode for 4 wheelers.

Actually its not a falls. Its a small Checkdam constructed for storing water to some extent and leaving rest of the kaveri water. When the water flows from above that small dam it creates a small fall. But its a great place to visit. Small fall of water for about 200 meters width is a great view. This place gives a unique way to enjoy, that is waking on dam. While walking on dam, water rushes from our feet and for sure you have a great fun.

Almost 1 hour spent on this dam enjoying the chilled water under hot sun.

Few important notes are, no proper place for women to change dress. Lots of people from near by places come for swimming and hence you have to reach this place before 12 to enjoy with less crowd. Near to 1pm, you will not get proper place to stand also. So plan to reach soon and leave soon also.

After this, we went to EdMuri falls just 1 KM from there. Road was pathetic. It was very hard time to take reverse also at the end of the road to come back.

SrirangaPatna

Journey started back to Bangalore. As it was new year day, we wanted to cover a temple also. We to SrirangaPatna on the way back to Bangalore. There is a very famous Ranganatha Swamy temple. Visited the temple and took Gods blessings also to start this year :)

Finally started our journey back at 2pm. Again back to long drive. Around 4pm had late lunch at Adigas which comes after Maddur. Then reached back to Bangalore around 7pm.

It was a nice fun trip and a great way to start new year.


Good Bye and catch you with next trip.... :)