Trekking through thick forests to Aanadka Falls
The Aanadka Falls
After trekking to Kudumari falls and then to Kumara Parvata on successive weekends, the trek to Aanadka falls was destined to be clear sailing. Surprises started even before the trek began. These were the surprises thrown by “human nature”. The Gypsies ritual of waking up fellow trekkers by giving them a wake-up call was broken when the Gypsy in-charge of this “tough” job failed to execute it. The result being many gypsies turned up for the trek without taking a bath! We halted, as usual, for breakfast at an eatery on B.C. road. The relaxing nature of the trek was such that we forgot to pack lunch and it was too late when we realized that!
More surprises waited as we reached the Kudremukh National Park…the forest officials (unfortunately for them), had kept the checkpoint office shut; thus missing out on what could have formed, a major chunk of their earning that fateful day!
The trek trail passed through a couple of sprawling village estates, streams and thick forest. We were moving ahead cautiously due to the dense vegetation and thorny shrubs lining the trail. There was no wind and the vegetation was not allowing the sunlight to stream through it. The quietness of the forest was disturbed only by the occasional jingle of the flowing stream and by our footsteps crushing the dried leaves along the trail. It seemed as if we were the only moving creatures there. Nature proved us wrong again as it threw up a really pleasant surprise….
After crossing the first stream, a flurry of activity rose through the vegetation with our every step…the butterflies!! The trees along the trail were inhabited with thousands of butterflies. Every step we took shook a hundred butterflies from their peaceful slumber and they hovered excitedly around us; like glittering angels arising as a result of some magical charm. The Western Ghats is known to be home to hundreds of species of butterflies. These were the “tiger” species – the common tiger that has flame colored wings with brown border and the blue tiger that is black in color with closely placed sky blue spots on the wings. We had a wildlife enthusiast, Arun, with us and he also spotted a few other species in that melee of colorful wings - The common crow, the spotted kites and the common jezebel. We heard a peafowl screaming, “may-awe”, saw many parrots and parakeets, the sun bird, the red-whiskered bulbul and the green bee eater among others. The trail to Aandka falls was also a nature trail buzzing with variety.
A tree full of butterflies
A bettle with a pattern of human face on it
(Photographs courtesy Charan S. Walke)
Aandka falls in monsoons of 2008 and
winters of 2012 courtesy Fahad A.R.
As it was almost the end of December, the water currents were not very strong and we could stand right under the water flow or go behind it. The rocks over which the water flowed when in full flow, were now exposed. They had a slippery layer of moss and lichen covering them. This was enough to lower the friction and make a couple of us slip again and again until they hurt their behinds!
After frolicking around in the falls for an hour and having a minimal lunch of snacks, biscuits and oranges we were ready to return to Mangalore. That is when Fahad suggested that we had plenty of time to visit another falls – Ermayee that was close by and was just about a kilometer and a half trek . The rest of us were more than happy to agree!
Route: Mangalore-Belthangady-Ujire-Kudremukh National Park
Date: 29th December, 2012
With: Fahad A.R, Nitin Shettigar, Ramaprasad, KarthikPrabhu, Manoj, Smitha Upadya, Arun Mysore, Aditi Vishwasrao, Vikram Kaparthy, Javid Karangi, Abhilash Desai, Fairoz Fahad, Madhu Ramaya, Prachi Bhosale
Date: 29th December, 2012
With: Fahad A.R, Nitin Shettigar, Ramaprasad, KarthikPrabhu, Manoj, Smitha Upadya, Arun Mysore, Aditi Vishwasrao, Vikram Kaparthy, Javid Karangi, Abhilash Desai, Fairoz Fahad, Madhu Ramaya, Prachi Bhosale
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