After the summer fun at Sharavati we were off to another 'fun filled' adventure - this time to Onake (pronounced Va-n-ke) Hebbe Falls.
We started at 6:30a.m from Mangalore and stopped at Udupi for breakfast at Mitra samaj. To trek to the Onake Hebbe, we have to take permissions from the RFO at Hebri. This is also where a guide accompanied us(Taking a guide on this trek is compulsory.). After another 15 minutes we reached a sprawling farmhouse whence we were to start our trek.
At the Hebri RFO
The trail starts along a trench like way (possibly dug for a water pipeline) for a few metres. Then a turn to the left and we head into a thick forest. The incline which was gentle in the beginning soon starts getting steeper and steeper. Humidity, forest, climbing and the Indian summer are partners in crime when it comes to tiring out trekkers like us!
Thick forest, steep ascend and dry leaves!
Thick layers of dry leaves crackled at our every step. When walking on such a carpet of dry foliage, one has to be very careful about where we step. Though we did not step on any creepy crawlies hiding beneath, many of us did stumble on the potholes that the leaves carefully hid. Thus walking, stumbling and navigating our way through many fallen branches, we finally reached a rocky clearing from where we could see the majestic Onake Hebbe. We still had to climb about 500 metres to reach the plunge pool formed by the waterfall. Evindently, during monsoons, the force of the waterfall must be such that water would come crushing down wildly upto the place we were standing right then and travelling further down.
Unfortunately, perhaps, only a few brave people must have trekked to this place in the monsoons, as the trail turns treacherous with slippery red mud and leaches at every step!
The Onake Hebbe Falls
Soon, we had climbed up and were soaking ourselves into the cool water. What a feeling it is to jump into cool spring water after a hard, sweaty trek! It seemed like no one had got into the waterfall for quite a few days before us... The area of the pool farther away from the water stream had stagnant water covered with slippery moss and wide cobwebs. When we got in, we could feel the slimy moss getting tangled in our legs and we were leaving quite a few spiders homeless...! The experience was not too enjoyable for me too as every encounter with the mentioned beings sent a shiver up my spine! The plunge pool got somewhat deep in the centre and only those who could swim managed to reach the water stream in the beginning.
Well, even those who could not swim managed to reach the stream...with some help. Nitin, Balaji, Anindya, Sharan and Rishikesh formed a chain along the rocks that came to the water stream. Then every non-swimmer was passed from one hand to another, eventually, to enjoy the cool stream. Taking non-swimmers across a not-so-deep pool looked like some kind of a circus which we throughly enjoyed! Anindya got two of them till the stream by making them hold on to him as he swam like a crocodile.
Some non-swimmers like Arun and Rahul preferred to keep their eyes closed and mouth open! Some others like Gaurav and Ram managed to get across with little help. Some like Piyush started struggling in the water! Then there were a few like Geetika and Sahana who preffered to stay out! Then there were some like Deepika who was struggling to get the water out of her ears for nearly an hour after we were out of the water!
Once out, we enjoyed a throughly competitve game of Stone Skipping in which Anindya was declared a winner after his pebble bounced 11 times on the water! Gaurav was close behind with 8 bounces! The rest of us could manage a maximum of just six! We then found a quiet place to have lunch and pacify our starving tummies. Soon we were on our way back to Mangalore.
We stopped briefly at Padubidri beach and walked quite a bit to witness the Sangam of Kamini river with the sea... However we were disappointed. Instead of the calm waters of the Sangam we were greeted by a stagnant pool with stinking industrial waste in it! Nevertheless, we spent some fun moments on the beach before heading back to Mangalore, of course, with a munchy halt at Bittu-da-Dhaba!
At Padubidri beach
When: 13th April
With: Nitin Shettigar, Anindya Das, Geetika Bajaj, Deepika Bhat, Gautam Shenoy, Gaurav Kashyap, Sharan D., Rishikesh Kothari, Arun Shetty, Bhuvaneshwari R., Ramaprasad, Balaji Mohan,Aditi Vishwasrao, Rahul Gupta, Piyush Neekhra, Sahana Varadraj, Arjit.
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