Onake Hebbe Falls

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.

Sharavati Part 4 - In the backwaters!

No one gets into the water without life jackets, whether they know to swim or not. Period.

-King Julian

He cared about his comrades as much as he cared about his spaceship!

Most of us, save a few lazy bones, were up at 6:00a.m in the morning to see the sun rise from the hillocks that surrounded the backwaters. A few photographs later, we were off to the base camp for our morning rituals and then a nutritious breakfast of ragi dosa, uttapams, chutney and rasam. Then the real fun began! We were back to the ochre yellow landscape decorated with brown tree stumps. However, now, unlike the night, a hot breeze had started to blow and the sun had already begun showing its might. The calm water was beckoning us. We rushed into our tents and got into water friendly clothes, put on our life jackets and lined up at the shore with water kissing our feet. We were divided into 2 categories: swimmers and non-swimmers. Everyone had to reach a tree in the middle of the river about a kilometer from the starting point and then swim back. 

King Julian’s lost spaceship was cozily lodged near the tree and he was overjoyed to find it finally. We just had to reach there now.

King Julian!!

ready to dive in the water..!

The swimmers were sent in first for obvious reasons. The non-swimmers were taught the basics of how to move their hands and feet in the water. They were also taught to trust the life-jackets. But, the fear of the “unknown” or “not knowing” is always a dominating factor. Thus poor Nachiket, a helpful swimmer, had 3 people holding on to him in spite of the life jackets; as he struggled to make them comfortable in the water. Then there was poor Ram, a helpful non-swimmer, who was helping a terrified Prachi to adjust to water. Then there were a few non-helpful swimmers like Aditi who were just floating blissfully face up in the water. Then there were some other acrobatic swimmers like Malur, who was trying to climb a tree to dive into the water. The smooth tree trunk made slippery by his wet body made the task more difficult. He fell down many times but finally managed to get the grip and technique to go up the tree and got himself a well-deserved dive! Finally there was Achlesh who had got himself a canoe and was doing the noble job of capturing our antics on the camera to keep the memories alive!

diving from trees!

fun in the water..

For the next one hour, we were floating around in our life jackets. Even the non-swimmers had come to trust their life jackets and there was no fear now… only fun… lots of it! Then we had rounds of kayaking and canoeing. A special mention here to the great rower - Arun Mysore, who sped in the kayak like a professional while the rest of us were struggling to hold the oar properly!

Then there was the coracle – a round tub like boat which was even more difficult to sail around than the canoe! We made the boat spin round and round as fast as we could and left it that way. It felt good just sitting like that in the rotating boat. We did it over and over again. Unlike a merry-go-round, we were not falling out from the sides when the boat went round, we could just hold on to the edges, close our eyes and let our head spin.

Canoeing in Sharavati!

The coracle

At 2p.m in the afternoon we came out of the water, quite reluctant to do so. That is when we realized the intense heat that the sun was spewing. That is also when we realized that we had got ourself a bronze tan in a matter of hours. The fairer amongst us had got a red tan! The ground was hot and our tents had become ovens. We changed into dry clothes and put on our sun protection gear. The tents were removed and packed. We were back at the base camp where a hot lunch of pulav, rasam, plain rice and papad was awaiting us. Then after a round of photography and good byes, we were off to the same old life at Mangalore and Bangalore respectively!

After a "tanny" day in the water

Date: 23rd and 24th March, 2013.

With: Achalesh Jayaram, Ashwin Karanth, Varun Iyer, Prathamesh Mathre, Ankit, Jayaprakash, Aparna Pal, Sutonuka Mazumdar, Ramaprasad, Vinayaka Akkasali, Arun Mysore, Aditi Vishwasrao, Charan Walke, Nachiket Velankar, Hannan Shaikh, Venu Gopal, Smitha Upadya, Gayathri Holla, Prachi Bhosale, Giri Tanari, Mahantesh Paramraj, Karthik Malur.

Sharavati Part 3- Night, Light and Mafia

King Julian adored Mafia…! After all it was their sheer cunningness and presence of mind that had helped him to convince the people of his planet that ‘humans’ can help them find their spaceship and also guard their King!

We finished the trek to Thumbe falls at around 6:30p.m and were back to our base camp at Sharavati wildlife sanctuary by 7:30p.m. Getting back from the trek we were partially wet due to the our “relaxing” dip in the waterfall and majorly by our own sweat flowing generously all over the body!

Thankfully, the Sharavati wildlife sanctuary has a good arrangement of hygienic washrooms complete with a good water supply. We freshened up in torchlight and were soon settled on the many concrete seats that are built there. A refreshing round of warm kashayam (pepper milk) welcomed us. After an hour, we were served dinner consisting of curd rice, puliogare, chapatis, cabbage vegetable and payasam. We ate to our heart’s content and then sat around chatting with each other. After the dinner, it was time to retire for the day. A caretaker accompanied us with large tents.

Our camp

In pitch darkness lit only by moonlight, he led us through the forest into a clearing on the banks of the Sharavati river backwaters. The dark forest was where a Prachi heard an eerie “Hello” from the trees near her. Stunned she halted in her tracks and cast a fearful glance from the direction of the sound. Achalesh was hiding there, smiling smugly, happy on achieving his objective of scaring Prachi!

Our tents were set up on the banks of the river. This area had been cleared of all the vegetation. Only the stumps of trees were left in the ochre yellow soil. The moonlight cast a magical blue all over the deserted landscape. The calm, still water glistened at a distance. Our tents rustled gently in the steady cool breeze. The camp fire was crackling sending up whiffs of smoke. We settled around it and fed it with more fire wood.

A faraway view of our campfire!

Light photography!

Our very own photographers Karanth and Charan decided to take some light motion photographs. The actors were Varun, Ankit and Ram. Clicking light motion photographs is an art in itself. They needed many takes of the same scene till they got the perfect photograph. Light motion photography also needs a support cast who move the light source in the desired way to get a particular effect. So there we were, Varun posed as if he was hitting Ram with a bolt of lightning and Ram was falling off due to the impact. Ankit got his photo clicked with a halo of light around his head just like “the enlightened one”. We got one for the Gypsies with the letters painted in light! The others were sitting around and enjoying the comedy that arose out of the frequent takes and retakes our amateur actors had to give for that one perfect snap!

Varun and Ram posing in a light take!

This was followed by a few of us retiring into their tents for the day and the rest of us settling down for a few rounds of Mafia. King Julian decided to be the moderator. The highlight of the game was definitely the brilliantly sly way in which Ashwin and Ankit, as Mafia, hoodwinked the rest to win the game hands down! Then, we rested our tired selves in the shelter of our tents. We wanted to be all geared up for the surprises that the next day held.

Sharavati Part 2 - Thumbe falls

King Julian from planet “ who cares” accompanied us to our many expeditions… He had joined hands with the Gypsies to find his spaceship. The search had begun!

It was on a perfectly hot mid-summer day that we trekked to the Thumbe falls in the Sharavati river valley. Our guides lead us on a steep, slippery way through dense vegetation towards the falls. The trek trail was characteristic of a typically difficult path which would become completely inaccessible in the monsoons. The trek trail was a very steep ascend for some part and an equally steep descend for the others. The narrow path was strewn with a thick layer of dry leaves. We had to tread carefully as the dry leaves made it impossible to guess what lay underneath. A single wrong footing and we would go tumbling down like the Jack who went to fetch a pail of water! The trek trail snaked through a thick forest and we walked ahead cautiously holding on to the trees along the path and preferring to slide down occasionally to keep our balance. After about 45 minutes, a stream of water came into sight. We crossed a huge tree trunk which lay across the stream .Thence; we started following the rocks along the water stream to reach our destination.

treading on the steep path strewn with dry leaves

we followed the water...

The tree bridge

I distinctly remember a twist in this rocky trail. We thought we would need to jump into the water and swim to the next walkable rock. However even that seemed impossible as getting into the water meant diving from quite a height and with all our luggage, that would not have been a wise thing to do. Our guides made us climb on to the rocky wall that guarded the edges on one side of the stream, holding onto the tree roots and the small crevices in the rocks. We struggled there as the path was only wide enough to place one foot. Moreover we were holding onto tree roots and the creepers hanging from the branches above to keep ourselves from sliding down and crashing into the water! This exciting ordeal ended in just about 15 minutes and we were back following the rocks again. After about 10 minutes, we reached one of the tiers of the Thumbe falls which made a pool several feet deep. This was going to be our lunch place that day and most of us were too happy to take a dip in the water after the ardeous trek. However we had not yet reached the head of the Thumbe falls.

Climbing on the rocky ledge

On the way to the destination

On the way to the destination2

We had been trekking for nearly 3 hours and by now everyone was exhausted to undertake the journey any further. Moreover, the trek trail had become more of a rock climbing exercise with each passing step. So most of us settled there and were more than happy to laze around the water. Even though the journey is the best part when you set out on a destination, it is reaching the destination that gives you a sense of accomplishment! Five gypsies however decided to go ahead to the actual destination. We got a warning from our leaders to return back in an hour so as to reach the base camp before sundown.

Our guides left their cooking gear near the first tier and we set off. We jumped and climbed rocks for another 30 minutes. Soon we were at the head of the great Thumbe falls. We were standing on top of a vertical drop of nearly 100 feet. From the place where we stood, we could only hear the roar of the water crashing at its feet. We couldn’t see the falls. All along the water stream, the trees had caved in and from our point of view it looked like a long tunnel through which the waterfall escaped from the rocky ledge on which we were presently stationed. We cautiously moved along the edges on the slippery rocks just to catch a glimpse of the waterfall. It would have been the perfect place for rappelling if we had the gear. However without any ropes, we were in a treacherous position where a single wrong step would prove fatal. Unfortunately, since we were warned about the difficulty of the path, we didn’t carry a camera and thus missed capturing memories of this breathtaking scene!

We jumped and climbed rocks again to reach the place where our fellow trekkers were waiting for us.

Our guides prepared a sumptuous meal of rice and sambhar accompanied by papad and pickle. It seemed to be one of the tastiest meals after the tiring trek. We relaxed in the cool water for some time and then around 3:30p.m began the tough trek back to the start where our TT was waiting for us. Varun was still to arrive. So we did a round of introductions amongst ourselves as is the ritual among the Gypsies till he arrived. He did come soon limping with cramps and carrying the many encouraging words from Ashwin!

Our resting place. Unfortunately, 

none of us carried a camera to capture the main falls.

Sharavati Part 1 - Off to Sharavati... In search of a lost spaceship!

King Julian’s spaceship had crashed on Earth. We, the Gypsies, who had formed an alliance with him long time ago, to prevent invasions from the outer space on Earth. We had sworn to help him find his spaceship…

It was after a month long hiatus(thanks to the annual sports event-Synergy at Infosys, Mangalore) that we had set out to be the real "Gypsies" again. Walk away from the air-conditioned workplace and live free - with the hard ground beneath and the open sky above! So on the day, the Synergy results came out, and the winners walked away with awards, we set out on an expedition to Sharavati river valley and have our share of summer fun. All of us from Mangalore gathered at Mangala at 11p.m. sharp to begin our trip to Sharavati.

As soon as the journey by TT started, most of us hit the sacks tired by the tension and exhilaration that Synergy brings in its wake! We came out of our slumber at 1a.m. when we halted at the Marvanthe beach. At night, Marvanthe beach is a sight to behold! Especially on a full moon night, a poet would be inspired to spin out a few verses to praise its beauty. Fortunately for us the full moon day was only a couple of days away, and the moon was "almost" full that night!

The Marvanthe beach, 2 days before the full moon day

The moonlight cast a perfect radiance in the sea, making the seemingly dark sea glitter . The silence of the night and the sound of the waves crushing against the shore add to its charm. We sat there for some time sipping piping hot tea , from a small shack which is open all night long for travelers, enjoying the cool breeze and basking in the beauty of the moment!

Once we were in the TT, the hot tea failed to keep us awake, and all of us were again dead asleep, except Ram, who sat chatting with the driver! At around 4 a.m. the TT ride started turning bumpy and neck breaking for the sleeping beauties/hunks in it. After losing our way once, and then setting out on the bumpy ride again, we arrived at our destination at 4:40 a.m. It was pitch dark outside. We spent the next couple of hours before sunrise sleeping peacefully in our van.

The Sharavati wildlife sanctuary is located near the town of Kargal about 150 kms from Mangalore and in the Shimoga district of Karnataka near Mupanne. The sanctuary houses the backwaters made due to the Linganamakki dam reservoir. We were set to spend a couple of days in this beautiful place.

The Gypsies at Sharavati

Though it was mentioned in the mail being sent before every trek to bring a plate, glass and spoon, most of us had forgotten these vital equipments. Thus we had to share 4 glasses and 3 plates among 14 people. Our fellow trekkers from Bangalore Karanth, Achalesh, Ankit and Varun joined us. Just before the trek, Nitin had mentioned in a mail that “It’s always guys from Bangalore!" There was no reply to this mail! However, the Bangalore boys were , this time , accompanied by a couple of girls - Sutonuka and Aparna - both avid trekkers. They were also accompanied by a certain King Julian who was in search for his lost spaceship. He strongly suspected that it must have crashed from the outer space somewhere near Sharavati…

After a simple but nourishing breakfast of idlis and rasam, we were off to a trek to the Thumbe falls. 

breakfast at the base camp

..... to be continued

Kumbhakallu - lost & spiritual!

A number of imageries were streaming through my mind when the twin peaks of Kumbhkallu came into sight. Did they resemble the horns of an animal? Or was it a victory sign being flashed by the mountains of the Charmadis? Were the peaks so arranged because nature wanted to point towards something in the depths of the mountains? I think my imagination was just running haywire when I saw those two peaks forming a valley between them like the alphabet “M” ?!

The twin peaks of Kumbhakallu

As we approached Kumbhakallu

When Fahad had planned this trek, Kumbhkallu appeared to be some lost peak in the Charmadis. The great Google had very little reference for this place. Fahad and Nitin had to call up an avid trekker - Dinesh Holla of the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) to gather information about this lesser known peak in the Charmadis.

So, before the crack of dawn on the 3^rd of February, armed with food, water, cameras, sun-protection gear, lots of energy and a guide (so as not to get lost in the wilderness), we set out to conquer the Kumbhkallu. We were on our way to explore a lost peak and yet we lost our way to its base only once! We enquired around and after obtaining permission from a private estate, on whose land we were about to encroach, we started towards our destination. The beginning of the trek slopped gradually upwards on a very dusty, motorable path; winding through a few private estates. All along this way we were welcomed by barking dogs! After this, the trek trail transitioned from a dense forest to sunny grasslands. The last of the houses along this way was where the guide started with us to the Kumbhakallu. After about 15 more minutes of walking along the same way, we took an abrupt left to enter the dense forest. The trail was only getting steeper with each step. The sprawling vegetation whose branches and roots we had to brush aside to walk , made ascend even more difficult. This distance must have been at most 2kms. But the kind of effort it extracted from us necessitated taking numerous pit stops to replenish our energy.

on the steep motorable road

The beginning of the trail

Through thick dense forests

 Throughout the next kilometer we had to battle grass, which was sharp edged, shoulder length and hiding some thorny shrubs too! It was through this grass that we were making our own path under the expert guidance of our guide. The steep path made it impossible to climb without holding onto the grass and our hands were soon covered with bruises.

Through the "sharp" grass

When this “sharp” trail ended and a clearing came into sight, we were staring at a rocky barren slope at an 80-degree incline. The peak was nowhere in sight and the end of this wall in front was not visible. Our guides climbed up on all four limbs…like monkeys; and so did we! Huffing, panting, stumbling and scrambling for footholds and handholds in the rocks, we gradually moved ahead on the seemingly never-ending slope. After a long time, the peaks came into sight again– all rocky, barren and sunny with hints of thorns and grass blades. By the time we reached the shorter of the two peaks, we were out of breath but brimming with a sense of achievement!

rock climbing

the exciting rock climbing contd...

The top of both the peaks of Kumbhakallu houses a holy cross. Our guide informed us that Kumbhakallu is a sacred place and locals visit this peak on Good Friday. That is when the grass in the valley between the mountains is burnt and cleared for easy access to the peaks. This peak also offered a spectacular view of the Charmadi peaks – the Erikallu, the Minchukallu, the Amedikallu, the Kodekallu (which looked like a huge egg resting cozying on a mountain top) and the Balekalle. After informing us about the descend path, our guides left us to explore this mystic peak.

The Kodekallu from Kumbhkallu

A few of us climbed up on the other twin, the higher one, as well and enjoyed the amazing feeling of being on the top of the world yet again…This time with the Lord besides us! All this time the sun was right above our heads and on the top of Kumbhkallu there is absolutely no shelter.  We had lunch in burning afternoon heat. (Thanks to Prachi and Sujith for getting umbrellas!) Our water supplies were depleting very fast and we had not even started to decend!

remember 127 hours?

The Lord's presence on Kumbhakallu

On top of the world at Kumbhakallu

Descend proved to be more challenging than expected. We went down the valley between the twin peaks. We were struggling against tall, sharp, abundant grass and an uneven and steep terrain along with the burning sun! Surviving on packs of glucose and oranges, since water was a scarcity, we proceeded ahead; a few of us braving cramps and fatigue. It was a great relief when the grassy stretch ended and we entered the forest. At least, the sun stopped smoldering our head! We reached the first estate at around 5p.m. in the evening, all tired and bruised. Thankfully there was clean water there and we could replenish our dehydrated systems and freshen up ourselves! Around 6.30p.m we started on our journey back to Mangalore and finished the day with a sumptuous meal at Rinku da Dhaba!

Getting down the grassy valley seemed 

much tougher than climbing up the rocks! 

P.S.:

Arun had a peaceful sleep on top of Kumbhakallu… so much so that he started snoring!

Prachi kept falling in the grass again and again, crushing it under her weight and clearing the way for those behind her…she “earned” the name “bulldozer” for her efforts!

On our way back, about a kilometer before completing our trek, Yashash and Arun who were battling with cramps and dehydration tried to break open a pipeline running along the way for a drop of water. Thankfully they didn’t succeed!

Giri, as usual, made sure that he was the most photographed Gypsy of the day!

And finally, this was Fahad’s last trek with the Gypsies before leaving Infy and getting ready to explore new avenues in the States. This was also Fairoz’s last and probably the most difficult trek, which she managed most admirably… We'll miss both of you!!

Ballalrayana Durga and Alekkan Falls

It’s the time to share my experience of yet another alluring destination in Karnataka - the secluded Ballalrayana Durga! Ballalrayana Durga confines in its ruins, the memories and legends of the great men, who ruled Karnataka once upon a time. To this day, Ballalrayana Durga seems to be shrouded in an aura of the bygone era. All I know about the history of this fort is that it was built by Ballal raya(there are Ballal I, II and III. No idea which one built it!) and that it was later captured by Tipu Sultan. We started from Mangalore at 5.15 a.m. on a weekend to explore this seemingly alluring fort.

Ballalrayana Durga as seen from the 

starting point of the trek

The fort walls being seen along the hill.

There are two routes to reach Ballalrayana Durga – via Ujire and via Sunkasale. En route the fort via Ujire you come across the Bhandjje falls. This is however a tough uphill ascend of more than 10km. and may not be possible in a single day.

We took the Sunkasale route, which is much shorter and easier as we had only a single day at our disposal. A three-hour drive through the scenic Charmadi Ghats took us to Sunkasale. At the starting point of the trek lies an old Kalabhairava temple. It is said that this temple has also been built at the same time as the fort.

As is a routine now with every trek, there has to be a surprise awaiting the Gypsies! This time the surprise came in the form of a tractor ride from the temple along a very kutcha but motorable road.

It all started when a tractor attached with a carrier came and halted in front of us as we were preparing to begin the trek; courtesy some labourers who were transporting soil in the carrier. Needless to say, a photo shoot followed where the tractor was the celebrity! The labourers offered to drop us till the point they went along the trek route to pick soil. We were too happy to oblige. Soon all the Gypsies were in the carrier of the truck, enjoying a bumpy ride along a bumpy road. It was like volunteering to sit on a machine made to administer birthday bumps! Every moment we were being tossed up a few centimeters in the air and were then landing with a thud back in the carrier. The constant vibrations were displacing our sun protection gear. Hats were falling off and sunglasses rattled on the nose. In the melee of vibrations, a water bottle escaped to freedom from the confines of a bag’s side pocket. A labourer found it lying on the road and handed it over to us. Truly, a worthy beginning to our trek!

A memorable tractor ride!

The next couple of hours were spent ascending through forests for some time and then following a curvy path in the vast sunny grasslands. The fort walls, which looked like a thin line drawn across the peak, beckoned us silently all along the way. The fort walls extend over a couple of kilometers in the endless stretch of grass -that is all that remains of the fort. Along the wall, a few circular watch points are built at strategic locations, which offer an unhindered view of the town below along with the many approach roads to the fort. Undoubtedly, this must have been a strategic location in the olden days! From the fort, you can also see all four peaks in the Charmadi ranges. After an hour of exploring the fort we started back to our base. We visited the ancient temple, which had signified the start of our trek and started on our way back to Mangalore stopping only for a photo shoot in a sprawling tea estates a few kilometres away and then, to visit the Alekkan falls situated along highway passing through the Charmadi Ghat.

Trekking through the sunny grasslands.

The tea estate a few kilometers

 from the Kalabhairava temple

A watch point at the fort.

Visiting the Alekkan falls was yet another adventure. We had to go down the highway into the valley along a very steep and slippery descend for about 200 meters. From where we were standing, the way to the falls looked too difficult. We stood there contemplating how to go down; and if we manage to go down, how can we climb up again! It was the proverbial “So close yet so far” situation! But we were not the ones to give up… slidding and falling, slowly and cautiously we decended to reach the Alekkan falls. The Alekkan falls flow through the Charmadis from one side of the highway to another. A manhole has been constructed under the road to allow the water to flow without any obstacles. On the other side, when we went down the valley, we could never guess that the waterfall flows beneath a cement and concrete road. Even so long after the monsoons, the water flow was quite strong. Alekkan, though, bears the burnt of being situated so close to the higway – it is littered by the usual culprits – loads of plastic…

Climbing up to reach the highway was much easier than we had anticipated! Soon we were back on our way home after a day well spent exploring nature and the relics from history. 

The Kalabhairava temple.

The steep decent to the Alekkan falls.

Alekkan Falls

Gypsies at the Alekkan falls

Date : 19th January, 2013

With: Fahad A.R, Achalesh J, Mahesh, Fairoz, Giri Tanari, Sahana Varadraj, Vidya, Nachiket, Charan Walke, Shubham, Sarath Gopeenathan, Venugopal, Suchit, Aditi,