Kodachadri Trek and Malpe Beach Visit

Four of us Me, Vikram, Peddi and Sathis planned to attend our beloved friend Mangesh's marriage in Sagar which is in Shimoga district on Dec 25th. My mind did the maths fast and calculated the available days if I take leave on friday, yup it is 4 full days. After some google visits and Govind's advice I concluded with 2 days trip plan. This time we are planned to go by bus. First time I am tripping through bus. It just gives altogether a different experience, you are more prone to mingle with the native people and get to know their customs and explore their cultures. Like this quote very much, “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

Day1[Dec 25]: We are at Sagar, at 2PM the marriage was over. Jog is almost 28Kms from the place where the marriage have happened. Tried hiring a car and we found that to be costly (500 for 56Kms) moreover that guy seems not interested in bargaining. So we took an Auto and squeezed ourselves inside. It was an altogether different kind of experience! Our good luck, we could see the Rocks of Jog :-) Probably 90 out of 100 could have only seen the water flowing, not the rocks. We are among the 10% population. From Jog we took a bus to Sagar, for every half an hour there is a bus to Sagar. Our plans of what next is not clear, we decided to postpone that until we reach Sagar. After 2Hrs journey we reached Sagar, had refreshments. Our initial plan is to reach Kollur the same day to start the Kodachadri trekking. But unavailability of bus service to Kollur made us to change our plan. We left Peddi in lodge, he is going back to home. At 8PM we started towards Udupi in a private bus, distance would be 120Kms, but the travel time might take 4 to 5 hrs. This entire road is located in a ghat, for every 10 meters there is a steep curve, bus was going to left and right extremes of the road to turn properly.

Day2[Dec 26]: We reached Udupi at around 1AM, checked almost 20 lodges, but none of them have rooms. So we finally decided to stay in Bus terminal, Sathis had some old news papers, which might come handy in saving us. Fortunately(Thought initially!) we found one lodge, and there is a room. Got the keys and the keeper said the room is an old one, we thought it is ok for nothing. Once I opened the room, I thought I have come to some archaeological survey and reached Harappa :-) Immediately went to the reception and said to that guy I am leaving Udupi itself, he was cool and asked "Is the room dusty?", I just stopped the word which come until my lips. He saw our faces and said there is one more room available which we have to vacate at 7AM. I was hesitant to waste some more time, but tried just. It was good, we got dragged into a deep sleep with in 10 mins. Got up at 6AM and had our bath, started moving towards Malpe beach. In Udupi bus stand there is a "Santhi Sagar" hotel in which we had very good breakfast. Boarded in Malpe bus, it is just 8 Kms ahead. Within 30 mins we are at Malpe. From bus stand we started to beach by walk, the streets are narrow and after few 100 meters you will find the beach road. The beach is not polluted much and sand is smooth like silk. Early morning in the beach is so enjoyable. Water bike ride is available here for 300Rs per round, he might take you for 2Kms, with sharp twists. We had enjoyed that fun, it was not so thrilling, as because you know that you won't sink as well you wont get hurt. Beach is getting hot as the sun moves from east to west, we started heading back to Udupi.

Had our lunch in "Santhi Sagar", it was really good. North indian special meals with many items. All of them are carefully prepared to give a very good taste. Had a "Gadi Badi", it is a kind of ice cream prepared with dry fruits and cherry fruits which is very famous in areas around Mangalore. Boarded a bus to Kollur, travel took more then 2Hrs to reach Kollur. This town is known for the "Mookambika temple". There is nothing interesting in this town, we struggled to get a room in this town, just because it is a festival season. If your plan is nothing other then trekking and you want to stay in Kollur, please be aware of the festival seasons. Otherwise you will be ended-up paying triple the amount. We are just lucky enough to escape from it, immediately after getting down from the bus we just asked the temple facility office which is located in the bus stand itself for accommodation. That guy is kind enough to give the details about the situation and also said if we don't find any room we can stay in the dormitory provided by the temple by paying 10Rs per head. Finally we ended up staying in the temple facility, total cost including the locker was 50Rs. We were about to pay 1000 per night in some lodge. But it costs you something, you need to adjust with other devotees, some time it gets crowded badly. I won't mind experiencing ups and downs of this country.

Got up in the early morning 5AM, had no chance to take the bath due to the crowd. At 6, we boarded in a Bangalore bus and got down in the trekking point called "Netoor". Its 7AM, very cool and foggy. Its little different from the Kumaraparvatha forests, we could hear some sounds of animals and birds here, whereas there is a dead silence in KP forests. Tall trees both the side block the light from coming inside. At 8.20 we reached a village on the way and found a hotel, had some Puttus(steam cake) and idlies. Until this village trekking is nothing but just walking in the even land. Steep climbing starts from this point, you will be walking alongside the edges of the peaks. Its the start of the summer, but the grasslands have dried up already. We reached the peak around 11.55AM, took some snaps. There is a hotel at this point, he is serving food to trekkers and devotees. From this point you can trek further up to reach "Agasthiar Theertha", small water fall. Else you can just follow the jeep tracks which goes down and find a left turn inside the trekking path after 1km to reach a water fall called Hitluemane. Finding the left turn is little tricky, if you miss you might get ended up somewhere. We also had no clue where it comes, one group was standing in a left turn and discussing themselves something. We approached them and asked for the fall route, it seems they too not sure of it. We trekked down further in the same left trun and found that route goes further down. From the main route(jeep track) you will see a left turn which is actually the route to falls, to make sure of this turn just watch your right side, you will see a trekking path going top to the hill. If you find both of them you are done finding the route to the fall, just slide down in the left turn, after some distance it takes a left again. After another an hour, at 12 we were in the falls.

The fall is crowed with all aged people, some kids too :-) I have seen many water falls, but not like this one. Covered by dense forest, there is a less scope for the sun beams to peep inside. This is the fact that explains why the water is so cool. Trekking route near to this fall is just made to reach it, obviously they are steep and sliding. But it is not difficult to negotiate them. Just slide your upper body little backside, you can easily move across without slipping. We spent 2Hrs, our trip was fulfilled here. This fall is not advisable in the rainy seasons, if you are doing it I would recommend you to have all precautionary measures and trainings. Now its time to trek down, we need to just follow the water flow some distance, then a left upside route starts. That leads to paddy and sugarcane fields, then a village(Just we saw few houses) starts, you will be merged in a jeep track again. Now it is nothing but follow the tracks. At one place there is a right turn and a straight way, you need to take the straight one, if you follow the right one you will be ended up in a village called "Kambali" instead of "Netoor". We missed to take the correct route after some time and reached a place called "Harimane" which joins the main road anyway.

When we were waiting in the bus stand we had a chance to speak with a local guy who works in Bangalore, we asked about the wild animals, sloth bears and elephants seems to be the most common animals here. In which bears are having unpredictable temperament, so you need to be aware of the environment before having fun in this forest bypassing the regular trek route and time! I got a guide number from a trekker, this guide seems to be very flexible and reasonable. You can check with him for possible routes and schedules. His Name is Rajendra and his contact number is 9242892299. I had uploaded high resolution photos taken in this trip in my picasa web albums. The link is available here right top of this page "My past in captivity". If you are able to spend one more day, plan to visit Sakrebylu near Shimoga, where you can get a chance to see the elephant herd playing in water. Just for curiosity read the below link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_bear_of_Mysore.