Jana tha japan, Pahoch gaye chin @ Venkatgiri

On Friday evening of 2nd December 2011, hiding from my managers sight I left office at around 4 o'clock.Got my food packed form office because we were not going to get any human thing to eat during our 2 days trek.

It was cited as a medium genre track in GHAC website and it was my 9th trek with GHAC. As usual I was very excited about this weekend trek. We were later told that our Event host is been changed and Aleem would be leading us for our trek now.

Train was scheduled to leave at 8, but in Hyderabad traffic reaching Gachibowli to Secunderabad and that too through public transport made it look difficult but somehow managed to reach station on time. But, only to know that I am the first one to reach there. We, seven people RSVPed for this trek, but at 8 O'clock on railway station only 5 people Me , Aleem(our leader), Satish, and two girls Mallika and Anna were there and two others were stuck in traffic and it seemed almost impossible that they would make it on time. But, then we realized we were going to travel by indian railway and so there is still a hope. Anything could happen and thanks to trains regularity in running late, they (Manish and Shravani) were able to reach before the train started.Train journey was normal, Mallika and Anna took upper berths and slept right after the train left and we others had intro, normal chat and time pass playing cards.

Next day morning we reached the Venkatagiri station. Railway station is around 3-4 km from the Venkatagiri village and we had to take auto to reach to village near bus stop. There we had our breakfast. There is no water available on the complete trek. so we were told to carry around 6 liters of water (sufficient for 2 full days). We asked some local people about the place from where we should start, but no one seemed to have much knowledge about the place and different people pointed to different locations.That created lots of confusion.

We hired auto to the reach near the hill which is around 30 Minutes from the village. Auto dropped us around 1 or 2 km before the place where we actually had to start from .We were on wrong path right from the beginning and we even didn't know about it. We just did not doubt autowala and started walking towards the Venkatagiri hill which was clearly visible on horizon, standing tall, mesmerizing and ruthless.

From our research we knew that the hill is around 7 km from the place where auto will drop us. Soon, after we stared we were welcomed by a beautiful water stream passing along our way, with water in it's purest form. It was fun walking in the not so much dense jungle and talking and getting to know each other, walking in the flowing water. First we all were careful and trying really hard that our shoes don't get wet but after some time all understood that it is not possible and started walking in the water.

We had GPC device with us but no clear point where we have to reach. We were walking at the speed of around 3 km pr hour but after around 3 hours of walk, base still looked far and was not getting any nearer.
We were almost walking in curve maintaining same distance from the hill. Our doubt now converted to surety that we are on the wrong trail. So, we decided to take rest for some time while we decide next course of action.

At this critical time we saw some villagers there and they confirmed that we had lost our way and suggested that we should return the same way, reach the original starting point and from there reach to base point.
Imagine the situation, we could see the mountain in front of us just 2 or 3 km away and we were suggested to go 7 +7 km round to reach that place. That would have been the premature end of trek. It was not at all accepted by us. Between us and the mountain base all we could see was the dense forest. Villagers warned us that we won't be able to get through that. But we were determined that having lot of experience and being ready to get scratches and bruises, it should not be difficult.

Without any visible trail, we entered the dense forest which was full of thorny bushes. And there we were again welcomed by a water stream, bigger this time. One thing which was very pleasant to see here was, in all the streams water was pretty crystal clear and flowing. Even if that stream was around 3 feet deep, we could totally see the bottom of the river. We got a few clicks here.

We continued after that and it didn't take much time for us to realize what those villagers were talking about this option of getting into this forest. It was full of thrones and absolutely no trails. We were getting many scratches on our hands and had to be very careful about it. But, we were out of options here and had to keep on walking to reach the base.

Ultimately we could not walk straight towards the hill and we had to keep changing our directions. It was impossible to move straight because of bushes. Here also we were caught in the same situation as before, we were walking here and there but were not getting any near to the hill. We ate our packed lunch meanwhile.
It was becoming very difficult for to move ahead. Sometimes we had to bend down and walk or had to break many branches to make our way from right inside the bush.

Till around 3.30 we continued our exploration in this way. Now, we had to take decision about to move back or to continue. If we decide to continue and don't reach anywhere in next one hour then we can't even reach out of the bush before it gets dark and there was no way we could have dared to stay in those bushes in the night, even though we had tents with us.

Our leader wanted to continue which was obvious because nobody wants to come that far to achieve nothing. Only option no left was to go back to village, spend night there and start afresh next day. But, our train was at 6 PM next day, so it was impossible to complete our trek in given time frame of next day.

We had no other option and decided to go back to village and to do whatever little exploration e could do next day. All were disappointed that we had to abandon the trek without even reaching to the starting point of our trek. With help of GPS track back option we could come back to the point where we entered to the dense bushes very fast.

We were about to start back from that point to the village and again some villagers appeared. We talked to them and they gave us some rays of hope. They showed us a trail and told us that if we follow the trail we will reach to a waterfall and a Shiva temple is near to that. Which could be a decent place for night stay. We were happy that our plan will not go entirely waste. It was around 6 km from that place. We had walked entire day and were very tired. But, after full day's frustration as we were getting to somewhere we continued enthusiastically.

It turned out to be a one of the most beautiful paths I have walked along. This path was going along the same big stream which we had crossed earlier. Beautiful white stones, amazingly clear water and lush green vegetation around won my heart.

By the time we reached the temple, it was already dark. We quickly checked out the waterfall nearby. It was a nice around 20 feet flowing waterfall. The place around was little dirty because many people come to visit here and no one to take care of the place. We had our packed dinner, had little chat. All were very exhausted and quickly went to sleep inside the temple.

Next day we got up early. As we had dropped the plan of going for Venkatagiri, we decided to explore the area nearby the waterfall. One of our group member was sick so she and more girl stayed back at camp and rest of the members started climbing the hill behind the temple. It was a steep hike of around 30 - 40 minutes before you get to the top.

We planned to reach near the top of the waterfall. It was all mesmerizing. The forest up there was beautiful like some rain forest. It looked like very ancient forest and nobody has ever come here, out of human any  intervention. Mother nature at it's purest form. After getting down a bit on the other side of the hill, we reached to the water stream again which was becoming our gorgeous waterfall going further.

For me it was the best part of the trek.

We reached to the top of waterfall. There water stream has made such cuts in stones that it has became like a water ride. But, at the end of it there was a drop of 40 feet. so, somehow controlled my self to not to go for that ride. Then we got down and again enjoyed in water passing by and had some fish pedicure in the water.

There we met a group of around 10 people. they live in different cities now and are from near by village. This group of friends make sure to get to gather at this place once in a year. Al tough all they do here is to drink and sleep. But, still hats off to their commitment and friendship of this many years.

Our trains back to Hyderabad was at 5.30 PM. These people told us that they will drop us till half way in their tractor. So, we did not hurry and waited for the tractor.

 And now real fun starts. They left us just after 2 km from the place of stay and around 12 km away from our destination - main road. We were running out of time, it was around 1 by that time and we had to catch auto and go to Venkatagiri which takes another half an hour. We tried to convince them but it's impossible to talk and explain to drunk people. We then decided to start back by walk as that was the only option left. In our group we were tired and one of us was sick. But, still we had to read back on time. Everyone started walking at very good pace, almost running. That would always remain my fastest trek done ever. We were at main road by 4 something and managed to reach station on time.

Thanks to punctuality of Indian railway in being late, we got some time to kill our hunger. We were all hungry to the core after Saturday's breakfast we did not take any proper food. There we got ultimately delicious dosas and other snack item at surprisingly very cheap rate. Don't know they really so tasty or because of our hunger we felt like that but it any ways we enjoyed them.

We took very few photos in the trek and whatever were taken were not shared in group. So, never got them

Finally we got train and reached back to Hyderabad safely with regret of not conquering the actual hill. So, i went back there again and climbed till the top. Story of that adventurous trip is coming next. So, stay tuned and subscribe to this blog. 

Check your Travel Quotient - TQ

Hello all. hope you all are doing very good and getting ready to celebrate new year.

I saw this interesting travel knowledge checker and thought of sharing it with all of you.

The Traveler IQ Challenge ranks your geographic knowledge. What's your TIQ?

Kodachadri - Travellers Information

About the Place:

• This is mountain located in the state of Karnataka, western ghats region. Famous for it's dense forest, vivid flora and fauna, beautiful waterfalls around.
• It's a quite popular place for bird watching.
• It's around 1343 meters in height.
• On top, one can find ruins of Adi shankracharya temple. It is believed that he meditated at this place
• The sunset and sunrise are considered best in the western ghats. Not to be missed events.
• This place is in the middle of the Mookambika wildlife sanctuary.

How to reach:

• The place is a bit difficult to reach as very transportation is available.(There may be many other ways as well but describing the one I took and the most convenient one)
• Nearest big town is Shimoga(Shivamoga) which is easily commutable to and well connected to Banglore and Mysore through trains and buses.
• From Shimoga, you need to get local transportation to Nagara (Where you can visit historical Nagara fort as well). You can find frequent  KSRTC buses running on this route.
• After visiting Nagara fort, you can opt for jeep ride or take lift in trucks running on the road to Nittur.
• From nittur there is direct jeep track to the peak.
• For trekkers - Ont way from Nittur to Kolluru, there is a left turn leading to narrow path which is the start of trek.
• While returning, you can start with jeep route, take left turn in between to the dense jungle and can enjoy extremely cold water of Hindumane waterfall.
• This route will again meet the jeep route to Nittur.

Best Time To Visit:

• Best time to visit the place would be right after the monsoon as greenery would be at it's best. Which is from October to February.
• Big no in monsoon as the way gets too much slippery and risky. Moreover, the place gets full of leeches.

Where To Stay:

• At the top, PWD guest house is available for stay.
• Priest can let you stay at their place on request.
• There is plenty of space to pitch your tent at the top.

Food Availability:

• On the way to peak, described above, you will get a small keralite dhaba(Santosh Hotel). Here, you will get food cooked in coconut oil which smells horrible. Only item we got here was puttu with coconut oil cooked chana curry.
• Here, I had the worst tea of my life. But, something is better than nothing.
• At top priest will prepare simple indian meal on request with nominal charge.
• Other than this two, no food available.

Other Interesting Places Nearby:

• Kalyani Chowk  - Many water sports are available in the season, although not very famous and difficult to reach place.
• Bidnaur Fort - Also known as nagara fort, belonged to Shivappa Naik
• ArisinaGundi and  Hindumane and waterfalls.
• Kollur Mookambika Temple - This temple is very famous in the region. Famous for it's iron pillar which said to be rust proof.
• Chakra and Varahi dams

Things to Carry( if trekking ) :

• Keep sufficient amount of water with you.
• Torch - pitch dark in the night and no electricity available around.
• Sleeping bag - It gets extremely cold in the night. So, this is must.
• Trekking Bag - one strong trekking bag is needed as you need to carry your food and water supply for around two days.

Precautions To Be Taken:

• If you are visiting near the monsoon, be careful about leaches.
• Land at some place is very loose and slippery. so, take care while walking and use shoes with good grip.
• Plan such that you get to enjoy both, sunset and sunrise, and awesome view of night sky.

Please give your comments if you find this information useful.
Read my trek experience to Kodachadri here. .

Shiver in summer at kodachadri

If you are planning to visit the place, you can find useful info here

This trek was memorable for me in many ways. In my long career of trekking this is the first one where something happened with me when I thought that I might die today, made very good friends,my first long outstation trek with GHAC in 2013, got to taste some new food items for the first time.

I was at home seeing girls for marriages, I felt I now don’t have much time before I get married and my frequent treks come to end. I decided to go for it as it was the sole outstation trek in two months April and May.

I was first sent to NO list but then suddenly two days before the trek got call from organizers and I was in.. :)

On Friday we had  BU cricket tournaments final match. So, at around 3:30 everyone in office headed towards ground and I sneaked out of office to reach MGBS. Reached Koti by bus and found out it was Ram navami on that day and some procession is going on in that Muslim area. I could feel the tension in the air. people in procession were playing some absurd ram mandir related songs and Muslim fellows standing there and  watching them. CRPF was deployed over. Moreover,  there were recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad. Mixture of all these things scared the hell out of me. Caught auto and reached MGBS at around 6.

Only to find out that the bus is at 7.30 and no one has showed up yet except one or two members. Slowly people gathered and time arrived to start. It was long journey. Played dump charades in night time.  We reached Shivamoga at around 7.30 in the morning, got freshened up there. Bus driver and conductors were kind enough to wait till 26 people  gets freshened up. Got settled up in the same bus for our next destination Nagara. In between had break for breakfast at Thirthahalli and had to change the bus once.

Finally at around 10.30-11 we reached our first destination Nagara. Headed towards nagara fort. Just walls and water storage place is left out of that fort. There is a small beautiful pond near the fort. Hill on which it is situated is not so high,  so one cannot get some great view from top of it but whatever we can see is beautiful. Fort was protected by water canal around it and from top we can see some walls at far distance as well. Plus if you are lucky you get to see one or two big pipe like cannons lying around somewhere down.

Nagara fort Entrance

Ruins of Nagara Fort

Our next target was Kodachadri base. From nagara for some time we didn't so we started walking and walked till next village around 2 km.(Now I see in map and find out that that is not any village may be, important high way turn with many shops and few houses).  From this place luckily we got one truck. full of sand. Driver agreed to drop us off near the base.

We got down at some place after Nittor (specifically 13.912948,74.865088). It was around 3.30 - 4 by the time we started on actual kodachadri trail. initially it is almost flat except one or two not so steep climbs. Then, we reached to Santosh dhaba (Keralite food place). There we had first time in my life some item called pottu. It's something like big thick and not so well cooked and mixed with coconut idly served with chana curry. It was not tasty at all but all were hungry and attacked on whatever they get there. Then we had tea which was smelling bad and was awful in taste, still had to have it in order to not to get head-ache. By the time we started again from this place it was 5.30

Pottu at Santosh Dhaba

Tough part started now. It was sudden a steep way and although it was late evening and not much heat but I completely got drenched in sweat. We were trying to keep our spirit high by singing songs and our talk. Our destination still looked far and we had long to go. It was getting darker. We took our torches out. As it was dark we decided that complete group should be together and people in front waited for other trekkers. Now, it was complete dark and most of the members were waiting for around 5-6 members who were far behind. One member of group was having problem in continuing, our team lead and more member went back and carried their luggage and brought him where other members were waiting. After that it was not so steep and climb was easier now. Group moved slowly. At last around 8 to our first relief we reached temple. There one more group was already there, worried because priest at temple denied permission of pitching of any tent and campfire. Hearing that we were also worried a bit initially. But, after some persuasion priest agreed to let us go ahead with the condition that we wont be pitching any tents and won't be setting up campfire.

We started ahead of temple, we got some food from priest. (They run guest house and restaurant dhaba at the place). soon after we started feeling the excitement of great view, sky full of stars and the earth visible too. In dark night white clouds were coming over us and cool breeze. We found a camping place before matha, set up our camp there. Had our dinner and visited matha nearby. Entire group was tired and started preparing for sleep. We 3-4 people sat near the edge of valley and had chat and did some sky gazing. It was meteor shower on that day and was lucky enough to see one or two. It was lifetime experience for me. You rarely get see such clear and full of starts sky in city. In Hyderabad we were in temperature of around 40 and here we were shivering because of cold and heavy wind. We did not setup tents as per promise to priest and crashed on tarps.

In morning we woke up at around 4.30 and I was taken back by surprise, there was amazing view of complete milky way and plus some more shooting stars. We  packed up and started moving down and came down to temple. There we waited for some time for tea and by the time started again it sun was moving up. This phase was quite easy sloping down on the quite big jeep track. Got splendid view of sunrise over the cloud from the magnificent mountains en route. Then after one down and uphill again we took way from  inside the jungle.(as our lead heard that usual way is closed by forest officials.)

Spendid View from pick of Kodachadri

It was start of real fun and adventure. As we entered thick forest there was no clear path. And complete steep downhill with very slippery sand like land. Everyone were sliding, sleeping, getting injured a bit. It was a bit tough for beginners, they had to be careful and sometimes had to sit and cross some of the patches. After that we reached to dried water stream and decided to walk along. But, it was not end of our pain. Stones and moisture around them turned out to be very slippery affair. We had to be careful getting down because here if you slip you will definitely hurt yourself badly. Again on this risky way  our group got spread out and as there was no clear way I had to stay at some turning and wait for other people to come and show them the path to continue. At one place it was like end of our way as it was not possible to move along the water stream as it was coming too deep so took right turn from there and continued on out way and made some attempt to get the group together again.

At one point of time I was leading second group of people and first group moved a bit ahead. I did not know which way to proceed so went on a place from where I thought there should be some way. And suddenly land below my leg slid and before I know anything, I was sliding down in upside down position uncontrollably for around 30-40 feet. It was just like seeing my death from near. I did not know what will I end on to, it may be rock, sharp wood, anything. moreover It was too fast and was not able to hold anything. Thank god that some bunch of wood came across my way and  I was able to get hold of that. I was alone there so nobody noticed my going down and that scared me more as nobody would have been there to rescue me. I was scared to death and was shivering initially.  After some time got my senses back got down to the stream. There I saw rock formation and thanked God again after seeing on what I could have landed on. Walked bit along the stream and again climbed and caught the group again. Applied some dettol on my wound and started again as it was feared late.

After some walk we saw two villager woman and were assured that we are near human habitation.Got relief. Came to know that waterfall which we were planning to visit is around 1 km from that place and she showed us the way.It was more than one km and and steep  climb. But, as soon as I saw the waterfall it felt like it was worth the pain. Just took off the clothes and wend under the Hindumane waterfall. Cold water and gentle massage of falling water on your back took away all the pain and tiredness. We spent quite some time there. Fresh again started back and reached a village. (Too small to be called a village, don't know name yet.)  There we had buttermilk provided at shop.

Hindumane Waterfall in monsoon
Photo courtesy : wikipedia

We came to know that from that place to place where we are supposed to get some transportation (don't know name of that place as well) was around 8km and It was mid afternoon of the summer. Though it was not too hot but direct sun was sucking our energy up and no food till that time and drowsiness after bath was taking it's toll. By the time we reached destination main road it was around 2.

Now, time have to shock. Our bus back to Hyderabad from Shivamoga was scheduled to start at 5.30 and we came to know that our bus will not reach to Shivamoga  any earlier that 6.30. We were tensed as everyone had office to attend next day. Everyone were cursing team lead for this pathetic time management. We tried to contact bus depot manager, KSRTC call center everything and nothing helped. we had conductors number from onward journey (they were same) but not reachable. Finally after trying for some time we lost our hope of getting the bus and were thinking about alternatives. But, around 5, one of the lead got call from conductor and they agreed to wait for us outside the bus stop. A wave of cheer spread over the bus. We were able to catch out bus according to plan (although little late). Played down dump charades, chit chat for some time, had dinner at some dhaba on way and happily reached Hyderabad on time.

It was a great experience and kodachadri is a must visit place in western ghats and must be heaven in monsoon season. If you get chance to visit it, It is not to be missed!! .

Photo courtesy :
1. Madhu Sudhan Gripelli
2. Ravindra babu

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