Kodachadri Trek - The last few hours

The last evening of our trip was spent at Malpe Beach. Malpe Beach is about 5 km from Udupi. One can witness some of the most beautiful sunsets here and especially days where the clouds are present near the shore and are a bit scattered, the light patterns make for some of the most stunning landscapes. Malpe is also a quaint little fishing town.

A new dockyard is coming up where they have started to make mechanized trawlers for the local fishing industry. Close to the mainland of Malpe are four rocky islands

* Daria-Bahadurgad is the northernmost island
* Kari-Illada-Kallu is the southernmost island
* Daria-Gadara-Kalluthe is situated in between the two islands mentioned above
* The fourth one is St. Mary's Islands, also called thonse paar.

Regular ferries are available though your return is entirely dependent on the boatmen. They usually give it a couple of hours to drain the engine off the water and also let the engine cool down. God knows why they do that but you've been warned.

The usual fun in the beach started off and all the troubles faced the previous night were all forgotten. When you're in the midst of doing what something you enjoy doing, you never know how time canters off. Spend sometime in the company of some brilliant friends, u could practically declare that time is faster that light.

Here are some pics

Sunset at Malpe:

The bunch of amazing people:

Next day, Valentine's Day of 2011, it was time to get back to our routines. The place of farewell ironically was Mangalore Central Station, the place where all this started, our rendezvous point. Bidding goodbyes is always the hardest thing as far as I am concerned. This was particularly overwhelming. After 4 days of togetherness, fun and laughs it was particularly hard. But life as usual goes on. We bid our goodbyes, promises of doing such things again were the order of the moment. I hope this group, plus the people who we missed this time come together for another fun filled trip.

I might call myself a LoneWolf, as I do travel alone most of the times, but trips with my gang are any day an icing on the cake and I do pray we do get to do such trips again.


The Sri - Krsna Temple at Udupi

Kodachadri Trek - The D-Day.. contd..

Until now it was a perfect little day was it not? So, here we were back from the sunset point and in search of the accommodation we had booked. That's when things started getting murkier.

Shocker #1
The accommodation which was supposed to be on the peak was not. It was at the base of the hill.
Ok, so I made a mistake. All we had to do was take a jeep to the place and we'd be there. Not much of a problem is it?

Shocker #2
We dint know the jeep drivers owned more than one jeep. So while we negotiated with a jeep which was to start late, all of us grew anxious and wanted to be there ASAP. So we flagged another jeep n drove down to the place where we'd 'booked' the rooms(Significance of 'booked'? Curious? Read on). On reaching there we found that the driver who'd promised to come back for us was still there. And he'd sent another jeep of his to the peak which we dint know. Pandemonium reigned as usual and the mud slinging started.
I for a change was pretty calm and tried negotiating this first and managed to settle it with them.

Shocker #3
In parallel, the people at the homestay said we were not booked and there was no record of us registering with them. Pretty appalling initially as we'd paid an advance over the net already. On calling the contact numbers given, we found that even this site had been a victim of phishing, they'd been impersonated. But even worse, I was the fool as I'd been the one to pay the advance.

Big problem aint it? We were practically marooned in the middle of nowhere, no mobile network, no practical means of communications other than a nondescript BSNL WLL which did not work half the time.

It had been a tiring day, a perfect day but tiring. All we wanted to do was rest but we had a li'l problem here. All I could do was try talking to these people and convince them to give us at least a room to spend the night.

I don't remember speaking so much Kannada before and to be honest surprised myself. I was able to tell them what happened and they too felt guilty about their site being misused. They went out of their way to get us all in by giving us a room in their house itself. They were truly god sent that day and if I ever felt a divine force acting on us, it was this. Silently uttered a prayer and settled in.

They made dinner for us. It was the best, literally as well as figuratively. Best South Canara delicacies were served. Ravenous as we were, we gulped it all. The way they went out of their comfort zone to accommodate us was gratifying as well as a bit embarrassing.

To all you people planning a trip to Kodachadri, this place is one I'd recommend you to book your accommodation at. Consider it marketing or pitching a sale for that homestay but the treatment we got there makes me owe them this much.

Contact Person: Dr. P. V. Bhat
Number(s): 09945321561/09480822308/08185-253653

Accommodation can also be booked at: www.parvathhomestay.com(I'd personally recommend contacting them directly)

Bhat Uncle and family, A heartfelt thanks from all of us for everything you did that night.

I don't think any of us slept that much in the night. At least I did not. No fun to have been right royally phished. Also, a recount of the day's events kept me awake. We woke up early the next morning. Got ready, thanked them as much as we could and took a bus to Kollur and from there back to base in Udupi.

The evening of 13-Feb-2011 was a memorable one again. We spent it on the shores of Malpe Beach. A separate Post on that later. Hope you enjoyed the Kodachadri journey. Later!


Western Ghats ecosystem

Trek to Kodachadri - The D-Day

The D-Day finally arrived, the day all of us had been looking forward to. All of us rose..well..relatively early and got ready by 0830. Had a quick breakfast, packed a few Mangalore buns for the en route munches at took the bus to Kollur at 0915. Till Kundapura the route's pretty normal. The real fun starts 5 km after Kundapura when the bus starts its arduous climb. It gets very very scenic with the idyllic and imposing Western Ghats providing a real treat for the eyes. Come monsoon and the beauty of this place just blossoms manifold. One of the best routes to drive/ride on if you ask me.

The journey took about 2.5 hours and we reached Kollur by 1145. A quick refresh, stock up of water and of course coca cola and we were on our way to Karaikatte Gate in India's traditional 3 wheeled tuk tuk, otherwise known as an auto. Karaikatte Gate is the starting point of the trek to the Kodachadri Peak.

Pointers:
1. Jeeps are available, but they wont drop you here and will insist on taking you all the way up to the peak.
2. An auto costs you 200 Rupees till Karaikatte Gate. Pretty normal rates as it is about 10Km from Kollur bus stand and pretty uphill.
3. There are two paths diverging from the gate, make sure you take the one with a marker that says "Kodachadri - 10 km"

12-Feb-2011
We started at around 1230, after taking a lot of pics of course. The initial part of the trek was relatively easy, a very small gradient which was undulating. Half an hour into the trail, we found ourselves in the midst of a thick forest. Tall dense trees, which made almost the entire sunlight disappear save for a few streaks from the small gaps. Bird calls, insect sounds, sounds of our footsteps crackling the dry leaves on ground, we found ourselves truly on the lap of mother nature. Gaea was in her pristine beautiful form and we just soaked in the sights and sounds which were truly overwhelming.

The Trekkers:

Click En Route:

Half way into the trail, we came across a small ramshackle shop where we took a snack break n merrily munched on the Mangalore Buns. Coca Cola and water kept running out on the way. Some distance after this came a very small village. I have never seen more contented people before. All satisfied with basic needs, kids playing worry free cricket was indeed a sight to behold. We took a pic on their ground with the peak in the background.

From here, the trail started to increase in gradient. Slowly but steadily, the toughness kept increasing. We were starting to tire, but we had each other for company, not to mention the Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut. The cocoa and humour kept us going. A click in one of the steepest places

We kept going, step by step, egging each other on which was a brilliant thing to happen. When spirits sag, encouragement does keep you going. People had actually hyped it all up saying its just a 3 hour trek, which we knew by now is not the case. To all my fellow trekkers, if you cant give accurate details, please admit it. Your ego can cost others big time.

By 1600-1630 we knew we were 3/4th up as the forest had cleared and from our research on this trail we knew the forests clear out 3/4ths into the trek. Buoyed by this, it was time for pics again :)

Other people on the trail scared us saying its a tiger area. We DID get bloody scared at that time. Afterthought is always a good thing as later we'd deduce this could not be a tiger trail. Tigers usually don't prefer high grounds devoid of water or meat and this was one such area. Another group spread rumors that they'd seen a mad bison. Guys, a plea here, again yes, I know. Please do not circulate unfounded rumors. Think for yourself and the impact your statement could have on your fellow trekkers. Spreading panic and fear does not help anyone's cause.

After an hour's worth of a tough trail, we finally reached the peak. Just in time for the sunset. The best sunset point is reachable by jeep, best mode of transport here. Will set you back by 200 rupees on a round trip. We reached there and clicked away as much as we could. A couple posted below.

We were super tired, yet all jumpy, exhilarated at such a wonderful sight and a sense of accomplishment prevailed amongst us all. All the fears we had, irritations, frustrations on the way just melted away. Reaching a goal does that to you I guess.

Coming back to the peak, the Lingamakki Dam and the Jog falls are visible from the sunset point. Just at the end of the trail lies the Adi Mookambika Temple, supposedly the one installed by Sri Adi Shankara himself. A further 2 km trail uphill leads you to the Sarvajna Peetha, a place were he's supposed to have meditated for 10 years. We unfortunately could not make it there this time, but its on my to-do list for sure. I'll do that n blog about it.

Post the exhilarating trek, we felt it was a brilliant and perfect day. Little did we know we'd not seen the other side of the coin yet. About that, is my next entry.

A bit of stats for people intending to do this trek
Distance: 11.5 km as per GPS reading
Gradient: Moderate to a 'wee bit' tough
Time: approx 6 hours (with a total break time of an hour)
Starting Point: Karaikatte Gate, about 8KM from Kollur on the Kollur - Shimoga State Highway
Ends at: Adi Mookambika Peak, or Sarvajna Peetha

Jeeps avaiable at the Peak to take you back to Kollur. Else trek down to Karaikatte Gate and take a bus to Kollur.