Brahmagiri Trek


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November 25th 2009
Published: November 26th 2009
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It was Friday evening and I was ready with my bag and was waiting for Nagaraj. He had to come all the way from Doddaballapur to JP Nagar 3rd phase to pick me up, for a trek to Brahmagiri.

He landed at my place at 5.30 PM and we headed towards Srirangapatna in his Maruti 800. We took the NICE road via kanakapura road to avoid traffic and started discussing about international politics (so much pressure on us to resolve them😊). We were so much involved in the talks that we missed taking left turn towards Mysore and by the time we could realize it, we were already in Nelamangala. Had to take “U” turn and return to Mysore road, adding another 36 Kms extra to our night journey.
reached Srirangapatna by 8.30 PM and finished food in one of the Dhabas. We started from Srirangapatna and took a right turn near Ranganatittu bird sanctuary and it had clocked 9.20 PM by then. The roads were not good and we managed to hit Hunsur Road near Yelwal by 10.00 PM. The roads were very good from Yelwal. Nagaraj was very much excited and the car zoomed towards Hunsur (The speedo clocked 115 kms/hr). We reached Hunsur by 11.00 PM. The streets were deserted and we got directions from a couple of passersby and headed towards Gonikoppal.

A few kms after Hunsur we took deviation towards Gonikoppal. It was pitch dark (We got to know the definition of darkness). The roads were in a very pathetic condition. The ground hit the bottom of the car 4-5 times. Lucky us, there were no oil leaks or flat tires. We wanted a break desperately and wanted to have tea but could not find even a single shop nearby. There was total darkness and either forests or fields on either side of the road. After 10-15 kms we stopped near Sagar hotel (24*7 hotel for truck drivers) had tea and got refreshed and continued our journey from there.
We reached Gonikoppal (a small town) by 11.30 PM but could not find the road or any sign boards that showed the route to Srimangala. By that time our guide from the forest department had called us on our mobile 4-5 times asking when we would be reaching ( Probably he had lost hopes and thought we would skip the trek). We even missed the roads many a times and frustration was building up. Finally with the help of truck drivers we reached Srimangala by 2.00 AM. Our guide had booked a room in MAT’s GUEST HOUSE and we retired for the night by 2.30 AM.

It was 8.30 AM on saturday morning. I could hear the birds chirping and woke up to check the time (wanted to go back to sleep again) which I usually do when I get up at 6.00 or 6.30 AM in the morning. But it was already late. Nagraj also got up and by the time we freshened up and came out of the room breakfast and coffee were ready. We filled our tummies with yummy dosas, coconut chutney and aloo palya. The taste was awesome.
Our guide called up and told that we would be leaving to iruppu by afternoon since he was struck up in a meeting. We got ample amount of time to explore around the guest house and got some good snaps of the paddy fields and butterflies.
It was at 1.45 in the afternoon we finished our lunch in a small kaka hotel next to Mat's guest house; and bought groceries (Rice, Oil, Rawa, Onion, Tomato, Sambhar powder, snacks from nearby shop, since nothing was available at Narimale camp and one had to either carry packed food or buy grocery to cook food there. Cooking food by collecting firewood from the forests excited us very much. We reached iruppu, which was 8 kms from Srimangala, by 2.45 PM and started our trek to Brahmagiri.
The start of the trek was enthralling. We had to trek 5 kms from Iruppu to reach Narimale camp and it was already 2.45 PM. The guide asked us to move fast since the area was infested with elephants and it was common to come face to face with the pachyderms on the way up. We had travelled just 2 kms when I felt a foreign body on my leg. I had a look and there were 15-20 leeches happily crawling over and inside my shoes and socks and climbing up (how nice it would have been if blood groups mattered to them...hmm). It was the same on Nagaraj's legs too. It was another 20 minutes effort to remove all the leeches. We filled our socks and shoes with salt to get rid of the leeches and continued the uphill climb.

It was 5.30 PM when we reached the grasslands (It was about 1.5 kms from Narimale camp). Apt lighting to click photos. When we were busy taking snaps when our guide noticed a huge rock moving. Only when the trunk came up we were able to make out that it was an elephant grazing. It was lonley ("Onti Salaga" probably) and the size was hhhhuuuggggeeee. I had not seen an elephant soooooo huge. Our guide got pissed off since he did not get the gun and we were the only three trekking to Brahmagiri on that day (Lucky us another batch cancelled the trek). It started getting darker by 5.45 PM. By the time we crossed a small stream it was 80% dark; visibility was very poor. At that time we came to know what the forest is during night and what are "FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN" and "FEAR OF DARKNESS". Our guide was so much scared; probably he knew the forests well that’s why!!!

We reached Narimale guest house (should be called abandoned bhoot bangle) at 6.20 PM (Luckily the elephant was busy grazing and was calm. It was just 1/2 a km from us). We dumped our luggages and went down the hill to collect water from the stream. It was total darkness with no torch or candle and thick forests around. Our guide told there could be animals around, even Tiger and we had to take a chance to get water.

The guest house was in such a messy state and the toilet ooofff #@$%^@# heights of filthiness by humans. The guest haouse had a verandah, two rooms, a hall and kitchen; all were totally screwed up. We collected firewood (guide climbed a tree in that darkness), came in and locked the door.
When we removed our shoes, it was literally a graveyard of leeches. We washed our hands and started to lit the fire to cook. The guide prepared tomato gojju for me and chicken curry for Nagaraj. We wanted to have a campfire outside the bhoot bangala but guide insisted that its better to be inside than getting chased and eaten by wild animals since only three of us were there with no torch, no network to use phone and no gun.
We had a camp fire inside, in the verandah. We were able to hear the insects noise loud. It appeared as if somebody with ghungroo was walking just beside the window mesh and Doppler's effect was also there (The Ghungroo sound used to get loud and again disappear as if somebody is running towards the window and again going far.) If we had heard the ghungroo aawaz inside the bungalow don't know what we would have done? The sound still murmurs in my ears. I do not know who or which animal was roaming around with ghungroo and whom it was trying to romance among the three?? 😊😊

We had food and retired for the night by 11.30 PM. Sunday morning, by the time we woke up it was 9.00 AM. We cleaned the kitchen and the vessels and started our journey towards Brahmagiri peak. Since it was pretty late we could not reach till the peak and had to return but no disappointment since we survived the night and the forest walk.

We returned back to iruppu by 3.45 PM, dropped our guide back to Srimangala and returned to Bangalore via Nagarhole national park. The time we entered Nagarhole was apt. It was 5.00 PM sharp. The light was ambient for fotos and we could get good glimpse of the Bison, Deers, Fox, Sambhar, Peacock, Wild Squirrel and elephants.

We left Hunsur by 7.00 PM but after a few kilometers there was an accident and there was traffic jam for about 2 kms. No point in waiting for the jam to clear. We had to take a deviation towards Gommatgiri and again join hunsur road. The deviation was pretty long.

After an adventurous and tiring trek, Nagaraj desperately wanted to have prawns in Fishland. We filled out stomach with nice food and left to Bangalore at 10.00 PM, discussing about the ghungroo aawaz, the dark night and how lucky we were to return safe and sound.


Memories of this trip will cherish for a pretty long time.

VINAY JN
Trek Date: 20/11/09 to 22/11/09

Route from Bangalore to Nagarhole/Brahmagiri:

Bangalore - Ramnagaram - Channapatna - Maddur - Mandya - Srirangapatna - Take right turn towards Yelwal ( you 'll see a sign board "Coorg 119 kms") - Hunsur - Gonikoppal - Srimangala - Iruppu/ Nagarhole - Brahmagiri.
You can also take a left deviation to Nagarhole from Hunsur which passes right thru the forests. Distance is 250 kms but forest entry is from 6 AM to 6 PM.
Total distance from Bangalore: 270 kms

From Mysore:
Mysore - Hunsur - Nagarhole - Iruppu.
Total distance: 110 kms

Many Home Stays are available near Iruppu. Can get the address from internet
Nagarhole alos has a dormatory and a few cottages but booking has to be nade well in advance.
Trekking in Brahmagiri is not allowed without an official guide: Range Forest office Srimangala: 08274-246331
Trekkiing fee: 150 RS. per person
Night stay in Narimale: Rs. 200 per person

Better to carry own tents that guest house is in a very pathetic condition. Better to go in big groups if you want to stay in tents or want to trek in evenings







Additional photos below
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