Welcome to The Sharavathi Nature Trails

A memorable trek with a unique group

sharavathi — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:35:53 +0000

A memorable trek with a unique group

In our country there are so many problems, issues, crisis etc., Though Most of them are solvable easily, we make them complex and live with them !. In the olden days nature of problems were different, like mostly it used to be related to eking out livelihood. But now we must say we have almost come out of this problem atleast in urban areas today with economy booming. Especially after IT/BT and other export related economy boom, we have almost solved the livelihood problems. But in this process there are many issues which have come up. Among these new type of problems are disappearing of joint family living concept is a serious one as it creates emotional problems. With this problem seriously affected are our elderly people. Though many of our elderly people have no problem financially, problem is activity less, loneliness life disturbs them a lot emotionally.
Many of us sheds crocodile tears for them but ultimately only few come forward to help them. “Ananda Balaga” is one such informal group, is doing great service by involving elderly people in activities like Trekking, Camping and trips to many interesting places in all over country.The group has covered many himalayan trek routes like Manasa sarovar, aadhi kailas, pindari glacier etc., and also they have explored many routes in our own wetsern ghats. This group was started by Anand sir, who has retired from Government services. He is a nature lover himself and he is the motivational force behind this group. As i have trek organizing experience, i must say its toughest job to put people together…!. Still anand sir does mind going through this process.
In the month of April “Ananda Balaga” approached me for the camping/water sports in sharavathi backwater. I happily agreed and we had a great camping time for 3 days. It was most memorable association for 3 days with great minds assembling in one place. For our luck we had a cultural fest also. Gubbagodu , near by village to our camipng place, had a annual utsava and cultural evening. The group had a chance to enjoy the cultural programs.
After the camping program, Anand sir was planning for a trek from ling time in sharavathi valley. Finally they decided to trek and fixed the dates for 29/30th August and as suggested by me we planned to trek in our ace route Basavana baayi–>belligundi –>goodanagundi falls route. After all yes-no-yes group size became 20 people. I requested him to organize private vehicle to reach the trek starting point as going by bus will waste precious morning time. Accordingly TT was arranged. I requested group to leave bangalore as easrly as possible, so that we can reach trek starting point early and start off trek. It was anounced that departure time is 9:00pm but as usual we left by 10:00 pm by 1 hour lag. We reached Kattinakar by 7:30. On the way from sagar itself, it was raining heavily…indicating whats there in store for us for next 2 days. We were lucky, by the time we reach kattikanakar, rain had taken a break and allowed us to finish daily routines and freshen up. After we freshened up , hot masala idlis were ready for the breakfast. Dharma as usual had prepared nice masala idli and sambar with chutney. All of us had breakfast n as usual kashaya and tea. Took a drop till hogevaddi and started off the trek to the basavana baayi which was our first destination without wasting time. Trekkers were so scared of leeches..!! couple of yards trek, red zone for many started !!.. leeches started having a great feeding fest !. Some did not bother much for the leech but many started removing them… But i must say leeches are the most intelligent parasites on earth ! . By the time they remove in one part they used climb in other part…in the end they never escaped the sting !. With blood stained legs, finally we made it to the Bsavana baayi. First thing everybody did is to remove the shoes and deleech the legs..!. After a while we decided to move to the falls. As it had rained heavily, stream which we had to cross to reach the falls was full and brimming. With our guides help everyone crossed and reached the falls. As usual it was amazing scene, everyone just plunged in to the falls and pulled everyone who were scared in to it. Everybody enjoyed for quite some time and had to return as everyone was hungry. By then Dharmanna had prepared a nice lunch, wasted no time and had lunch nicely.
After the lunch, we split the group in to two based on individuals interested and capability to trek. One will take tougher route to reach our night halt tribal house and other will take easy route. I went with a tougher route. We usually dont trek on trails..we just barge in and make our own trails. So we started off the trek in the dense forest towards kendollare peak. Trekkers were all fine on trek front but many were scared of leeches. After seeing their plight, i directed manju, our guide to change the course and make to the plain land instead of the thick jungle. So we avoided kendollare peak and came to plain of nakkalu village. As there was still time we decided to climb a small peak and then descent to the kanchigadde majnanna’s house where we were supposed to halt. in the plain there were no leech so every one were thrilled but rain started pouring. Trekkers did not bother for the rain and we climbed the “hoovina bare”peak. After spending couple of minutes on the peak, we started the descent as it was getting dark. It was about half an hour trek and we were there in the house where we had to camp. it was so chill. Narayana had sensed the situation and had put up a small camp fire. All of us had a small warm up session and by then hot tea / kashaya along with Hot Mirchi bajji were served. It was a great relief to warm like in this fashion. After little relaxation there came call for dinner. Menu was nice pulav, chapti and payasa…everyone enjoyed the food. As we were tired, went to the sleep early and opened eyes only in the morning!. By then bed tea was ready and we hall had tea.Rain god was kind enough and had taken a break..so we all ran in different direction in the forest behind the house to get freshen up…! we wasted no time and started off the trek.
Looks like rain god finished the break and started pouring heavily..but we did not bother for him much and we trekked towards padubeedu, where we supposed to have breakfast.The trek trail from kanchi gadde and padubeedu has a beautiful grass lands. These grass lands are treat to the nature lovers. They look like well maintained golf course !!!. By the time we reach padubeedu Dharma had prepared akki rotti and badane kaayi chatney…all of us had stomach full rotti. Again we wasted no time and started off trek to our next trek point, goodananagundi falls. It was again trail in the thick jungle. People found it tough to wade through. Leeches had a feast day in this trail..!.But everyone made it to the falls. As it had rained heavily, falls can be seen from far only. It was mejestic falls, i call it as Nayagara of our state. Specially the background and stream way and the rock formation around the falls is amazing. Everyone enjoyed the falls view and started the trek back. On the way we took deviation and went to the stream just above falls and some swam for some time there.
After this falls view we started trek to the belligundi falls. coming back was bit easy, everybody trekked well. We reached belligundi view point and we were lucky, the valley was clear. otherwise many times in rainy season, valley gets covered and will not get cleared for hours. Belligundi view is just amazing, its very artistic background attracts a lot. we spent lot of time over there. after photo shoot we decided to trek back to padubeedu. By the time we were back, yummy lunch was ready. We hogged like anything. Rain god did not show any mercy, he was at his fierce as possible. After the lunch we trekked back to kattinakar. As it was chill weather, we decided to have a hot tea and kashaya. After the tea party, we said bye to narayana and co…started off journey back to bangalore.
It was memorable trek in many ways..It was nice group of various background and different age group. All thanks to anand sir for putting together such a nice people.

More Photos :-

next Kayaking/Island camping/Trekking camp on 6/7th Dec

sharavathi — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:20:00 +0000

Hi All,
We have our next Kayaking/Island camping/Trekking camp on 6/7th Dec.

Here info on camping and water sports…

Sharavathi backwater:- Sharavathi backwater is about 60 KM in length and about 15 KM wide !!!!. It became backwater when dam was constructed at Linganamakki of sagara taluk in Shivamogga(Shimoga) district to the river Sharavathi. This backwater has created lots of islands, it is so great to explore all these, where thick vegetation still exist and lots of wild life in it including some rare birds.

Date:- 6/7-12-2008 weekend (2 Days)
Camp Site:- Sharavathi Backwater Near Sagara in Shimoga Dsitrict
Accomdation:- Dome tents on an ISLAND in the backwater.
Food:- Food is going to be Simple Vegetarian food and it will be freshly cooked food at the camp site.
Transport:- It is an option. u can travel on ur own (we will guide u how to reach there) or we can arrange transport

Itinerary of Camp activities in Sharavathi Backwater.

Day 1:-

* Arrive at Camp site. Freshen up and Have Breakfast
* Group Introductory session and initial briefing by the Camp leader
* Introducing everyone to water, and a small swimming/floating session.
* Transfer to Island in coracle.
* Long Swimming and floating session. Initiation to Coracle paddling.
* Have Lunch and rest for half an hour.
* Start the Islands exploration trail by Coracle.
* Return back to the camp site and have tea
* Have a camp fire and fun time at camp fire
* Have dinner and retire for the day

Day 2:-

* Wake up early in the morning. Freshen up and have tea
* A small swimming/floating session
* Introduction to Raft Paddling
* Introduction Kayaking and Individual Kayaking session.
* Have lunch
* Trek to “Devara gudda”. Spend time on view point and climb down to Bus stand
* Travel back to Sagar and take Bus back to Bangalore
* End of session

Photos of our Adventure Water sports and camping Faliclity in Sharavathi backwater
http://picasaweb.google.com/stanfrancis/VIRGINLANDONSHARAVATHYRIVER#
or
http://picasaweb.google.com/shashi.gadad/SharavathiValleyWaterSports#
or
http://picasaweb.google.com/punithaharsha/SharavathyTrek25Oct08#
or
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ganeshkudva1977/Sharavathi06Sep08#

A Blog on our new Adventure Water sports and camping Faliclity in Sharavathi backwater
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/09/kayaking-camping-and-trekking-in.html
http://vivek-nag.livejournal.com/4623.html

Map of the camp site

Pls mail to prapancha@gmail.com for any more info…

Family Adventure Camping at Sharavathi Backwater

sharavathi — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:09:00 +0000

Getting there: Purushotham was fallowing my blog since from long time, which i did not know. one fine day he buzzed me in gmail and asked me “if families can visit for the camping”. I was very happy, as my wish was to make program for everyone including ladies/girls as these people get very rare opertunity to do these activities. Instantly agreed and directed him to make the reservation for the travel. Accrodingly he reserved the tickets to Shimoga in train. Totally there 4 families if his friends and collegues. And best thing was that he decided to get his small (1yr 8months old) baby for this aventure program . She was very livevley all over the program, which made the program further interesting!. I also had other group coming for the hard trek, We traveled in Sleeper Bus to Sagar. We reached Sagar by 7:00 AM, I got down at Sagar and then Our trek guide Narayana continued the journey in the same bus till Kargal. Purushotham and team were traveling in train as they had advance reservation, they took Bus from Shimoga to Sagar and landed in Sagar by 8:00 AM. Our local BUS, which takes us to Basecamp was ready. We all got in to waiting BUS and traveled to basecamp. It was about half an hour journey. We all got out of BUS and trekked down for about 15 mins to the camp site.
Welcome to Basecamp: By the time we reach the camp site, our crew were ready with equipement and breakfast was also ready. We requested everyone to get freshen up quickly and come for the breakfast. Menu was “UppiTTu and KeSari Baath with oGGaraNe AvalaKKi” and then there was this “Kashaya”. This is a local drink like tea/coffee. This drink is made out of powder of some roots of the plants, which are available in Jungle out there. It is delicious and very healthy drink for the local weather. All of us had heavy breakfast and relaxed for a while under the tree. By then Subbarayaru family also joined us for the program. Subbarayaru family is well known in that area and very nice people. All of us relaxed for a while and decided to start the Activity.
Acticities: First activity was to get used to water, so fastened the life jacket and flunged in to water. This time ladies were brave than men !. They were very comfortable with life jacket and plunged in to water but few men were reluctant as they did now know the swimming. After litle confidence building talk they all ventured in to water and we swam/float for some time by hopping between dead trees which are visible above the water surface. It was a great fun time for all of us. Then we all came out water. Next activity was to learn coracle paddling. I briefed about coracle, its features and paddle details and then i took one by one in coracle and taught them the paddling technique. Everyone quickly learnt the technique and all oof them practised the paddling for sometime. Later we decided to shift our activities to Camp island. We loaded our backpacks in to coracle and 4 of us got in to each coracle. As there was not much of wind it was easy to paddle and in an about an hour of paddling we all landed in Island.
By then Our cook Dharmanna had prepared “Petrol” for us!!!. Its actually a orange coloured juice, which was looking like a petrol. So someone named it like that !!!. We had nice juice and realaxed for a while. It was time for lunch. Menu was rice, sambar, pickle and papad. All of us had nice lunch and relaxed for a while. Then we decided to start our next activity, which was to go on Island exploration. All of us got in to coracles and some in to raft and started off the expedition. After an hour of paddling we landed in an island which was so beautiful. We parked our boats and walked along the shore. As SUN was getting set, Birds in the island were rejoicing the pleasent weather and thier chiriping was apt music to ears. When i was walking along with the shore, i noticed a hole on the ground and i peeped in to that. To my surprise, i saw “Common Indian Monitor Lizard“. I think becuase of my foot noice it was getting to the hole dug by it. By the time i called camera man, it went in to the hole completely. Weather was very soft with cloud around the sky. We all had litle snacks and had juice again. After little chill out there we decided to move to another island to view the sun set. We could not have nice sun set view as there were thick cloud blocking the sun. We decied to pladdle back to the camp island. After an hour of paddling we were back to the camp island.

Night Camping: By the time we reach island, camp fire was on and Dharmanna had prepared ‘Khashaya’ and and hot “Mirchi Bonda”. We all sat around camp fire and bonda/khashaya. It was time for fun time. Some cracked jokes, some did singing and some shared wild experience. Dinner was ready, but we decided to have it late as were feeling full with lots of mirchi bonda inside. After an hour or so finally we decided to have dinner. Menu was Chapathi, palya, rice, rasam and Hesaru kaalu(Moong) Payasa. It was delicious dinner. All of us had stomachfull and sat around camp fire for sometime. As we were tired, we could not sit for long and we decided to retire for the day. Oh what a sleep i got! i slpet till 7:00 in the morning, which i do very rarely!. I usually wake up by 5:00 in the morning…but today it was lazy morning.
Marning Raaga: All of us woke up and paddled to different island (Named as “Shit Island”!!!) and finished our routines. By then Tea was ready all of us had tea and relaxed for a while. We decided to have breakfast and then start the activity for the day. By 8:30 breakfast was ready and we all moved to kitchen. It was “Akki Rotti” for the breakfast. Akki rotti is prepared with rice powder. It is beautiful when it is made traditionally. Here in Bangalore also we get them, they are not that good as they have been just roasted on thava. Here after roasting on thava, it will be put in to live fire and burn it a bit, which gives great taste. Dharmanna was fast and feeding us the hot rotti’s just out of Thava. We all ate nicley and had tea again.
Next Day activities: After bit of relaxation, fastened Life Jacket and started off the activities with a small Swimming/Floating. Next activity was KAYAKing. I asked everyone to assemble aroung Kayak and briefed them about this type of boat. Kayak was first made by wood and used by ESKIMO’s. They were using it for travel/transporting purpose. But later people started using for liesure purpose and started making in fibre. This kayak is real fun to paddle. If we know proper paddling technique, we can reach up to 30KM/Hour! speed. After the brief and demonstration, everyone took the boat for small drive and then for long drive. After Kayak, it was time for Raft rowing. Every one tried the rowing found it most difficult!. Then some found a Dead dree branch peeping out water and it was looking like srping board!. So many of us had gala time diving from this. Then we tried diving from raft too. it was fun filled aquatic session. Then everyone swam back to the camp island. It was time for lunch. All of us had lunch and relaxed for a while. After the relaxation we decied say good bye to the island and go for a trek to near by hillock “Devaragudda”. All of packed our backpacks, loaded in to coracle and landed in main land. Then we started off the trekking. It is a ridge of miles together and walking on this ridge one can see beautiful sharavathi backwater and lots of islands in it. Other side one can see Sagar town. we spent some time on the peak. We also had juice and Avalakki and relaxed for a while. We had local bus to sagar at 6:00pm, so we started getting down to Bus stand. We reached Bus stand and waited for a while. Got in to Bus and reached Sagar. Had dinner in Sagar and returned to Bangalore. It was an another memorable trip.

Photos Link of the program:-
http://picasaweb.google.com/bkpurushotham/Sharavathi#

Few Words from Campers:-

****Its really an eye opener on sharavathi, its really amazing to see this kind of place.

you and your team extraordinary effort in arranging camping, water sports, trekking and food is amazing, just no word to describe it, its class apart.

We really enjoyed our camping and water sports, needless to say about simple veg food which was too good.

We shall keep this memory for our life time .

Wish you good luck for future pursuit, conserving forest,providing local employment.

Thanks,

Puru

****When puru approached me few weeks back on this sharavathi backwater program, initially I was reluctant because of the distance. But when I landed at the base camp the sight was amazing. Water water everywhere. Probably I would have never seen such a clean fresh water in any other river. The life jacket really gave us confidence to get into water without even thinking how deep it is. Coracle, kayak and the raft were great to learn and fun to use.
The food was great. Cook Dharmendra was very friendly. The camp were comfortable. The sigh from Devaragudda gave us a clear picture of how much more is there unexplored. Overall it was an excellent weekend to remember.
Thanks for organizing such a lively camp
Regards,
Prashanth

2 days Trekking on 29/30th Nov Weekend

sharavathi — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:01:00 +0000

Dear All

We have 2 days trek on 29/30th Nov Weekend. This is one of the beautiful route, which is a must do route for a passionate trekker/nature lover. This route has 3 water falls and 2 view points and many streams….

Below is the route details.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Trek Date:- From 29-11-2008 to 30-11-2008 (2 days)

Trek Route:- Hogevaddi—->Basavana baayi—>Belligundi falls—>Goodanagundi falls—>Kattinakaru.

Departure from Bangalore to SAGAR:- 28-11-2008. Friday night…

Return from SAGAR to Bangalore:- 1-12-2008 by around 6:00 AM.

Date:- 28-11-2008
* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 9:30 PM.

Tentative Itinerary,
Date:- 29-11-2008

* Reach Sagar by early morning.
* Freshen Up, Have Break fast and Catch a local bus or hired jeep to the trek point by 8:00 AM
* Reach Hogevaddi , the Trek start point by 10:30 AM and Start the trek
* Reach Basavana baayi peak by afternoon. Play in the water falls and Have lunch.
* Start the Trek towards Padubeedu and camp in a tribals house by 6:00 PM.
* Have a Camp fire and enjoy the evening(Depends on rain situation). Also interact with Tribals.
* Have dinner and retire for the day

Date:-30-11-2008

* Wake up by 6:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Breakfast and start the trek by 7:30AM to Belligundi water falls.
* Spend time in valley view and belligundi view
* Trek to Goodanagundi water falls and if possible Enjoy in the Water fall (depends on the water level.
* Have luch and Trek to Kattinakaru.
* Catch a local bus or hired jeep to Sagar.
* Reach Sagar and have dinner.
* Start the journey back to Bangalore by around 10:00 PM

For photos of the route and blog write up pls visit this link

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/08/2-days-trek-on-16-17th-aug-2008.html

If you wish to join us, please confirm me ASAP, as i need to reserve the BUS tickets

–
Sampath Kumar
The Sharavathi Nature Trails…..
E-Mail: prapancha@gmail.com
Blogs:- http://sharavathi.blogspot.com
http://kuchodya.blogspot.com

“Save Water, Save Energy and Save Earth for our next Generation”

15-16th November Camping/Kayaking/Trekking Report

sharavathi — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:39:00 +0000

After long time, Subbu called me and said ” sir, we guys want to come for the Kayaking/camping/trekking program”. I was thrilled to hear this, coz subbu and co is always fun to be with. I had trekked with this team from Bheemeshwara to Dabbe falls in mansoon and it was really memorable one. So i asked subbu only to book the tickets to sagar and they did it themselves. On 15th Nov 2008 Saturday morning, i met subbu team at Sagar KSRTC Buss stand and we had a morning tea. Then we moved to private bus stand to catch local bus to go to camp site.
at 8:00AM Gubbagodu Bus turned up and we all got in to that. It was comfortable journey as it was totally empty. by 9:00 we reached the camp site. By then our breakfast was ready and we all had a nice breakfast. after a while, i briefed them about some safety precautions and also we got introduced ourselves. Then all of fastened the life jacket and dived in to the water. We played in the water for about an hour. Then i called everyone for the coracle boat briefing. I briefed about the boat, how to paddle and how to land etc. Also i took one by one and trained them on the paddling. After brief handling everyone went on a long drive.
Then we decide to move to our camp island. This time i am taking u all on visual tour

The Camp site.

Moving to Camp island in coracle

The Gang on “Islands exploration mission”

Sun Set View from an island

Time for Camp fire

Lazy Morning…!

Enjoyed the Kayaking most…

It was time for Rafting

Tried diving too

Dive from Raft..!

It was time to say good bye…

Gang trekked to Devaragudda peak to get the backwater “Bird view”

Campers:-
1)Subbu
2)Shalini
3)Flavia
4)Sirish
5)Jeethu
6)Mahesh
7)Veeru
8)Bhat
9)Sampath

It was the most memorable and fun filled program. Everyone was lively in the whole program.

Few words from Campers.
“Alive and kicking!!!
The trip was great Sampath..
The place, the food, the people, the shit island.. Everything was excellent..
–By Jeethu
—————————————————————

It was jsut awesome sampath….. Food was just excellent….

hope to catch you in another trek….
–By Veeru
——————————————————————-
Simply Superb !!! hope to see some wildlife next time
–By Shalini

——————————————————————

Trip was indeed great…apart from the food n fun,liked the completely scluded place the most…

happy i gave myself a lavish treat and perfect weekend..
–By Flavia

——————————————————————–

hmmm weekend well-spent (shoud i say well-ate )

i really liked that island, wht a place,

hope next time will get an apportunity for kayak race of all 8 people
–By Subbu

—————————————————————————

Photos of the program
http://picasaweb.google.com/subbukl/61_kayaking_sharavathi_valley_nov08#
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/machonirvana/SharavathiBackwater#

Nov 8/9th Weekend Kayaking/Camping/Trekking report

sharavathi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:53:00 +0000

After gap of a month, some campers approached me for the Kayaking/Island Camping Program. As usual, after addition and subtraction, we were of 6 member small gang. Vinod, Offered me to reserve the BUS tickets, so that was smooth affair. We decided catch the last bus from Bangalore to Sagar, so that the connecting local bus to the camp spot will be a comfortable. On 7th Nov friday night,we left Bangalore and we landed at Sagara on 8th Morning at around 7:00 AM. All of us got freshen at BUS stand toilet facility and had tea at a Hotel. By then it was 8:00 and Our local Bus arrived at the BUS stand. We all got in to Bus and sat next to the driver. As we all were looking some city bred lads..Driver pulled us in to conversation. He started explaining about how it was pre 1960, before the dam was built and now etc etc., He did not forget to give some tips too .
By 8:45 We reached our Bus stop. We all got down and trekked for about 15 mins to our camp site. By then our crew had just landed there. Quickly our cook started preparing breakfast for us. Mean while I decided introduce everyone to Swimming. Before that we had a small briefing session. After the session all if got in to water and had a splash for about half an hour. By then Breakfast got ready. As all of were hungry to the core, we rushed there and had stomachacheful of ‘UPPITTU’. That tomato uppittu was superb. Instead of Tea, there was this Khashaya, whiich is a local herbal drink. This drink is prepared like tea but powder is different roots, which are available locally. After having nice Breakfast, i introduced coracle paddling to campers. Everyone picked up very fast. We decided to move to island and all of hoped in to coracles and rafts and moved to island.
After reaching the island, all of us got in to water for the long swimming session. Meanwhile, our cook dharmanna had started preparing lunch. After a nice swimming session we all got back and had lunch. We rested for a while after the lunch and started off island exploration. All of got in to coracle and moved to a big island which was about 3 KM from our camp island. On the trail, we did see many small island. Each had different type of vegitation and shapes. At one island , we stopped for a sunset view. It was amazing view with water surface started turning to red color. Our photographers (Shashi and vaibhav) took some beautiful snaps and we started paddling back to our camp island. Quickly our guides started the camp fire and we set up the tents. All of sat around camp fire and some cracked great jokes and we had some time pass discussion on various subject. The moon light was bright and it was amazing seen around us. The water surface was flat as there was no wind and over the top there was a moon light. So it was awesome seen around, it was looking like silver plate around us . By then dinner was ready, all of had nice dinner. We could not sit for long as everyone were tired…so decided to retire for the day and slept off.

All of us woke up by little late morning by around 6:30 and immediately i asked them to take the boat and go off to an another island to finish our “NiThya Karmas” . Everyone were shocked, as they did not expect this !!!. Finally all of went in to another island and finished the routines… and came back to camp island. By then tea was ready, we had tea and got in to water for the morning splash. We played for a while, by then breakfast was ready. The menu was “AKKI ROTTI and PALYA”. It was awesome combination. It was too good to have the hot and crispy rottis just out of stove . After nice Breakfast, we had another round of tea and rested for a while. Then i called everyone to brief about “Kayak”. Kayak is a single man paddling boat. It is great pleasure to paddling this boat. So after the brief everybody tried out the boat. Only Nhihal, got toppled many times while getting to the boat. But finally he could manage to get in and enjoyed the rides. After the kayak, next was raft rowing. after the briefing of this rowing, everyone tried bit raft rowing. Next was diving from a dead tree in the water…that was really fun. Everyone enjoyed this session. Later we had lunch and it was time to pack up. After little rest, we all packed up and put in to boats and left for the main land.

After reaching main land, we said good bye to our guides and started the trek to “Devara Gudda”. After about an hour trek we reached the peak and it was an awesome view there. It was bird view of the whole of Sharavathi backwater. We rested for a while and started off the trek towards Alahalli where we were supposed to catch the local Bus back to Sagar. It was nice trek initially through the thick vegetation and later through habitation. Afetr about 3 hours of trek from the peak, we rached Alahalli. We had tea and waited for Bus for while. Got in to a packed local bus and reached Sagar by 7:30. After some time pass, we had dinner and got in to the bus back to Bangalore. As all of were tired, we all got nice sleep and we reached mejestic by 5:45 AM. It was another Memorable,wonderful and activity filled weekend…

Campers:-
1) Shashidhar H B
2) Vaibhav
3) Nihal
4) Vinod
5) Somanath
6) Sampath

Photos:-

Photos by Vabhav
http://picasaweb.google.com/naga.2005/KayakingCampingTreking#

Photos by Shashi
http://picasaweb.google.com/hb.shashidhar/BackwatersOfSharavathiValley

Kayaking-Camping in Sharavathi Backwater on Nov 8/9th

sharavathi — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:59:00 +0000

Hi All,
Sharavathi backwater is about 60 KM in length and about 15 KM wide !!!!. It became backwater when dam was constructed at Linganamakki of sagara taluk in Shivamogga(Shimoga) district to the river Sharavathi. This backwater has created lots of islands, it is so great to explore all these, where thick vegetation still exist and lots of wild life in it including some rare birds.

Here info on camping and water sports…

Date:- 8/9-11-2008 weekend (2 Days)
Camp Site:- Sharavathi Backwater Near Sagara in Shimoga Dsitrict
Accomdation:- Dome tents on an ISLAND in the backwater.
Food:- Food is going to be Simple Vegetarian food and it will be freshly cooked food at the camp site.
Transport:- It is an option. u can travel on ur own (we will guide u how to reach there) or we can arrange transport

Itinerary of Camp activities in Sharavathi Backwater.

Day 1:-

Day 2:-

Map of the camp site

Pls mail to prapancha@gmail.com for any more info…

–
Sampath Kumar
The Sharavathi Nature Trails…..
E-Mail: prapancha@gmail.com
Blogs:- http://sharavathi.blogspot.com
http://kuchodya.blogspot.com

“Save Water, Save Energy and Save Earth for our next Generation”

1-2nd Nov 2008 Trek report

sharavathi — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:18:00 +0000

In the Previous Trek we had explored 2 new water falls in the valley, code named veegi falls. After i shared these snaps in my mailing list, some more trekkers wanted to trek in this route to see these falls. So i decided to arrange the trek on 1-2nd Nov 08. Initially there were few people , but later numbers swelled to decent 10. We booked TT for the travel as all buses were running full because of the Deepavali festival rush. We left Bangalore by 10:00 PM and reached Sagar by 5:30 itself !!!. We reached Sharavathi chain gate by 5:45 AM and stopped to get freshen up in the river. After an hour on banks of river, we started off our journey towards trek starting point. On the way we had tea in KARGAL.
We reached trek starting point by morning 8:00 AM, by then our cook had prepared AKKI ROTTI (A local dish made up of rice flour) and Khara baath. The best thing was that we got the Neer Bella (liquid joggery) this time too..It tastes like honey !!. Evey one enjoyed the breakfast. Then came the Khashaya (A local herbal drink)all of us had stomach full and decided to start the trek.
Before we started off, We had a introductory session and I gave few safety instructions to everyone and requested them to introduce themselves.
We started off the trek and after about a KM of trek, we were getting down to the first water falls. It was almost 80 degree slope with wet surface!!!. Everyone started going down carefully! even then some had a free fall…!. After about half an hour struggle… it was spledid view of the falls. All of us just stood where were …! It was a great view. Then we went near the falls and took some snaps. We had D40 and 40D photographers (Shashi and Krishna) who were busy trying out their skill!.
Later we decided to say “SAYONARA” to the falls and trekked along with the stream to the second falls. It was a nice trek experience with Cris-crossing stream now and then. After about an hour trek, we reached the second falls. It was amazing falls and it was apt place to enjoy in the falls. So all of us got in to water within no time as we wanted to refresh ourselves very badly…!. All of us played in the falls for about half an hour. By this time Our cook Dharmanna had prepared the lunch and we also were hungry after a nice play in the water falls.
It was superb sambar and rice along with the papad and pickle. All of us had stomach full and rested for about 10 mins. It was about 2:00PM so we decided to start the trek towards Melnur, where we planned to camp for the day. Intially the trek was tiresome as we had to climb up the valley. But later it was a flat trek on nice ridge. It was ‘Haadugere valley to our right and it was kanoor valley to our left. Even though we were trekking in high point ridge, we were not able to view the valley clearly as thick vegetation was blocking the view. After about 2 hours of trek, we reached a another beautiful valley view point. Here we waited for sunset and it was great experience to watch the sunset in the silence with bird chirping. Our D40(Shashi) and 40D(Krishna)’s were busy clicking the sunset pics and tried many techniques…Some were annoyed with their photography technique discussion and started pulling their leg :-p.

After the sun set, we trekked down to the tribals house, by then our cook had reached early and prepared the tea to all of us. We had refreshing tea and we were having some time pass talking. Our regular trekker Krishna knew that our guide Narayana knows lot of interesting puzzules. so he pulled narayana and requested him to give some puzzles to solve. First one was to make 9 equal pieces in the 3 small sticks with only 3 break . All of them got in to serious thinking mode, But Dinesh came out with some unreasonable solution which everybody rejected it but finally it was solved Muruli …! Later some more puzzles were given by narayana, all of them were solved with little effort by our trekkers.By 9:00PM dibber was ready. Dinner was superb with the Hesaru kaalu payasa (made of Moong grain). All of us had nice dinner and retired for the day.
All of woke up by 5:30 AM and finished out routines. And were ready by 7:00. Break was ready by then. All of had breakfast and tea and started off the trek towards Kanoor fort. Before we entered the fort i brief the history of the fort. It was built by Rani “Chenna baira devi” of salva dynasty in the 14-16th century. Now just a ruins are left. There some beautiful stone temple still which are partially destroyed by ‘Treasure Hunters’. After an hour of trekking inside the fort, we explored most of the ruins and decided to trek down to a Jain temple which was built by the same queen in the 16th century. While trekking down, on the way we stopped for lunch. We played int he stream. It was a welcome splash with lot of humidity around. By then lunch was ready. We had lunch and trekked towards Temple, which was nearby. We visited the temple. Temple history was explained by the care taker cum guide. This temple has been maintained by Archeological society of India(ASI).
After the whirl wind tour of the temple, we trekked towards Gersoppa. We had to cross the Sharavathi river in the boat. The boat is a snake boat. As we had instructed our driver to come and pick us from this point, he had come their and was waiting for us. All of just took a final group photo and started off our journey back to Bangalore. It was an another memorable trek.

Trekkers:-
1) Sampath
2) Shashidhar
3) Krishnamurthi
4) Prahlad
5) Dinesh
6) Murali
7) Palghun
Santosh
9) Shashidhar R
10) Kiran

Photos links:-

Snaps by shashidhar
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/shashi.gadad/SharavathiExploratoryTrek1st2ndNov08?authkey=qd17f9MK1p8#
Snaps by Krishnamurthy
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mpkrish/SharavathiValleyTrek3#
Snaps by Prahlad
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/askpsk/SharavathyValleyNovember1st2nd2008?authkey=PAHz7l08KaI#

Next Trek is on 1-2nd Nov 2008

sharavathi — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 06:46:00 +0000

2 days trekking on 1-2nd NOV 08
Dear Trekkers, We have 2 days trekking on 1-2nd NOV 08. In this route there are 2 newle explored water falls and a ruined fort and a Jain basadi.

Route:- Veegi falls —> Melnur –> Kanoor Fort —> Nagara bastikeri –> Gersoppa..
Departure:- 31-10-2008 Friday night.
Transport:- KSRTC Rajahamsa Bus to Sagar.

Itinerary:-
Date:- 31-10-2008
* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 10:00 PM.

Date:- 1-11-2008
* Reach Sagar by 6:00 AM in the morning.
* Catch a jeep or van to reach trek starting point and freshen up on the way in a stream.
* Reach Trek starting point and have Breakfast.
* Start the trek towards first veegi falls. Spend some time in falls
* Trek to second veegi falls. Play in the falls if interested.
* Have lunch and trek towards melnur tribals house..
* Reach Melnur and Camp in tribal’s house.
* Have fun time around camp fire.
* Have dinner and retire for the day.

Date:-2-11-2008
* Wake up by 5:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Tea and start the trek towards Kanoor fort.
* Reach kanoor fort lake and have breakfast
* Trek inside and ruined fort and then trek towards Bastikeri
* Reach bastikeri and visit 14th century stone curved Jain temple (Basadi).
* Have lunch and play in the river and trek to gersoppa
* Catch a local bus or hired jeep to Sagar.
* Reach Sagar and have dinner.
* Start the journey back to Bangalore by around 10:00 PM

Photos of the previous trek
Photos by Shashidhar
http://picasaweb.google.com/shashi.gadad/HaadagereVasugatthiFalls1819Oct08#
Photos by Phanikiran
http://picasaweb.google.com/pvpkiran/KanoorKoteChaturmukhaBasadi#

Blogs:-
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com
http://aravindgj.blogspot.com

Please MAIL me to prapancha@gmail.com if u need any more information .

2 New beautiful water falls explored !!!

sharavathi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:28:00 +0000

We had been trekking in one of our beautiful trek route Hogevaddi–>Basavanabaayi–> Belligundi falls —>Goodanagundi falls for quite a long time. This time we decided to explore new routes. Our Guide Narayana took the initiative and within couple of days he identified 2 new beautiful water falls !!. So we decided to trek in that route and i announced the new trek for October 18/19th weekend. After all addition and deletion, finally we were 13 of us. I booked the tickets in Rajahmasa while going and in meghadootha while returning.
On 17th Friday night we all assembled near enquiry counter of KSRTC bus stand by 9:00 PM. Some had problem reaching on time as it was bit early departure(9:30PM) this time. All of got together and after brief introductory hand shake at the bus stand, we all got in to bus and settled down in our respective seats. After little chit-chat, all of us went in to deep sleep mode!!.
When we reached Sagar, it was about 1 hour behind schedule. Narayana had come with vehicle and waiting for us in the bus stop to take us to trek starting point. We wasted no time, all of us hopped in to waiting vehicle. We drove to ‘sainya’ gate and stopped there for to finish our “nithya karmas”!!. Immediately everyone ran in different direction! and leisurely finished it. Again got in to vehicle and drove to Kargal. Narayana ordered very much awaited morning tea, we all enjoyed the tea and started off onward journey to Trek Starting point. After about an hour journey there we landed to trek starting point.
Our cook had already reached this spot and had prepared hot chapathi and cabbage palya!. Best thing was we got ‘neer bella’ (liquid joggery) there also!! Chapathi with Liquid jaggery was just too nice. As many wanted kashaya(a local herbal drink) than tea, kashaya was prepared by dharmanna and we all had it nicely. Again we did not waste any time, fastened the backpack and started off the trek. After some distance, reached a quite place and requested everyone to stand in circle for a brief introductory session. Everyone introduced themselves with their trek experience.After this brief session, everyone wished each other and started off our trek towards the first veegi falls.
Initially it was flat and less vegetation, as we trekked on we got in to dense vegetation. After a while the trail was getting toughen with 80 degree slope and added to that, it was slippery to the core. Everybody trekked down by hanging on to the routes, taking help of shrubs. As we inched closer to the stream, we could hear the roaring sound of water. Finally we got in to stream. wow, what scene it was..Beautiful it was. As we just turned right, further astonishing scene was awaiting… A beautiful water fall!!!. It was awesome, amazing, etc etc., The scenery was looking like some fine artists work on canvas !!!.Everybody just sat and lost for a while!. All of us enjoyed the nature beauty and sat for a while watching the different hues of the falls. After a while, all of us decided to trek towards another water falls in the upstream.

We could not trek in the stream itself as the falls area was a high rock. So we trekked up in to jungle and got down to the same stream again. Trekking along with the stream was really adventurous, as the stream had huge slippery boulders.We trekked up the stream cris-crossing the flowing water. It was really tiring stretch, but the stream view was amazing…!!. So did not feel the burnout at all.
After trekking for nearly 2 hours we reached second veegi falls. It was a great view from the far. The falls is more than 200ft high and scenery was awesome. By then everybody were hungry, so Narayana distributed “Avalakki”. We had avalakki and relaxed for a while. It was late for lunch, so everybody hurried up and started the ascent up the valley. It was steepest possible assent with almost 85 degree inclination. It was very tiring, but it was a short one. After we came up the stream, we trekked to the lunch point, where our cooks had already prepared food. The menu was rice, sambar, pickle and papad.The sambar was fantastic, so everybody had nice lunch and relaxed for couple of minutes. Later decided to trek towards a tribals house where we supposed to camp over night.
Initially the trail was flat but later it was again tough one as had to climb a small peak.Everybody were tired by the time they came up the hillock. So rested for a while in a beautiful grass patch and moved towards the tribal’s house. We reached the camp place pretty early. As soon as we reached, we just threw our backpacks and spread the mats and squatted in the courtyard of tribal’s house. Our cook Dharmana got in to action, prepared tea quickly and all of us had tea. All of us sat together and talked various issues of general in nature. Some shared their other trek experience etc., By 8:30PM our dinner was ready, so call came from Dharmanna. Dinner menu was Rice, rasam, pickle, papad and moong Payasa( A liquid sweet). After we had nice dinner, rested for some time and decided to retire for the day. Narayana anounced that everybody should wake up by 5:00AM in the morning!!. As all of us were tired, got in to deep sleeping mode within no time.
It was like just 5 minutes!!! ‘saar 5 oclock, please everybody wake up’ shouted Narayana. Without any force!!everyone woke up and got ready quickly. By then tea was ready, all of us had tea. We circled up and and thanked Mani, the tribal for hosting us for the night and started off our trek towards Kandodi. The trek route awesome, we trekked along a beautiful ridge for about 5 KMs. To our left it was kanoor and to our right it was haadugere valley. As it was thick vegetation, we rarely got to see the complete valley. But we used to get now and then view points and so we enjoyed the awesome valley view. Specially the view at Melnoor was just too good, with arabian spotting. By 7:30 we trekked down to kanoor fort lake and decided to have our breakfast.Our cook dharmanna had prepared the the famous local dish “Akki Rotti” by waking up in the night 2 oclock!!!. Rotti with palya was simply great. All of us had nice breakfast and everyone came to know that kanoor fort was just close by!! so some of them pestered us to show it(It was not there in our itinerary). So Narayana took all of them and showed the fort. After finishing the fort, we started our descend towards Kandodi. In about an hour and half trek we reached Kandodi. Many of us were tired, so sat for a while and moved towards Jain temple (Basadi). Finally we reached Basadi and our cook Dharmanna went strait to the river side and started off the lunch preperation process and we went to the temple and saw rhe awsome architecture and sculpture. It was built in 16th century by Rani Chennabairadevi. The fort in Kanoor is also built by the same dynasty. She was a very brave queen, who protected Shivaji when Delhi sultanites captured shivaji’s administration. She was called “Pepper queen” as she was exporting black pepper to the european countries in that time only. This structure looks like Hoysala style temple with temple built on Star type foundation. There are some curving, but can not be compared with any hoysala temple. Inside the basadi, there is this chaturmukha statue. local care taker took us around temple and explined the history of the temple.
After thanking the caretaker, we moved to the near by river side, where our cook was preparing the lunch. It was bit hot outside, so we wanted play in the water. So all of us got in to river and had a nice swimming session. After a while, lunch was ready and all of us had lunch and trekked towards gersoppa, where we were supposed catch the bus back to Sagar. We trekked to bastikeri and crossed the river sharavathi in snake boat. Then trekked to the gersoppa hand post and took bus to the Sagar. The journey was pathetic as it was full to the core. We had dinner at sagar and waited for our bus, which was reseved earlier. Finally we boarded the bus back to bangalore and reached 6:30AM monday morning. It was a great trek, as we explored 2 new virgin water falls and second day we trekked about 20+ KM by 1:00 PM!!!. That was hard trek, but it was very satisfying trek.

Trekkers:-
1)Sampath
2)Shashidhar
3)Aravind
4)Phanikiran
5)Uday
6)Vinay
7)Santhosh
8)Parag
9)Nikhil
10)Survesh
11)Prashanth
12)Chetan
13)Arjun

Photos of this trek

Photos by Shashidhar
http://picasaweb.google.com/shashi.gadad/HaadagereVasugatthiFalls1819Oct08#

Photos by Phanikiran
http://picasaweb.google.com/pvpkiran/KanoorKoteChaturmukhaBasadi#

Photos by Aravind
http://picasaweb.google.com/aravindgj/HaadagereAndVasughittiFallsKanoorKoteAndChaturmukhaBasadi#

Blog by Sampath
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com