Bilihole Waterfalls

We were planning a trek somewhere after a long time something which was unheard before. The day was Sunday and time early morning, I woke up and quickly started to get ready. At 8.00 am we were ready with a group of 4,Sudhakar, Prashanth, Yashashree and myself. As per our plan we joined Shrikanth and Raveendra at starting village and all set to conquer the conquered. We met our guide and reached Bilihole trekking point which was 2.5 kilometres after that Village. This trekking is approximately 8km one way, 16km totally.

We are initially followed the village trail, we reached Tenginmadi in just over an hour and almost exhausted. The weather was humid but the lush green surroundings compensated for that. We continued following a village trail but soon it was time to take a diversion and to go off trail. We went down and soon reached the stream and halted for a while, washed ourselves off sweat and dirt and quenched our thirst. The water in the small waterfalls is quite pure and drinkable. Fishes residing in the stream were cleaning our legs. We enjoyed filling our bottles with that pure tasty water from the running stream and continued our walk. Lovely birds chirping and stream of water running along our way goes. It was the perfect heaven on earth.

We traversed through the stream whose paths were lined with wilds. It was already 11:45 am and we decided to speed up a little and we did as it pace making this time. We walked approximately 2km across the river bed we reached Bilihole river. We followed the stream for what seemed like an eternity. The whole journey we managed to keep the pace and explored all that passed along the stream.

First stage of the waterfalls

Second Stage of the Waterfalls

Within a few more kilometres we were at a point where it was completely full of boulders of different size and shape between which the stream of water was running. With trees standing tall on both sides, we were covered utterly from the world of noise. The tranquillity of the place cannot be articulated utterly serene and extremely green.  It was just impeccable to walk on those rocks and jump from one to another in great pace.

Third Stage of the Waterfalls

We found ample number of exquisite water pools. The slopes on Bilihole are near vertical and for a moment we thought that reaching the base of the main waterfalls would be impossible and it nearly was. The climb was breathtaking and dangerous and almost vertical surrounded by dense forests.  There were steps of animals, which had come to drink water. As we expected the final part of the journey the ascent was very steep and I could see everybody getting very exhausted.

4th Stage of the Waterfalls

The last 30 minutes stretch followed a fairly well trodden trail along the sides of a narrow gorge which became impassable several times because of waterfalls and deep pools. After hopping around the streambed boulders for a while we came upon a small 50 feet height waterfall offering a stunning view. We had to make short climbs up the side of the gorge to reach main waterfalls.

This was one of the most difficult stretches for us and the hot sun beating down on us added to that there was no trail. We just had to wade through thick shrubs and thorny bushes to get to the final view of the waterfalls. We climbed over a slope and finally reached the top of a ridge and stood at edge of the hill with support of dry trees.

Catching my breath at the top of the ridge, I looked down at my feet and realized that further journey is not safe so, after spending enough time we made our way down the ridge, our feet sliding and our hands carefully gripping trees to make the steep descent. About midway down the gorge, the thorn forests became thicker. Finally we arrived at our familiar friend, the stream. I felt like kissing the ground, I was so grateful to god for our successful venture in mysterious terrain.

Finale Stage of Bilihole Waterfalls

Everyone cheerfully helped each other and consequently everyone had an enjoyable experience. Although it was a harrowing and difficult experience, it was worth the challenge.