Abballi Waterfalls

Abballi waterfalls was long time dream but the call had to come from the Mother Nature and yes there was the beaconing to the mountains and it was time for me to pack my bags. Some kind of urge for adventure into the wild made me to plan a trek to an unknown destination a totally wild and new place in Uttarakannada district.

An Abballi waterfall is a less known water body is situated on Uttarakannada district; it is a four tiered waterfall plunging down from a height of around 200feet into the valley to create a magnificent sight. We humans feel truly blessed to witness such artistic creations of Mother Nature. Away from the human eye Abballi found its habitat in a very secluded place inside a deep forest.

My three friends, brother Prashanth, local villager and his boys and I started our hike through Areca plants and paddy fields. The waterfalls could be seen from the village road the approach to it was complicated through forests farm fields and waterways. After 15minutes walk soon we encountered a milky blue trickling stream.

This was the beginning of trek; as we continued up the trail, the volume of water multiplied, and eventually we immediately changed into our suits and followed the stream, along the way we saw lots of beautiful mossy creek scenes and wild flowers as we got closer I could hear the roaring waterfall in the distance and my heart started beating faster.

We reached first stage of the cascade. First stage is not much attractive after taking some pictures then we proceeded to the upper part. We then continued our hike to the second stage of the falls scramble up a path with no trail. We all had to hang on to trees, weeds and branches to climb up. Finally we hear the sound of waterfall from far. The lush green cover all around made us nostalgic it was pure air that we were inhaling that tickled our senses too. As we hurried towards the main falls, we were captivated by the beauty of a spot and just couldn’t move ahead.

The climb was a fairly hard made our way through dense forests, being bitten by numerous blood sucking leeches, chartering through the rocky terrain, climbing uphill and sliding downhill, treading on non-existent paths a real adventure in real life. With the aquamarine water and riparian vegetation backed by the green walls, this was the most colourful landscape I had ever seen. The roaring sound of the falls which created fumes all over were relaxes my body and soul.

After 30 minutes break again we began hiking, this time the trail will get even steeper. Finally crawling up a steep mountain, holding on to wet rocks, trees, whatever we could find we finally made it to reach 3^rd stage of the waterfalls. The sight is just so amazing, as the drizzling water pecks you on your cheek. Such a modern way to welcome guests! When you climb up to get a top view of the falls, you will feel captivated with a panoramic view.

Finally a complete adventure in an unknown unexplored wilderness, everyone has his or her own concept of adventure.  An adventure can be something as simple as spending an afternoon hiking a local trail or going on that bike ride that you’ve been thinking about. Really all that matters is that you get out there and live.

Now months later, I’m still glowing from our experience: getting out into nature, hanging with friends, working up a sweat and swimming in waterfalls. To me this is the ultimate definition of adventure. The Trek was enticing and challenging, and the breathtaking waterfall and natural formations made this hike most memorable for me.