KalleriMoole Waterfalls, Kasaragod

After a detailed plan with great excitement I and Prashanth finally set off for searching new waterfalls in Kasargod district.  On a beautiful morning we started our journey to explore Kalleri Moole Waterfalls. After one hour bike ride we reached the place where trek starts.

 Almost 15 minutes walk we reached on top of the waterfalls. I was richly rewarded by highly exalting view on edge of the waterfalls. It is beautiful sight to see the waterfalls flowing from the 70feet height and spread around 30 feet wild rock.The pristine surrounding adds to the beauty of the place. There is nothing safety bars but you are free to venture as far afield into the gorge as you dare, but with a 70feet plus drop we had to be careful where we stepped.  Kallerimoole waterfalls which is usually roaring in full force between June to October.

A short walk through Coconut and Areca plantation we reached the downer stream. We changed into our swim suits and stepped into the stream, water was pristine and pretty cold, initial stretch was covered by thick vegetation moreover every step on the boulders has to be treated carefully near the waterfall as it can prove dangerous.

Nothing compares standing at the base of a waterfall, with the spray in your skin and the deafening roar in your ears. We passed through dizzying scenes of beauty that we usually see in nature documentaries.

My senses were not ready for such grandeur at that time that I usually blackout admiring the loveliness of the rock formation. The water was very cold and we had a refreshing dip at mountain water it’s supposed to have minerals and be very therapeutic both for the skin and for your general health.

 We spent an hour enjoying the surroundings, the beauty of the falls and the scenic place made our soul cheerful we carried loads of photos to relive those exciting time in many days to come. But it was too less a price to pay for the wonderful time, fantastic moments with the nature.

Weekend Getaways to Kasargod

 On June last Sunday My wife and I began the day with fine bike ride, as a first leg of our trip, we stopped en-route at Madhur and flew into Madhur Temple. The Madhur temple is a Shiva temple with Anantheswara as its presiding deity. But equal importance is given to the deity Maha Ganapathi. It is said that when the temple was being constructed the devotees forgot to install the Ganesha idol but Ganesha miraculously appeared in the rock and from then on he is given more importance in the temple. The idols of Shiva and Vinayaka are installed in Mukhamandapam and Sukasana’s. The Sivalingam of the temple is said to have been found by a harijan woman, Madharu. One can find references of this temple in the Sahyadri Centre of Skanda Purana. Devotees usually offer prayers to Mahaganapathi in the form of "Udayastamana".

This temple is the most renowned one among the four temples built by the Mypadi kings of Kumbla around the 10th century. The temple was renovated in the 15th century and was built in a distinctive style in a three storied oval structure adorned with copper plate roofing. In 1784 TippuSulthan attacked Kumbala border and entered to Madhur area after drinking water from the well of the temple, he changed his mind on attacking and demolishing the Garbhagudi and marched towards Malabar. But to satisfy his soldiers and Islamic scholars he made a cut with his sword symbolising the attack. The mark is still visible on the building that is built around the temple well.

 The unique architectural style makes this temple different from other shrine which is noted for its archaeological value. Variety of patterns in temple architecture can be enjoyed here. Madhur Maha Ganapathi Temple is a specimen of rich cultural heritage of the Kasargod region. It is a perfect blend of architecture of Kerala and Karnataka regions. The rich architecture, imposing structure of the temple and the copper plate roofing rises majestically against the beautiful landscape of hills, the place is indeed fascinating. There are abundant paddy fields and gardens with the river Madhuvahini flowing leisurely in front of the temple. The sacred Stream of the temple pond is said to possess spiritual power to cure all diseases.

This temple has a huge 3 tired 'Gaja prishta' type Sreekovil. The wood carvings in the temple are marvellous. The carvings depict historic heroes of Mahabharat and Ramayana. These eye-feast carvings are in the ceilings of Namaskara Mandapam of the temple. A closer examination of the wood carvings would disclose the various episodes of the Ramayana, beginning with the Sita Swayamvara. The Mantapa in the interior of the temple building as well as the outside facade of the second and third store of the main building are also profuse with attractive and exquisite wood carvings. Later we headed to Malla and had grace of goddess Durga Paramesvari.

 We had delicious lunch at temple we thought it would be a nice idea to hit the beach and have a glimpse of the sun dipping below the horizon, so drove straight to Historic Bekal fort which was some 15km (70kms from Mangalore) from there and on ride the plain roads were gone and we were maneuvering sharp turns. The road was good but the turns were very steep. But my Bike had no problems scaling them with ease. The beauty and scenic view on this route was amazing and we had the road and the beauty all to ourselves.

 BEKAL FORT

 The road was scenic giving glimpses of the sea every now and then. It was evening when I reached Bekal Fort my mind was tired and my legs were tired after this long drive. After reaching the parking area, we had to do a short walk to reach the fort. The fort itself was nothing much, but the views on all four sides were majestic. The construction which dates back to the 1500s is magnificent. Built by Shivappa Naika of Ikkeri dynasty and in 1763 the Mysore ruler Hydarali captured it. This beautiful Fort stands on a hillock jutting into the Arabian Sea & provides breath taking view.

 The sight of the Sea and beach from the fort was quiet impressive. The rear end of the fort gives way to an exclusive beach where huge waves lash the walls of the fort. Overall the view of the sea from here was amazing.

 You can feel the power of the ocean hitting the rocks at the beach. The views around and the fort itself was majestic and spread around a vast area on top of the hill. The place was really good and worth seeing at-least once in a life time. I had fun while roaming here and there inside the fort.

 Bekal Fort had gathered attention after one of South India's revered Movie Director had shot a memorable song with his Characters. The view of the Arabian Sea was beautiful from the Fort took some snaps had a long walk all along the rampant of the Fort.  It’s started drizzling first quickly turning in to a steady downpour and the clock kept ticking away to half past five so we decided to pack ourselves and continued the return journey.

Waynad Trip Part-2

Kanthanpara Waterfalls ...Our local guide told us that there was another waterfall nearby and it was better place so we moved to the next place when we reached this place to our surprise all we saw was a small fall as though few buckets of water was being poured down we were disappointed with this.

But our guide had some surprises in store and he took us further down and when we asked where we were heading he in his own language said something which we could not decipher,

After a small trek we saw a different world a complete change from the small fall to a huge very big roaring waterfall ahead called Kanthanpara Waterfalls no one could have even imagined that there was another huge waterfall ahead further down there was another step of the same waterfall totally making it a three step waterfall.

Our guide was extremely pleased to show his discovery and we were in awe at the sight, being very enthusiastic and eager to show us many more places our guide was in big hurry to move on, after a light lunch with local delicacy of a dish called Puttu we started towards a place called Edakallu caves a prehistoric caves discovered by a British explorer.

Though this place is way up the mountain where no one would have dared to venture it’s wonderfully maintained by Kerela tourism, Here 3 caves are located at a height of 1000 meters on Ambukuthi mala near Ambalavayal. We can either walk up till the caves or go by local transport where it’s a dare devil fete with the jeep drivers due to constraint of time and we were already exhausted with so much of adventure we hired a jeep which took us till the entrance,

We then climbed the steep rocks and entered the caves going back to Stone Age we tried to understand the language of prehistoric era though everything was depicted with pictures it was alien to us, looking around for some time we headed back we had many things to assimilate with our adventure packed day.

On our way back we saw a rock formation resembling a human and an elephant nature was at its creative best and weather being very considerate with us though it was monsoon we were fortunate to see many wonderful things nature had provided, finally we headed back to camp and relaxed for the day discussing about all the places we had seen, totally exhausted we slept early.

Next day we got up early our plans to climb the Chembra peak didn't materalise as it was a two day trip and we had just a day ahead so nothing to see further planning to come back again for the climb we headed back to Hometown.