The Idyllic Holiday Trip...

I had an unmatched combination of holiday at a hill-station and also had an opportunity for exploring the wildlife, a few days back with my friends. This month 4^th morning at 9 we reached Mysore & we took morning shelter at my friend Ravi sir house; we started our journey a little late in a hired taxi.

Our journey initially was not much attractive but later we felt pretty good as per our plan late noon we reached MM hills &occupied  the already reserved rooms unloaded our luggage had food & we turned to see Hogenkal waterfalls. By 4.30 evening we reached Hogenkal & hired 2 boats to take us to the waterfalls. After a 30 minute journey in the boat reached another side of the river & had stunning view of the huge milky waterfalls Because of heavy volume in falls & lack of time we couldn’t reach the bottom of the waterfalls.

After having a scenic sunset we returned back to MM Hills & Night temple was very rush but easily we had grace of Goddess Mahadeswara with a help of some influence.

 

Next day we reached BR hills at 11 compare to MM hills this temple was little neat & scenic. Here Lord Ranganatha is situated on the highest peak (1700meters) of the hill range, on the 'white cliff' which gives the hill its name. The local form of the deity is called Biligiriranga and is depicted in a unique standing position. The Annual Car festival of the deity held during “Vaishakha “in the month of April, is famous in the region and attracts thousands of pilgrims from far and wide.

 

The local tribes present a large pair of slipper measuring 1 foot and 9 inches, made up of skin, to the Ranganathaswamy once in two years. The temple premise is also famous for its great valley view.

 

Next we reached K G Gudi, we decided to have Wild Safari. We booked one forest Jeep & by 4.30 we entered forest. Our expectation as not much initial While the numbers of species were small, we get incredibly (and safely) close to the animals.

The Jeep tour of the park was cutesy, but we were fortunate to get within an arms length of bison and other mammals. The portions of the park had live animal exhibits that were surprisingly intimate with the animals and yet humane. We enjoyed the park! It was clean and well kept.

 

The staffs were happy and friendly. We enjoyed looking at the animals in their native habitat it’s an hour tour through the free-roaming area of the park on board a motorized Jeep driven by one of the park guides who points out the different animals as we pass. See buffalo, deer, goats and geese up close and personal. For intrepid explorers, there are many trails from this place.

Finally we returned back from a wonderful unhurried scenic trip through some of the most spectacular places in Western Ghat.

Kodachadri Trip

Kodachagri is a wilderness of remote towering mountains, massive grasslands, sweeping valleys and a seemingly endless variety of flora and fauna. This year 27^th November I had chosen to hike Kodachdri one more time because of its evergreen beauty & was the second time I got a responsibility to lead a big team to the peak. Though I was not in the mood to visit this place again as my friend requested I joined the team of Govindas collage (Surthkal) to visit for the 6^th time to this place on Saturday early morning.

The first 1hour walk was very pleasant & next 5kms took almost 2 hours to reach IB for the whole team. However, hikes up into the forests are usually very rugged. After unloading our luggages in IB we rushed up to hike the last stretch. Last 30 minutes walk was wonderful one side steep evergreen valley & another side thick shrubbery leafy forest.

In the end, we managed to reach ShankarPeeta the top of the Kodachadri in time, with enough time to spare to catch glimpses of the beautiful sunset .Some of our teammates very much interested for more adventure as their request we turned to Chitramoola a natural open cave temple After 30 minutes walk all reached Chitramoola at the sun had already set, it was race against time. 

On our way back it was very dark but a tough attempt we returned back to IB. We spent the night in the foot hills trying to setup a small campfire. Later on had a nice dinner and went to bed praying to be able to get up in time for the sun rise.  Next morning luckily weather was clear so we had a beautiful Sunrise glistening at a distance on another side of the top of Kodachadri. On return we had bath at Agastyateerth which is situated inside lush dense forests.

This one was a simple hike up to an isolated meadow above all the trees, in the Western Ghats range. Hiking in the mountain presents challenges to even the hardiest backpackers, but those who persevere will be rewarded with a vast, pristine wilderness and incredible solitude.