Ballalarayana Durga....

 

It was pretty cold in the morning, but the warmth under sleeping bag made me to feel comfortable after a tiring day. I woke up with a clear blue sky and got some shining views of Bandaje waterfalls and surrounding mountains. The breakfast for the day was cup of noodles and then we packed up for another eventful day. After having a light breakfast, we started to trek ahead towards Ballalarayana Durga.

 

The first few kilometers are particularly strenuous, as the trek has a continuous ascent with a gradient of 45 to 70 degrees right up to Ballalarayandurga. The trail is skinny and at some points there seems to be no sign of trail and at one point I lost the trail and got confused the right way, Green canopied huge mountains covered everywhere I struggle to find the trail. I recalled my past experience particularly which I had spent long back in this land and decided to hike left side sharp mountain.

 

I know its a hard attempt to hike on dry steep mountains our walk goes more stretchy and long each time when we stepped the top of the hills we found many bigger mountains each time when stepped top on the the hill our initial journey goes like this only.

 

Surprisingly We spotted wild Gaur at a distance of 50 meters was a stunning moment it stared us for some time and got disappeared from the spot speedily (Gaur is listed as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List since 1986. It is the largest species of wild cattle, bigger than the African buffalo and wild water buffalo.) Hopefully my few photos will given a small indication of the beauty of this wild animal.

 

The trek to Ballarayanadurga through dense tropical forests and Shola grasslands, with magnificent views of mountains peaks , Sightly valleys and the mystical music of stream flowing down in the valley.

 

At one place I found the clear sign of trail and it quite exhilarating. we were back on the trail and we able to sight Fort from long distance. We moved, as we had all trip, quite slowly. The wind howling across the barren rocks and grass was cooling our bodies from burning sun. The spectacular views, the exhilaration, the beautiful and hostile environment. I don’t think I can really describe it, certainly not well enough to do it justice.

 

We took around 4 hours to reach top of the fort and stayed inside the fort for while. It is quiet, devoid of any people or noise - beauty of calm and gentle breeze are the valued treasures one can enjoy here. After spending few minutes then headed back down with another side of the fort.

 

A few hours and we were down to the estate, and then another couple minutes of walk to our last destiny point. Just few meters before I reach vehicle I fell down and my leg got hurt badly. Fortunately this happened very near to our vehicle so I only had to walk only few steps with broken leg. I felt bad for the tragedy end but all together ended with nice memories. By 4PM we were out of the park and headed for back to home.