Monsoon mania, Nagarabare Waterfalls

I fantasized to trek a place that was free from human intervention associated with risks and filled with challenges. Lush greenery, rich flora fauna, waterfalls all around, foggy atmosphere, frequent drizzles and refreshing breeze were my expectations.

Explore the remote and serene area was part of my two days travel plan to explore the couple of waterfalls in H.kal area. I’ve been planning to explore Nagarabare or Kallabbi waterfalls since many years but I’ve never been able to make it. It was my second attempt to hike during a heavy downpour in this region.

This time we were 12 participants who were eagerly waiting to embrace nature, our group is formed by core nature admirers and most importantly we respect it. We had our breakfast at a Hotel on the way hot coffee and Idli were right combination to get us going in full spirit.

The weather didn’t stop us from exploring the waterfalls but we struggled to find the right person to lead us towards the waterfalls. There are only 2 persons knows about this place  but they are hesitating to go waterfalls on monsoon, they usually don’t bring outsiders to the Falls which is highly risky and we couldn’t blame them according to them they don’t have any rights to bring any visitors without permission from the forest and wildlife department.

So what we did was we went to the respected departments and took the permission later, looked for the wildlife guard and when we finally found him he just advised us to do some formalities with the assistance of some friendly forest officers we went back to guide house. And at last we were assisted. Our plan became alive to explore Nagarabare Falls that late morning. It turned out that the entrance to the trail going to Nagarabare Falls is just near the house of Guide.

 When we went back to the main road just a few minute drives we find the forest gate on the left side of the road. It was raining by the time we arrived at the starting point of our hike. Upon entering the gate and passing through some narrow road we welcomed by a thick forest and hills and that’s where the actual trekking starts. It was raining hard that day so the trail was muddy and slippery. We were very careful rocks full of moss that when added with rain can be very slippery.

Though we were all soaking wet, the hike was fast! After like hiking for two hours, I finally heard the sound of the splash of water. Aside from the constant itchy feeling on my feet because of leaches, mosquitoes or ants we also endured the cold air and rain in the middle of the jungle. it was challenging, the steep trail and the mud.  I couldn’t remember how many times I slipped during the trek! But that didn’t stop us from being cautious. We were exploring the mountains; one wrong slip can be very dangerous. The sticky, claustrophobic jungle presses in on us from all sides as we scramble up the muddy path.

We were at the heart of the forest and mountain, a place where the temperature could drop when raining. We finally arrived.  I had some first glimpse of the waterfalls. There was still a bit of rain. I was soaking wet with sweat and rain, yet when I saw Nagarabare it was like all my body ache just went away. This has always been the effect of waterfalls to me.

Passing through some rocks we were finally face to face with this beautiful waterfall. Nagarabare is massive and grand. Sometimes when you see it in photos, you’d first think that this is just ordinary. But wait until you see it before your eyes.  It’s huge yet has a calming effect, taking all your stress and worries away. That’s the power of nature. 

We couldn’t resist looking at one another checking if our thoughts and feelings were the same.  Prashanth even said, “Amazing, right?”  It was huge, tall and majestic. The splash of water has created this dramatic mist, which was surprisingly relaxing. The wall of the falls was filled with green plants making it look even more spectacular.  Of course, we were able to take photos of the falls in wide shot, from afar. But the best experience happened when we got closer and closer.

When I got really close to the falls Wow! The first feeling was the amazement of its power as it touches the water and rocks. The wind can take you a back for a while, the water and mist was just inexplicable.  It was another awe moment for me, literally a jaw dropping experience, which was pretty much enjoyable because of the sweet taste of the mist when my mouth was wide open, totally amazed by this beauty of nature.

All of us were having our own moments with the falls. Some were taking selfies, while others were planning if they could make even closer. When the group made way towards the falls for a swim I stayed for a while to the rocky parts to take some photos for the campaign as for me, I just enjoyed it. I sat on a rock tasting the water, the mist, enjoying the strong wind that compliments the entire experience. 

It’s tall about 150 feet, looking at its splendor, Nagarabare is like a two layered waterfalls, a creation of nature. Below is a wide body of water perfect for a photo op while the one on top is a huge falls directly coming from the mountain. It was like a force to be reckoned with; the water creates this huge and resounding splash. . The best about Nagarabare Falls is the rich nature surrounding its beauty. You could hear the chirping birds and the calming splash of water. The water was so cool it relaxed my tired muscles after an exhausting hike under the rain. 

Once you get to Nagarabare Falls, you better get the best out of it, so never settle to exploring the lower part. Get to the top to enjoy the best view. Looking at the vast pond and the nature surrounding it made me realize two things. One is get out and experience outdoors!

After having lunch and fully enjoyed Nagarabare Falls, it was time to go back.   The hike going back was even tougher than I expected. We went through this steep assault from the falls going up and since it was still raining it was a struggle for the difficult muddy trek while we were all soaking wet these are the kind of experiences that made us tougher.

There are a lot of stories told to us by locals there they have many versions and it’s ridiculous! So it is better to just say that it is still a mystery. I was so thankful to Arun and Suresh, for helping us. It was another moment a realization that locals are there not just to help you with the directions towards the mountain but to also keep you safe.

Dodmane waterfalls

 

It had been a long time since I trekked. Last time I did some trekking was around 5 months ago. After that I always wanted to go for a trek to waterfalls during the Monsoon season. So I decided to do the Monsoon trek in Aghanashini Valley and finally our trek was on. Monsoon treks are always fun. It might be a big risk to trek in a place where it rains continuously but a trek to Aghanashini Waterfalls was worth the risk.

 

One of the best and hardest treks that I had ever been in this Monsoon. It tests both physical and mental toughness. I with 10 group of friends went to this beautiful unmapped waterfalls hoping that we would reach easily. Rain was raining heavily all along the trek. we parked our vehicle just next to the Ghat road and prepared our-self for breakneck adventure. We heard a big sound from the Ghat road.

But we couldn't see the waterfalls distinctly. So we need to mount the another side of the hill towards a edge of the valley on a slippery muddy forest. Forest is very dense and there is no marked path for us to go. We would have to walk about 15minutes along the edge of the valley holding shrubs and roots in slippery muddy woods to reach the waterfalls.As I mentioned before this hike is without trail, bush walk through the woods toward the sound of flowing water.This entire section upto the viewpoint is about half mile. Note that the ground is soft here a sigh of frequent flooding. This is why the hiking is very slow.And the final leg of hike is the steepest anf trickiest.

The place was just awesome we were in almost top of the Ghat (mountain) covered with thick forest with stream flowing in front of us. Dodmane waterfalls turned out to be quite good, water falls in 3 stages with the last being the biggest in height. We stand on edge of the valley with no conversations and everyone looking at the cascade the surrounding mountains covered with dense forest and the stream running down with huge volume to the Aghanashini Valley.

 

Two things we had to watch out here was one is for the green snakes and another one is Leaches.

There is a route next to the top of the Ghat Road which leads to the top of the falls. Other than the main falls, the small falls on the way makes this trek more interesting. We took so much of risk but finally had the feeling of accomplishing something. It was a pleasant feeling. Wonderful, memorable and eye pleasing trek it was.

A Taxing Journey to CKR Waterfalls and The Isolated lands of Western-Ghats

Unexpectedly it rained for the entire night on October 1, and a little more on the next, and has been continued for three days. Udupi, Ghat regions received most of rainfall on October 2, a day when I went to one of the most treacherous pass in the Ghats to trek the most isolated waterfall I’ve been on this year. It is raining as I write, but October month was not supposed to be rained on this region, it was good Monsoon in our district then compare to some other places even though it rained late.

After an elongated drive we able to find one person who known well about this waterfall and also the entire region.  After 10 minutes walk we crossed one small brook, by now we have started to understand that this is not going to be an easy trek ahead. We found a great diversity in plant life along the way. We are certain that we didn't miss any alternative trail along the way but there is still no clear way ahead.

Halfway down the views were amazing. We then hiked through the rain forest for several hours, where it was raining. Somehow discovers that there is a sparsely vegetated walkway through the dense bush ahead, and claims that the trail is lying beneath it. We move into the vegetation, unsure of what we are placing our steps on. Within a few minutes, any possibility of a return becomes remote as the trail we just passed through becomes untraceable. The trees are blocking any view of the outside world.

At least it was when we could still see the sky. We are in a soaked and shadowy world. But we need to go ahead. We can't accept defeat so easily. An hour passes by we are still alive and have reached the edge of the rocky plateau. Guide said because of weather condition it can’t able to approach further downer levels, the rain and overflow in river the waterfalls becomes not accessible to reach. Our legs don't really want to walk further because of uncertainty, so we decided to try this waterfall in some occasion.

The River becomes visible to our right. Few hundred meters downer of us lays Roaring River with overflow and it's time to take some rest on plateau. We are somewhat hungry but decide to take lunch on the completion of day's trek. The watch shows its 2 pm. The trouble starts shortly once again heavy rain started we restart our journey and the track became worst and more slippery than before. Because of thick fog the jungle become denser as before and the trail is not clearly visible.

Wherever there are rainforests, there is the potential for leeches, during the trek, we found dreadfully leeches everywhere on our legs sucking blood, those Leeches got inside the boots and under socks; we doing a leech check often but still they are in huge numbers so we couldn’t flee from leech bite. I found Detol and Vix to rub around the tops of my socks kept them out of shoes. I believe they inject some sort of anticoagulant to make the blood keep flowing.

In the end, I had to take off at least 50 leeches from my body. They're clever! - They crawled under my sock and inner-wear so I wouldn't spot it until after it had a good feed the leeches would have loved it. We got all the leaches off then began to return home.

There are numerous trekking routes throughout the Reserve, some involving risky camping in the jungle so the Reserve is certainly for the adventurous. For most of the trails, it's sensible to get a guide - unlike climbing mountains, I can imagine it would be easy to get lost by yourself - also, there no signposts or details available. There is a Grass canopy hill is called Gopigudda at western-end of the Reserve. Here at sunrise and sunset, you might see millions of birds and also sight of Arabian Sea on a clean sunny day from the top of the hill. Most of these places seemed to me to be very isolated, innovative and attractive.