Mettkal Gudda - Hosangadi

 

There are some places which makes a strong cryptic impression on mind and leave with us residual of feelings for Long.  Mettkal Gudda is also such type of the place where accessible very easily from Hosangadi village, Udupi district. It’s situated in a beautiful setting an elevation of 1200 ft height.

 

This place which witnessed is a historically important of Bidanuru and Keladi kingdom and was an important place when Shivappa Nayaka the king of Keladi kingdom ruled on this area. There are remnants of forts especially on the top of the hill was remarkable and big quest for adventures lovers.

 

This place I used to go from my collage days and this day’s I heard lot of development could see on this place from the forest department. This place is near to Varahi Underground Power Project, the whole Hulikal Ghat (Balebare) region and remaining Kunchikal Falls is visible from the top.

 

  The river Varahi takes its birth at a height of 730 m in the Western Ghats at Hebbagilu, near Agumbe after a 25 Km initial run; this swift and powerful river falls 455 m in cascades to form the bellowing Kunchikal falls. It’s a virtual mystery compared to most of the other waterfalls along the west coast of India. The falls are found along a large river, below a significant hydroelectric project yet there seems to be very little information about the falls available.

 

What is known is that the river is almost entirely diverted into the adjacent hydroelectric system and the falls, which consist of four distinct tiers over a run of about 1,493 linear feet, rarely flow heavily as a result. Below the falls the river formerly cascaded down a steep gorge filled with huge boulders, which might appear to be part of the falls at cursory glance, but without the full natural volume of the river in place, it's hard to think that was actually the case.

 

A small Ganesh temple located at top of the hill and it’s an ancient temple and is very popular for the excellent view of ruined fort and surrounding beautiful green valleys and milky cascades from the location on top of a hill. Till December we can easily spot Kunchikal waterfalls from the top of the hill.

 

On the way to the temple here are some huge rock formations and a couple of small caves witnessed with a cool temperature and its a amazing place to take rest under the large expanse of stone expended little outer at the top of the rock formation.

 History: Hosangadi was the capital town for the administration during the period of Honne Kambali Arasa’s. It was called as Hosa-Gadi (new border) and later colloquially it turned into Hosangadi. Honne-Kambali arasa's are the Palegar’s under the rule of Bidanuru Shivappa Nayaka. Even today one can find the old age stone structures, temples and historically valued things here. There are more than 4 Shiva temples here over all Hosangadi is The historical evidences says that the headquarters of Honne Arasa's was shifted to Hosangadi from Kadri (a place near Siddapur).

Thimmankudru - Paduthonse (Kemmannu).

Thimmankudr is located just two kilometers away from my quaint small home and I used to go this place whenever I get bored. There are innumerous attractions surrounding my village on the sea line including some islands, estuaries and secluded serene and clean beaches, and greenery everywhere, In the tub of Suvarna River, a group of about a dozen islands in Tonse region covered with lush green decorated by creeks, coconut palms surrounded by clear blue waters adds to the natural beauty to my village it was a reflection of beautiful mother Nature.

 

There are several islands like Moodu Kudru, Srinivasa Kudru, Nadukudru, Balegere Kudru, Kiniyere Kudru. During the monsoon time Swarna flows with brim the region gets inundated when the water is released from nearest dam.

 

An impressive looking hanging bridge, which attracts curious visitors from far and wide connects one of the better-known islands, which connects Padukudru to Thimmannakudru to the mainland. The hanging bridge is about 280 feet long and was built in January 1991 during the annual training of NCC cadets. As I walked through the bridge I was amazed about the efforts that have been put up by the NCC Cadets in constructing this marvelous bridge. There are 26 families residing in Thimmannakudru and all the families had provided help in the construction of the bridge.

 

This is the only bridge which connects families residing in Thimmanna Kudru. If the bridge is not repaired, then they will once again have to depend on traditional boats and coracles for transportation. In the beginning, wooden planks were used on the bridge to cross the river. However, owing to the salt water, the planks were getting weak and destroyed. In fact, one person was killed when he accidentally slipped from one of these planks some years ago. Later cement planks were installed by Panchayat dept.

 

Bengre is an estuary about 2.5km from Thimmanna Kudru wherein you could see the sea on one side of the road and the river on the other, Bengre beach towards south also collects accolades of being a fine beaches at Hoode and Tottam.

 

 

Entrance of the Bengre a small fishing port at the mouth of the Suvarna River as it merges a little further with the Arabian Sea. The fishing port presented a deserted look. During fishing season, the fishermen would usually auction their catch from around 2.30 pm. We could see practically all fishing vessels anchored in a line.

 

Just few meters walk from the port side its laid to the beautiful estuary It’s a long stretch of palm fringed white sand the coconut plantation just in front of ocean and it's not uncommon to find just a handful of people on the entire half-mile stretch of sand.

 

A long stretch of powdery, white sand backed by a thick band of coconut trees, and an azure seascape extending to the horizon. There's not a soul in sight no high rise hotels, no ship piers, no vendors peddling, not much mobs of tourists where you can escape the crowds and enjoy that ever-elusive treasure, these are perfect beaches.

 

Certainly each time when I spent these beaches at evening went beyond my imaginations of Sun dipping down to the ocean. The twilight affect on the ocean was simply charismatic and left a bold impression in my memories.

Babbukudru (Byluhonne Nadutopu) -Kundapura

 

With summer season on the way, I couldn't help but think about all the wonderful opportunities to have and enjoy the crisp, fall air under trees ablaze with color without even leaving the city. Our Udupi YHA made wonderful short trip to this hidden gem, No one had never visited it before and decided a perfect day to explore it!

We have been so fortunate with the sunshiny days! We found this great place near Kundapur city close to the Arabic sea shore; it was worth the walk though this place was heaven! Babbukudru (In Kannada Kudru means island but how Kannad got joined to the name of the village is very interesting) is a remote an area of 25 acres in Byluhonne Nadutopu comes under Karnataka forest Department and one of the lowest human activities place occasionally locals visit here for their fishing activities rest of that it’s very isolated by humans. This place is supposed to only be accessible by small wooden boats.

 

The Pancha Gangavali River created a Sandy Island where the water continues to erode Arabian Sea. The trail begins exciting journey through the small boat and after landing the river bed it was much sandier and welcomed wide sandy beach. There were more open spaces and more evidence of flooding. With trees trunks themselves were bearing natural markings of flood stages. It would appear that much of the island may be under water during high flood seasons.

We noted that we saw only deciduous trees, not sure if there were any evergreens hiding in the woods because we couldn’t enter the shrubby jungle we guessed that it must be dangerous. I was surprised to find big stands of dune grass on some sections of the sandy shoreline. It's a great place to explore the beach and look across the river to Sea shore.

I found it fascinating how each side of the island has its own distinctive character. When we reached another side of the island it was low tide time and after an hour wandering there I got wonder because the whole area covered by water and whole serine went change rapidly. The species of crabs which I observed is a very colorful and it doesn't look scary at all. For me, it looks adorable. It is found along the river bed and swamp.

A typical pattern often seen on the sand at low tide are these pretty designs made out of countless tiny sand balls. It’s almost a miracle; it’s Babbukdru’s isolation that Small crabs feed on particles in the sand, processing sand into small balls, amazingly beautiful crab creations! The whole river bed was covered in these intricate designs and makes it sort of a little oasis. They are made when crabs pass sand through their mouths for food and leaving behind these sand balls.

 

These are made by the tiny Sand Bubbler crab that sifts through sand grains for edible bits another crab typical of sandy shores that create sand balls are the Soldier crabs. When the tide comes in, they seal up the burrow to hide from predators that forage at high tide. Leaving little claw marks on the sand, they sift through the debris left on the high water line, and scuttle around on sandy and other ecosystems on the lower shore.

The fiddler crabs also make little sand balls and they are much easier to spot. Chasing crabs in the sands was a great funny experience and its ability to disappear from sight almost instantly. Babbukudru sandy shore can be home to hundreds of these delightful animals. It's hot and dry out on the sandy shore at low tide. So many animals are hidden in the sand. If we look, we can see signs of them even at low tide. It's fun figuring out what animals live in the sand!

 

It’s almost as surprising that Babbukudru Island, a hidden jewel ringed by its two different outlook at high tide – Low tide times. After crossing the river we visited Kodi-Bengre’s estuary. It’s the most beautiful view in Kodi Bengre one should never miss the opportunity to see it. Here we had a nice view where the river Varahi joins Arabian Sea. We spent sometime on Sea Shore and later headed to Kundapur Light House. Finally we finished a great day in our own way with getting variety of colorful experiences in short time.