Bramhagiri

Fresh from the trek, i thought would be the best time to cover this one on my blog. Bramhagiri is located in the Coorg district and arguably has the best wildlife among all other treks in Karnataka! Known for the amazing wildlife and lovely landscape, Bramhagiri is one of the most popular treks in the region and is among the top 5 best treks for many trekkers in this region! Travel details are fairly simple:
Location: Gonikoppal(Coorg)- Srimangala-Irpu falls-Narimal Betta guest house- Bramhagiri- Thiruneli(Kerala)-Kutta-Gonikoppal
Duration : 2 nights and 3 days including travel(bangalore)
Trek difficulty: Simple to average
Ideal season: When ever permission available
Requirements :Back pack, sleeping bags, minimum 2 liters of water, snacks, ration to cook food for 2 meals, clothes as per requirement, comfortable foot wear, extra socks, warm clothing, towel, candles, torch, match box, knife, cup, plate.
Bus to Gonikoppal in coorg. From there a bus to Srimangala where the forest office is located. Permission to trek and a guide along with the trekking group is mandatory. After sorting out the permission, get to irpu falls. Enjoy the waterfall and if your mind permits then take bath also in it! It is quite a local attraction, so you are bound to have aunties and uncles alongside. Naked uncles and screaming aunties would make more sense actually!
On finishing with the aunties and uncles and the waterfall, start trekking with the guide! Trek is fairly simple and uneventful on the first day! Hardly two and half hours and the first camping location is reached! A really short trek this one. Narimal betta guest house is the only place where the permission to stay is given. Camp fire and such things are not appreciated. The guest house is quite well equipped with vessels and a cooking place. Just collect firewood and you are all set! If the trek seemed too small, then a place called Pakshi pathalam just 4 kms away from narimal betta is a worthwhile timepass. Sunset and sunrise are major photography events. Try wasting less time than my friend in adjusting the lenses and the focus and the aperture and wat not!!;)
Second day the trek gets interesting. For me the highlight of the trek was spotting deer! Also we spotted a lone bull at quite a distance. The funny part is that we spotted this lone bull at 5 30 while taking pics of the sunset and when we came back next day for the sunrise photography session, we spotted it at the same place. A friend of mine suggests that its the male thrown out of the herd by the dominant male since its attracting attention of the females in the herd. ;) Thank God human's rnt like them. Else most of us would be thrown out of a lot of places!!!!....lol!....
The trek on the second day gets to full swing when Bramhagiri stands in front of you and all you can see is that nicely cut path which runs straight up. This also is the boundary marking between karnataka and Kerala! Walk in the path and you are in no mans land...lolz!...So trek straight up to get an amazing view from the top of Bramhagiri!!!!! Steep trek down the hill and you reach Thirunelli temple village. Visit the temple and board a bus to Kutta. Kutta to either Mysore or Gonikoppal.
One of the easiest treks in the western ghats range, but also one of the most beautiful treks. Dense wildlife and enthralling scenes is the USP of this trek. Any trekker in Karnataka region would have guaranteed heard about this trek. On a personal note this trek was my first all boys trek so it was fun and it was even better since it was with an alien group of guys! Group turned out to be amazing and it was superb sharing stories from various treks! Do this trek even if you aren't a trekker!!!! Its worth the little bit of effort! Enjoy trekking:)

KP!!!!!

Isn't that a glorious sight! KP which stands for Kumara Parvata is located in South Canara, and is one of the nicest trek in this region.
Location: Kumara parvata, Kukke-Somvarpet.
Duration : 2 nights and 3 days including travel(bangalore)
Trek difficulty: Average
Ideal season: Summer
Requirements :Back pack, Tent, sleeping bags, minimum 2 liters of water, snacks, ration to cook food for 2 meals, clothes as per requirement, comfortable foot wear, extra socks, warm clothing, towel, candles, torch, match box, knife, cup, plate.
Travel plan is quite simple. Board a bus to Kukke or Somvarpet according to convinience. Trek can be started from either direction. Since I did it from Kukke, I will be providing more details form that end. Trek starts directly in front of the Kukke temple. There is a small path leading towards the starting point. Few hundred meters on this path will lead straight to a house. This is the starting point of the trek! A very good part of the forest has been cleared up to form the path, so there should not be any confusion about the path.
The initial part of the trek is in quite thick jungle. Try and enjoy this bit as you might not come across this kind of canopy after a while. After an hour and half of delightful trekking, bhatru mane(Mr Bhat's house) arrives. This is the last sight of people and the place for Lunch off course. Bhatru, i e the owner of the house, along with his few sons and relatives lives here and has a real good hand at cooking. He regularly cooks food for the trekking enthusiasts who come to this place in large nos. during the holiday season. The time I went also was one such period and believe it or not, at the peak there were around 8 different camps consisting roughly of around 60 people overall. That's a mess, so choose the dates you go to this place wisely since its one of the most popular treks in the region! Route to the peak is fairly straight forward. But the trek to the peak isn't!!! After crossing Bhatru mane, there is hardly a sign of shade anywhere! Not a tree is within sight for a long long tine. And the climb too is quite nasty and treacherous. Quite a short distance, but the sun, gradient of climb and lack of shade makes the trek seem like a very long one!!!On reaching the false peak, the actual Kumara parvata peak is visible. This false peak is called Pushpagiri. One of the most enthralling sights in the western ghats greets us on top of this peak. MAARI GUNDI is a breath taking fall right in front of this peak. A snap at the edge of this peak with Maari gundi in the background is a must!;)
Camping can be done in the small bit of jungle at the peak. Care needs to be taken in this place as this place boasts of a quite dense wildlife. Reports of bear attacks have been reported in the past. Tents would be ideal for camping but it is possible to camp without them also easily. Light a small fire, not too extravagant since this region falls under the reserve forest range and lighting an extravagant fire might not go very well with the forest officials. Temperatures fall drastically in the night, since this is the second tallest peak in the state. Take veru good warm clothing else you will suffer the fate that one of my friend's had to! He gave the rest of the team doubts about my sexual orientation! Btw i am straight!!!..;)
Rise early and start trekking. Reason I shall tell in a while. Enjoy the sunrise at the peak. Its an absolute delight. Then there are arrow marks pointing towards Somvarpet. Follow them religiously through out the trek. The descent is quite slippery at places and the gradient is surprisingly sharp through out. Descend safely but a little quickly since the last bus to Somvarpet from the forest office below is at 3 30 sharp. This is the reason I said start the day as early as possible! If you manage to reachthe forest office below(which marks the end of the trek) very early then try visiting Malvalli falls which is very close to this forest office. Have a nice shower and board the bus to Somvarpet!:)
KP is a very significant trek for me in more than one way. Firstly the sight of Maari Gundi is unparrelell to any I have ever seen. Second reason is a personal one, since I went with a small group and had a lot of fun trekking. This again is a must visit for trekking enthusiasts in Karnataka. Have fun and enjoy trekking :).