The hotels near the entrance mainly catering to the tourist crowd visiting the Iruppu falls opened just before 8 am so for anyone reaching at this point breakfast or chai is an option here.
Bhpian vijayols recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
A moderate level trek through the Brahmagiri wildlife Sanctuary running through grasslands,sections of tree covered forest canopy,a couple of streams to cross over on wooden logs,a chance to spot elephants in the wild,a falls at the start of the trek and a culmination of the trek with a steep climb with a rewarding view of the undulating green peaks and all this within a day sounded enchanting enough for me to sign up when the team announced the plan for this weekend.
The vast Grasslands.
The beautiful Brahmagiri Peak
Couldn’t dig out the history as to why this hill got the name Brahmagiri which translates to the hill of Brahma who arguably is the least celebrated of the big three Indian Gods, as most stories narrated by locals talk of references to the Ramayan albeit being contradictory in nature.One of the story mentioned by Poonacha a fellow trekker/friend that in his place Coorg it is believed that the river they worship Kaveri was the daughter of King Kavera and he was blessed with the birth of Kaveri after prayers and penance to please Brahma.This happened in the hills today called as Brahmagiri hills.The other story suggests that Lord Brahma was supposed to have built the Vishnu temple at Thirunellai.That of course is the beauty and fascination of listening to tales which makes interesting conversations, this time with the car driver who mentioned that on the advice of their Guru Lord Rama and Lakshmana were to set up a temple while Hanuman was searching for the whereabouts of Sita and when they made the temple without waiting for his return he was angry and scratched the hill which made a mark!The more popular version being that Rama and Lakshmana when in search of Sita stopped here and being thirsty Lakshmana shot an arrow to pierce the earth and unearth water which turned out to be the Lakshmana Teertha river which merges with the Kaveri downstream.
Hmm don’t know when I would get over this habit of wandering away with my train of thought instead of focussing on the story.And what better way to start one than from the beginning?
So there was an announcement in our India Hikes Trekking Club-Bangalore Chapter mentioning a weekend trek to Brahmagiri with the objective to document the trek to help future trekkers and I jumped in late at the chance.
The plan was simple that we would be divided into teams each of which would be assigned duties like one team handling the route documentation including tracking on Gaia maps,one handling the photography,one handling marking important points and one smaller points like public bus timings,hotel timings etc and the process to book the trek and so on.
Trek destination-Brahmagiri Trek.
Location- Placed between the states of kerela on one side being Wayanad District and the other being in kodugu district in karnataka.The nearest town was Virajpet 250 kms away and an overnight journey from Bangalore.The Brahmagiri hill was situated in the Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary which was an extension of the Nagarhole and Bandipur forests connected by the kutta corridor.Approximately 181 sq kms in area and home to many birds and animals like elephants,tigers,leopards,wild dogs,sloth bear,sambar and barking deer,malabar giant squirrel,Great Hornbills,Nilgiri Langur,lion tailed macaque among others.
Terrain- Primarily grass lands with lush green forest patches and a couple of streams like Lakshmana teertha and Negilu Hole with a rest house called Narimalai Forest rest house a view point ,the Narimalai Hill and of course the
final destination at 5276 feet the Brahmagiri Peak.
Trek Routes- Being shared by two states the karnataka side trek which we were undertaking is the more difficult trail starting at Iruppu Falls/Rameshwara temple and covering a distance of about 11 kms one side and from the kerela end its starts at Thirunellai temple (Vishnu Temple) up to Brahmagiri peak covering a distance of 6 kms one side.
Trek Booking- We had to log in to the Karnataka Govt Website www.aranyavihaara.karnataka.gov.in and book the slot for the trek.In this case Kodugu District Brahmagiri trek and pay the fee and upload a govt document number to get the confirmation.There are 300 slots available per day and this trek is relatively less popular and easily available.
The start time mentioned is 8 am and return by 5 pm.
Bus Booking- We booked an AC sleeper bus to Gonikoppa from Vinayaka travels costing appx Rs 600 each way.
From Gonikoppa to Kurchi village(start point of the trek) our fellow trekker Upayan had arranged for a taxi which cost us Rs 450 per person both ways.Way cheaper than the auto which were present at 4.15 am when the bus reaches Gonikoppa who were quoting Rs 1200 each side per auto.Public bus is also available at 6 am.
Homestay Booking- A fellow trekker Puneet had booked a fresh up stay at Sherlock Homestay along with hot breakfast and packed lunch and cost us appx 700 Rs per person.This was barely a km away from the start point of the trek.
Breakfast options otherwise is a challenge as the local hotels catering to the visitors seeing Iruppu falls would tend to open closer to the 8 am start time.A bakery (Shabari Bake house) was open at 4.15 am at Gonikoppa for chai or basic bakery snacks.
What to Pack for the trek- Would suggest as a checklist an extra pair of clothes,a torch light,cap,2 litres of water,some snacks,a sweater(as it gets cold in the morning both at Bangalore and Gonikoppa,Trekking shoes to wear for the trek,a poncho,battery pack for mobile charging,a towel,cutlery for food,tiffin boxes for packed lunch and a eco bag to collect waste on the trail.We also were asked to download Gaia or all trails app which on hind sight was a necessity. This app needs a KML file of the route to be downloaded and opened in this app to give the GPS trail of the trek.This is essential as there is no mobile network and can be a life save if lost.
Trek dates-We were to catch a late night bus on friday reaching on saturday morning when we would trek and take the saurday night bus back to bangalore to reach on Sunday early morning.
The Trek map.Courtesy India Hikes Documentation team.
So the final lot of 21 trekkers assembled at Majestic bus stop and boarded the sleeper bus.Since we were in such huge numbers we practically were the major passengers in the comfortable bus.Would recommend this bus for its comfort though I as usual couldn’t catch a wink of sleep.(Confirmed this on my Garmin watch which recorded no sleep data both ways.Don’t what is with me and sleep while in travel or in tents.Do not seem to catch any sleep).
The bus stopped once for natures call and chai and dropped us on the dot at 4.15 am at Gonikoppa (A few kms before Virajpet)about 20 kms away from Kurchi village where our stay and the trek start was located.
Upayan called our transport who arrived shortly in 3 cars while we noted the options to get to Kurchi for our trek documentation.Autos seem to be always available.The other options like I mentioned was asking the home stay to arrange for a car or wait for the public bus at 6 am.
The early morning drive through the plantations was thrilling especially as we nearly hit a pair of hares which crossed the road in a flash.We thought we had killed them but an inspection confirmed that though injured the hares seemed to have made it.A dramatic start to what turned out to be an action packed day ahead!
We were given 3 rooms to freshen up at the Sherlock home stay which was neat and the bed looked comfy.There was hot water available and fresh towels.That surely was a luxury not to be missed for a trek.
Breakfast was hot dosas and chutney with some masala omelettes thrown in along with tea/coffee.Service was with a smile which was refreshing.
Packed lunch was pulao with raitha/Boiled eggs and they gave me recyclable plastic covers which I had forgotten to bring for ensuring food did not leak.
Would any day recommend this place if only for the service with a smile attitude not to mention the delicious hot food served.
Believing rightly that an early start helps we were ready with our packed lunch and bags bang on target by 7 am.The start of the trek was barely 500 mts away at the forest office gate located next to Rameshwara temple.
On reaching there learnt that the timings (though was pertaining to the more popular Iruppu falls)was mentioned as 8am to 5pm.Moreover checking with the forest guard there we learnt that the guides usually reach by 8.30 am or so and that too if they have been informed that there is a trekking group.
So the protocol looks like after we book the trek online we need to call the Forest officer (Naveen) 8050521417 or the local coordinator Sudeep on 9663172355 and inform them to tell the guides that a trekker has booked for the Brahmagiri trek so that they could be present there on time.The guides 5 of them in total of which one stays in the Narimalai Forest rest house (to take care that the electric fence is switched on and be present for night duty) and the others take care of duties like guides for trekkers and fire tracking jobs and basic patrolling duties.
Our guides Jai (who was the lead) and Gagan (trail guard) reached by 9 am when we started our trek.The guide fees are extra at Rs 500 per batch of booking(Max of 10 per booking).Tips of any are at the discretion of the trekkers.A basic instruction was given which included silence on the trek,wearing of neutral color dress with orange/white and other bright colors a no-no,not throwing plastic on the trail and that of we were to spot animals especially elephants on the trek then based on the advice of the guides we may have to cut short the trek and return back.Apparently the animal especially elephant-man conflict had increased over the years and elephants were up to the trick of not getting scared by fire crackers or air gun shots but would attack if threatened by humans.
While waiting for the guards to turn up a few of us explored the places nearby and Anil found that just behind the Rameshwara temple the Lakshmana Teertha stream flowed.
The hotels near the entrance mainly catering to the tourist crowd visiting the Iruppu falls opened just before 8 am so for anyone reaching at this point breakfast or chai is an option here.
Just around 9 am our group of 21 and an additional 4 trekkers of another group were all set and excited to begin our journey.The initial trail was a cement path with a few steps leading straight to the falls while we took a right deviation towards the Brahmagiri hills.The team responsible for the trail mapping (included me in the lead)started recording on our Gaia app.This coincided with the already mapped trail downloaded from the KML file.
Continue reading Bhpian Vijayols’ Travelogue for more insights and information.
