SANKET(SWOOT)-: March 2007

Kemmangundi or “KR Hills” 17/03/07 – 18/03/07

This was my sixth trip on the bike. This time it was to Kemmangundi, called as the paradise of Karnataka. Kemmangundi is a hill station in Tarikere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is located at a height of 1434m above sea level. This was the summer retreat of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and as a mark of respect to the king, it is also known as Sri Krishnarajendra Hill Station.

Abhigyan, Ambrish, Sourabh and me, were the four guys on two bikes. We started our journey at 5.30 in morning from college and through the city towards yeshwantpur. Problem started early in the morning with my bike getting punctured near Yeshwantpur railway station. It was early 6.30 in morning and no shop was open at that time. A tea stall vendor saw us and said that he’ll repair the bike. He took too much time to repair the puncture. I was not satisfied by the way he did the work and sourabh had a quarrel over there with him. We decided to show the bike to another expert person. This time we got the right person and he did the job efficiently. At around 9.15 we left Bangalore after having our morning breakfast. Our first stop was after Tumkur some 80 kms from Bangalore. Almost 11.00 am in the morning and sun was at it’s full intensity. After tumkur it was tiptur, arsikere, kadur and birur. After you reach birur you have to take left. Till birur the road is really nice. After birur the road is not that great but yes enough good to catch speeds of 50-60km/hr. From Birur Kemmangundi is 70 kms to the left. First is Lingadahalli 40 Kms from Birur and then 30 kms from Lingadahalli is Kemmangundi on the same road. After Lingadahalli it’s a steep hill road to the top. Since the road was really good, we did reach Lingadahalli by 1.30 pm.

Kallathi Falls – Our first destination was Kallathi falls. Kallathi falls is about 10 km. from Kemmangundi. On the road from Kemmangundi to Tarikere, a deviation takes one to Kallathi falls. It is also known as Kallathigiri falls and Kallahatti falls. Water cascades from a height of 122 metres and the temple here is attributed to times of the Vijayanagar Empire. According to a local legend, this place is associated with the Hindu sage, Agastya. There is a sideways besides the temple for going upwards. We did a little trekking for about one km and reached a really good spot. It had natural ponds made up of stone and the water is really cold as up go higher and higher. We did have a good bath at this place, taking the pleasures of spa and as well as the falls. Beware of the monkeys as you go higher. They try to snatch eatables from you. After spending 2 hrs in water we were hungry now and had to look out for shelter for the night. Kemmangundi in particular has cottages by the Department of horticulture which are given on rent. We didn’t do any booking at start itself. After Kallathi falls we started towards Kemmangundi cottages. At 5.00 in evening we reached there. We were lucky to get the last cottage over there and that too for jus one day. There’s only one restaurant at that place. For non-veg lovers, food has to be ordered in advance. After settling down and since we had time we started towards Z-point. Z-point is famous for it’s sunset. Vehicles go till shanti falls after which you have to walk across the steep path.

Shanti Falls - Shanti Falls is a small stream of water with a height of 35 feet. We continued our journey towards Z-point from shanti falls. It’s a trek of 1.5 kms to Z-point from shanti falls. We reached Z-point by 6.15 and it was time for sunset also.

Z-point - Z point is a vantage point at Kemmangundi and is another favorite place of people who want to view a spectacular sunset. The other side of Z-point is a deep valley. We were very much tired by now and wanted to lie on the beds nothing else and yes hungry too. We didn’t have our lunch. So after reaching our cottages we just had our bath and went to the restaurant. We did get a real taste of the south Indian cuisine over there. After the dinner we sat in the garden in front of our cottage and chatted for more than on hour. Everyone decided to get up late in morning apart from me as I wanted to have a stroll around the places near the cottage. These cottages are made on lands like the ones we have in step farming and as you see above you will see more cottage at different heights level. Raj Bhavan is the cottage at the highest level and it is for the government officials only.

Day 2

As usual I got up early in the morning. Abhigyan and Sourabh also got up at the same time. After having out tea at the restaurant we decide to have a stroll around the area. There are places like Rock Garden and Rose Garden. Rock garden consists of things made up of rocks like the one we have in Chandigarh. Here there’s a rock chair with human design and animals made up of small pieces of rocks. Rose Garden contains various kinds of roses. Department of horticulture looks after them. After strolling around the park and garden we went to RajBhavan . From Raj Bhavan you can have a good look of the Kemmangundi hills at a stretch. It a very scenic place to go in early morning. Entire KR hills are can be spotted from there. We did have heavy breakfast at the restaurant and procedded at our journey onwards to Hebbe falls.

Hebbe falls – Hebbe Falls are at distance of 10 kms from KR hills. Local transportation is jeep over there. Since we had our bike we decided to take our bikes. I would advice not to take the bikes for that stretch as the road is really bad. One mistake and you are gone. Bike can go till a private estate called Babay estate of the Khoday’s group. From there we did have a walk of about 2 km till the water falls. Hebbe Falls rush down a height of 250ft. in two stages to form Dodda Hebbe (Big Falls) and Chikka Hebbe (Small Falls.). It was nice to spend the time our there. Such huge falls, with cold water. I started shivering in the water after some time. After hebbe falls we decided to return back to Bangalore, the same night itself. Since the road was good and there was no traffic on that road we did night driving and returned to Bangalore by 1.00 in night.