Monsoon ride to Munnar and ooty

They say "If you don't ride in rain, you don't ride". here comes the monsoon season of the year and  we plan for a monsoon ride to a hilly station in south India.
The plan was up to ride to Munnar, a hill station in Kerala. after many days of planning and followup to get necessary things and  readiness for the ride, a group of 9 guys with 7 bikes were ready to face the heavy rains in God's own country.

 At 3 30 am everyone were ready at the Kanakpura road metro, which was decided as the meeting point.
quickly we discussed about the route we taking and the basic ground rules of riding and we set ourselves with our machines on road, soon we were in cruise mode cruising on kanakpura road, after breaking the dawn we had a tea stop, we almost covered 70 kms from the city, feeling the cool breeze, listening to chirping of birds and watching the sunrise beside the mountains are the pleasure moments for a biker. i was enjoying and "i like how it feels" is the song i was humming inside the helmet.

Ashik bike was having a strange problem of starting trouble, we tried our hands on bike to fix it, which was of no use, chalo then push start the bike..!! so every time he puts of his bike this was the scenario in whole trip ;). after crossing chamrajanagar Rohan had a small crash, where his bike brake foot peg was broken and he got minor brusries on his waist.  Vinay took over his bike and made chippi to ride his Apache, after crossing the check-post we were on Coimbatore highway. we stopped at sathyamangala for breakfast, everyone were very hungry, Tamilnadu Dosa , idli vada treated our stomach, Venu Sumanth office buddy joined the ride from here, he was riding an Fz, quickly Rohan was took to a near by doctor to treat his wound later his bike went to clinic for fixing the foot peg.
we had a rest time as the bike was in service station. we had funny chats and biker talks, sun was above our head making us sweat inside our jackets. soon again we were on high way heading towards green hills.

Heavy cross winds on Avinashi - udumalaipettai road, took break for lunch and again continued with few photo stops, soon we entered into the chinnar wildlife reserve, lucky enough to see some wild life, we dint stop anywhere, we could see the dark clouds upon our head, so we sprinted towards the hills.

it started to rain and everyone pulled out there rain gears and ready for what western ghats monsoon brings to us. we stopped for a photoshoot with our bikes we were 29 kms away from munnar and it was already evening, and we spotted a wild elephant inside the tea estate which was causing some panic to localities.

by time we reach munnar it was raining heavily, everyone were drenched totally, sumanth guided us for our home stay which was booked in prior, the home was pretty good with parking for our bikes and we dumped all our lauguages  the service was also not bad, inspite of heavy rains and darkness they served us hot food and hospitality was good. everyone were tired and drifted to sleep with rain splattering sound at background.

Day 2:
Sumanth's mobile alarm woke me up i saw the time with half closed eyes it was exactly 7 am, i jumped out of my bed and ran out to check out the weather and surroundings, it was raining and fog every where, everyone were ready in a quick span of time , we were ready out with our rain gear and camera's and started clicking and a quite walk into the tea estates, at a distance we could hear a water fall and we spotted it from top and started moving towards the water falls,  the water current was very high and it was indeed a beautiful view.




 there was a small house beside the falls with coffee and tea available board on it. we just entered the tea shop and it was best tea shop i've ever seen its just beside the roaring water falls, and one could sit beside the water fall and sip the hot fresh tea and enjoy the mesmerizing beauty of nature.
let the pics tell the beauty of the place.




after the falls we headed back to resort and had breakfast. we packed our bags... 

incomplete blog... !!  will finish it sometime ...

Enthralling Nagarahole

 

5th Feb 2022

Nagarahole forest is the home for many wild life, a natural habitat for many flora and faunas.

Little facts I was knowing about this forest from the internet. When I visited here it gave a totally different perspective to wildlife and forest.

We reached nagarahole gate by 10am and understood that 2 wheeler is not allowed in the protected wildlife sanctuary. 

 The idea was to ride inside the forest range to get a feel of thick forest, but for safety reasons entry of two wheelers are restricted, from the short talk with gate keeper of KFD got to know that  there were instances of animals attack on two wheelers in past. We totally understood and headed to our stay as we have already booked for safari which will be taken in same roads.

The stay in Jungle lodges and resorts was exceptional, the rooms, the facilities in the premises, the food and also the staff were very courteous, we roamed around the resort and had delicious lunch and were waiting for safari to start. We opted for late noon safari which starts at 3 30pm.

 As we were accompanied by enthusiastic photographers, they really wanted to find the big cats of the jungle to click them, we started the safari ride and soon spotted the common sightings deer's, samba, sloth bears, wild boars, Gaur,  crested eagle, giant  squirrels, the hunt to sight the tiger was on and we started exploring the waterholes of nagarahole.  Nagarahole has 6 ranges, Veeranahosahalli rane, Metikuppe range, Anechowkur Range, kallahalla range, antharasanthe range and Doddaryanakuppe range.  The entire forest range covers 643 sq kms, and we were exploring mere 15-18 sq kms. We got many info's about the big cat of the jungle. Each tiger has its territory and it will be upto 40-45 sq kms and nagarahole has 137 tigers and the space for them is congested and not sufficient.

 When each tiger has 40-45 sq kms of living range, we exploring 15-18 sq kms.. Its really hard to spot one. Never the less we started to explore the waterholes of the forest, as it is evening, we might spot animals near the waterholes.  There are 7 water holes which we explored, kaithole, nagasere, doddahalla, marappanakere, kunthur, peacock kere, chikpala.  

 Tracing tiger in forest is exciting and thrilling one, we were tracing paw marks on the roads, we were listening to warning calls from animals like deer, langur, rhesus monkeys they signal other animals about the arrival of the tiger. With those sounds we waited to spot the tiger.

With the warning calls we near to one of the water spot we waited and we spotted a leopard which was very shy and it was very quick to hide itself in the bushes of the forest, we did not have sufficient time to click photos of it. And then again we waited and little ahead of the water spot we spotted the mighty predator of the forest, THE TIGER it was named as mooga as it has a slight wound on its nose. It was sitting and bushed and slowly it made moves and came out of bushes to give a clear view of its beauty and elegant sitting stance. We clicked lot of photos of mooga and it was truly an experience  to see the tiger in the wild freely roaming in its territory.  With it's passing by it was in evening 6 30 and we wanted to get out of jungle before it is dark. 

 

Our driver rushed towards our stay, the sighting of the tiger and learning more about its facts by fellow photographers and forest personals was really good.

While in search of tiger we also spotted elephant, deer, wild pigs, bisons in the forest.  Forest and its ecosystem left us crave of more time to spend in the forest and look for the wild which made us to decide for another round of safari in the morning time to try our luck in spotting another Tiger or leopard.

 

We had a delicious night meal at JLR and spent some time in watching photos and walking in the resort area and call it a day before we crash on the bed, as next day we need to start early for round 2 of safari with same photographer group.

 

6th Feb 2022

It was 5 30 am in the morning and  it was colder than we anticipated, we boarded on to the Jeep and started early and again the search for the mighty predator of nagarahole was on, we first saw a major panic movement in the herd of deers, which is common when a predator is near by, we anticipated for a leopard or Tiger but it turned to be wild dogs which are one of the predators of the Nagarahole. There are only 3 predators in Nagarahole range those are Tiger, Leopard and Wild dogs.

We saw pug marks and followed the pug marks, we spoted pug marks of the cubs aswell. Even after extensive search and trying to visit all the waterholes of the veeranahosahalli range, we could not spot the tiger this day. We spotted small beautiful bird and spent sometime clicking pictures of it. Its called as bee eater. We stopped at chikpala water hole for some time observe water birds and few peacocks. It was hard luck for us we had to return without any sighting of the wild.

  

It is usually very hard to spot the tiger and leopard in the wild as they are spread over a vast territory and also they are usually very shy in nature and not so active to be a advent.  We came back to resort to have a delicious buffet spread of breakfast followed by our check out from JLR.

 

A few words about the Jungle Lodge Resorts, JLR in nagarahole is called as Kings JLR. They are very well maintained vast area of space at the entrance of the nagarahole checkpost. They rooms were really big with living area, balcony, open roof bathtub area, very big bed room with basic facilities of water, coffee, tea, hot water, television. The time we spent in balcony area was memorable with reading about the tigers and leopards from the table top books kept in our room, we got most of the information from those books. It also contains beautiful photographs of the Tigers and leopards of Nagrahole and kabini. The resort have swimming pool, hammoks hung everywhere around the stays to relax. They have ample parking area and also fire camp place.

The dinner and lunch served at the centralized place for all the guests which is quite modern and also the food is delectable.

 

The staffs are quite co-operative and helpful to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. Bookings for JLR has to be done only via online through there websites. I'm also looking forward to explore other JLR stays in Karnataka.

 

The approach to JLR and nagarahole from Bangalore is via Mysore and Hunsur, two wheelers are not allowed inside the reserved forest area, also 4 wheelers are not allowed from evening 6pm to morning 6am.

 

Nagarahole is one of the  prominent yet pristine forests of Karnataka, It is an adobe of endless chirps, gigantic trunks and ethereal predators including the melanistic panther, all woven together in an intricate balance in the cycle of life.

If you love and admire nature even in the slightest way, Nagarhole will steal your heart. We’d go back there again and again because even a lifetime of safaris isn’t enough.

First bike ride with my Love

Myself n Vinay decided to go for a short morning breakfast ride. We decided to take our beloved partners with us. The place was decided as boganandishwara temple.

21st Aug 2016, Sunday morning.. We could not leave on time as decided due to obvious reasons ;) never the less v left my home by 7 15 am on the way I picked sow ( my finance). After our engagment I was waiting to take her for a ride on bike, we went around in car, but the feel is entirely different with our partner.

Soon we were cruising on airport road, enjoying the cool breeze of Bangalore awesome weather.
We stopped at Nandi upchar for much awaited breakfast. After munching some yummy dosas n idlis we headed towards boganandishwara temple.

Boganandishwara temple is one of the oldest temple around Bangalore, situated just below the nandi hills in nandi grama. This Shiva temple has 3 garba gudi, n a big nandi in front of Shiva linga.
The temple also has a big pushkarni surrounded by many pillars n 4 gopuras. It has become the favorite photo spot for many wedding photoshoots.
We also spent some time clicking photos with our better halfs, me n Soumya enjoyed posing for photos. It was like a rehearsal for our upcoming pre-Wed photoshoot. Thanks to Rashmi and Vinay for clicking beautiful shots.


After few posing sessions, we left temple n headed towards Bangalore. It was a well spent Sunday morning. Open roads, best bike, lovely partner, good breakfast, what else a biker wishes for a Sunday morning :).

I call it as a beginning many more rides are awaiting with you love.  Xoxo 

Brahmagiri -- Monsoon Trek

The wait for monsoon was over, it was heavily raining in western ghats and it was irresistible for us to get drenched in the beauty of nature.
After cancelling Nishani Motte as bhagamandala was flooded and no access to talacauvery, we decided to trek Brahmagiri peak.
Brahmagiri, is a mountain range in the Western Ghats of south India. It is situated on the border between Kodagu district in Karnataka state in the north and Wayanad district of Kerala state on the south. height 1608 mtrs. The shola forest is house for many elephants, sambars, wild boars etc.

Quick arrangements of transport, stay and  permissions were made by swamy and myself, the team is all set to leave the city on Friday night. it was 10 people from Bangalore and Arun joined us from Mysore. left the city around 11pm and picked Arun in Mysore by 3am in morning.
our early morning stop was in Shrimangala where we need to take permission from forest range officer. with help of swamy and his brother we got permissions for trekking and also a forest guard who will be joining us as guide for the day.

we got fresh and all set with food for noon and some precautions for the leeches :P. it was raining on and off we were surrounded by the lush green forest, at the entrance of the irupu falls gate we met our guide Mr.Mohan who accompanied with us for the trek. The trail is behind the Irupu falls.

we started to walk and it started to rain, the happiness of getting drenched in the rain of western ghats has its own feel, soon we were into the forest and ascending the hill. although it was raining we were sweating inside our rain coats. leeches in the path got activated by our movements and started to attack us.

The group following the trail 

Into the forest 

First peak view

Swamy posing :P

Small falls enroute, which we assumed to be lakshmana theertha. 

Group at rest on the peak, not the top yet, we were just half the way. this place was too windy it ws literally pushing us. rain was playing hide and seek between clouds.

soon we reached our halt point Narimale forest rest house, it had a hall and 2 rooms with attached bathrooms, we quickly get off the leeches from our legs and went inside the rest house to dry ourselves. there was no power, although there were  solar charged batteries, it was used to electrify the fence around the house and not for lighting. electrifying fence is required to protect from wild animals.

after rest, we had our packed lunch which we got from shrimangala. we then started to climb further up, this time without bags, the path was trench and it was an open land after an accent.

the place was very windy again with showers of rain, we could not even stand there for long.  

A group selfie 

Narimale rest house, Mohan the forest guard and guide.

we reached Narimale by 6 pm and spent some time by talking and discussing on treks and future travel plans, it started raining heavily and the fence were electrified by Mohan and he was explaning how an elephant came inside and damaged the guest house in spite of fence. we had ready to eat dinner and by 9pm everyone were off to sleep, as it was dark with no lights.
There were times of pin drop silence and suddenly heavy rain chattering noise on the roof. soon everyone dozed off to sleep.

Morning when we woke up still it was raining, and we had packed breakfast of bread butter, Jam and milk. we took a group pic in front of Narimale. it was a memorable stay in the thick forest. we started packing and securing our legs from tiger leeches, i had several bites previous day :O so i took extra time to secure my legs from the bites.

As we started to descend again rain started, it was a perfect monsoon trek.

In 2 hrs we reached irupu falls, we spent sometime taking pics near to falls and bid bye to our guide Mr.Mohan.

Irupu falls.

Out TT was ready by the time we reach the starting point of trek, we checked for leeches again and we were into the phone network area after 2 days, soon everyone got busy by calling there loved ones :). it was a perfect monsoon trek, with rain, wind, leeches, green shola forest feast to eyes and soul.

i looked at the mountains saying bye to them again and promising myself to visit Brahmagiri again.

key points :
Permission for trek -- Shrimangala forest range Ph - 08274 -246331
Stay -- Narimale guest house
Bangalore to Shrimangala via hunsur.

The day i flew like bird -- paragliding

As an adventure enthusiast, the happiness is striking of the task in the bucket list by accomplishing it.
this time its an unplanned adventure, Paragliding.

25th March 2016.

I was on a trip with my friends in idduki, kerala. it was a long weekend as it was good friday.
we were at kerala to explore vagamon, iddukki and kumliy. on day one on the way to Vagamon pine forests, i spotted a board beside the board which stated "paragliding station".

We were excited to watch the flying glides in the sky and decided to have a closer look on the activity. as we approach the point, my mind was rushing with excitement and at same time was juggling with the decision if i need to give a try on this or not.

after watching the big paraglides, i decided to give a try on this. something was repeating in my mind if not now, then when ?. Even my friends encouraged to take up the adventure.

 

                                         

                                         
  

Jenu kallu, kode kallu banjaaru falls trek

Monsoon came to an end and whole of western ghats were calling us with its all glory of green mountains.
Nov 1st and 2nd 2014.
The plan was hitched to trek Charmadi range. Near ujire and dharmasthala.

We left Bangalore bit late on Friday night, blames on Bangalore weekend traffic. It was 11 30pm when everyone were fit into tempo traveller and say Hi to highway. Arrangements for stay n guide were made in prior. Our sincere thanks to Keshav Mulya from Charmadi.

Day 1:
 6 30 am we reached Charmadi gate, and took deviation to panchalinga temple where we have a small hall to rest and halt. Lets call this as base camp. Everyone got fresh and all set for the day, while few of them prepared breakfast n lunch. We quickly had breakfast and packed our lunch.
Our guide Nemanna was with us on time, he is the well known person of that region and should appreciate his activeness even in his 50+ age.
Starting point of trek is near annappa swamy temple, this temple is on the road side of the Charmadi ghat, vehicles stop here for pooja and proceed.
500 meters from the temple we started the ascend. It was sunny and soon everyone started to sweat. One should carry sufficient water as there is no water source till 4kms. After crossing one hill we get water source a small stream, we had our packed lunch there. The hill is full of knee length grasses and after few kms there is no accrual trail path to gowri gudda. It is having a steep accent. The view from the top was mesmerising, we could find elephant dungs and skid marks on the top. Wondering how a big creature can climb that steep peak.

The entire Charmadi n shiradi range can be seen from the top. We spent sometime on top and started to descend, there is no trail path one should make there own  path, should be careful chances of stepping into a pit and can slip.
We could see our next destination of the day kode kallu from the top, our guide Nemanna was really fast in walking compared to our group. Soon we started to put big steps towards giant rock. On the way we met a big group of collage students hiking towards gowri gudda. Wishing them a good luck we proceeded, in 40 mins we reached the kode kallu, from far it's doesn't seem like that huge, but it is really huge, 30 to 50 people can camp under the mammoth rock, but no water source near by. We could see the road from rock, although reaching the road is not that easy it's very steep. We spent some silent time on the rock just looking at the mountains ahead. We spotted some wild boars on the top.   Everyone's bottle was empty n we started to descent time was 4 30, at last 500 meters was very tiring. we reached the camp site and screen down to day 1 with mouth watering food.

Day 2:

Alarm woke us at 5 and soon after brush some got busy cooking breakfast and lunch for the day while the rest were busy with other chores for the day. Finally at 7.30 all bags packed with lunch and shoes on we started towards Banjarumale Hills which is located in the 9th hairpin curve and is home to "Malekudiya" tribal people living deep inside the forests on the Charmadi Ghat Road. It is 18 km from Kakkinje and private estate has fenced the route, there is a need for any trekker going on this route to take prior permission from the private estate managerial staff. Just an oral permission is not sufficient as the private estate party demands for written and sealed permission to pass through the route.Some 2 kms inside the estate we stopped our TT and started our trek thou their is a clear walk path their is still chances of missing the path but with our guide namanna we walked on seeing the beautiful forest view and communicating with the Malekudiya people, must admit their hospitality is superb. At half way one group halted near small falls while the other enthusiastic group stepped further to explore more. We reached a stream finally and was upset by missing the route and our cleaver nemanna found the route to a waterfalls which was unexplored (told by guide).The path getting denser step by step and the leeches welcoming us made the route tuff and the challenge came our way when we had to get down a steep of 75 degree or more steeper and the leeches having their lunch lavishly we finally made our path steep reached the mesmerizing (must admit) water falls . Our greed never stopped here we went on climbing rocks to reach edge of waterfalls played for an hour clicked pics had our lunch and biding good bye to the falls we  took same path to return to the place where we rest of our group was waiting for us. we thanked the private estate incharge for letting us in. we reached charmadi and stopped for a coffee and there by thanked our guide Nemanna and keshav mulya for the accomodation at temple.

we heard there is a temple near by ujire which is called as "temple of secrets" anything wished here by praying to sadashiva rudra swamy will come true in ones life is the belief. we visited surya temple before it closes for the day and had darshana of sadashiva rudra swamy. 

"Shree Sadashiva Rudra Temple is very near to Ujire (3-4 KM) there will be lots of Autos & Jeeps are available from Ujire bus stop. Its 15-20 Mins drive from Ujire. Please note that  temple is opened from 7.30AM to 2PM and 4PM to 6.30PM only. As said by the Archakaru, Initially when you are making sankalpa (offering you wanted go & do there) need not go there, from your place only you can do the sankapla. Once your sankapla fulfilled you can go there & do the offerings."

 

on the way back to bengaluru we stopped at kottigehara for its famous mouth watering neer dosas.

we were back to home by 1 am.

one of the good hikes with moderate difficulty, thanks to the group spirit and the hospitality of the temple people.

Key points :

Charmadi gate -- the landmark

Take permissions in prior.

leach alert in monsoon.

Scuba Diving

7 guys from Bangalore gear up for an adventure trip, its time dive into the sea and experience the feel of fishes and other aquatic animals along with them. the dates were fixed a month back and everyone were very excited for the much awaited weekend.

Day 1: April 26 2014

Sun rays, chilled air and little fog woke us in the tempo traveler and found ourselves moving in the curvy roads of gerosoppa forest region near shimogga. It was 7 in the morning when we reached Honnavara,  our first stop was at Ram thirtha, a place where a small stream flowing all over the year from unknown source. We took bath in that pond and had a visit to temple attached to pond.

After breakfast our next stop was at idugunji ganapathi temple, soon at 2 we were at our final destination murudeshwara temple. Visited temple and finished lunch at temple. Checked into kamath hotel which was pre-booked, rooms were pretty good with AC which was must required at 35+ temperature. We decided to take a small nap before we had a evening walk beach side. We called up Nethrani diving academy to ensure the next days plan. 

Night ended with so so OK food in a dhaaba and really nice gudbuds, the go pro cameras and everyone were all set for next day diving experience.

Day 2: April 27 2014

It was 7 in the morning and everyone were excited and looking forward for the adventures day.
we were having our breakfast at RNS beach restaurant, looking at the children playing in the beach and fisher man making there boat for the day hoping to catch good fishes.
we were at the reporting point at 8 am exactly, the Dreams diving team was making all the paper work and necessary arrangements for the dive.
soon we walked to the shore, where 2 motor boats were waiting for boarding. we too helped the team to load the oxygen cylinders and other stuffs into the boat, and the journey to the island started.

Mr.Dhirendra the head of Dreams Diving was briefing everyone about the basics of the diving and Do's and Don'ts, also we had a chance to try breathing with the oxygen hose before diving.

after a brief 2 hrs of boat journey which as indeed awesome with water surrounded all four side, we were at our destination at Nethrani island.

upon reaching there we were the first batch to dive in, and we were ready for it.

Enough of words ... now let the pictures talk.

 
It was wonderful 40 min of our life to be inside the ocean to and experience the entire new world down there.

After the dive we were given ample time to snorkel around the island which was also no less fun.

words by Prathap :


One helluva awesome experience
I had watched the 3d clips of the aquatic life, it was really good
But me being part of it was simply superb
Watching those creatures n under water life it just can't be said in mere words
It's an experience which need to be felt
Will definitely do this adventure once more :)



If you have a adventure craving heart,  2 days of time and 6 thousand in your pocket, don't think twice. just go ahead and do this it will be one of the best time of your life.


will be back with another venture soon.
cheers.

Contact Details :

Dhirendra P S Rawat
Dreamz Diving

RNS Residancy Hotel
Murudeshwar,
Karnataka State, India.
&
Hungry Shark Restaurant, Mabor Beach,
Opposit - Radisson Blue Hotel, Salcete,
Goa State, India.

eMail: info@dreamzdiving.com
Website: www.dreamzdiving.com
Phone: +91 9740752480 &
            +91 9326151300

Happy Diving.