Travelling in bike is my passion, heard someone saying "travelling" and "bike" can be seperated, so this time i left one word "Bike", yes one of my first travelogue without bike.
Happily chose KSRTC Rajahamsa, on friday evening 20th September myself with my 3 friends Chandramohan, Karthik and Vinay departed to explore one of the most rainy part of south India "Agumbe" which is also called as" cherrapunji of south".
Agumbe (ಆಗುಂಬೆ) is a village located in shimogadistrict, Thirthahalli taluk,Malnad region. Agumbe is among the highest rainfall receiving region in westren ghats, earning itself the name "cherrapunji of south".The only rainforest researchcenter in India -- source : wiki
We reached Sringeri by 6 30 am, inquired about buses to Agumbe, from sringeri we need to go to a village called Bidirugoodu and from there we get bus to agumbe which arrives via thirthalli. it was a wonderful saturday morning, far from dusty, traffic busy town, we reached agumbe by 7 30 and we were welcomed by heavy rain. a perfect start.!!
We decided to stay at Kasthuri akka mane and take their guidelines to visit different places in agumbe. Got the info about barkana falls and Jogi Gundi falls, also an auto was arranged for us, we were all set to explore the falls and forest.
our first destination was Jogi gundi falls, as we reach the path to falls it again started to rain and we started waking towards the falls, its 1km walk into the forest and few steps down to reach the falls,
we stayed n enjoyed the falls for few minutes as we were told by the auto driver to come soon as he will be waiting by the side road,also if we stand in a place for more than 30 secs, the leaches will definitely feed on our blood. yes !! if you want to visit these places in monsoon be ready to be bitten by leaches.
After about 10 min of ride in auto we reached a place where we have some green grass land at the left , few huts and forest at the right, there we met our guide who took us inside the forest on a small walk path. The path was getting interesting with more leaches, water crossing, trees and bushes obstructing the way. on the way we found foot prints of wild pigs. it was on and off raining, the forest rustling sound, the fear of leach biting, the light jokes and laughter on the way made the 3 km walk fun filled and joy full.
Although we could not see the Barkana falls as the place was covered with full of mist. we waited for 45 min with no luck, n returned to the small village. we spent sometime in paddy fields while we waited for auto.
it was noon by then and we were all hungry walking in the forest, the delicious food was waiting for us in Kasthuri akka mane.
the food in Doddamane is one of the best Malnad food you can taste.
we rested for one hour and planned for the rest of the day, we decided to visit Kundadri betta.
it was raining heavily and the view from kundadri betta was almost nightmare with mist around. we reached top of kundadri betta, the rain paused for a while n we could get a sneak view from the top only for a while.
took few pictures and enjoyed the rain on top of the hill.
Back in agumbe by evening n spent the beautiful evening walking around the place and chatting.
ended the day with delicious food at Doddamane.
Next day we got ready and had breakfast, took few photos around the home and all set to leave for sringeri as per our plan, just as we stepped out of the home heard someone calling me, it was a guy whom i spoke to last night regarding snakes at agumbe, he spotted a green wine snake, clicked few snaps and left for Sringeri. visited temple and had one more round of breakfast.
it was around 11 30, we were as per our schedule , we managed to book tickets to Bangalore from hornadu. after temple it was sirimane falls, one of the beautiful falls to play and spend time in water.
we spent a playful one hour in the falls.
Lunch was at Chandra Mohan's aunt's place, it was a wonderful path to walk to there home need to cross fields and a river to reach there and the hospitality was very good. had lunch and some fun filled moments in beautiful place.
Took bus to hornadu, i should not forget to appreciate the driver of the bus who drove from sringeri to Hornadu, amazing control over bus in extreme ghats, (may be we noticed this coz we were sitting beside the driver seat ). Reached Hornadu temple by 7 30pm, did darshana and had dinner in the temple itself. our bus to Bangalore was waiting and we departed to Bangalore by 9 45.
it was a wonderful trip with lots of rain, green mist and adventure. anyone planning to agumbe stay in doddamane, contact me for contact details of kasthuri akka, you will have memorable hospitality and not to forget best food.
Best time to visit agumbe is post monsoon ( December to March). If you want to explore by getting drenched in nonstop rain, then try monsoon season.
Happily chose KSRTC Rajahamsa, on friday evening 20th September myself with my 3 friends Chandramohan, Karthik and Vinay departed to explore one of the most rainy part of south India "Agumbe" which is also called as" cherrapunji of south".
Agumbe (ಆಗುಂಬೆ) is a village located in shimogadistrict, Thirthahalli taluk,Malnad region. Agumbe is among the highest rainfall receiving region in westren ghats, earning itself the name "cherrapunji of south".The only rainforest researchcenter in India -- source : wiki
We reached Sringeri by 6 30 am, inquired about buses to Agumbe, from sringeri we need to go to a village called Bidirugoodu and from there we get bus to agumbe which arrives via thirthalli. it was a wonderful saturday morning, far from dusty, traffic busy town, we reached agumbe by 7 30 and we were welcomed by heavy rain. a perfect start.!!
We decided to stay at Kasthuri akka mane and take their guidelines to visit different places in agumbe. Got the info about barkana falls and Jogi Gundi falls, also an auto was arranged for us, we were all set to explore the falls and forest.
our first destination was Jogi gundi falls, as we reach the path to falls it again started to rain and we started waking towards the falls, its 1km walk into the forest and few steps down to reach the falls,
Next day we got ready and had breakfast, took few photos around the home and all set to leave for sringeri as per our plan, just as we stepped out of the home heard someone calling me, it was a guy whom i spoke to last night regarding snakes at agumbe, he spotted a green wine snake, clicked few snaps and left for Sringeri. visited temple and had one more round of breakfast.
it was around 11 30, we were as per our schedule , we managed to book tickets to Bangalore from hornadu. after temple it was sirimane falls, one of the beautiful falls to play and spend time in water.
we spent a playful one hour in the falls.
Lunch was at Chandra Mohan's aunt's place, it was a wonderful path to walk to there home need to cross fields and a river to reach there and the hospitality was very good. had lunch and some fun filled moments in beautiful place.
Took bus to hornadu, i should not forget to appreciate the driver of the bus who drove from sringeri to Hornadu, amazing control over bus in extreme ghats, (may be we noticed this coz we were sitting beside the driver seat ). Reached Hornadu temple by 7 30pm, did darshana and had dinner in the temple itself. our bus to Bangalore was waiting and we departed to Bangalore by 9 45.
it was a wonderful trip with lots of rain, green mist and adventure. anyone planning to agumbe stay in doddamane, contact me for contact details of kasthuri akka, you will have memorable hospitality and not to forget best food.
Best time to visit agumbe is post monsoon ( December to March). If you want to explore by getting drenched in nonstop rain, then try monsoon season.
