Trek to Sakhleshpur - The Indian Amazon....

I reluctantly tear myself away from my laptop in order to redeem the long lost ‘Econess’ in me….!!!! After going through the ordeal of making numerous plans and cancelling them at the last moment (you might be thinking the trips are getting cancelled due to my friends declining at the last minute.. The fact is I am also one of the “Friends” who chickened out at the last moment)… we were tired of it so finally all of us put our foot down and looked forward to start by Friday night (19^th-Nov-09).

With the due date nearing and the checklists tallied we boarded the KSRTC bus 11:45 and it took nearly till ~1am to exit city limits. We hit the highway and halted just on the outskirts of Hassan for a break. Got a refreshing cup of coffee and then back on bus we reached Sakhleshpur in a couple of hours. It was decided that we walk till Donigal.. ( and in Top Gear manner our expressions were …How Hard Can It BE?). We finished our morning chores at the bus station and left there after about half hour. As we crawled on the highway and we found a KSRTC bus heading towards kukke subramanya which had a flat tyre and was being fixed. To our luck we boarded the bus and reached Donigal. Sure, the walk to Donigal would have been good, as we were away from the bustling city & human traffic but we would have run out of energy and missed out on all the fun that lay ahead of us. At Donigal we found a small bridge below which were the railway tracks. I was confused as to which route to take.

I truly admire the adventure spirit of Nana (aka Daryl but he sure is a scale model of Nana Patekar) who promptly said “Chal rey…Aisey hi utartey hain na”, to which most of us were wondering what he meant by “Aisey" Because we found no proper way to get down. There was a ditch to cross and it was quite steep. Anyway the other 3 of us started to view the possibilities of getting down to the tracks during which time Nana had reached the base first and called out for us. What a jumpy start!!!!…

Now onwards it was pretty much follow the track. Now..what is the expectation when you see a railway track ? …… Guess … Guess………………………………..You’re right a train. Sure enough, once we were on the track sameer changed into the proper gear and so did Nana and Deepak. Got the camera’s ready and the distant roar of the engine and the horn ensured that we got off track in a jiffy. As the train neared we found that it was just two engines but god .. they were loud and the vibrations were good enough to give us a hint of the powerhouse inside. The horn was loud enough to tingle all your senses.


Time Check :: 7:00hrs 20-Nov.2009. All of us were packed and ready to go. It is a known fact that the beauty of western ghats can be enjoyed when you are riding the Train to Mangalore. But trust me on this.. the trek alongside the track comes no way close to enjoying the view while on a train. The train journey can be compared to watching a movie but, the trek is like reading a book (great attention to detail). As we treaded along, the landscape gradually changed. All of us were excited when we spotted the first bridge (at 52/0) and we did the obvious.



To capture proof that we’d been there and done that.

It certainly was a magical place. The morning mist gently skimming over the forest canopy. Birds chirping and no vehicular nonsense to distract your undivided attention to the nature calls!!!!!


A couple of kms ahead we spoke to a line maintenance engineer and found out that a permission from the forest dept. was a must “Gulp!!!!!” But there was no point in going back just to get permission so we continued and looked forward for the next bridge/tunnel. We reached Km-61where there is a small river and there are two ways to cross this stretch, one is to continue on the railway or there is a way down so you can refresh yourself with the cool waters. And then walk over to the other side. In the following pic we see the track on the bottom left corner and the other way is via the smaller bridge. We relaxed here for about 20 minutes. Refuelled our tummies with bread n biscuits. Sameer, Deepak and I got to the stream and the cold water was like a coolant. The first splash to the face and the sound in my mind was Chushshhhhhh!!!!!!!! Heavenly…!!!!!. As we started packing up to continue our journey, another train made its way back from mangalore. This was a goods train carrying petroleum. Let the pics do some talking.

The next treat awaits in the next km as we crossed this bridge (2^nd) we were excited all the more because we were about to go right thru the first tunnel which is 600m in length at 55/400 mile stone. After this it was pretty much going through bridges and tunnels. I didn’t manage to keep a count because we were at a such a place that everything can’t be accounted for. The lush green forest cover on both sides of the track. The longest bridge we encountered was the 600m bridge immediately after the bridge from where you could see the rapids. We spotted snakes twice on the way but before we could capture them on our camera’s they disappeared into the thick undergrowth.



I was quite amazed to spot a crab ..What!!! a CRAB… ??? You must be kiddin…..!!!! Nope and I know this would be the thought on ur mind so here you go..

More wildlife ::--- Courtesy Deepak and Daryl

One of the beautiful and brightly coloured bird from the bountiful forest canopy.

Another bird from the same forest canopy. Only an SLR with a good lens could do justice to the images.









Probably the best pic of a bird captured in the trip.









The touch of an Nikon SLR.











Nature's true Colors captured in a Nikon D40 by our photo phreak....







The snails on a trail....I think the snail without shells are slugs.. Maybe but I'm not sure.. Just some food for thought....!!!!!!






All that matters is what object is in focus in order to capture the best out of a moment..Deepak knows how and when.

We halted at Yedakumari for the night and found that we could stay at the signal operator’s house just next to the station. After a not so pleasant experience with that guy (hmm not pleasant… ???) ok let me explain. All of us were happy that the station operator agreed to prepare dinner anna-saaru (rice-Sambar) and late evening it started raining heavily and he was kind enough to let us stay in his house nearby. There was another group the BMC Bangalore Mountaineering Club who were a huge group of 42who stayed at an open lobby at the station. So comparatively we were on the better side or so did we think. Now comes the part where you are so pissed off that you want to beat the ….. out of someone but, all you really have is bottle opener!!!! This idiot… I really do mean it “IDIOT” woke us up early morning. Don’t you ever think early means 6 or 5am (cuz for us Bengaluru boyz it is still midnight,) but 4AM. After a trek of over 25 kms on the first day we needed good rest to proceed the next day. But it turns out this guy was drunk in the morning and started demanding for more than what he deserved. He started arguing that the logding in kukke subramanya was about 3k-4k and at that point, even in that sleepy misty Sunday morning I couldn’t help but laugh wondering if there is a TAJ in Kukke Subramanya. Now that all were totally pissed off we decided to pay this guy and sleep in the open lobby for maybe a couple of hours more and then start trekking again sometime by 6 or 7.

But as the saying goes.. whatever happens … happens for good.. right?…. Here’s the part 2 –

We had heard overnight, that the BMC group were planning to leave by 4am by train to kukke subramanya and due to the group size not all could board within the 5 minute interval the train had stopped. So about a dozen were left over. The BMC leader Aravind said they were going to trek to a point and then take the route downhill to reach a village called Gundya which would lead to the NH48. So we joined the BMC group and travelled another 10 more kms from where we were supposed to get a diversion that would lead us to the river, crossing which would take us to the NH-48. Arvind and I walked for about a km beyond the point and checked if there were any alternate tracks but couldn’t find any. So as per the directions by a track maintenance engineer the diversion should be before the 600m tunnel. So we started walking in the other direction and just at the start of the bridge (At km 79/500) we found a very narrow and steep path. Since this was the only path in sight everyone were excited and started down. Our convoy of 4 were like the Jumpers and sped down for the first 15 minutes and then we had to take a break to catch a breath but nana has no word of such in his dictionary. No breaks or brakes…. I forgot to mention that we also call him the stick insect because he scales steep gradients effortlessly. Hundreds of leeches on the way which were trying to grab a hold of us. I was so concerned that, every 50 mts I would jump, dust my pants and check the socks. I did get a couple of leech bites and now, officially a member of the Leechbyte club…. ;-).

Another laugh on the way, we spotted a Elephant Cow-Dung. I have seen Elephant Dung but this was new so I rushed when Deepak made the call pointing the dung. It indeed was Elephant Cow-Dung…. See for yourself…

Nothing goes as planned though you are careful and have taken the necessary precautions. Deepak lost an expensive cap and Nana lost a pair of rechargeable Kodak NiCd batteries. Once we hit the NH 48 we heaved a sigh of relief. Spotted a mallu hotel by the highway and savored on idlies and appams. We boarded the KSRTC bus (Karnataka Sarige) at about 11am and the shiradi ghat was in a horrible condition. After Hassan the roads were very good and the bus was able to maintain good speeds.


Some more pics ... enjoy....