Brahmagiri

This is my second trek with Kamesh's Group. Needless to say, another wonderful experience.

Friday night we boarded a TT near Kanteerava Stadium at 10 PM. After picking up few guys from Majestic we headed towards Sreemangala, Kodagu. By 5.30 in the morning we reached the IB at Sreemangala. You need to book your trekking well before the date at the range forest office at Sreemangala. They will arrange a Forest Guard as a guide and adviser throughout the trek.
Pavan, a friendly forest guard accompanied us from here onwards.

After having good breakfast at a house nearby the Irupu temple, we headed towards Narimale Forest Camp. This is a forest guest house in between the forest, 5 kms from Irupu Falls. This stretch is heavily infested by leeches. I have at least 10 scars on my feet even after 10 days.

[Leeches do not kill you, they just bite you and suck your blood till they want and then leave. They do all these activities without your knowledge. Bleeding will take some time to stop even after they leave you. Best medicine is to carry some powdered salt and put it on the leech when you see them sucking your blood. You can use Tobacco leaves or lime for the same purpose.]

We started the trek from Irupu Falls at 10 AM and reached the Guest House by 12.45 PM. We walked for ~5 Kms and the path ranges from moderate to difficult. Here we settled down for 30 minutes 'plucking' the leeches, rearranging the bags, having some chocolates etc. We started towards Brahmagiri Peak at 1.30 PM and reached the peak by 3.30 PM. Total distance walked was around 7~9 kms. The trail takes you through almost flat grasslands. Only the last km of the trek is enough to take the breath out of you. But this is the most beautiful part of the trek.
The peak was windy and we started back immediately and reached the IB at 6 PM.

During the entire trek of Day 1, rain was playing hide and seek with us. We had packed everything in plastic covers and that saved our clothes, food, cameras etc from getting wet.

After we returned, Kamesh started cooking food for us. It was rice and Sambar!!!!!!!!!. I cannot explain how delicious it was. Plate full of steaming rice and spicy sambar and pickle. Kamesh, Thanks, You made our day. After dinner, we slipped into the sleeping bags and what a sleep that was!!!!. There was solid background music of beetles and sound of lashing rain.

We got up at 7 AM. Had Maggi. Started walking towards Munikal Caves. This is around 5 kms from the IB and the terrain was same as previous day's. We took two hours to reach the caves. These caves were used by sages in the earlier days. This place can be used as camping site as this has a source of water. After this we returned to the IB at 11 AM. Packed our bags and started walking towards Irupu Falls. It took two hours. By 1.30 We were under the Irupu Falls, enjoying the 'water massage'.
At 2 we went to the same house (where we had breakfast previous day) for lunch, and again a stupendous lunch. At 3.30 we started towards Bangalore and reached home at 12 AM.
PHOTOS:

My Camera

Chethan's Camera

Irupu Falls:

Brahmagiri Peak: Data:
Team: 13
Vehicle: TT
Cost: 2500 per head, all Inclusive.
Distance Travelled: Bangalore to Irupu: 280 Kms Approx.
Distance Trekked: Two days and 38~40 Kms Approx.
Precautions and Preparations: Permission at Range Forest Office, No Littering, Possibility of wildlife sightings, LEECHES, No Alcohol / Smoking, Rain/ winter gear and lot more