Vinayak Hegde

View Larger Map

We recently visited a couchsurfer’s coffee estate near Sakleshpur. Travelling overnight with a bunch of couchsurfers, we took a break before dawn on NH48 just ahead of Sakleshpur. We climbed our way in the darkness to the Manjarabad fort. Tipu Sultan is said to have built this fort as it is in a strategic location close to the Arabian Sea coast through the Sakleshpur Ghat. The Manjarabad fort (pictured in the map above) is constructed out of stones and mud in the form of a 8-pointed star with large moat around it. While inspecting the construction of the fort, Tipu Sultan is said to have observed fog (known in Kannada as “Manju”) around this place and decided to name this fort Manjarabad. True to it’s name, there was heavy fog around the foothills before sunrise. The local taluka headquarters is still known by this name despite the town being renamed Sakleshpur.

Swaroop and I had been planning for a trek in mid-February after the Sharavathy valley trek. We looked up a list at Trekwiki (It’ a great resource if you enjoy trekking) and choose Thadiyandamol over Red Hills. We just pinged a few friends and got a good response for the trek. We rented tents and booked tickets and were all set to go. We met each other and took the bus from Mysore bus stand. We did not get much sleep and got down in pitch darkness at 5.00am at Napoklu. We started walking from Napoklu towards Kakkabe which is a small town at the bottom of the trail. Walking in the mist as the sun rose was an amazing experience. We walked about 15 KM from Napoklu to Kakkabe.

Kakkabe is a non-descript town with a main road and a few houses around a small bridge over a stream. This was one of the last places where we could stock up on food (which we did). The first third of the climb was on a shady tar road with trees on both sides. The climb was generally gentle for this part. There are a few stream on this section where you can fill up on water. We rested at one of the streams for a while resting and washing our slightly sore feet. We resumed climbing till we hit a flat place where we could have a great 360-degree of the surrounding landscape. There was a stream nearby and we decided to camp nearby. Putting up the tents was a good team effort and it was great fun especially for those who were doing it for the first time. We had food and some rest at the stream sleeping on the grass and staring at the tree canopies above. After a hour’s sleep, we moved back to the open campsite and started climbing towards the peak. We had setup camp about two-thirds of the way up on the way to the peak. The trail from here on was divided into 3 parts – the first part was a gentle slope with tracks within dead grass. This led to a a trail within a thick evergreen forest where a single person could walk at a time. The third and the final part was steep and the route was slippery. Finally at the top of the peak we were awarded amazing views of the surrounding mountains and the vallley below. The clouds were moving in and obscuring the views creating a surreal experience. It was almost 5.00pm and the sun would start to set. We started the journey downhill.

We walked down the peak and the slope was slippery in places. I slipped and fell forward. To regain my balance I put my foot forward and gained momentum and I was almost running downhill. My left foot hit the rock and I fell on my right hand hitting my head on the rock. I felt a throbbing pain on my forehead and saw blood gushing down the right side of my face. My spectacles were broken and the right side of my face was bruised and had gone completely numb. I slept on the grass and realized that I cannot afford to lose consciousness. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to use my handkerchief as a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood so it could form a clot. I got up to see that Mohan fall in the
same fashion but thankfully he was unhurt. By now my t-shirt was almost completely soaked with blood so was the upper half of my jeans (I did not realize this back then). Since the light had started fading we decided to move downhill to the camp-site. As I got up I realized that my camera was broken into two pieces seprated into lens and body. I carried the pieces when I felt pain in my right wrist while picking them up. With the help of other trek mates we made it through the narrow pathway in the forest down to the camp site.

By now the light was fading fast. At the campsite everyone sprung into action and Vikram gave me first aid. Thankfully there was a clot and the bleeding had stopped. I rested in one of the tents while a couple of fellow trekkers ventured downhill to find transport to get me to the hospital. They found a Jeep owner who came came up the hill on a rocky road. These guys were spooked on seeing and we drove down the hilly trail on th 4×4 to Kakkabe and thereon to Virajpet.

There was no doctor at Virajpet but the nurse volunteered to bandage me. She recoiled in horror as she saw my open wound on my head. She managed to bandage me but refused any money from us even after persisting. She advised the driver to take me to Madikeri where I could get medical attention. The driver was driving like a madman on the narrow road from from Virajpet to Madikeri. We reached Madikeri and a Doctor examined me. I got my wrist X-rayed. While taking the X-ray I had intense pain in my elbow which was swollen so I got it X-rayed as a precautionary measure. After that got the CT scan done. It came clear (It clearly showed a brain so all doubters can now rest I was not so lucky with the X-rays. The orthopaedic surgeon told that I have a fracture in my right wrist and elbow. Another surgeon stitched my wound (totally 12 stitches) and gave me painkillers. We stayed overnight at the hospital.

In the morning, we went to the hotel room to freshen up. As I looked in the mirror I realised why everyone was so horrified. My hair was soaked in blood. My T-shirt was almost completely black from dried blood. We cut the t-shirt away as the plastered hand would create problems in removing it and got a new one. We then moved to Madikeri bus stand and thereon to Virajpet. We got into the bus and had a good time generally. The drama was not yet over as the bus broke down and our trekking gang was broken into two as we tried to get into another bus. Somehow we finally reached Varun’s place and spent the night there.

I am much better now. I got my stiches removed and the swelling on the face is gone. The head wound is slowly healing but the right arm is still in a plaster. It will be 4 weeks before I can remove it. The camera body seems okay but the 18-135mm Zoom-Nikkor lens (which took almost all the pictures on this blog is broken internally and beyond repair)

We traveled from Bangalore overnight to Sagar and from there went to a short trip to nearby village. A 20 minute trek later we were at the shores of the Sharavathy river. Since we were planning to stay on a river island for 2 days we had to coracle across with our luggage. It was tough initially to use the coracle as it requires that the rowers on each side of the coracle row in synchronization with the weight evenly distributed across the bowl shaped coracle. If this is not done then the coracle circles in the same place or becomes lop-sided and can even topple. However we managed to get across with a little struggle to the island. As this is a nature camp we could relax under the tree while sleeping on foam mats. We were to live on this island without electricity and very basic amenities for that day and the next. Later in the afternoon we had a swim in the sharavathy river. The water was really clean and we use it to fill our bottles for drinking water (after going slightly away from the slightly muddy shores).

Clear waters of the Sharavathy River	The view from the campsite
A bison skull on the banks of the river	A fallen tree trunk

Early in the after noon we took a tour of the connected islands. I say connected islands as these are low lying regions that connect some adjacent islands. But these low lying regions cut off these islands in the rainy season when the water level rises. I saw a skull of a bison lying on the shores. Probably the bison had got stranded on one of the isolated island with no trees and died. Later in the afternoon we had a round of water sports after lunch (which was cooked on the island itself by local guides). We then headed out west by coracle to one of the island so that we could have a clear view of the beautiful sunset. A little bit of trekking on the island and a little wait later we could see the amazing sunset from the river shores with the water reflecting the last rays of the sun and the barren trees in the water giving it an eerie feel. After sunset as the light started fading we set out to the coracle in a hurry so that we could reach our camping island before nightfall. We were now got used to rowing the coracle and it did not take as long as the earlier trips across the river. After a lively discussion during the campfire and dinner under the clear skies we setup tents and dozed off.

The moulted skin of a millipede	Me in the Sharavathy backwaters
Me sitting on the banks of the Sharavathy.	Amazing sunset

Sharavathy Valley Day 2

We woke up early in the morning just before sunrise so that we could take photos of the rising sun. It was quite bright before sunrise itself. After having tea we headed out to have another round of water sports, this time learning to kayak and raft. Kayaking looked easy when the local guides used it to traverse the route from the island to the other shore but it was anything but easy. The wind blowing across the river made kayaking a little difficult. As there were only 6 people in the group other than me, we got quite a lot of time for kayaking. I was able to kayak fairly well after a couple of failed attempts as I understood how to use my weight and balance to steer the kayak even in the wind. In that sense Kayaking was similar to cycling or swimming. Once you overcome the steep learning curve and get into a rhythm it is an extremely pleasurable and effortless activity. After this we had a round of rafting. Rafting was by far the easiest of all the three water sports that we tried though it also required synchronisation between the left and right oarsmen. It was a breeze after all the struggles learning to coracle and kayak. All the water sports made me famished and hungry. We had a tasty meal of akki rotis and sabzi before we headed out for a trek in the afternoon.

The colours of sunrise	Kayaking in the Sharavathy Backwaters
View from the top of the hill after the trek	Small green bee-eaters on the way back to Sagar

A little rest after lunch and we on our way across the mountain to avail the bus that would take us to Sagar. The trek did not seem that tough initially when we started but the exertion of water sports in the morning and the sun beating down mercilessly (my being out of shape did not help either) meant it was tough going. I managed to reach the top with some difficulty as the slope was fairly steep in places. The trek was made tougher by the fact that we had only a 1 litre of water between the seven of us. We managed to reach the to and were awarded with amazing views. The hard climb was well worth it. After a bit of rest we descended down the other side of the hill which was fairly easy. We waited for the bus and went to Sagar and then onto bangalore after having dinner at Sagar.