Ravishing Serendipity At Pushpagiri Forest; Kumara Parvatha Trek

Trekking and making journey as a hobby just happens to you, you never try hard to chase it. I had covered all the major trekking trails near Bangalore in my 4 years stay here. But the Kumar Parvatha trail was long due.

At Summit.

Kumara Parvatha also called a Pushpagiri, is one of exciting trek locations in Karnataka. Popular among trekking fans as KP, the Kumara Parvatha trail is well trodden but equally challenging. Typically takes over night stay on the mountains to finish the trail, if you start trail from Somawarpet side you could able to finish the trail end of the day unlike other side from Kukke. The trek route is fairly in an East - West Orientation across the Western Ghats. In other words you will be trekking across the Western Ghats, scaling the third highest peak in Karnataka.

Sri Shantha Mallikarjuna Temple, Heggademane Village.

The eastern end of the trek is a Beedahalli, a remote village, some 22 km from Somwarpet town in Coorg. The western end is practically the car street of temple town Kukke Subramanya temple. For those of you who haven’t heard about this quiet lesser known place Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary which has Kumara Parvatha and temple town Kukke Subramanya, Subramanya is famous for the Kukke Subramanya temple.

Embraced by the Kumardhara River, this town worships the snake god. Apart from the temples, for the people who are interested in wilderness and drives, this proves to be a perfect place. There are many dirt tracks leading to small villages and mountains near by situated deep inside, but it is advisable to take those routes in winters and early in the summer as trail during monsoon makes more challenging. The place has such a thick tropical forest that if by any chance you lose way, there is no chance that you’ll be able to come out of the jungle on your own.

Just started the trail.

Between these two points Beedahalli and Kukke lies a varying stretches of terrains with, equally varying difficulty to trek. Approximately at the midway point is the Kumara Parvatha peak, hovering over 5,600 feet above sea level.

So here come the first decision you would need to make, if to trek from Subramanya side or from Beedehalli side. And still, if you would want to trek the full trail or trek up to the Kumara Parvatha peak and return back to your starting point, be it Subrahmaniya or Beedehalli.Whatever is the decision, it's about 20km of trek overall.The biggest highlights of Kukke Subrahmaniya end are its better connectivity and the relatively better facilities around the town (hotels, shops, restaurants etc).  And of course the Kukke Subrahmaniya Temple itself.

How does it fare on the Beedehalli side? This tiny village is sparsely connected with Somwarpet by the lone bus service. This is about a 22km journey. You need to get to Somwarpet for any long distance connections, like to to Bangalore (240km, 5hours) or Madikeri (40km, 1½ hours). There are about 6 direct bus services between Somwarpet or Bangalore. And quite a few to Madikeri with Somwarpet.If that lone bus service to/from Beedehalli does not gel well with your itinerary, consider hiring a local jeep service to Somwarpet, a popular means of transport in this part of the state.

Hangover Bridge near APC.

In summery, the Kukke side fares a bit well from the connectivity stand point. What about the trek itself? Which direction is more favorable? From Kukke or Beedehalli? For a couple of reasons the Beedehalli side is a shade batter to set off the trek. To understand this take a look at the topography and the nature of the trek path.The 14km trail from Kukke to Kumara Parvatha peak is all about scaling 1½km (about 1500 m/4930 feet) in elevation. From the Beedehalli you'll reach the Kumara Parvatha peak after 600 meters of elevation over a 7km long trek. That's Beedehalli is already at an elevation of 1100 meters, where as Kukke is about 140 meters.So from a difficulty scale the Beedehalli to Kumara Parvatha peak fares better or less challenging, if you're an avid climber.

Except me.

With all these pros and cons we had chosen Beedahalli APC to start the trek. This side of KP less known to the trekking fraternity of Bangalore which poses an equal amount of challenge along with comforts when compared with Kukke side.This is a trek for all of us who have been wanting to be on top of Kumara Parvatha for a long time. One of the major attractions about path from Beedahalli side is the dense forest cover more or less throughout the peak. The dense cover trail is around 7 kms from the start, last one kilo meter is less covered with forests and has some huge volcanic rock formations one has to climb.

Don't ask what I was thinking of!!

To begin with, this trek was planned one month back. Although I wanted to make this trek happen, it was difficult to get people to confirm and also arrange for a tent and sleeping bags.I spoke to Yathiraj a freelance Well-known travel guide(Organised our Brahmagiri trek) who works closely with KMA and YHAI. We confirmed our interest with Raj and we went to get a sore foot.I was longing to go to this place ever since, so decided to trek the hill Kumara Parvatha as I committed , early in the winter with my colleagues Nagesh, Pramod, Hemanth, Thilak, Guru, Yuvraj, Prakash, Sagar, Sanjay, Sandesh and my cousin Deekshith.

Posing like ..!

Reached Shanta Mallikarjuna temple at Heggademane village after over night journey by 5:30 in the morning. After a break of about 2 hours which included freshen up near the temple, finishing morning daily routines and also having breakfast.This was at 8:00 am, Started off towards the hills. The road became thinned, people density reduced to zero and finally we found a small camp Bedahalli APC. Yathiraj managed to get permission to get into the forest from the forest department, Madikeri range.

Near Second stream.

We left all our extra baggage,tents we carried at APC and started the climbing.Now the actual trekking starts into the thick forest, our plan to come back to the APC to stay in the tents we had for the night and try to visit the beauteous Mookanamane water falls.We had come well stocked as far as food was concerned, Carried almost 70 rotis and Chutney Powder, lot of Curd and Vegetable Salad for munching.We stopped for water at a couple of small streams flowing down across.The tree cover cast a pale green shadow over everything and the recent rains had put that cool, semi wet tropical touch on the trail. Walking along it, it was easy to ignore the leeches pushing for space in my shoes and simply get lost in the wilderness around me.

Leechy Deekshith.

While climbing up the rock face which was pretty easy by the way, since it was mostly dry and my shoes gave me good grip on them, I was wondering how it would be like in the rains.I could see water channels all over them and thought about how cool it would be to climb it in the rains! After that, the gradient continued to be high. Every one starting to feel tired and had to take a couple of breaks in between.The initial part of the trail was very easy and I soon got ahead of the others as I was walking at a pretty brisk pace.  Soon, we came to a pretty steep(about 50 to 60 degree I guess) rock face and from then on the climb was pretty tough.This stretch is more like a rock climbing experience as there is a monolithic stone formation which you have to cross.

Diversion sign board to Peak and Girigadde.

Monkey Skills.

Small rock patch.

Finally, by about 1’o clock we broke out of the tree cover and to the stretch of rock just below the peak. From here you could able to reach the top of KP just in matter of time.The weather atop the peak had absolutely no relation to the conditions below it. It was little hazy and clear continually following, by the time we reach peak we were all very hungry. To add more amusement for sometime Thilak, Pramod, Yuvraj became just like African hunger victims literally attacking me to take away and pulling the vegetables while I am preparing the vegetable salad. Took out the food we had Chapathi and Chutney powder we had, finished it just in matter of time. Once we done with our lunch Photography as usual started off with a bang. All of us clicking pictures, admiring the beauty of Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary.

Just after first rock patch.

Pammi n Hemu.

We were out of the peak and into the ridge adjacent to the peak lush green grass land was visible all around you up to at least 30 kms.The sight was just an elevated feeling of how wonderful nature is. You could see two peaks other from the peak namely Shesha Parvatha and actual Kumara Parvatha hill(We were on Pushpagiri Hill by now).Around 2:30 we started back, the descent was little steep as conquered, unfortunately Sagar suffered with muscular contraction while getting down. No matter what he took his time and got down in company with us which made a very good time throughout. A dog accompanied us on our way down for me and Sanjay all along.

Second rock patch.

Sesha Parvatha.

By 6’o clock everybody was there at APC, we split into random groups while descending down had an opportunity to explore the stunning scenery of Pushpagiri forest. Even though we were tired we maintained our grit and tenacity.It became dark, temperature fallen down to 15c at the time which made bit uneasy. It took about two hours to prepare dinner comprised of Rasam, Rice, Pickle, Papad and Butter milk. It is normal in routine life but being trekked whole day made us tired enough, since everyone hungry it became sumptuous meal for us.

He He...,

Prakash and Yuvi.

When everybody was ready to sleep, Pramod started his relentless chat session with Yuvraj and Hemanth. They were discussing about ranging from least to most happening things in boys life and made sure that nobody got a good sleep. I was snoring all night(Thilak and Deekshith was prey for this whole night)... but I am damn sure that I didn't!! That morning when we woke up the temperature would have been somewhere around 10 degree Celcius or so and we were shivering. Myself and Yathiraj prepared poha for Breakfast meanwhile everyone got freshen up at near by stream flowing down to the valley. Soon finished our Breakfast, with full tummies our day of exploration continued from Beedahalli APC bidding adieu to forest staff.

Early in the morning.

It is around 30 kms from Beedahalli to reach Mookanamane falls. On a brighter day we got to drive around some lonely roads with lovely views.The Mookanamane falls is located 35 km from Taluk headquarters Sakaleshpura, 12 km from Vanagur and hardly 3 km from Attihalli village.By the time we reach Mookanamane falls it was around 11:30. To reach the waterfalls one has to follow the Jeep track by parking the vehicles half a kilometer from the falls. Small vehicles like cars could go further down almost near to falls upstream. A small and wider Nagarahole stream flows down all the way from Bisle Ghat range of hills. The mesmerizing waterfalls located amid the forest makes it almost a private waterfall due to less holidaymakers. The water falls from around 10 to 15 feet height and spread across about 20 mts.

Mookamana Abbey Falls.

It was adventurous walk along the upstream to reach down the falls. The rocks are very slippery and one should be very cautious when they do adventures on the rocks. We managed to reach down the falls with Trees, roots and rocks to our rescue.Few sat on the wet rocks, remaining had nice shower under the huge falls. We thoroughly enjoyed the glory of Mookanamane waterfalls and beauty of nature at its best.I was busy planning and dreaming about my next trek(trip) meanwhile everyone enjoying the movie our way back. Overall the visit to this place is worth and if you are planning to go there, you will get to see some of the virgin beauty. Pushpagiri and Bisle reserve forest are the perfect choice for a attraction that lets you experience the mesmerizing quality of being pleasant.

Bidding Adieu to APC.

Brahmagiri Trek – An eccentric trudge with newbies.

Stunning doesn’t begin to describe the vast sub-continent, home to the one of the world’s largest rain-forest, the impressive Western Ghats (Called as Sahyadris in some parts), with ever green, semi ever green forests and some truly breathtaking landscapes. If you are a truly nature lover, I would say there is no place better than Western Ghats for the adventures of a lifetime. Always known for the greenery and the landscapes, Western Ghats is a land where one can find popular waterfalls as well as mountainous treks.

Towards endless beauty!!

Being born and brought up in drought prone area Anantapur of Rayalaseema, rain was always been heaven for me and became part of my life. I never forgot those moments when dense dark clouds forming and casing the entire blue sky followed by heavy downpour. Now a days if I hear the sound of rain and when I see clouds coming towards me I run not to escape from rain, but for rain not to escape from me. I believe over the years I have developed this mindset. I am not sure whether I could explain better but I am sure my passion connected to Mother Nature. Though it may sound poetic but that is factual. Sadly it doesn’t rain much at my hometown and it is opposite over Western Ghats. Monsoon is the season I love in Western Ghats and I always try to make as many trips as possible to this rain-forest during wet season. I can’t forgot those instants relishing rain walking in the lap of Western Ghats.

Green Beds till the far you can see.

Many times I have been to Madikeri, I even travel around the Coorg. But heard about Brahmagiri peak when Ajay did trail here last year in winter. Brahmagiri looked pretty exciting and was longing to go to this place ever since, so decided to trek the mount Brahmagiri as I confirmed that it’s rainy weather on the forecast with my colleagues Ajay, Nagesh, Pramod, Hemanth, Thilak, Guru, Yuvraj, Prakash, Manish and last but not least my cousin Deekshith . Fortunately it was raining with on and off showers throughout the trail.

Dark clouds all over.

The Brahmagiri Wildlife Nature preserve is located in Kodagu region of Karnataka state in the Western Ghats. Brahmagiri national park originates its name from the highest point, the Brahmagiri top, which is at 1607m. The region predominantly of dense forests, high grasslands, colorful birds and a more chances to see wildlife makes this a wonderful trek inside the Brahmagiri National Park. Ajay suggested that we go for a trek, a monsoon trek to Brahmagiri organized by a freelancer Raj Well-known travel guide who works closely with KMA and YHAI. So we confirmed our interest with Raj and we went to get a sore foot while being drenched in the cold winds and drizzle of the south west monsoons.

👆👆

Our guide Raj managed to get permission to camp in the Narimale forest inspection bungalow (IB) from the forest department, Srimangala range. Late in the evening we started off from our office Koramangala, in a tempo traveler hired by the Raj.

First pic I have captured! Tree House 💖 

We reached Nagarahole National Park entrance by 4’o clock from where actually the forest expanse start off. Nagarahole one of the most popular wildlife destinations of India, Named after the lively River Nagarahole in Karnataka, Nagarahole National Park is an enchanting getaway for the nature worshippers. Popularly known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park, this reserve forest is located in two famous districts of Karnataka, namely, Kodagu and Mysore. A significant part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, this national park constitutes one of the largest protected areas in South India along with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur, and Mudumalai National Parks (2183sq km altogether).

Indian Gaur (Bison) herd en route !!

There is a gate and policemen who won't allow you till it is 6 am in the morning and after 6 pm in the evening no vehicle will be allowed inside the core area. Everyone had a nice nap about two hours, few vehicles including ours paused near the gate till the clock indicated 6 am. It was turning out to be a lovely sunrise. Everything looked peaceful in dim light early in the morning. Soon after, the gate was open and we were instructed not to stop anywhere till we reach the main gate towards Kutta and forest guest houses.

Lonely Girl 💕💕😅

I and Pramod were setting up our DSLR and other were prepared to take snaps with their handset. A group of gaurs just sideways of the road surprised us. It was a stealing moment, the way the gaurs were posing, that sight was attractive.  On the way we could spot many deer of all sorts like Chital, Spotted deer etc. Adding to our excitement there was an elephant which we could see close to road. It was really a fantastic drive just the way we imagined it to be.

Deekshith's Special!!👌

Took not more than an hour and we were at Iruppu falls, the route to the peak is through this famous waterfalls in south Kodagu. The place was perfect for us as it is surrounded with greenery in all sides. On freshening up Raj managed to arrange delicious breakfast for all of made by the local family, Pulav and Raitha. The group had more fresher’s than regulars so guide give us tips to do’s and what not to do before the start of the trek in the core region of Brahmagiri reserve as we are entering to the big mammals land and leeches paradise. He has given guidelines for next day’s schedule too and we were ready for the exciting task ahead.

Just before starting !

Along with us two local boys Vinod, Manju and forest guard joined to assist us in the trail. Our entry into the forest began just 500 meters from Iruppu falls parking area. We were cautioned that the 24 km to and from trek is almost major elephant region, we were lucky to spot one ferocious tusker (Will discuss in detail about this later in the story).

@Iruppu Falls

Foot bridge en route to falls !!

We were greeted by the chirping of birds, leeches and there was also the sound of flowing Lakshmana theertha stream. We rested for brief periods and continued our journey by removing the leeches and reached a bridge constructed over Lakshmana Theertha River, spent some time here in stream waters. After traversing for nearly one and half hours we were out of the cozy canopy of the shola forest and into the open grassland. 

Cute pie near the stream taking rest on the rock 😎😎
@Malabar Pit Viper

Phallus Indusiatus(A mushroom variety) found in the Brahmagiri!

Everyone wearing thin, barely covering ankle running socks, not exactly a great decision when we are in leeches’ paradise. In a group of 11 people, as soon as boys started seeing and feeling the leeches Pramod, Yuvi and Hemanth were stained with blood and they had more than one slimy little bloodsuckers attached to them. That was the moment all the beginners Manish, Guru, Thilak and specifically Nagesh afraid off this little buggers.

Near Lakshmana Teertha Stream.

A few facts you might not know about leeches:

• They attach themselves to you in two places, so each leech actually creates two "bites".
• They're difficult to remove by hand, and
• When you try and remove them by hand, you might pull it in half where the other half stays attached to your body.

'Blood'y three Idiots😈

Somehow they succeeded to clean from leeches but ankles continued to bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed. I didn’t care of about those, by now we could see a clear view of Brahmagiri range and could also cite the mist covered adjoining peaks during the trail. Though the trek was quite strenuous for most of the people in group, the 360 degree scenic beauty enveloping us was the best gift for all the hard work. 

Down the hills.

Enjoying the moment!!

If the greenery far away peaks gave us an opportunity to feel nature in her pristine form the golden grass covered nearby peaks was a feast to the eyes. No camera can capture the exquisite beauty of nature in all her glory. It has to be captured only in the lens of our eyes though we did try to catch them in our cameras. We took short break and moved on to reach Narimale IB at around 11. 30 am, having trekked for two and half hours.

@Team

In a row !!👏

Narimale guest house was 6 kms from Iruppu falls entrance, the small semi-haunted theme bungalow has 4 solar lamps and a turbine is running by using a stream water which never dries out. There are some vessels and few chairs and whole guest house covered with asbestos sheets on top. It doesn’t have water supply, one has to go near by stream and carry the water every time needed.

Wooden bridge near GH.

Entrance to the guest house.

Here we decided to freshen up and began to have our lunch. It was packed chapatti and delicious chutney powder with curd and vegetable salad. Almost every one feeling charged up after delicious lunch and decent rest for some time. By 2’o clock we were ready to start our journey towards the Brahmagiri peak, Raj given us some important guidelines not to make noise till reach the peak as this area is Tiger corridor, Bison resort, Elephants habitat, many other wild animals host and treasure trove of evergreen species of trees and grass lands.

Lunch time !!

We have start as early as in order to reach the peak, since rain has lessened a bit. We were leaving back all our backpacks at the IB since we had planned to come back to the guest house. I was imagining that 6 km trail path from GH to peak to be absolutely grass lands, hence I wrongly anticipated won’t be bothered with leeches. The plains had become more or less wetlands with monsoon rains. With heavy rains yellowish grasslands had a makeover to lively green in matter of days, which gave us spectacular views. 

👷👷

During the walk few of us caught sight of 2 sambar deer grazing at a distance. From the time when the start at guest house we were able to see huge masses of Elephant, their huge steps in the marsh soil. 

Pug marks 😸😸

Guide Yathiraj showed us some pug marks of big cats, thought of tiger must have crossed this path a while back. We have taken hardly 1 + hour to complete the 5.5 km over grassland and left over 500 mts took another half an hour to climb. The path to the peak as steep as 70 to 75 degrees and you could see two muddy paths leading to the top with grass and some tress around.

Mount Brahmagiri 💓💓

It was vertical, slippery with small steppingstones. After inclining 20 mins of fought session we reached the peak of Brahmagiri. But our happiness didn’t last for long, reason being the thick climate surrounding the mountain with heavy wind and mist. This resulted us lack of the 360 degree scenic view of the Brahmagiri ranges. However that did not stop new bees from having the excitement of completing the trek, Thanks to the incessant rains, heavy breeze and relentless mist covered. The climb down from the peak was bit challenging, with almost sliding and tumbling down at least once, Pramod had uncertainly :D.

Random click by Manish !!

We had an overwhelming experience while returning back to the GH, somewhere in the middle Yathiraj found that a ferocious male Elephant racing us. At far distance we were able to see Elephant coming to attack towards us. All of us got frightened and started running to guest house. Yathiraj shared his experience why male tuskers are unsafe in this wildlife sanctuary.

Sambar deers at some distance.

Females tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. The groups are led by an individual known as the matriarch, often the oldest cow. Elephants have a fission–fusion society in which multiple family groups come together to socialize. Males leave their family groups when they reach puberty, and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate and enter a state of increased testosterone and aggression known as musth, which helps them gain dominance and reproductive success. Males are usually solitary, but occasionally form groups of two or more individuals(This is why lonely tuskers try to attack people and behave crazily with frustration they had on their family).

Selfie time.

Soon after on our way back we saw again 2 Sambar deer grazing at a distance. Hence I didn’t take any precautions and this was probably the biggest blunder of the day. In the end I had a blood bath with getting 20-30 odd bites. Even in the grasslands the leeches were blooming because of the total nonexistence of sunlight.  We have to be very cautious about Bloodsuckers, they are all over the place! They penetrated our shoes, sucked our blood. Do not forget to carry salt, calcium carbonate, knife or anything to remove them when they get stuck.

Inside.

Out Side.

Back Side!!

Finally we reached the guest house with emotions, we sat there, talked a little. But slowly the magic of the jungle at the night time began to have its hold on us. The fear was gone. We experienced something that we, little people from the city, never knew existed. The jungle is never silent. It has its own voices, its own music that you can only hear when you truly try. 

Fauna of  Western Ghats.

We found a thick branched log of a tree lying in front of the guest house. We went to it and started breaking it and put fire camp Manju helped us to arrange it, waiting for the sun to set we realized that this was going to be a wonderful experience.

Tea time @camp fire.

🙏

Good dinner was prepared by the Manju and Vinod, we all had nicely. All went to sleep in no time as we trekked almost 20 kms throughout and not had proper sleep last night during our journey. It was very clod and luckily there was no mosquitoes.

The next morning we got up and completed morning chores. Then raj said he is taking us to Nature walk around, earlier we decide to go Pakshipatalam a natural caves in the morning. Then I got to know that Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary not given permission due to some dispute and therefore permission for Karnataka side to Munikal Caves (in Kerala) is never entertained. We came back from morning walk and had delicious breakfast prepared cooked on the firewood and started descending down to the base point near Iruppu falls. I found a green wine snake on our way back, Ajay and Deekshith had some fun playing with it. It took around two hours to reach the falls and took bath under the falls.

Bidding bye to Semi-haunted guest house.

Crazy kids at the moment 😅😅

I have heard this was the costliest trek in South India, one has to pay Narimale guest house rent whopping 5k for one night stay. But I understood the logic, more the cost, less would be the trekkers inflow and only serious explorers will be interested. Also we were the only team attempting to scale the peak on this weekend and since the monsoons hit. I believe we are the first team to successfully conquer Brahmagiri peak in Monsoon 2017, sounds heroic.

With the boys Vinod, Manju and Forest guard.

Overall the visit to this place is worth and if you are planning to go there, you will get to see all the animals! What else you want? Brahmagiri is the perfect choice for a place that lets you experience the phenomenal freshness of the Sahyadris.