A Walk in the Clouds

Kudremukh! The name evokes memories of beautiful moments spent during the monsoon of 2006 amidst this wonderful bounty of nature. This was the only time almost all of our close friends (made it to any trip and it made the experience even more special.

All the friends who made it:

We left a little late in the day but the road via Hassan and Mudigere was reasonably good and we covered good distance within a short time. The weather was perfect and there was a light drizzle throughout our journey. We stopped along the way at Hassan for breakfast and later at a small hamlet for tea. The hamlet was surrounded by lush farms and was a great location. We ventured into the farms for a short while before we carried on with our journey. The climb up to Kudremukh was fantastic as we passed along many a stream and water fall along the road side. We stopped to enjoy the sceneries often and played in the streams.

Scenic route


We stopped over at the Kudremukh Range Office to collect the receipts for the accommodation booking made at the Bhagavathi Nature Camp. This is an amazing place located about 13 KM away from the Kudremukh town and about a KM off the road through a mud track. The accommodation options consist of a Cottage with 2 rooms, a dormitory with 12 beds and many tents. we had booked the cottage and the dormitory. It was basic but well maintained.

By the time we reached the nature camp, it was already late evening and getting to be dark and it was continuously drizzling. As soon as we approached the cottage, we saw a lot of Gaur's grazing around the cottage. We were thrilled to see them so near to the camp. We would often see them during the period of our stay. The guard warned us to be careful while walking around the camp because of the presence of the Gaur's.

The Bhadra stream flows right next to the Bhagavathi nature camp. The next day morning we went down to the stream but did not get into it as it had risen dangerously because of the rains and the currents were very strong. We were treated to some good breakfast by the resident cook (we had purchased the groceries in the Kudremukh town) and enjoyed the hot cup of tea in the cold, rainy weather.

The trekking option was ruled out because of the incessant rains and also the leech infested trails. There were leech all over the place. Just stepping out of the cottage would ensure that quite a few of them would climb onto your leg and suck the blood. Most of us had experienced this and did not care much about it. But a couple of them were repelled by these slimy creatures and spent sleepless nights imagining the leech to be around them all the time. We did have good fun at their expense :). We decided to drive around and visit the various falls dotted around the place. And so we went to see the Hanumangundi falls. You need to climb down steep stairs for a distance of 300 Mt's in order to see the falls. It was beautiful especially because of the season we visited. The water was gushing down in full force and there was lush greenery all around. The rocks were all slippery and we had to be very careful to avoid falling and getting hurt badly. After spending an hour here, we drove back towards Kalsa to visit the Annapoorneshwari temple and we also stopped near the Kadambi falls on the way.

On the way we stopped near a vista point to enjoy the view and here we were covered totally in mist most of the time, We walked around totally enveloped in the mist, getting drenched in the light drizzle and caressed by the cool breeze. We literally danced in the middle of the road enjoying the experience. It is beyond word to describe. 

We then visited the Lakya dam which is a Pollution Control dam used by the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited. We were surprised to see that the dam held no water but there was mud all over. The guards explained that these were tailings, wastes from the mining activity. Its well known that the mining activities has damaged the Kudremukh biosphere beyond repair and thankfully the Supreme Court has issued orders to stop the mining activity here. Its a step in the right directions that needs to be replicated in many other such issues.

The Annapoorneshwari temple is in Hornadu about 7 Kms from Kalsa. Hornadu is a picturesque place set admits lush forests and valley. We enjoyed the scenic beauty as we drove down to the temple. Once there, we offered our prayers, donated rice and money as is the tradition here. The temple provides food for all visitors and so we had lunch at the temple complex itself. Later we stopped over at Kalsa for some snacks and tea and bought umbrellas as well. We also shopped around for some honey and other herbal oils. On the way back to the nature camp we stopped beside a tea shop on the bridge across the Tunga river. The river was had ebbed to dangerous levels and was almost to the level of the bridge. After some photo ops we carried on towards the camp stopping every now and then to admire the scenery.

It was a pity that we could not have camp fire during the nights as it rained continuously. But someone came up with the idea of playing dumb charades and we passed time having great fun playing charades.

In the morning the guard informed that there was a Gaur that was grazing near the stream very near to the camp site and some of the guys wanted to photograph it and tried to stealthily get close to it but the Gaur could sense there presence and immediately charged towards them. They all ran for their dear life. Luckily it was only a mock charge to scare them off.

We left early after breakfast so that we would be back in Bangalore by early evening and well rested to face the coming work week. We promised ourselves that we would be back here again and its still unfulfilled...