Visit to Chikmagalur

June 24-25 2010
Day 1

Trip to Kemmangundi, Kalhatti falls, Hebbe Falls, Shanti Falls, Mullayangiri and Sitallayangiri

The week started off with the discussion of trip during the coming weekend. It was decided that we would be visiting Chikmagalur. We planned to visit Places around Kemmangundi and Mullayangiri. Even though it is a monsoon season, we wanted to get the feel of it.
As per the plan we decided to visit places around Kemmangundi on the first day and Mullayangiri on the second day. We enquired with the Karnataka Horticulture department for stay, but unfortunately couldn’t get the reservations for the same. The plans were switched.
We started off from Bangalore at 2 AM on the Saturday picking people from various locations. A chat with the driver suggested that we could retain our original plan, since there were lots of home stays available in and around Kemmangundi. Since it’s an off season, we would be taking a risk of heading towards Kemmangundi without any reservations for the stay.

We took the following route to reach Kemmangundi:
Bangalore-Tumkur-Gubbi-Tiptur-Arasikere-Kadur-Birur-Lingadahalli

After Tumkur one needs to take a deviation from NH-4 and join NH-206.The traffic on this highway was relatively less compared to others. The entire stretch of NH 206 is good. We stopped by at Kadur for Breakfast at around 8 AM in the morning. It was hard to find a restaurant in the early hours of the day in spite of it being a highway. We then proceeded towards Birur, where one has to take a deviation towards left which leads to Lingadahalli. The road condition starts to deteriorate once the deviation is taken at Lingadahalli.
This is the point where one can start getting the glimpses of the Kemmangundi. One can see cloud covered hills and valleys creating a very beautiful view. Since the advent of monsoons the entire landscape has turned green giving a soothing view to the eyes. Adding to it was the chilling weather with cool breeze blowing around, giving a sensational feeling. The difference in air quality is felt as soon as one enters the area. We stopped by to click some photographs of the same and then headed towards our destination Kemmangundi.

After Lingadahalli one has to turn left on SH57 and follow the sign boards of Karnataka Tourism. We came across few home stays on the way. After visit to couple of them we zeroed in on Rangers camp Home stay for the evening stay. It is located on the way to Kemmangundi at a place called Ballavara. It had a nice set up with rooms in the center of the 12 acre estate.
We then headed towards our first place of the day, the Kalhatti falls.

Kalhatti Falls:
Kalhatti falls is situated in a village called Kalhattipura. The water here cascades from 100+ meters above in front of the Veerabhadreshwara temple. Once can get a glimpse of this water fall from quite a distance before reaching this place.

One can see three elephants carved on the rocks right in front of the temple, over which the water falls. This falls is also known as Kalahasti falls owing to its fall on these sculpted elephants.

One can also trek to the top of the falls through the stone steps placed next to the falls to get picturesque view of the falls and the valley. Very often people come over here for a trek during the winter/early summer, climb the hill slopes and enjoy the panoramic view of the verdant valley.
As expected started drizzling and we were not sure about what was in store for us. After spending some time over here we decided to go towards Kemmangundi, the very top point of the hill, where one can get the entire view of the valley.
As we headed towards Kemmangundi the weather worsened with altitude resulting in poor visibility. The entire area was covered with clouds.

Kemmangundi:
Kemmangundi is at a distance of 10kms from Kalhatti falls. It is at this very point where Karnataka Horticulture Department guest house is located. From here one can visit Z-point, a view point show casing the beautiful valley. Shanti falls is located on the way to Z-point.
Since the current weather situation was bad we decided to have early lunch at the hotel situated in this place. The food here was good.
The weather in monsoon season over here is highly unpredictable and can change within no time. We decided to try our luck at the Z-point and Shanti falls as the skied had cleared a little bit. One can trek from the Karnataka Horticulture Department guest house to reach these points. It’s about 2-3kms trek. Vehicles can cover the first 1 km distance after which one needs to trek for another 45min or so to reach the point.

There was surprise waiting for us over there!!! . Owing to Monsoon season there were plenty of leeches on the way, which started attacking. We were mentally prepared for this !!. After 15min into the walk en route Z point we came across Shanti Falls.

Shanti Falls:
It’s a small water fall on the way to Z point. The water flows all the way from top of the hill, creating a spectacular view while falling into the valley below. The route all the way is very scenic with deep valleys on one side and hills cover on the other.

It started raining heavily all of a sudden and with no shelter around we made a decision of head back to our vehicle. The jackets didn’t provide much of a relief from rains. The decision of not heading to Z point was good since the weather deteriorated further with clouds engulfing the entire valley. We then decided to go to Hebbe Falls.


Hebbe Falls:
It is situated at a distance of 10kms from Karnataka Horticulture Department guest house. Only jeeps ply on these roads. Jeeps can go till the Khoday’s estate from where one has to walk for another 15-20 minutes to reach the falls.
The road leading to the falls is in very bad condition. In fact some stretch it must not be considered road at all. It just like hills leveled down with ditches all around. The rains have even more worsened the roads making a very bumpy ride that I have come across to any falls. To add to these woes the driver of this jeep was driving it as if it was a highway.
The area was completely engulfed by clouds all the way and the visibility was reduced to 2-3 feet. To make matters worse the Jeep didn’t even have a wiper. Only a skilled driver with familiarity of the locality can handle these situations.

As we were closing to the estate the jeep’s tyre gave away. We were approximately 1.5-2kms from the estate. We then decided to walk all the way, in the meanwhile the driver told he would fix the tyre and then pick us back. It was an amazing experience of walking through the coffee estate. It takes approximately 45min – 1 hour to reach the estate.

From the estate one has to cross three streams on the way to reach the falls. The paths become narrow due to the dense growth owing to monsoon. One could sense the falls from a distance owing to the breeze blowing across carrying the mist.
Surrounded by dense jungles, Hebbe fall gushes down from a height of 551 ft in two stages called Dodda Hebbe and chikka Hebbe. Owing to the cloud cover we could see only the former falls. The falls is broken down by a rock projection from the bottom creating a striking view.

We spent close to one hour at the falls taking some long exposure photographs. The Hebbe falls visit took around 4 hours. This ended the first day trip which was a good one considering the season of our visit.