13th February 2009, 12:08
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| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| 'Xing'ing around ! - Brahmagiri , Irpu falls - A trip and trek... The trip/trek was done last Sunday, i.e. 8th Feb 09. This is not a true 'Xing'ing around trip since we left the Xing at home and went by Tempo traveler. But I tagged it under 'Xing'ing around! for the sake of continuity in my travelogues... Brahmagiri is a hill in the Western Ghats (1608 mts). It is situated in the Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary on the border between Wayanad District of Kerala and Kodagu district of Karnataka. The Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary is a restricted area, featuring a rich variety of wildlife including a bustling population of elephants. Since this place is quite close to the Nagarhole National Park, if you are planning a trip towards Nagarhole; Irpu falls and Brahmagiri can be included in the itinerary. Irpu falls is quite safe, clean! and has been made quite 'visitor friendly'. Kids will love playing in the water for a couple of hours. Permission from the Forest Department Office at Srimangala is required before trekking into the Brahmagiri Sanctuary. (Mr.Pramod, Forest Range Office, Srimangala, Contact number : +91 94488 13835). A nominal entry fee and guide fee has to be paid and the forest department will assign an escort / guide who will accompany you all the way thru the trek. Route taken: Bangalore >125kms> Srirangapatna >48kms> Hunsur >35kms> Gonikoppal >20kms> Srimangala >5kms> Irpu.  * Total distance covered: around 495 kms. * Road conditions are good till Hunsur and acceptable thereafter. * You can park your vehicle near the small hotel / temple near the start of the trail at Irpu falls. The trekking trail to Brahmagiri peak starts from near the Irpu waterfalls (Lakshmana Tirtha Falls). The distance from Irpu falls to the Brahmagiri peak is around 9kms, the upward trek will require around 4 to 5 hours. The return trip will require around 3 hours. [Depends on the fitness of the trekkers, the number and duration of breaks etc.] The route takes you through some dense shola forests and wide open grasslands. The trek is considered to be 'moderately difficult'. Best time to trek here would be just after end of the monsoon season, all the way up to end of February. [Oct/Nov/Dec offer the best greenery and also leeches!, Jan/Feb are non-leech months, but you'll see a lot of 'brownery' ;-) ] To be continued with pics and details... |
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13th February 2009, 16:08
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13th February 2009, 16:29
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13th February 2009, 17:18
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Irpu falls, Brahmagiri... trip & trek. Sangeetha was supposed to go on this trip with a couple of office colleagues and I was looking forward to a lazy Sunday to catch up on some reading etc. But thanks to some 'Emotional Atyachar' I got caught up in the action and went along on the trip. Since the logistics were already taken care of, all that was required from our end was to pack-up, board the van and trek! We left Bangalore on Saturday night at 10.30pm and reached Srimangala by around 5.00am on Sunday morning. Since the forest office folks would come in only by around 6.30am, some of us caught up on some sleep in the van and some in the inspection bungalow next to the FO...   After the necessary permits were procured and a quick breakfast at the guest-house, we proceeded towards Irpu falls at around 7.00am...   After a short drive, we reached the temple from where the Irpu falls path begins. It was still quite foggy and cold...     Sunrise through the fog...  The path up to Irpu falls (around 1 km) is well-paved, with cemented steps...   The Lakshmana Tirtha river. According to a legend Rama and his brother Lakshmana passed along the Brahmagiri range. When Rama asked Lakshmana to get some drinking water, he shot an arrow at the Brahmagiri hills and drew a stream of water. This stream is known as the Lakshmana Tirtha River...  Soon we reached the Irpu falls. The Lakshmana Tirtha river falls over 60mts in several steps to form the Irpu falls and continues its journey to eventually join the Cauvery River...   Near the falls a very friendly dog joined the group and insisted on walking with us...  The plan was to fill our water bottles at the falls and proceed towards Brahmagiri; we thought we could stop at the falls on our way back if someone wanted to get into the water...  First part of the trek was through the dense jungle, with lots of bamboo...   Wildlife!   The trek through the jungle is at an easy gradient...    Slowly the forests gave way to the grasslands as we gained altitude...     We criss-crossed the Lakshmana tirtha river and some other streams. Each one was an opportunity for filling up on water and take a break for a couple of minutes...  The hills around Brahmagiri...  Contd... |
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13th February 2009, 17:45
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Brahmagiri and Irpu... The area is a mix of grasslands interspersed with stretches of the shola forests...    A well deserved snack break!    The friendly dog, now called 'Tommy' by the group, faithfully followed...  Next stop was the Narimale guest house built in the middle of the forest. It serves as a camping spot for trekkers and as shelter for the forest dept personnel. Out of curiosity we enquired if there is a jeep track to this place, there isn’t one. All the material required to build the guest house was carried up manually! Everyone took turns taking some pics with these skull and horns...   The trail continued towards our goal...   Our first glimpse of the Brahmagiri peak...   Hmmm... This would be the last trek for my old faithful Reebok walkers. After trekking around for three years, they are finally on the verge of giving up their souls (soles)...   The last stream on the trail. All bottles were replenished...  Looks quite far... and it is!     'Tommy' continued to walk with the group. It would faithfully stop and turn back to ensure that even the slower trekkers were following...  The fire-line on the hill is also the Karnataka - Kerala border and passes right on top of the Brahmagiri peak...  The Brahmagiri peak...  The last part of the ascent is quite steep and dicey; the loose soil on the track makes it difficult to get a proper grip. The best way to go up and come down is to avoid the beaten path and walk on the grass...  A mini-break in the bushy tracts of the hill. Since we were returning along the same track, we left our bags here for an easier climb ahead. We just carried a bottle of water each...  View from 'near' the top...  View from the top...  Some of the team members, (including 'Tommy' who accompanied us to the top) took a small nap...   Contd... |
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13th February 2009, 18:09
| #6 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Brahmagiri. contd... Pics were taken for the records...   We started the descent. It turned out to be a more painful exercise than the ascent, there were a couple of small falls and scrapes and the group made it down in about 45 minutes...   The long walk home...  We stopped for a late lunch near a stream. Pure, fresh and cold - natural mineral water...  The final stretch...  Though we saw lots of signs of elephant activity in the area, we did not spot any during our trek. We saw lots of elephant dung though ;-)  It was completely dark by the time we reached the forest area and the trek turned into a moonlit / torchlight trek!   We could hear the Irpu falls in the darkness and soon reached the small bridge across the river...  Since dinner would be ready only at around 9.00pm, some of us decided to walk the 5 kms back to Srimangala and some preferred the comfort of the TT...  By the way, 'Tommy' was with us all the way, from start to finish and even walked with us on the way back to Srimangala. Everyone felt quite sad that we would have to leave our faithful friend here. When the dog started to chase the TT, someone had the thought that it would be preferable to leave the dog near the guest-house and took it onboard the van...  Reached Srimangala by around 8.30pm, freshened up, had a simple dinner and started back towards Bangalore at around 10.00pm. Since it was not preferable to land back in Bangalore before 5.00am or so, the driver was requested to take it easy and he even stopped at a Dhabha for a 30 minute tea break. We reached Blr by around 5.00am and dispersed. It was a great day! ----------------------------------------------------- Where to next? |
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13th February 2009, 18:24
| #7 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thanks ! Quote:
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Thanks Arindam ! Quote:
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13th February 2009, 19:06
| #8 |
| Senior - BHPian | Man thats amazing!! You have really good ability. All the best to your future adventure. I used to organize lot of this kind of adventure trips in my bachelor life and before I underwent operation. After I started revisiting the places without trek but with family  But still I make my family join me for small trekking (max 1-2 hour) which would be managable with kids on board. Ravi. |
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13th February 2009, 19:18
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13th February 2009, 21:52
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14th February 2009, 18:03
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14th February 2009, 19:36
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| That Tommy guy ! he is wonderful !!. There is one Brahmagiri peak which we had climbed up from Talacauvery. But that was just some 300 ft climb. Since Brahmagiri is a hill range, you guys must have trekked a different peak. I really envy you, hotstuff Keep "Xinging" on  |
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14th February 2009, 23:19
| #13 |
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15th February 2009, 01:10
| #14 | ||||||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Thanks Guys ! Quote:
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- With regards to 'Brahmagiri', I believe that Talacauvery is in the 'Brahmagiri range' and the hill from where the river emerges is called 'Brahmagiri hill'. The tallest peak in the range is also called the 'Brahmagiri peak' and it is on the KA - KL border, just 11 kms from the 'Thirunelli' temple in Kerala. Infact from the top of the 'Brahmagiri peak' you can see the Thirunelli temple down below and there is a way to descend from the peak towards the temple. The Lakshmana Tirtha river, which forms the Irpu falls, is a tributary of the the Cauvery river, which emerges at Talacauvery. If there is time on hand, a trek to Brahmagiri can also cover the 'Narimale peak' [1.5kms from Brahmagiri peak], which is shorter than Brahmagiri by around 300 mts. One more comment I read somewhere when I was doing my pre-trip research is that when there is good visibility, you can see the Chembra peak from here. Quote:
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19th February 2009, 08:43
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