Koodlu Falls: River Sita Originates!
I still remember Akash asking me whether i was available for a trekking trip in the agumbe hills. Though this wouldn't be my first trekking experience, it sure required a lot of my will power. I was not too young but had very rare experiences going to some far off exciting places on my own or any same aged friends. So i had a ready reply: Lemme see. But when he asked me again on May 8th, the day before the intended trip, i kind of took it as a joke and jokingly asked my mom the permission. What a surprise my mom agreed, and my dad too!! So the next day when i woke up what should i find other than a raining sky. But i didn't care it and got started to meet at the starting point, suratkal. Since the raining had stopped i forgot an umbrella, conveniently!! By the time i reached suratkal it was raining cats and dogs...
By the time the bus would reach panambur it was raining like hell. I became fussy as to why i forgot such a precious umbrella. I was happy that i was not wearing shoes but thought how i could manage to climb a hill without shoes. Aka had reminded me the previous night to carry a lump of salt but i happily forgot it. I thought that he was joking about leeches. I have never seen them till now and i won't be on this journey too, I thought.
After finding everyone who had come prepared for the trip, we came back to the bus-stand in suratkal. I saw that Prajwal, Anish, Yashwin and Shiva had turned up other than Aka and myself. We were overall delayed by an hour. Instead of 7 we started out by 8. A block near Kaup increased our timing by another half an hour. I found out from aka that we had a half an hour journey from Udupi to Hebri and then a 2km trek. We had to go till the falls enjoy the scene enter the waters and beside the falls there would be rafting. We decided that rafting wouldn’t be required and as the rains had just started the water would be fierce.
By the time we reached Udupi there was no sign of any rains. We took a bus to Hebri and imagine our shock when we found out that the 40 km journey from Udupi to Hebri would require a full hour. I thanked myself for having a light breakfast. By the time we reached hebri the sun was just above our head.
We had a small breakfast at the lunch time in Hebri and went in search of transportation. We had another , supposed to be, 5km journey till the point from were our legs would carry us. The first Omni we came across was our final abode though we were not satisfied with the rate he had told us. He charged Rs1200 to take us till the falls and bring us back alive. He put a further student discount of Rs 200 and made it to Rs 1000. We had some bargain and finally were settled to Rs 900.
This journey again took us another 45 minutes and by the time we reached the river where the omni couldn’t cross, the sun was directly above our head. We started walking towards the falls in a path and thanks to the trees we didn’t have to bear the heat. We walked atleast for another half an hour, maybe around 4-5 km until we reached a point where the path became narrower and only one person could walk at a time.
We hadn’t walked for five minutes a localite passing that way warned us of leeches. We checked our packs and ultimately found three lumps of salt. We jumped over a very narrow stream and from here the path started moving upwards. We hadn’t walked a km when Prajwal found a leech in his legs. We checked our legs and four of us had already been hunted by the silent suckers. We decided that stopping would give time for the leeches to hang on and so decided to move at a constant pace. But after 15 min or so, Aka, who was leading us, found that the path abruptly stopped. After some discussions and shoutings me and anish started going down and soon the others followed. On our way backwards we met some mba students from pa college and found them taking a turn unnoticed by any of us. We decided that following them would be the best idea and thus dropped the idea of retreating. After 30 min of hard work in the treacherous path we achieved the glory. We found ourselves standing in front of the beautiful falls.
We spent some time in the waters and except me the other five went to the bottom of the falls. We drank plenty of water and filled our thirsty bottles too. The water was so cool that even the heat of the sun couldn’t stop us from shivering! We enjoyed till our heart filled, till our body ache ran away and till our mind was relaxed.
Every one of us had found atleast four leaches on their each leg and Aka had one on his belly too. Our salt didn’t last for us and we had to collect the fallen salt too to get rid of the leeches. We lost bottles of blood (It felt like that) and the bleeding wouldn’t stop until we had reached back to our transport.
Prajwal had brought some jackfruit and we enjoyed it under the cool shady hills. We started back and to outrace the leeches made no stop on our way back. Though we had scolded Aka for his lack of proper info regarding the distances we had to go, ultimately we were all happy for making a tri[p to such a natural beauty rather than any malls or any cinema.
On reaching Hebri we were planning on having lunch. But it was already around 5 and so we barged into a juice shop and nearly emptied his stock. We then came back to mangalore and had one of the longest sleeps of our life.!!
Approximate Distances/ Timings:
Mangalore – Udupi: 60km/ 1 and a half hour (By express Bus)
Udupi to Hebri: 40km/ 45min- 1 hour (by bus)
Hebri – Sita River: 45 min (by van)
Sita River to Koodlu falls: Approx 5 km/ 1 and a half hour (depends)
By the time the bus would reach panambur it was raining like hell. I became fussy as to why i forgot such a precious umbrella. I was happy that i was not wearing shoes but thought how i could manage to climb a hill without shoes. Aka had reminded me the previous night to carry a lump of salt but i happily forgot it. I thought that he was joking about leeches. I have never seen them till now and i won't be on this journey too, I thought.
After finding everyone who had come prepared for the trip, we came back to the bus-stand in suratkal. I saw that Prajwal, Anish, Yashwin and Shiva had turned up other than Aka and myself. We were overall delayed by an hour. Instead of 7 we started out by 8. A block near Kaup increased our timing by another half an hour. I found out from aka that we had a half an hour journey from Udupi to Hebri and then a 2km trek. We had to go till the falls enjoy the scene enter the waters and beside the falls there would be rafting. We decided that rafting wouldn’t be required and as the rains had just started the water would be fierce.
By the time we reached Udupi there was no sign of any rains. We took a bus to Hebri and imagine our shock when we found out that the 40 km journey from Udupi to Hebri would require a full hour. I thanked myself for having a light breakfast. By the time we reached hebri the sun was just above our head.
We had a small breakfast at the lunch time in Hebri and went in search of transportation. We had another , supposed to be, 5km journey till the point from were our legs would carry us. The first Omni we came across was our final abode though we were not satisfied with the rate he had told us. He charged Rs1200 to take us till the falls and bring us back alive. He put a further student discount of Rs 200 and made it to Rs 1000. We had some bargain and finally were settled to Rs 900.
This journey again took us another 45 minutes and by the time we reached the river where the omni couldn’t cross, the sun was directly above our head. We started walking towards the falls in a path and thanks to the trees we didn’t have to bear the heat. We walked atleast for another half an hour, maybe around 4-5 km until we reached a point where the path became narrower and only one person could walk at a time.
We hadn’t walked for five minutes a localite passing that way warned us of leeches. We checked our packs and ultimately found three lumps of salt. We jumped over a very narrow stream and from here the path started moving upwards. We hadn’t walked a km when Prajwal found a leech in his legs. We checked our legs and four of us had already been hunted by the silent suckers. We decided that stopping would give time for the leeches to hang on and so decided to move at a constant pace. But after 15 min or so, Aka, who was leading us, found that the path abruptly stopped. After some discussions and shoutings me and anish started going down and soon the others followed. On our way backwards we met some mba students from pa college and found them taking a turn unnoticed by any of us. We decided that following them would be the best idea and thus dropped the idea of retreating. After 30 min of hard work in the treacherous path we achieved the glory. We found ourselves standing in front of the beautiful falls.
We spent some time in the waters and except me the other five went to the bottom of the falls. We drank plenty of water and filled our thirsty bottles too. The water was so cool that even the heat of the sun couldn’t stop us from shivering! We enjoyed till our heart filled, till our body ache ran away and till our mind was relaxed.
Every one of us had found atleast four leaches on their each leg and Aka had one on his belly too. Our salt didn’t last for us and we had to collect the fallen salt too to get rid of the leeches. We lost bottles of blood (It felt like that) and the bleeding wouldn’t stop until we had reached back to our transport.
Prajwal had brought some jackfruit and we enjoyed it under the cool shady hills. We started back and to outrace the leeches made no stop on our way back. Though we had scolded Aka for his lack of proper info regarding the distances we had to go, ultimately we were all happy for making a tri[p to such a natural beauty rather than any malls or any cinema.
On reaching Hebri we were planning on having lunch. But it was already around 5 and so we barged into a juice shop and nearly emptied his stock. We then came back to mangalore and had one of the longest sleeps of our life.!!
Approximate Distances/ Timings:
Mangalore – Udupi: 60km/ 1 and a half hour (By express Bus)
Udupi to Hebri: 40km/ 45min- 1 hour (by bus)
Hebri – Sita River: 45 min (by van)
Sita River to Koodlu falls: Approx 5 km/ 1 and a half hour (depends)
Comments
but a good one. Btw wer did u find that journey of life thing???