Bandaje Arbi Falls
I always believe that the sound of the river flowing, or a waterfall is the closest to my heart. So I needed no more motivation when I received an invitation for Bandaje -Arbi Falls.
Mostly this would be last Trek for this season; summer had already started, I was little hesitant about going, but eventually decided to join with my friends for this adventure.
The Day:
In the midst of all the office work and everything I somehow found to find a way and finally agree to the trek, for the first time instead of starting from 10:00 pm we started at 11:00 pm on Friday evening.
We had an amazingly diverse group of people joining the trek, five girls, and seven boys. The Journey started with a normal brief round of introduction. Also, our organizer Lohith explained to us what to expect from the trek. I had already checked the temperature around that place, even though that place was near charm and ghat which not very hot area, but I was still bit skeptical about the place.
The Trekking day
The day we went to Bandaje Arbi falls was supposed to be an election day in that area, so I knew there won't be many shops opened up and all, we had to cover almost 320 km in the overnight journey.
1st Pit Stop
We stopped at the temple; it was considered a holy river of Nethravathi. I thought one can take a bath in it, but I could not sleep on an overnight journey, I was myself little tired, so instead of doing this adventure, I opted for catching up on my sleep for some time more.
We had reached that place almost at 5 am on Saturday morning, with others getting refreshed and everything we were just getting prepared for the day, we were supposed to carry the whole bags with us as we had planned for the tent in the night on the top, which I was looking forward too.
Since I was the last person to get up and get going, we bit delayed, but I got myself freshen up early, and all of us had coffee, we moved to the nearby city to have breakfast.
My dear friend Modi insisted on having rice, his staple diet, so he ate alone in some restaurant rest all of us had normal idlI-vada sambar in a small restaurant. We had to go to some forest office to get the permission, it was little far from our breakfast point, all this time I was just pulling Ahmed’s Leg on how last time monkey had bitten him. It was too much fun.
Let’s Gear Up
As We came towards the Forest office, we saw an awesome Jeep standing over there; it had all racing stickers on it. It was some racing jeep which was kept there. Forest officer had asked us to write a permission letter, someone from the group was writing it. Rest all of us were simply getting ready for the trip getting the bags out and accommodating all the essential things required. Since we were going camp overnight, it was important for us to carry maximum supplies. We had Varun with us, for him it was the 1st trek. And he was making most of it; I meant he had brought 50 liters backpack. Carrying at least 2 liters of Gatorade and lots of other stuff. I was just wondering, whether he will survive the trek or not. I was also carrying a Tent(Mahadev my tent mate, will never forgive you for this man). My Backpack was itself heavy, I thought distance is only some 10 Kms, So I thought, I can manage it. After all of us were ready with backpacks and food packets with all of us, we were ready. It was time to trek now.
The Initial Walk( 3 Kms)
As we marched towards the falls, we first took a road which was a semi-concrete road; I guess recently developed, flat road, going along a small water stream, Road had plenty of trees covering, so it was mostly walk in a shed. As many people in the group were new, general discussions on what you do and where are you from were going on. On another hand, I was silent most of the time. The weather was humid, and I feared the most how to complete the trek in such environment. But we were marching pretty easily. We had first selfie at around10 AM while crossing a river. This was the first point I saw some dense jungle. Nothing was there to see; we were surrounded by mountain walls. A new person in such area will get lost. I count to see where we have to go. But we had a very kind guide with us. He was cut bushes for us and asked us to head in this direction. And we went ahead.
The Long March(1-2 Kms)
As we walked into the deep forest along the road which we felt like was carved for us by the guide. The road was nice, trees all around and with mild inclination. This was the time all of us were just fooling around and simply talking, when are we going to reach the peak and all. I thought this was too early to talk about it, I mean we didn't even complete 5-10% of Journey, and we all were still talking about talking about reaching the top and taking rest. But still we marched ahead, after 1 km we all took a break. The weather was playing a bad role I guess, it was too humid, and we were getting thirsty often. I had this gut feeling of it would be the tough journey ahead. Instead of moving slowly forward we had already taken a quite a few brakes now. But we had to march on
The First Victims.
One reason to get tired after some time I realized was the Backpacks. I mean most of us were carrying quite a lot of stuff and heavy backpacks. It was taking the toll on us. Only after 1 and half hours into our journey we had our first victim. It was Prachi; she could not continue the walk. She said someone had to take her tent, the tent itself was some 3-4 kg. Nobody wanted to carry extra weight, to be honest, but we had a brave girl my friend Swati who said she will carry the tent, So both of my friends, pink and Swati carried the tents while going up, hats of to them. They were fit always marching ahead of me, Modi and Varun. I was wondering myself; I need to increase my fitness. But the road was tough now, cause it was almost constant 40 degrees upwards inclination all the time, we could not see a single small flat surface walk. This was the time I had realized that this was going to be a really a bloody tough trek now.
The First Break
After about 2-3 hours of walking, the first water stream came along the road, all of us were flat on their back now, it was tiresome journey till now, with continuous uphill road and humid weather. We stayed near the water stream for almost 45 mins, just chillaxing. We still had to cover round about 50-60% of distance now. As we were continuing the journey weather was going worse, it was becoming more hotter now; conditions were too humid. I was sweating like Pig. By this time, 1 liter of Gatorade from Varun was already over now. After a log enough break we continued the journey.
Time to get exhausted
After the first break we were at about 11- 11:30 AM in the morning, our stomach was filled, and we had quite an amount of energy left now. This was a stretch of ground about 2-3 Kms which we covered in almost an hour, this was deep inside the forest road, Climb was also not much, Guide had said after this all you need to do is walk towards the fall, This part of journey I guess nobody spoke much, all of them were tired and simply exhausted. I guess only Ahmed and I were chit chatting, rest all were simply concentrating on their path. It was looking like everyone's battery was down by now. The Road reminded me of Nishani Motte to an extent. I almost took 4-5 Breaks between. Prakash and Mahadev were leading the way for us. After long treacherous journey we had to reach intermediate Top, we had come out of the forest now, it was too sunny now. This was the only spot in a shed we could rest now, we all took rest and eat Oranges. this was the point when everyone agreed on the season for trekking was over now, it was too humid hot and killing of weather. After eating fruits (Cucumber and Oranges), we went ahead.
The Wrong Turn
While getting up our leaders saw a small path leading downwards, They thought this was the way forward, the continued on that road; this was pretty risky on the edge kind of road.Only Modi had decided to take another route; he was pretty sure this was not the route. As we marched ahead, suddenly we saw one of the best views. The Bandaje-Arbi Waterfalls from far. It was a breathtaking view. But Again we saw the road going down. We were supposed to camp on top. Everyone soon realized this was not the route. The guide had left us by now, cause he had election duty to attend on that day. We were on our own now, I confirmed with Modi on the further road, he said we are supposed to climb not down. Everyone moved back and walked upwards. This was the toughest part, I mean a continuous upwards of 60-70 degrees climb. I was pretty exhausted by now; I just stopped by a tree to catch up on my breath.
Time to die almost.
As we continued the Upward hill walk, which was only 2 km but I felt this was the toughest climb in my life. I mean I was saying to myself Swajit just ten more steps further ten more steps at a time. I was on the verge of breaking down. It was simply tough. On some other days I would help out other guys always, but this time, around I needed help. I use to walk ten steps take a break and continue, between on the hill; there was a small tree we saw, all of us just reached there and were resting. Everyone was like how much more distance to cover, can we rest here only. For a moment, I was also thinking the same. We had Mahadev still in front of us waving to us there is a road ahead further. I felt if I could walk just a few km more I will die.
The Final Destination
The Further walk from that tree was round about one km continuously upwards. I was moving slowly, trying to find a way on where to go, Mahadev was not be seen now, he had gone too far ahead now, I was moving zigzag just to maintain pace. I thought I would fall anytime and pass-out. There was 1 moment here when I was going ahead, and Modi, Pinku, and Swati were behind me, I was few steps ahead of them trying to find a correct way, and then Modi says this is not the correct way, we have to go this way, I had to take re-route again. Finally, after round about half an hour of brisk walking, we had reached the top, we were basically on top of the river, which was going down the mountain to form the Bandaje Arbi falls. The Sad part about the top was, t had nothing on top, to camp we had to climb down and go towards the river and find a site for camping.
Many of us were coming slowly toward that point; I volunteered to go down the water stream and find a place to camp. This road leading up to the river was pretty muddy, I slipped at least twice, I had kept my bag on top, and walked down.
Once I reached the river I was so amazed by its beauty I forgot about finding a tent in place, I simply was moving here and there to see around, I dipped my head into that cold river water for almost 1 min now. As I took more time, Ahmed and Mahadev came searching for me, but again we went towards the edge to see the waterfall from the top. This was the moment of this Trek, We saw the waterfall from the top going down at least 200 odd feet, We clicked pictures and selfies and asked other to come down slowly, My friends forgot to bring my bag, I had to climb again and get it. All of us reached now one by one; We set up tents. I was simply eagerly awaiting to take a bath in that cold water.
The Rebirth and aftermath
After coming down towards the water stream and seeing breathtaking on the edge views I felt a little happy, the exhaustiveness was gone a little, I set up and helped another set up the tents.We ate the packaged food, and I said I will take a bath in water, All of us were ready to join, we searched for spots here and there, finally found spots, and slowly everyone got into the water, the water was cold as compared to outside temperature, after almost bathing for 40-45 mins and feeling rejuvenated , I felt like I was born again, Everyone mood was changed, I was now like what to do, And since I was tired, I just went into my tent and slept for an hour(probably the best sleep I ever had in my life)
The evening and food preparations.
After waking from a wonderful nap, it was time to take pics, see some below. Most of my friends were angry as I slept, instead of helping which is true, By the time I woke up it was around 5 pm now, and weather had become pleasant now. Not much sunny now, After taking some pics here and there, I was all ready now, We started with food preparations, Rice and Chai was going to be made first, This time, food department was headed by lohith and Ahmed for a change, to be honest I really didn't help them much other than getting them water required for cooking. As we slowly cooked the food, we all sat around discussed how the day was, And how this difficult journey was still worth it. We ate the delicious food made by our peers and conversation went ahead with some awesome songs by Garima. As we had to get up next day early morning, instead of living the night under the stars we simply slept.
Day Two
We woke up pretty early .and have chai and Noodles as breakfast. We had to go to Fort called BallyanaDurga, The overall road leading up to the fort was pretty awesome not much of a climb, flat road on top of mountain range offering awesome valley views, we reached the fort by 10 AM.
The return route was different one which was much easier. After almost 2-3 hours of walking, we had reached near the spot where we got our TT.
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| The Group |
We went towards a river; all guys took the bath in the river got freshened up, drank tea coffee and then we went to one of the nice food having the temple of Annapoorna Devi. It was my long awaiting dream of visiting this goddess. The second day was spent mostly roaming, eating street food and then continued the return Journey. Though it was awesome two days spent for me, I will still consider this trek to be one of the toughest ones.
P.S.: - As always thanks to the organizer Lohit from Bangalore hikers who arranged the trip such a nice way, there was no stone left unturned in organizing. Also to my fellow trek mates, the wonderful set of people I met, Thanks Varun for all the Gatorade and my other friends for sharing awesome stories.
I will be out of hiking action for sometime now, will upload new blogs again when I start hiking
