It was quiet long since I had met my engineering friends. One such holiday somewhere around October, we all decided to meet as all of us had been now connecting from home. We decided to meet at our common place near Karkala and later head out somewhere.

We all reached Karkala around 11 in the morning. And started searching for some falls to go around. But most of the falls were closed, and we were left with the last option of Sirimane falls. Without a second thought we drove from Karkala to Shringeri, a journey that usually takes around 1.5-2hours.

A hanging bridge on the way to Sringeri

View from the hanging bridge

View from the hanging bridge

On our way we had quiet a few pitstops to finally reach the Sirimane falls entrance near Kigga. But to our dismay the falls had been closed for sometime now due to some maintenance work. They had blocked all roads leading to falls. 

We stared exploring near by places, asking a couple of local for more info. Finally we found one more falls,  not much explored, Maghebailu falls. This ones near Kigga, around 5-7kms inside Kigga. The road leads directly to the Maghebailu house, where one can park his vehicle. 

Maghebailu House

Enquiring at the house, they told us about the way to take to reach the falls. Also, they asked if we would like to have lunch at our return, to which we happily agreed. 

The walk to falls isn't that tough, though one has to walk for roughly around 2kms. The path too is well walked one making it easy to identify. The walk goes through coffee plantations, water streams, forest, etc, making one to keep an eye on leeches. Finally after some 40 mins we reached the falls.

En-route to falls

Wodden logs near falls

The falls was absolutely stunning. It was so calm and serene, with nobody but just we friends there. We spent some time enjoying the beauty of falls and headed back to Maghebailu falls, where we were severed lunch.

The Maghebailu falls

The Maghebailu falls

Finally post lunch we all headed back home. Maghebailu falls is absolutely beautiful, not much crowded and very peaceful making it a perfect one day gateway.

Maghebailu Falls: An hidden treasure

Kiran K 0

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This trek happened somewhere around the month of September. Rainy season had just got over, falls were full. But visiting falls now would mean lot of crowd. Hence we thought of visiting place with very very less crowd. After searching for places, we finally finalized Nishani Motte. But things were a bit different this time. It was to be a group trek, and moreover I along with couple of other friends had to organize the entire trek.

So, once place got decided, people started coming in. By the day previous to the trip start, we had around 18 people. It was quite a big group to take care of, moreover arrangement's had to be made too. Finally we were all set with the bookings. We had booked a mini bus, stay for 18 people, contacted forest officials, everything was almost set.

So, finally it was a Friday evening. Bus started from Hebbal, picking up people on the way. We had booked for stay near Bagamandala, as its quite close by to the trek next day. By the time the bus left Bangalore, it was almost 11 in night.

Day 1:

We somehow managed to reach Bagamandala by around 6 in the morning. We had already booked a homestay for our stay, Akshaya Homestay. After getting freshen up, and having breakfast, we started our trek.

Before beginning the trek, we had to go and register in the forest department office, Bagamandala. After submitting the required id proofs and enrolling in the register, we were provided with a guide. The actual trek point was around 3-4kms from here. Since we had our own vehicle with us, it was easy heading to the starting point. There are actually 2 ways to trek to the top, and we choose to ascend in one and descend in another. 

Board near Forest checkpost depicting the entry point

Walk-in thru the plains

Just another walking day!

Algae all over a tree on our path

So, finally the trek began. The initial few kilometer's were nothing more than walking on some grasslands. But since it was just after onset of monsoon, we had our blood sucking friend, leeches, all around. The second phase was somewhere in midst of forest, well shaded. The last phase, was however a bit tiring, since it was a quite steep ascend. Throughout this stretch one could witness amazing scenic views all around. This stretch almost had everyone tired. Finally, after ascend the steep steep, we managed to reach on top. On top, it was clouds all around. It was just like walking in heaven, amidst of clouds. 

View en-route the trek

Just few more steps

Through the clouds

And the top of Nishani Motte

After a steep hike, everyone were quiet hungry and, we had the lunch which we had packed from the base. Now was the time for descend. It took us around 1 hour or so to descend. It was a very quick descend. But again, there were a lot of picturesque places with amazing sceneries both during ascend and descend. Finally after about an hour of walking, we reached another forest check post. This checkpost marks the end of our trek. From here we had to walk around 4-5kms to reach back to main road. But luckily for us, there were some local jeeps going, and we all hopped in it. Finally we reached back to our bus, waiting for us at the main road.

A small leaf frog 

It was evening by now, and most of people were already tired. Hence we headed back straight to homestay, had our campfire, and called off for the day.

Day2:

The next day, everyone were quite relaxed. After having an amazing breakfast at the homestay, we set off towards Talakaveri. It was hardly 15kms from here. But the entry to hilltop at Talakaveri was closed due to some reason. Hence we couldn't visit the hill, but visited the temple and headed back.

On our way back, since we dint have anything much to do, we visited Sri Bhagandeshwara temple, Bagamandala.  We were here almost at the lunch time, hence we decided to have our lunch here as well. Post lunch we were spent some time getting relaxed at the Sangama, where the rivers join to form Cauvery. Few of us got into water enjoying in the slow paced river, while rest were playing games, roaming around, keeping themselves occupied. 

Finally our group trip had come to an end today. We started back to Bengaluru from here, managing to reach by around 11.

Overall it was quite a wonderful trip. NishaniMotte, is absolutely an amazing place to trek by, especially given the fact that not much people come here. Moreover, the difficulty of the trek is somewhere around medium, but the view is as breath-taking as any other treks.

Nishani Motte : Easy steps for trekkers

Kiran K 0

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