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Showers in Sakleshpur

Last Updated 20 December 2017, 15:43 IST

The monsoon is that beautiful time of the year when everything is green and serene.
Personally, most of my travels happen during these months as I am a lover of waterfalls and grasslands.

This monsoon, along with three of my friends, I planned a trip to Sakleshpur.

The idea was to stay somewhere in the jungle and hike to the beautiful twin peaks
of Deepadakallu Gudda and Jenukallu Gudda. For our accommodation, we chose the homestay called the 'Vasantha Paradise' located inside the forest near Banal village in Sakleshpur taluk.

We started the journey on a drizzling Saturday morning in my car. We took the Tumkur Road and proceeded towards the Nelamangala Road. We had our breakfast at Hassan.

The drizzle and the AR Rahman's songs made the trip more interesting. We reached Sakleshpur town around 11.30 am and took a short break to have some lovely sugarcane juice. If you have the time, you can also cover the ruins of Shettihalli Church on the way.

From Sakleshpur, we drove around 20 km to stop at the beautiful Majagahalli Falls, also called the Hanbal Falls. These are medium-sized falls apt for taking bath.

After a relaxing bath, we drove again to Banal village where the homestay is located. The homestay is inside the jungle, so a jeep came to pick us up.
We left our car near a house. The ride for the next one km was thrilling. We took rest before starting our trek to the twin peaks of Deepadakallu Gudda and Jenukallu Gudda.

There is also a very beautiful stream which we explored before hitting the trail. Once we reached the base (around 3.30 pm), we began our hike to Deepadakallu Gudda.

This place is pristine and the monsoon added a rich green dimension to it. We didn't struggle much to reach the peak considering it was little steep. We reached there around 4.15 pm.

The view from the peak was mesmerising. We spend 20 minutes there enjoying the silence of the mist. There is a beautiful hanging rock there on which one can sit. We then left for the second peak, Jenukallu Gudda and reached there in an hour. Enjoying every second, we descended back to the base around 6 pm.

It does get dark sooner in the Western Ghats especially in the monsoon months. We came back to the homestay and spent the rest of the evening around a campfire, snacking, singing and having dinner.

The homestay has camps and rooms for stay. We opted for the camps for its unique placement.

Next day morning, We were woken up by the chirping birds. The homestay owner Babu requested us to get ready to hike to a smaller peak called the Pandavar Gudda located exactly behind the homestay. This was a small hike and we were able to reach the mist-ridden peak in 30 minutes.

We visited the very beautiful old Bettada Bhairaveshwara Temple on the way back from the peak.

After breakfast, we vacated the homestay. Around 10 am, we started our return journey and hit the road to Agani village which is around 20 km from the homestay and on the way back to Sakleshpur.

Once we reached Agani village, we asked the villagers to direct us to the falls. They guided us perfectly.
After a walk of 10 minutes, we reached the waterfall. This waterfall is beyond my imagination and has three cascading layers, each one so different and lovely. We spent the next one hour taking bath in all the three cascading layers. The cold water washed away the fatigue we had after the hike.

By 12 pm, we packed everything, said goodbye to the lovely hills of Sakleshpur and started our travel back to Bengaluru but not before telling each other that we should visit this beautiful place again.

This trip was soulful and refreshing and offered the much-needed break from the monotonous city life.

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(Published 20 December 2017, 11:28 IST)

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