A monsoon expedition at Agumbe and Sringeri

We reached Sringeri by 6 30 am, inquired about buses to Agumbe, from sringeri we need to go to a village called Bidirugoodu and from there we get bus to agumbe which arrives via thirthalli. it was a wonderful saturday morning, far from dusty, traffic busy town, we reached agumbe by 7 30 and we were welcomed by heavy rain. a perfect start.!! We decided to stay at Kasthuri akka mane and take their guidelines to visit different places in agumbe. Got the info about barkana falls and Jogi Gundi falls, also an auto was arranged for us, we were all set to explore the falls and forest.

Our first destination was Jogi gundi falls, as we reach the path to falls it again started to rain and we started waking towards the falls, its 1km walk into the forest and few steps down to reach the falls, We stayed n enjoyed the falls for few minutes as we were told by the auto driver to come soon as he will be waiting by the side road,also if we stand in a place for more than 30 secs, the leaches will definitely feed on our blood. yes !! if you want to visit these places in monsoon be ready to be bitten by leaches. After about 10 min of ride in auto we reached a place where we have some green grass land at the left , few huts and forest at the right, there we met our guide who took us inside the forest on a small walk path. The path was getting interesting with more leaches, water crossing, trees and bushes obstructing the way. on the way we found foot prints of wild pigs. it was on and off raining, the forest rustling sound, the fear of leach biting, the light jokes and laughter on the way made the 3 km walk fun filled and joy full.

We rested for one hour and planned for the rest of the day, we decided to visit Kundadri betta. it was raining heavily and the view from kundadri betta was almost nightmare with mist around. we reached top of kundadri betta, the rain paused for a while n we could get a sneak view from the top only for a while. Took few pictures and enjoyed the rain on top of the hill.

Lunch was at Chandra Mohan's aunt's place, it was a wonderful path to walk to there home need to cross fields and a river to reach there and the hospitality was very good. had lunch and some fun filled moments in beautiful place. Took bus to hornadu, i should not forget to appreciate the driver of the bus who drove from sringeri to Hornadu, amazing control over bus in extreme ghats, (may be we noticed this coz we were sitting beside the driver seat ). Reached Hornadu temple by 7 30pm, did darshana and had dinner in the temple itself. our bus to Bangalore was waiting and we departed to Bangalore by 9 45. it was a wonderful trip with lots of rain, green mist and adventure. anyone planning to agumbe stay in doddamane, contact me for contact details of kasthuri akka, you will have memorable hospitality and not to forget best food.