This was an office team outing so the management decided to start the journey from office premises. We came to office late, stayed there till 1.30 am. This was my first ever overnight trip with office colleagues and now I can say it is one of the best trips I had ever been to :) Finally our journey started at 2.30 am from yeswanthpur. The cool breeze and calmness of night had already filled my heart with a positive vibe. With sexy highway roads and loud music the journey gained momentum.
The resort where the bookings were made was about 300km from Bangalore. We took the Bangalore-Hassan-Belur-Chikmanglur route. With very few stops in between, we reached Belur by 6.30 am. Hereafter the route was uphill where there were very few chances to find any place for breakfast. So we decided to have breakfast in Belur. We were afraid if any hotels or cafes would be open by this time but there was one. I could not recall the name.
Then the curves of the road and most beautiful part of the journey started. Around 80km there roads have lots of turns and slopes. These are a few pics which I clicked from the bus on the way.
Finally we reached our destination Chikmanglur- The Kanive at 10 am. This home stay is a bit away from the main road. A jeep arrived for us near the bus and we were asked to keep all the luggage and walked for around 500m.
"The Kanive" resort has the best view which can kindle the nostalgic feeling of being one with history. Kanive means Valley and very few places can be aptly named. A resort adjoining the beautiful valley formed between the mighty Ballalarayanadurga and the Kudremukha ranges.
After these valleys, we went to a small waterfall accompanied by the guide from resort since it was a kind of mini trek.
The water was cold still within no time we went under the fall. And gosh! I loved it to the core.
At around 1pm after enjoying the falls and the scenery nearby we reached back the home stay. Everyone was hungry and the hot served lunch was cherry on the cake. Thereafter we decided to go to the large falls which was around 18km from the home stay. But the staff there was very helping. They arranged the vehicles. They call it 100ft fall but it is not 100ft. So don't get carried away by the name. But trust me its worth going. Beware of Leeches on the way.We could accommodate in a jeep and a mahindra pick up.. :P this was fun.
We went by Jeep till the nearby point. After that the path is narrow and somewhat into the forest so we had to walk for around 1km. And there it was. The stream of water flowing from a height in the lap of forest surrounded by the greenery.
Finally we reached the most awaited falls after around 45 minutes. Here it is
On the way back to Bangalore there is a very famous and old temple which we decided to pay a visit.
The temple of Adishakthyamaka Sri Annapoorneswari is 400 years old. The name of this temple itself means "feeding one and all".Annaprasadam is served to all the people who visit this temple.
The cottages were beautiful and we literally had a Wow!! moment seeing the weather there. After leaving the luggage in the cottages we headed towards the first view point which was not more than 200m from the resort.
Since the water was chill and deep, we were given life jackets by the guide from home stay. Under the falling stream of water I felt as if bricks are falling on my head. The force of water was really high. We enjoyed here for around 1 hour and headed back to the home stay.
We freshened up and had tea/coffee. And it was all set for camp fire then. The resort had nice arrangement for music and dance floor. Had dinner at 10.30 and enjoyed rest of the time playing and dancing around the bonfire.
Then next day plan was to go for trekking. So everyone was asked to get ready by 6.30am
Ballalarayanadurga Hills, Chikmanglur
Though we decided to start by 6.30am we started at around 8am in the morning. In the same mahindra pickup we went uphill to some extent. Early morning journey was so refreshing. We saw flying peacocks on the way. The route to uphill is not so tricky and can be easily climbed by anyone. We enjoyed nature and spent some 1 hour there and came back to home stay. After having breakfast there we checked out from the home stay. We all had such a wonderful time there, painful to go back to bangalore. But this was not end of the trip.
We reached this temple around 1pm hence, after darshana and anna daan we decided to take prasadam there and start the journey ahead. You can check more images from here
Thus was the last official stop of the trip. We started at around 3.30pm from hornadu towards bangalore on the same route and we reached around 10.30pm in yeswanthpur, bangalore with a few stops for shaks and tea in between.
We saw all the colors of nature in this trip rain.. sunny.. rainbow.. chill.. cold.. foggy.. This trip was surely a remarkable time we enjoyed with some new and some old friends.
There is an unspoken bond you create with the friends you travel with. - Kristen Sarah
I surely do that after this trip. Thanks for reading this. Keep travelling.. keep exploring..