Trek to Bandaje Arbi - Ballalarayanadurga

Date: Jan 19-20, 2008

Mission: Trek to Bandaje Arbi (falls) - Ballalarayanadurga - Sunkasale in 2 days

Prologue: After KumaraParvatha we wanted to do another good trek. After reading a lot about people getting lost enroute to Bandaje arbi-Ballalarayanadurga and the spectacular panoramic views the trek provides we decided to do this. This time we were 8 of us (Raghu L, Karthik, Vasanth, Hari, Vamshi, Vamshi's friend Ravi, Me and my friend Raghu M) and the group had representatives from all 4 southern states. 2 tents and sleeping mats were arranged from http://www.bmcindia.org/. We couldn't get 8 tickets in a single bus. So we went to Ujire on Fri, Jan 18th in 2 Dharmastala bound Rajahamsa. Me, Raghu M and Vasanth left in the bus at 10.30 pm from KSRTC bus-stand. The bus reached Ujire at 7.15 am next day. Apart from the incident where the driver lost the way while going towards Peenya in-order to find a short-cut to avoid traffic, the journey was uneventful. As in most of the treks I have done, I hardly slept during bus journey.

Day 1
Our plan was to trek 4-5 hrs to Bandaje Arbi on day 1 and halt there, trek 6-7 hrs to Ballalarayanadurga fort and then to Sunkasale on day 2. Our breakfast finished at Ujire, we left to Narayan Gowda's house at Bandaje village in a jeep at 8.30 am. Since we didn't want to get lost in the begining of the trail itself from Narayan Gowdara Mane where most of them lose the trail and end up wandering in the forest, we had decided to hire a guide from Gowdara mane by calling them up the previous day. However folks from Gowdara Mane didn't want us to get lost anywhere and decided to send the guide all the way till Arbi.

We left Gowdara Mane at 9.30 am. According to info available the trail is steep from the begining itself covered by thick canopy of forest. The info was cent percent true and we were sweating completely within 15 mins of starting. The experience of hiking this steep trail without any sleep previous night, humid condition and a 10 kg rucksack on the back which had one tent and lunch for day 1 is not a comfortable one. Midway I almost thought I could go no longer with that heavy rucksack and exchanged mine with Raghu L's. At 10.45 am we hit the Bandaje river where we halted for 30 mins. Here one has an option of walking along the river to reach base of the falls or cross the stream and hike further to arrive at the top of the falls. Starting again in order to reach top of the falls within 30 min of hike we were out of the forest cover and were now able to view Arbi at a distance ~1 km ahead of us, Jamalabad fort far behind, Kudremukh ranges to the left and Charmadi ranges to the right. However getting to Arbi took almost 1.5 hrs as hot sun coupled with steep acsent made our progress slow. We reached top of the falls at 1.30 pm. Starting from Gowdare Mane in Bandaje village the trail is steep and ascending all throughout the way. We had Nilgiris Chapatis/Teplis/Chutney powder for lunch and departed with our guides. We 8 of us were left alone to experience this serene and spectacular place. One more group of children (NCC I suppose) arrived after sometime but they departed with no intent of camping. After a long nap we went to see the magnificient sunset from the top of the falls. It was also a thrill to peep down and see the water crashing to rocks 200 ft below. We put up the 2 tents, cooked delicious maggie for dinner and slept comfortably inside tents. The weather was not very cold.

Day 2
We woke up at 6 am and ran to the top of the falls to watch sunrise. We couldn't watch sunrise from the top of the falls as sun was coming up from behind but the view from Arbi was fabulous. Morning abulitions and freshening up finished, we cooked MTR upma for breakfast and left Arbi towards Ballalarayanadurga at 9.30 am. We had to reach the top-most point of the highest mountain behind Arbi where we would find the one and only path to Ballalarayanadurga. Walking on loose rocks for ~30 min we found this path just before the patch of forest on the top-most point of the mountain. Taking left deviation along this path we kept gaining altitude and were soon able to view Kudremukh ranges to our left, Charmadi and Pushpagiri ranges to the back. We met a group of people coming from Ballalarayanadurga and got sure that we were on the right path. After crossing a couple of hillocks we were able to see Ballalarayanadurga fort at a distance of ~2 km. This trail offered breathtaking views and we reached the fort at 11.30 am. It is a small fort with fort walls running for a quite a distance but the view from the fort was excellent. Once you leave Arbi there are no water sources on the way and is only available near the temple (~3 km from Ballalarayanadurga) on the way to Sunkasale.



Lunch in the form of Nilgiris Chapatis/Chutney powder finished we left for Sunkasale at 1 pm. Now we were not clear of the path we had to take towards Sunkasale. However we could see the temple/estate from the fort. After spending 15-30 mins in searching for the right path, we carefully read the printout of Orkut thread we had taken about the path to Sunkasale. At the same time a group arrived from Sunkasale and it solved our problem. While coming from Arbi, just before Ballalarayanadurga fort there is fork. Taking left will take one to temple/estate and Sunkasale while taking right will take one to the fort. This path is always descending and there are couple of forks but we sticked to the one heading towards temple. The path led to a jeep track and we reached the temple at 2 pm. Our depleted water resources replenished we left this place after a short break. After the temple we took a short cut which a person suggested which joined a jeep track and walking another 6 km on this we arrived at Sunkasale at 3.45 pm. I guess the distance from Ballalarayanadurga to Sunkasale is ~11 km. The next bus to Kottighera was at 4.30 pm. A cup of tea at a roadside shop and Hari's PJs kept us in good spirits till the bus arrived. We reached Kottighera at 5.15 pm and out of nowhere a Mlore-Blore Rajahamsa bus was ready to leave. We arrived at Majestic at 12.15 am and had to pay heavily to auto guys.

Cost per person : Rs 800