Trek to Benne Kallu Gudda

...continued from Sunset point near Forest Homestay

After a hectic day of traveling by bus and cross country trek, that too with a bad cold, I was exhausted. Sridhar and Pushpa too were tired. Back at our cottage we freshened up and eagerly waited for the caretakers to fetch dinner. The most tasty relished items in the dinner were rice and thili-saar popularly known as rasam. I popped in a tablet to tackle the infected sinus hoping it improved my condition. By 9-30 we had switched off the light and hit the sack.

December 21, 2019
We were up by 4-15 AM. With undisturbed sleep, my condition had improved. With two bathroom at our disposal, were ready by 6-15. Our caretaker-guide Pradeep turned up at 6-30 with hot tea. He had also got a bottle of ragi-ganji, our hilltop breakfast at the end of the trek. Our trek commenced around 6-45. We were six of us including the guide and two co-guests. Pradeep lead the way and I was at the tail end. I kept little distance.. had to blow my nose now and then. Also, I didn't want to bother the group with my coughing noise. This is the newly carved path through the hills, I believe this will soon be a metaled road. The spot of light seen in the distance is from Pushpa's phone, she was shooting along the way.

The path became steeper, the heavy breathing actually helped me. At one point Pushpa wanted a long stick, it was easy to find one from the rubble the excavators had made. There she is, with her stick, bag and phone. This was the end of the machine-cleared path, we would be entering the wild path.

One of the points where the leading group paused for Pushpa and I to catch up. Good chance to take a picture. The young couple from Bnaglore, Sri and Pradeep. The rock is light grey under the black surface, same as the rock seen at the sunset point.

This jungle is natural, not the plantation type seen in some parts of Western Ghats. The thick vines are proof that the jungle hasn't been disturbed much. However, at some point of time, probably several centuries ago, large trees stood here. The jungle cover and the neighboring hills had cut off the sun from our view until we..

..reached this point. The gold-brown-blue sky.  One cloud formation close to the horizon looks like a long fish.

Another view of the sky, hills and jungle. What a glorious sight it was. It was quite silent, there might have birds chirping around which I missed because of my own noises.. blowing nose and cough.

This part was quite steep but climbing was easy because of the comfortable grip. Its fun t climb such rock faces. There were low mounds of dirt held together by grass roots. The grass must've been green until November end.

I liked the shape of the grassy outline, looks like the peninsular India and black rock is Bay of Bengal. There's one mound in place for Andaman & Nicobar islands. Inside the green cover, there would be creatures of the Nature minding their business.

Our climb progresses, the column marches in the same order.. lead by Pradeep and me at the tail end. Actually the last person watches over the group, ensures that all members are present.

I took my time, pausing to see and shoot. These arches and circles of grass are admirable. How the invisible cracks have formed and grass managed to take root along those cracks. They look like rings of fire.

I shot this picture to give the viewers an idea of the slope. Not too steep at this point. Notice the undulations in the surface which let the rainwater play as it flows down in little streams, forming little overflowing ponds. I guess this part wouldn't be too difficult even during rainy season.

While I gave all the attention to Bhoo Devi, the sky was jealous. Our Surya Deva was peeking at the horizon while Varuna Deva's army dominated the sky.

Sri had caught us unawares. I thought he was shooting the landscape. Its a great shot, its like Pushpa and I were standing on the horizon. Somehow Pushpa is lagging behind. Some plants have managed to green here, perhaps this is close to the edge of the exposed rock.

I guess that's where Sri shot the previous picture from. Yes, we are close to the edge of the exposed rock. There would be much more moisture trapped in the soil here which would have kept the little plants alive. Anyway, even dead plants are alive in a way, all they need is water to become life again. Here we enter the jungle again.

Few meters into the green cover we saw a barbed fence of a coffee estate. Our path went along the fence for some distance and then we turned left and climbed again and came into the open again to see this amazing sight. The butter ball stone ~ Benne Kallu.

In the following post, I'll share the sights of the valley, hills, jungles and sky from this point. Do check  out Benne Kallu Gudda.

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Sunset point near Forest Homestay

December 20, 2019
The distance between our cottage and the sunset point was a kilometer of ups and downs. We had tea around 5-30 and left immediately. Pradeep was our guide. A newly wed couple from Bangalore had arrived at the home-stay, they joined us for the trek. Our four-legged friends joined us as well, either following us or leading us. They knew our destination, smart guys. This is one of the uphill stretches. Just before this we passed by a group of village people heading back home after day's work. They were wary of us, I think Sri's mustache was an attraction. I told the group Sri was Veerappan's brother. Their eyes widened for a moment and turned back to take another look at Sri. Nice to have a light moment :) We passed by couple of houses, a bunch of village kids were playing. They seemed to be tribal people.

The twin peaks of Maradi. Pradeep told us that our morning trek will be to the peak on the left.

We covered the kilometer in about 15 minutes. This is the sunset point. The ground was black-grey rock covering an acre or two. Nice place to relax, lot of space to meditate. As soon as we reached one of the four-legged friends suddenly became alert. Sri noticed he was focusing his attention in one direction. He had spotted a peacock and Sri got a glimpse of it before it vanished into the vegetation. Sri went in search but ended up disappointed. Pushpa settled down at one spot.. there she is looking at her phone screen.

The young couple found a spot for themselves. That's the western direction. Sun was partly behind clouds which seemed to be still, hardly any air moved.

I climbed down a bit to see what lay below. It was getting steeper with every step down and the vegetation got thicker. The rock type had caught my attention. It looked like igneous rock. Up there the rock was solid, not many cracks. Down here there seemed to be lot of cracks and grass had grown on it. Or may it was dirt which had settled over the rocks which was convenient for plants.

The crisscrossing cracks covered with grass. There were signs of quarrying here, not much just a little. Beneath the dark surface is light colored rock. It seemed to be relatively soft.

The canvas of Nature in the sky. Sun was over the horizon. I felt we might not see the Sun go down the horizon because of the clouds. Also, it would be misty as the temperature dropped.

By now three groups had formed- 1. Pushpa. Braveheart and Lionheart, 2. the young couple and 3. Pradeep and Sri. All groups were stationary, I was the only one still moving around. The rock formations were fascinating, wanted to see most of the surface. One of the sloping sides was covered with mounds and channels. This spot would be interesting during rains.. water would be flowing in little streams.

As the Sun got close to the horizon, the clouds grew darker. A huge triangular cloud had formed over the Sun.

The rock formation was getting intriguing, as I went further down, the mounds were more distinct. Looks like liquid rock had hardened, uneven cooling must have made the surface uneven.

This particular formation looked like a fish's backbone. So many surface cracks.. surely this is igneous rocks, probably this is relatively new.

The same formation seen from the opposite end. I must come and see this place during rains. It would be like looking at islands and rivers.

Sri and Pradeep. In the background is the slope of the hill we would be climbing soon.

A close look at the rock surface. Beautiful, isn't it.

Scale model of a gorge. The white stain is the result of slow moving water.

A little pit. The dirt trapped in the pit was home to this grass. The specialty of plant life is they are beautiful even in death. The mix of colors is pleasant.. shades of grey, off-white and mild red.

A natural bowl. This seems natural but there a good chance this is man made. Prehistoric men are known to make bowls or plates in stone and ate out of it during a particular festival. Or the bowl was made to grind seeds or mix paint for artwork. Need to explore more to understand the place better.

Pushpa talking to Braveheart. She was talking softly, while he was pretending to be listening and some times looking away to imply that she was being ignored. Lionheart kept little distance though part of the group. I sat for some time but did not want to intrude the gathering.

Another day passes by. If you happen to see the sky and rock floor below, they are of the same color!!

The final moments of our sunset. We decided to leave as we had to walk through the jungle and reach the estate before dark.

Back at the cottage, we had Pradeep bring in wood and make a fire. It was getting chilly and sitting around a fire would be the best thing to do.

We had had a hectic day, and I hadn't slept the night before. We finished dinner around 9-00 PM, spent some more time at the fire, until we almost ran out of wood. At 9-30 we called it an evening and turned in. We needed a good night's rest for the early morning trek up a hill.

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The Forest Homestay, Maradi

December 20, 2019
Our day started at Horanadu, we spent an hour at Annapoorneshwari Devasthana, had breakfast and started our journey towards Aldur. Though the bus ride from Kalasa and Kottigehara wasn't a comfortable one, I kept my mind busy by looking out at the hills, valleys and jungle. Few kilometers before Kottigehara, Sridhar pointed out to a huge scar of landslide two or three years ago. The effect was seen down in the valley as well. Long tree trunks and huge boulders lay heaps in the stream bed, all washed down the hills by rainwater. Our journey ended at the private bus stand at Kottigehara. None of us were in no mood for another bus ride, we hired a Omni to take us  to Forest Homestay. It was ages since I'd  ridden a Omni. The driver was experienced, it was an hour and half drive. The last two kilometers of the drive was dirt track, max 5 kmph. The Omni had to stop 100 meters before our destination since the road was too rough for Omni. So that's the arch of Forest Homestay, Maradi. we walked in with our bags.

A gracefully curving concrete path descended towards the coffee estate house. We were greeted by two friendly dogs. They seemed to be siblings, same color, build and height. That's Pushpa making a video on the way here. The place felt serene, was happy that our journey ended and I declared that I'll not be travelling by vehicle for the next 24 hours.

That's the estate owner Nuthan Maradi's house. We were the only guests for the day. The host welcomed us with buttermilk. I shouldn't have had the cold drink.. but couldn't resist the creamy drink.

This is the view from Nuthan's house. The dirt road descends deeper into the estate. There are two cottages and several tents for guests.

We checked out both cottages and decided on this one. This has an open dining hall, the room has five beds and attached bathroom. This plateau is situated next the valley where a stream flows, the sound of water was a soft background music, like the Tampura in classic Indian music.

Sri and I went for a short stroll down the estate path to check out the stream. Sri remembers seeing this stream gushing down in full force during one of the rainy seasons. BTW, Sri has been coming to this place a dozen times over the past six years. I was impatient to explore the surroundings but the immediate need was to eat and get rest.

Back at the cottage. Pushpa was hungry. As we waited for the lunch to arrive, Pushpa wanted a quick bite and got some chikki from her bag. One of our new friends was hungry too. There he is watching Pushpa open the package. He made sure he got the first bite :)

Our caretaker Pradeep and his colleague brought lunch from the kitchen and set it up on the table. Chapati, vegetable curries, rice, sambar, rasam, pappad, curds, sweet, and few other items. We thoroughly enjoyed the lunch. We rested until 4-15 or so. Sri and I had planned to go exploring with our cameras. Pushpa wanted to stay back and watch "Big Boss."

Our host Nuthan joined us. This is a pond on the other side of the valley. Behind me is another plateau. Guests can play football or volleyball here.

Nuthan's boys were preparing this mud volleyball pit. They were readying this for a large group coming here for the weekend. With its two water bodies, this plateau might be attracting wild animals at night.

We wanted to explore further. Nuthan carried on with his work while Sri and I went into this jungle towards another pond. In this direction, there are two hills. We would be climbing one of them in the morning, not the one seen here.

What seems like a dying tree still has life in it. The tree is infested with termites, a small ecology within the tree.

The ground is quite hard here, light colored soil. The two to three feet tall grass is at the end of its life, will be completely dry in 15 days or so. Sri was looking for birds. In the green cover ahead is the coffee estate. Everything looks so peaceful.

This pond was a pleasant surprise. The mirror surface says its all. Peaceful. But Nature has its way. There are little green birds flying around stealthily. They hop on from one bush to another, one by one.

The triangular pond is accessible comfortably from one side. The other two sides are either high or too soft for a good foothold. The place was silent, just the sound of birds chirping. Even the air was still here.

Perfect reflection, isn't it. That's Nature's canvas.

The rocky shore of the pond is birds landing place as well. This spot seems to be a favorite for water birds. So many signatures left behind. Watching water has a calming effect. Gentle movements of black dots and tails caught my attention.

A fleet of tadpoles or call it a school of tadpoles. They are shy creatures, the moment they saw my camera lens moving towards them, they started swimming away. I really enjoyed watching them swim. I called Sri to take a look at them. He replied its a waste. What!

There he goes after the winged creatures. He moves like a cat, silently but his bright orange tee-short is a like warning flag for his targets. Nevertheless, he gets his shots.

This little bird with green tail feathers are super active. It was a group of four or five. This bird has moved its tail to its right hence not seen here. These birds would fly over the water, and suddenly dive and hit the water with a splash and fly up again. We saw it happen seven or eight times. Not sure if it was the same bird every time or if they took turns. I guess they were catching little water insects.

A heron perched high up on a tree. It was sitting still for almost fifteen minutes before taking off. Probably its did not like our presence.

It was almost 5-15, time to head back to the cottage and grab a cup of hot tea. The plan for the evening was to trek to a sunset point. That would be nice.. to see sunsets from a hill top.

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