Bandajje Trek...

Howdy friends.....

Thought of writing about my best of best treks that I have ever been.....Thinking of it gives me Goose bumps...

"Bandajje Water Falls and Hills"

The team!!

All set to trek!!

Hmm...I think this was in the Year 2009..yeah...11/05/2009. My Gang, ie the frens of East West College decided to go for trekking. After a long thought, on 3rd we decided to climb this Bandajje hills. One of my Friends had been there a week ago and so I took all the details from him.

A huge pit dug to prevent elephants to cross into the village

It was one heck of a trek..Gosh. It needed Make shift Tents and food supplies as we were supposed to camp near the falls in the night!! For 2 days we prepared everything. We got the Tents and stuff for Rent from one place near Basavangudi. The owner taught us how to unpack/pack and place the tent. It was not so difficult seeing the way its done. Then went shopping for ready to eat and maggie. Chocolates and other things.. The luggage was too much. Donno how we made it through. We were all set to start the journey.

TEAM: Vikas, Me, Yeshwanth, Chethan, Sathish, Naveen, Ritesh,  Sridhar and Arjun(Schoolmate).

We booked a Tempo Traveller and started our journey by 11PM in the night 05/11/2009 :) As usual, singing, dnacing...pulling each others leg...and slept off...Early morning by 6AM I woke up to see a beautiful landscape from the window. Was amazing.

We were supposed to goto one person's House, get freshened up and then, from there, take a guide and start the trek. While the vehicle was nearing the house, we were able to see the falls on top of a mountain soooo tall that we have to stretch our neck. We got down from the vehicle. I don remember who ordered Idly on the way...We brushed and freshened up and nicely had idly chatni.. :-) We met the House Owner. His house was simply super. A perfect Halli mane. Few chickens and few Adike chrushed and dried on the floor and rice/barley corps around the house. Took pics. :) all set to start the Trek..

Once we started our walk from the house to the foot hills...We saw a huge pit dug up along the mountain edge..We were confused. I thought it was for water to flow. We asked the Guide, why is this pit dug for..He said, It is dug to prevent Elephants from crossing over to the village. They had spotted a small heard few days ago near the village and so dug it for safety!! For a moment, my heart beat increased...

Half Km passed and we realized that the luggage was too heavy to carry :-)

 We started trying all possible combinations to carry the luggage. It was a circus literally!! We tried hanging the bags on the sticks and carried it for a while. It used more energy than normal. Switched back to carrying on the shoulder..Then the trek became more difficult..The path became narrow and steep...Worst was yet to come!!

Posing near the water stream!!

After some time, we entered the Forest cover in the mountains. Rainy season just got over I guess and the area was filled with LEECHES!!!! Many of us got bit by them. I donno how they manage to get inside the socks n all. uff..The worst part is we will not know it is sucking our blood as there won be any feeling. Until we see it we won be able to know it is drinking our blood.!!!

There were lot of fallen leaves on the path and the leeches were on it. Once we step on a leaf, it quickly grabs hold of anything it finds and starts sucking the blood. Uff, thank god i only got one bite.

posing

We continued to trek the forest. The guide made us go in all possible directions...up down left right. I was totally confused. People carrying luggage were left behind and they had to shout...WHERE ARE YOU GUYS..!!

Tired

We used to reply and listening to our voice they used to catch up. There were few times when we came back for others as the route was so confusing that ppl would get lost easily. Moving further, we all started to sweat like hell. The sun was up and temperature started to increase. There was one Rock or a boulder on the way...Going further into the forest, we found fresh trails of elephant path. The guide explained us this is where the elephants went, pointing to the area where the twigs and small trees were fallen. The whole ares was destroyer.

All Bamboo trees fallen down and a cave like formation among the bushes proved that something big tried to pass through the bushes.. :-) Fresh Elephant Dung also was seen all over!!

We continued to move ahead. It was almost noon and we were thirsty. For our luck, we found a small stream. It was like heaven seeing it. Soon everyone started to play in the water. Took photos :-))) My friend Naveen, while trying to cross the stream fell down twice. he he he. We photographed that also. ROFL . We spent som half hour in the water and cooled ourself off.

We got freshened and started moving further. There was lot more trekking to do yet. The guide made us move faster telling there is Grassland on top of this forest. I was thrilled to see the grasslands.

We climbed the forest covered mountains. Tried our best to avoid the leeches. We were shouting and making fun of those who were coming slow. All of a sudden, the Guide told everyone to be silent. He said an elephant herd is close by. Please do not make a sound. We all were terrified. One of my friends even saw a wild elephant. I missed it. :-((

We Silently moved upwards hoping we do not go face to face with the elephants. After an hour or two of climbing the hills, we finally reached the grasslands. Well, it was not as I expected it to be. But to look, it was splendid!!
It was completely parrot green in color 360deg :) We rested there for a while. Well the 'while' went for close to 45mins. A leech had been sucking blood from Sridhar's shoulder for an hour now. It had become the size of a pen cap. :) We somehow managed to remove and throw it off :) Leech menace got over once we reached the grasslands.

Once we were relaxed, we continued our journed from forest into the grasslands. It was actually a set of hills covered in grass that were tall. They came till our knees.

We were very hungry and all our perishable items like chocolates and biscuits were over. We had a few oranges i think. I tried not to eat as long as possible. We climbed climbed and climbed. The luggage was such a pain in the ass for us that we had to slow down. We took turns here again to carry the load.

Somehow we managed to carry it. We desperately asked the guide how long it will take to reach the falls. It was almost 5PM now i guess. We started by 10AM. All we did was walk walk and walk.

He said half hour more. We all got a smile on our face and started climbing again. I could not take much pics as i was too tired to hold the camera and click it. After a while I turned back and saw that most of them were still far behind. We waited for them and continued to climb up. Finally, I reached the top of the mountain. I was confused. There was nothing. No falls nothing. Then, I heard the sound of a stream and a falls. Listening to it i shouted at the top of my voice that i could hear the falls...Everyone were excited. The guide then made us get down the hill and wallaaaaaa!!!! There it was...In the middle of 2 mountains, a Valley kind. Water flows in the middle.

Our Guide

One side was the trees, through which we came. The other side was hard rock and soil...We were supposed to cross it and camp there. The guide went to the other side somehow fast. I was wondering how he went. Somehow managed to cross the stream. Then,, I started unpacking the Tent from the baggage. I knew others would come late as they were very tired.

After some time, Yeshwanth, Chethan and Vikas came rolling down the mountains to the other side of the stream. I showed them the way to cross it and we all unpacked the tents. It was easy to see the owner of tent show us how to fix the tent. I felt it was hard when I started to fix it. Hooo,,,,, Somehow managed to place one tent On the ground. It was 6:30 PM and was starting to get dark there. Finally the cavalry arrived. Naveen, Sathish, Rithesh, Arjun and Sridhar. They all looked soooo tired. We took rest for a while. I noticed the the sun was setting. So I walked up and statred taking pics. Everyone joined me and we saw the sun set next to the Falls.

Sunset near the falls.

As the sun set, we realized how much hungry we were. Hehehe. As we had sweat like hell, we decided to take a Dip in the stream before eating. We dashed to the stream, threw off the stinking clothes and jumped into the stream. There was this Jacuzzi kind of natural bath tub..lol..Vikas got settled there. I enjoyed the location and played in the water for a very long time. About an hour or so later, we decided to come out of the water.

me next to the tent pitched

Soon, we saw that Naveen, sathish were searching for food in everyones bags. We had got ready to eat curry and rice. Also there were a few packets of Maggie. We also had got a few parota and chatni/pickles. Rithesh had got a small vessel and so with the help of the guide we lit a small fire next to the tent. We boiled the water and place the ready to eat packet. We were eager to eat so badly.

Very hungry everyone were. Then came the Maggie and cup noodles. :) We had some cool drinks later and watched the darkness fall over us. A scary night it was. :) I never got sleep properly due to excitement..Had a few hours sleep while the rest slept like babies :)

inside the tent

inside sleeping bags in tent

 Early morning, I woke up to see Yeshwanth and the guide trying to get the fire started to ward off the cold. I joined them. Soon, one by one everyone got up except Naveen and Sathish. :) We were eager to see the falls that was few steps ahead of us.

We walked on the rocky edge of the stream towards the falls. Shockingly, we were right at the tip of the water falls. I mean, on top of the falls. We expected that water would fall from the top. But it was like we were on top of it. :) It was a real dare for us to look down as the altitude was so high!!

We took a lot of pics here. I got scoldings from Yeshwanth for going very close to the tip. :-( But it was too good. There are no words to explain it! We took a video of it which i will post it here.

We all were amazed to see this view, the water and the fresh air!! Naveen and Sathish were still sleeping and never saw it! Guess they were tired..

Well Here are some pics. and a video...

Beauty of nature at its best!!

Standing at the tip of the Falls. Yes, it was a dangerous thing to do!! Below, i am not sure how much deep it is...

Awesome place to. Trekkers, I would suggest you ppl to visit this place once in life time!!! While u are still young!

 Next to the tip of the falls..


Me and Yesh




Yesh trying to capture some cool Shots!!!!

 Me and Viki, Posing!!

Yesh, Ritz,Vikas and Chethan. This was the background of the falls.

Stream!

 Do Watch the videos!!!!


I get Goosebumps seeing them :):):):)
We spent close to an hour near the falls. Enjoyed to the core here and then came back to the place where we had pitched the tents.
We woke Sathish and Naveen and started to get fresh. We had a long way back to go!!!!
We checked with the Guide if we are going the same way we came. He said we were going in a different way.
Well, it was fun getting down the Bandajje falls. The guide took us to a place that looked like heaven. It was completely green. There were mountain ranges as far as our eyes can see.
Guide and Arjun walked fast and missed all the fun. lolz. These boys were into photography giving all kind of poses..
The path was too good. Lush greenery, cool breeze,...fresh air. It was mind blowing!!

 Arjun, Chethan and Yesh.


Vikas and Sridhar.

All packed up to leave!!

Pointing to nowhere.....

Awesome Location it was. 2 eyes are not enough. The weather

We all had to walk for more than 2hrs down and up many hills.

 There was one Fort in the far end that the guide insisted us to ee. Wee ll were too tired to walk. So we decided to reach down. Everyone walked as fast as they can down hill. All were starving to death.

One thing that didnt change was the interest to pose for photographs. We patiently stopped every now n then to take pics.

I will upload more pics in the further pages.

While getting down, we met another set of guys who were climbing up. But they took a much easier route that the one we trekked. We told them, it is easy, you can manage it. and continued to walk down hill

 We found a small cave kind of structure where water was dripping. We kept  leaf near it and drank water coming from it. It was very cold. Felt like drinking Amruth.

Don't mind the bad pose. ROFL.

Path to heaven.

As we passed by, we could see the Fort in a far place. It looked so far so we decided not to go. Continued to go down the hill.

The Fort looked amazing from the distance. I badly wanted to see it. Unfortunately, most of my team was so tired that they hardly managed to walk. Including me..

Then, I was searching for something to eat. I found a packet of Powdered milk. :-)) Seeing it, they all came.

It was a total mess how they ate it. I cannot describe it. They tore the packet, snatched it from me. I managed to take one hand ful of it and gobble it down. We never saw the packet again. Donno who took it. :-)))

Finally we reached the bottom of the hill by 3PM or so.. It felt like after a loooong time, we saw human settlements. lolz.

From the foothills, we were supposed to catch an auto and go to the nearest bus stop. From there, we had to goto Horanadu Annapoorneshwari temple for Bitti(FREE) Lunch.

A hut in the middle of the forest.

 We took 2 autos and reached the bus stop.  Our TT was Stationed somewhere near by. We called up the driver and asked him to pick us up. After waiting for a few mins, our TT came, we boarded it and headed towards horanadu.

Once we reached the City, my friends were so hungry that they couldn control their stomach growling. they asked the driver to stop and we stopped at a small Hotle in the village on Horanadu. We went inside the hotel to find that it was almost empty. But the food ppl were eating was delicious. We ordered full meals. Someone asked wat ll we would get in full meals. The waiter told the menu. Rithesh, out of no where asked:


"Will there be Rice in the Meal???"

We all started laughing. :) heeheheh. Was funny. I never had eaten so much in my life. Was soo damn hungry that I ate so much. Not to ask about others.. lol....They ate like pigs..rofl. We all did. Sorry guys. It is the fact..!!!

After a good meal, we took some rest, walking and eating beeda. :-)) I ate 2 :-)) We got into the TT and headed to Horanadu Annapoorni temple. The temple was closed as it was noon. It would open by 5PM or so. We waited and then got Darshan. We had free meals in the temple after waiting for some time in queue.

The food was awesome. Only thing is that the serving was very fast. We could not eat peacefully. But food was tasty. The taste still lingers in my mouth. It was awesome.!!!

After a heavy food, AGAIN! we rested for a while in the temple premises. We recalled how our trek went and laughed at ourselves. We were very glad that we were still alive..lolz.

We then got into the the TT and headed back home!! Home sweet home. Called mom and told her about the trip in brief. Felt good to hear mom's voice. We had dinner on the way. Stopped in the middle of the road for a small photo session. You can see the 1st pic that I have put in this Post. :-))

We reached Bangalore early morning by 4:30AM or so. As soon as i Reached home, i was soon flat on bed. Was sooo tired. Uff...One heck of a Trip it was!!!

Got up almost by 7PM and was eager to see the pics. All the pics had come out so well. I reminded of the entire journey we had. This is one of my most memorable trip I ever had.
I would suggest and recommend everyone who read this post to visit this place once in life time. :-)

Thanks all for reading....
Ganesh.