Sharavathi valley Trek - Monsoon Bliss (Day 2)

Continued from here - Sharavathi valley Trek - Monsoon Bliss ( Day 1)

Day 2 Adventure : 

Our second day plan is to visit Dabbe Falls and reach Kanoor village. Trek to Dabbe falls starts from a village called Hosagadde.From Jinadatt's house (Halgodu) its approximately 8 km. Halgodu to Biligaru 2km and from Biligaru to Hosagadde its 6km. Biligaru to Hosagadde is completely tar road. So we decided to hire an omni car.

According to our plan we left Halgodu by 10 am in the morning and reached Biligaru by 10:30 am.Omni was ready by that time.The driver dropped us till Hosagadde for nominal charge of 100 bucks for 6 people.It was 11 am when we started trek to Dabbe falls from the Hsagadde village. From Hosagadde, Dabbe mane (house) is 6 km. Dabbe Mane is the house where the real trek starts.Its the lonely house near the Falls, hence the name Dabbe mane.

Hosagadde Cross





Initial trek - Jeep track

This is the place where the jeep track ends. This house is called as Hosagadde Mane.Trekkers often gets confused by seeing this house. From this house Dabbe Mane is still 3 km.  From here on the trail gets tricky and goes adjacent to the stream. We need to cross couple of streams.

As I mentioned earlier, path from Hosagadde Mane passes trough dense forest and adjacent to the stream. So we need to cross couple of streams.During Monsoon its difficult to cross the over flowing  streams ,so be careful. Plz don't get into the streams without the help of locals or experienced guide. Our guide Mahesh Raj is an experienced water sports instructor. So we need not to worry about our safety. He had worked in Water sports academy for more than 10 years.

Crossing the stream was a real thrill of my life and we successfully accomplished it with the help of our guide. What more adventure can you expect .Streams were really force enough to drown any one.We made a human chain and slowly crossed the over flowing streams. These are the streams which leads to Dabbe falls. So if you are drowned in the stream then forget your life . You can only hope for survival. After the second stream,path is very much clear and need to cross another stream. But it is not dangerous as previous two. Bridge is constructed over the stream.

Small streams here and there :





Into the dense forest





First stream



Second Stream



Relief . . We are alive . .   

This is the most dangerous part of the whole trek. A small deviation can lead you to the loss of life.

Monsoon and western ghat rockss . . 

We experienced a great adventure and learnt that how difficult it is to lead life in the western ghats.   

After crossing the second stream the path is pretty much clear and enjoyable.We heard from our guide that we need to cross another stream. .But bridge was constructed over the stream long back.When we approached the bridge,it was flooded with the overflowing stream.  .That's the third time we were risking our lives.Thank god it was not as dangerous as previous two.    .Bridge was not completely flooded,but the force of the stream made our venture little difficult.But it was manageable.

Clear path after the drama 

Water Water Water .. everywhere  

Soon we approached the 3rd stream

Finally with all that adventures we reached the Dabbe mane/Gowdara mane by noon 12:30 pm .They welcomed us with great love and offered us some fruits.One should get charged before the Dabbe falls trek.

Because it is the most difficult trek. It involves very steep descent of nearly 70 deg. and sometimes 80 deg. too  . .   . So be prepared to take the challenge. Hence we ate the fruits first and took good rest of around 15 mins before we head to the Falls.

Gowdara Mane(home) - Dabbe mane



About Dabbe falls :

Dabbe Falls is a pristine waterfall near Hosagadde in Shimoga. This falls is deeply hidden in the mountains near Hosagadde. The trek route through the deep valley leads to the delightful Dabbe Falls. Hosagadde, 20 km from Kargal, is on the way to Bhatkal from Sagar via Talaguppa and Kargal, which is famous for the Jog falls.

"Dabba Falls" one of the few waterfalls of Karnataka which have not been polluted with frequent tourist and hence still preserves its heavenly touch. where the water plunges into narrow gorge, to witness one need to negotiate steep descent, checks all your Adventure skills.

Is worth all the risk once you witness the serenity of the waterfalls.

-[Courtesy of Stay@muthanga.]

One can hear the roaring of the falls from dabbe mane itself. Path from from dabbe mane leads to the steep cliff  .  .We were instructed that not to carry any extra things like umbrella,eatables etc . . because your both hands should be free to grab the roots.The trek comprises of descent of steep cliff. Sometimes its nearly 80 deg. steep. There is no facilities like rope or anything like that.Only thing that helps you is Roots. U have to make sure that u grab it perfectly or else gone   .You cannot expect any one to reach the base of the falls in the Monsoon season. Its very very difficult.The terrain is very slippery and you need to take the help of roots and fallen trees.

The weather was completely clear when we got to see the first glimpse of the water falls.But later it proved wrong.We were able to reach till the view point only. Steep cliff , fresh land slide and heavy rain didn't allow us to trek further.What a magnificent view that was . .      . We forgot all the difficulties that we had after seeing the wonderful views of the falls.View point is a place where only 5 to 6 ppl can stand. It was raining heavy so we decided to ascent back to dabbe mane.Ascent was easy when compared to steep descent. We took nearly 40 mins for the descent and nearly 20 mins for the ascent.Overall it was a wonderful experience and would like to visit once again in monsoon time only.

Views from the Dabbe mane/ Gowdara mane

First glimpse of the falls





Steep descent - very tough one  









Magnificent view of Dabbe falls . . - what a mighty falls . .   





With all our efforts we witnessed the majesty of Dabbe falls. We returned to gowdara mane/Dabbe mane by 3:30pm.It took almost 2 hrs for the total trek,including time spent there. And its now time to get free from the Leeches   .People at the house offered us jack fruits and honey as well.It tasted like heaven,after an arduous trek. We forgot our packed lunch only.We decided to eat that packed lunch somewhere at the next stop.

Our 2nd days destination was a village called Kanoor . Kanoor is a comparatively big village with minimum of 20 houses in the vicinity.From Dabbe mane/gowdara mane, Kanoor village is at a distance of 12 km. We were really running late as it takes 3-4 hrs to reach Kanoor village from here. So we left the Dabbe mane by 4 pm .

En-route Kanoor

After a steady walk of half an hour, we reached another house and quickly unpacked our lunch and finished it . The ppl at the house offered us a cup of hot Tea and we accepted it with humble. This is the Humanity . .    .Trough out our journey we witnessed the humanity of the Western Ghat ppl and really grateful to them. I will never forget the hospitality provided by them. Again we started our journey by 5 pm. And we need to trek 10 more kms to reach Kanoor village.    .

We reached one more house after an hour and they forced us to stay overnight. But it was impossible task,so we ruled it down. But they were not letting us to go without taking something. Quickly they gave us a sweet prepared with coconut and sugar.    . Kudos to people who are still serving the trekkers in this route  .Finally its time for Tea . .    .But GOD must be crazy . . ! ! couple of kids in this house are physically challenged   .We felt really sad . .   . Now they are in some hostel.

We left the house by 6:30 pm and Kanoor village is still 6 km from here.We encountered one more overflowing stream.This time it was completely dark. It was difficult to cross in the dark. So local people directed us to the bridge to cross the stream in order to reach tar-road towards Kanoor village. We crossed the bridge made by few wooden poles attached together with a rope across the stream and finally reached the tar-road in the dark. 

We had night trek as well 

Walking 2 km along this road we reached Ram Naik's house in Kanoor at 8 pm. We had walked in continuous downpour for 4 hrs starting from Dabbe mane.Ram Naik's house is the very first house of the Kanoor village. And that's curtains down for the 2nd day adventure . .   .

3rd Day adventure - Kanoor fort and Sharavathi river

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