I and Pawan are known to each other from past 3 months and in this little period our frequency has tuned very much alike. In IT field when you work for some time, the pressure is so much that you feel that you want something to get relaxed. As we "thought" we are exhausted enough and we want something to get out of hustle bustle of Bangalore and spend some time to some place where we can get mental peace.
On Friday 27/04/2007 Pawan decided that chickmangloor is the place we are going to visit and I had no idea about anything regarding this place. Around 3 p.m. I googled chickmangloor and read some blog about chickmangloor. It provided some idea about that place but time was running so fast that even we hadn't able to book any accommodation. We thought to get it there as it is tourist place. One of my friend Nitin also got ready to go with us. In evening around 7 p.m. we went to K.S.R.T.C and booked the tickets. We got Rajhamsa coach and for returning we got A/C Volvo. It all took Rs1341 /- for 3 ppl. There is not much difference in fares of these buses may be of Rs50 /-.
We reached to Majestic bus terminal to get Rajhamsa which I thought Hi-Tech bus, while giving tickets I was told Rajhamsa is Hi-Tech. But as usual Govt. buses are always opposite to your expectations. Finally, it was normal bus in which we tried hard to sleep but it was all waste.
We reached Chickmangloor around 5 a.m. We knew that our next destination was kemmangundi.
We got to know that there is no direct bus to kemmangundi. For that first we have to go to lindarli. It took around 1.5 hrs and Rs 69/-. As soon as we reached there we got to know that bus for kemmangundi is around 9 a.m. and it was 7:30 a.m. We took one tempo for Rs 100 /- to see kalathi falls. Kalathi falls is in a way to kemmanundi so we thought that till we see kalathi falls it would be 9 or 9:30 am and we would get bus.But when we went to kalathi falls there was nothing like falls. One temple is there and that too not worth seeing.
Kalathi falls
Its 9 am in we was still on the way to kemmanagundi and waiting for bus. By luck a Tata van came open from back and picked us. It took around Rs 40 /- and 20 mins to cover 10 kms. Road condition was hell. But still it was fun and part of adventure. We were totally unplanned, we didn't know anything about bus service and accomodation but still everything was getting fine and we were enjoying. Finally we reached there and start looking for some hotel to stay.
But we get to know that there is guest house of PWD and horticulture department. There is also dormitory by horticulture dept. It was clear that we were not going to get any accommodation but still we tried our luck. We didn't get any success. So we thought to have breakfast.
Till 10:30 am breakfast was over and we got nothing so we managed with good day biscuits, Lays chips and cold drink. During breakfast pawan enquired about things to be seen. As he was the only person who knew Telgu and managing with telgu with little bit Kannada. So, next target was Z-point which was 3 kms distance according to people over there. But it is around 5 kms one way.
For Z-point you have to trek and the way is very narrow. Basically this way was made by tourist like us only. On the way to Z-point rock garden was rest point. We sat there for 5-10 mins.
When the way starts it is broad but as you move further it narrow down and steeps.
On the way to Z-point Natural scenery was awesome. When you are on top and you look down to forest the way it feels is incomparable to anything. We reached to Z-point which is basically top of mountain and from there the view is awesome. It feels like sense of achievement. We stayed there for some 15 mins and starts get back. As we didn't had accommodation so we thought to see Hebba falls today only. But we get back to 1:30 p.m and after having sambhar rice it was 2p.m. People there said last bus to lingdarli is at 4:30p.m. To hebba falls it takes around 3 hrs. So, the option was to stay there or get back. We tried our luck once again and this time as pawan knows telgu he made one employee there who can convince the lady who was in charge. She got ready to give one room for night and charged Rs 500 /- and Rs 50/- that employee took from us. But from starting we wanted to stay there for night because the beauty of nature was awesome. This place was not very known to people so its naturality is maintained.
Now we got place there to stay so next step was to go to hebba falls. For hebba falls one has to take jeep as there is no specific road. Jeep guy was demanding Rs 600 /- . We told to give Rs 100/- per head. He said, "We charge Rs 600/- for jeep if anybody else comes then you people give Rs 100/- per head". But we waited long nobody came and we dropped the idea to go to hebba falls. Later we decided that we will go in morning 6:00 a.m. We sat down in garden and enjoyed sun set. We went to dormitory and slept at 7:30 p.m.
Next morning we got up at 5:30 p.m. We want to see sun rise but unfortunately we saw only clouds sun was not visible.
We started asking jeep guy to go for Rs 500/- and in last it got settled in Rs 550/- and we went to hebba falls. As we move we got realized that Rs 600/- is reasonable because the was so pathetic that no other vehicle except jeep can go. He really drove jeep on mountains and finally we was on hebba falls on 7:30 a.m. Jeep stopped around 1/2 km earlier. From there we had to move by ourselves. Way to hebba falls was so good that every time we were thinking that we would have missed something really wonderful by not coming here. This time hebba falls went beyond our expectation. When I saw that I said WOW!!!! This is the first time I had seen such big waterfall. Its height is 160 m. Water was very cold but still in excitement and joy nitin and pawan went to water. I was taking pics and I was surprised that within 1 min these people were in water.
So, you can judge beauty to this place by this excitement. We got so much satisfaction and we had so much of fun. This waterfall made our trip successful.
