A couple of weekends ago, most of the trekware gang met up for a weekend trek. This time we headed to Brahmagiri.

To reach Brahmagiri, take the bus to kuTTa (Madikeri district) but get down in Srimangala. Meet the forest officer (they come in at around 10 am) and it is better if you have called them up in advance and notified them. Enquire shops for guest house to freshen up and also for a jeep to take you to Iruppu Falls.

At Iruppu Falls, we met the forest guard who would accompany us during the trek.

The guest house that we stayed at was in the middle of a field where pepper and coffee was abundant. We plucked a pepper corn and ate it – it was deliciously spicy.

We then started the trek from Iruppu Falls and came across many interesting flora and fauna.

The good …

… and the ugly.

Yes, that’s right, leeches! Creepy, crawling things, they were such a nuisance. I had a routine of stopping every 45 seconds to remove how many were crawling up my shoes and socks. Towards the end of the damp covered forest area, I think I had a count of 40-50 leeches that I had pulled out and thrown. Many of us had donated quite a good amount of blood. Once we were back in the open fields, it was just smooth walking.