Sharavathy Valley Day 2

I thought I would get a damn good sleep in the night because I was so
tired. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Not with the snorers
around. On top of that, it was so cold and I didn’t have a jacket.
I kept tossing and turning all night.

At 4.30 am of Day 2 (June 01 Sunday), I was jolted by a shrill
cock-a-doodle-doo sound.  Soon enough, our leader Narayan woke us all
up. I was surprised to see everybody get up immediately. At around
5.30 am, we all went out in search of sighting some animals.
Unfortunately, we were too loud to get to see any animals. Even our
footsteps, especially when crushing leaves, were loud enough to alert
the sensitive-eared animals. Our guide who was in front saw some
bisons but they ran away in lightning speed. I didn’t know they could
do that.

We were soon enough on top of another hill and got to see another
beautiful view. Heh, I’m such a landscape-voyeur.

And it was funny to see the things we do for poses in photographs.

What was amazing though was we could see islands in the Arabian Sea.

And then Narayana found viper snakes! These are poisonous snakes and
one bite could have been fatal for any of us.

After the morning excitement, we got back to Padubeedu. Had a quick
breakfast and headed out towards Goodana GunDi waterfalls. While
walking, I thought to myself that I was happy to see a group so
enthusiastic about nature and trekking. But mind you this was no
nature walk, some of the paths were pretty rough and some were really
slippery. And to get down to the waterfalls, we had to crawl and climb
down rocks. Sometimes they can be really scary.

Once we reached the falls, we were in the water in a snap!

It’s hard to imagine that there are very few people who actually know
about these places. This is a good thing because they are unspoilt and
clean. Our organizer Sampath constantly reminded us to keep it that
way. There were strict rules we followed about the usage of plastic
and not leaving any artificial stuff behind (My shoes were so worn out
that a part of the sole tore off. I carried that piece of rubber all
the way back to Bangalore.)

Being IT people, we stuck to the specifications that our organizer
told us – we didn’t get our backpacks for this part of the trek. Which
means we didn’t actually think that we should get our plates for
lunch. Uh oh. We ended up gathering in groups of 4-5 people and eating
together out of the big utensil-covering-plates :)

While many of us relaxed, others went photographing crabs, others were
wondering why butterflies were attracted to a particular guy’s shoes
only and many went down the cliff to explore more waterfalls. My
acrophobia kicked in, so I didn’t go for the latter option.

Then it was time to trek back to Padubeedu. I was saddened that we
were done with the trekking so soon.

Once we reached, we gathered around for a round of feedback and views
of the trekkers.  Most people had a lot of positive things to say. And
everybody thoroughly enjoyed it. My plus points were the good mix of
people who came, the experiences such as the sugarcane place,
exploring an area of Karnataka that I haven’t been to and the minus
point was that we did a lot less trekking than I expected. I guess you
can’t have everything.

And the next thing we knew, our kind host brought us fresh honey
complete with wax that he pulled out minutes ago! This was just too
good to be true.

Remember, folks, to suck the honey but don’t eat the wax.

Rest of the Day 2 evening was travelling back to Sagar and then
Bangalore.

All in all, this was one heck of a weekend. Trekking, nature, new
friends, non-stop repartee and fierce debates. I wish I have more of
these weekends!