Sharavathi valley: Veegi falls & island camping

Heat had taken a toll in Bangalore in March itself. With temperatures hovering around late 30s and tiredness still prevailing from the whirlwind Kotebetta trek, we(me & Bishu) decided to stick to a little more touristy genre and zeroed in on the easy trek and night-camping-on-a-island program that is held in Sharavathi river valley.

The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The Sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams.

Sharavathi Backwater:- Sharavathi backwater is about 60 KM in length and about 15 KM wide !!!!. It became backwater when dam was constructed at Linganamakki of Sagara taluk in Shivamogga(Shimoga) district to the river Sharavathi. This backwater has created lots of islands, it is so great to explore all these, where thick vegetation still exist and lot of wild life in it including some rare birds.

Our partner in this trip was Vasu, who was the original project manager for this program but shelved it later because of lack of quorum among the members who rode to Maddur and decided on (not) going for the program. So, we 3 decided to go on this trip scheduled for the 27th-28th weekend of March.

The trek for the Veegi falls starts somewhere about 35km from Kargal. To reach Kargal directly from Bangalore, there is only one KSRTC Rajhamsa bus that goes to Linganamakki. We booked our travel in the bus and reached Kargal early morning at 6 AM. After sometime, Narayana joined us and told that we would have to wait for another group of 4 who had got down at Sagara. I whiled away my time by taking some random shots. The main central place of Kargal had about 20 shops dotting the road and is about 100 metres end to end.

Photo: Kargal market place

Around 7.30 AM, the other group joined us and we all boarded the Jeep(which Narayana had brought along) and started for our destination, a journey of around 35 kms. This distance was on ghat roads and the jeep driver looked a Kargali-zed version of Narain Karthikeyan, matching the latter's turns with dexterity minus the crash and pit-stops. We were at the starting point of our trek by 9 AM.

The starting point of the trek was a tribal's house, where we were treated to some fabulous Akki roti and Chutney. The breakfast was terminated by a round of tea. Here, we were joined by the cook, his helper and the jeep driver, making us a group of 11. We started for the first Veegi falls around 10.00 AM.

The initial walk was pretty easy and went over a few ups and downs, before a steep down in the jungle towards the first Veegi falls. The terrain was steep but we were helped by the dry soil that prevent slippages in mud as would have been the case in monsoon. Soon, we were at the Veegi falls, 200feet in height. The water flow, as expected, was on the lower side. But that did not prevent us from enjoying the falls one bit.

Photo: Veegi falls

We had to follow the stream below for around 5 more kms before reaching our lunch point. Since we had enough time at our disposal and the trail was pretty easy, we spent a lot of time talking, clicking and frolicking in the water. In between, we were greeted by some awesome sights.

Photo: Trail in the water

Photo: Light on the forest floor

The pace was good and soon by 12.00 PM, we were at the camping spot where rice and sambar were being cooked. The cook and his helper had left us earlier so as to make preparations for lunch. Since lunch was still an hour away, we set off for the next falls, a 10m drop with heavy flow, providing a much needed succor to our bodies once we were inside it. The 30-minute joy bath in this falls was akin to getting done a spa visit. Hunger took over soon and we went back to the cooking site. Here we met a forest survey team, which comprised of many village girls, to our horror. I was doing a savariya-style with just a white towel and Bishu, the 22nd century trekker with a UV-protected hat, sunglass and his langot, nothing else.

Lunch comprised of rice, sambar and pickle. It was devoured with glee by all of us. After a small nap, we started on our journey back. A little steep initially, the route zig-zagged in the forest. At one point, the path splits the Sagara taluk of Shimoga district and Honavara taluk of Karwar district. We covered the distance in quick time but ran out of water in the heat. So, we ended up following the guide to the tribal's house on a jeep track. This was another 4 kms away. In this section, one can see the fields and the livestock belonging to the local people.

Soon, we reached the tribal house and had loads of water. We boarded the jeep and picked up everybody on the way before starting for Kargal. Another 35kms of journey to Kargal and we drove towards Talaguppa , on the diversion from the road to Sagara. It must have been 15-20 more kms before we reached the base camp of the backwater trip. The jeep journey cost us 1800 INR. After walking a few hundred metres, we were at the place where we need to board the coracles. The sight was lovely and enchanting.

Photo: Pristine Sharavathi backwaters

My idea of a fun ride ended when it dawned that we had to paddle our way to the island. I am

pretty bad with circular objects and this was no exception. I huffed-puffed and paddled for 50 m before giving up. I got another chance to redeem myself later on, but again failed

there. It took around 45 minutes to cross this 200 m waterway.

The sun had set by the time we reached the island. We were treated to a round of bajji and a half-bucket of tea. Since I am among the ones who like to sin around, I did the same here. I had more than 0.5L of tea to make sure that tea did not get wasted. Helped by the fact that the tea was way better than I had in a very long time. It was a pretty sight: sitting on the grass, drinking tea, listening to the chirping of the birds, coolness of the evening and a lovely sight in front of you. My mind just drifted along with my senses.

The night was welcomed by a campfire right in the middle of two trees facing the backwaters. Had sleeping mats for sitting around or in the case of Bishu, sleeping around. Vasu, the dude went romantic and started playing Jagjit Singh's songs and it was a perfect setting for lazing around.

There was no mobile connectivity for Vodafone users and since I believe that "life begins where you cease to remain connected", I had a gala time gazing at the stars. Dinner ensued and we had a royal feast: rotis, bisibelle baath, sambar, curd rice and payasam. The 0.5L of tea started to cause acidity now but lived to tell the tale. We brought up a tent next to the fire place. Vasu and me decided to go for a night walk and went to a distant part of a connected island and managed to scare a "supertramp" cow(who might also have been bored with civilization and decided to spend some time off alone) not before it scared us by breaking the silence of the night.

The rest of the night was pretty normal and we woke up just in time to catch the sunrise.

Boy, it was magnificient.

Photo: Sunrise over the backwaters

Photo: Our tent and camp-site

A round of tea was followed by freshening up and breakfast. Soon, we were ready for our floating session.

With 30 mins of trying around, I mastered the way of going back :) . Soon people climbed on top of a old tree and jumped in the water. Somersaults, free-style diving, front-diving all followed.

I climbed up the tree, created a scene and did not jump for 15 minutes. It led to a huge pile-up on the tree with divers waiting for their turns, before Bishu pushed me from behind.

The time came for my favorite bit now, that is Kayaking. I sat on it and paddled for quite a long time, going around in circles, other islands. A cool breeze was blowing and in such pristine backwaters, I faced a momentary lapse of reason and just paddle around wherever I wanted to set flow. After an hour of doing this, we parked our kayaks onto an island so that others can also have fun in them. We took up a raft now, and took it around and landed on the other side of the island. We carried it on our heads to the bank on the other side of the island. Hard work done, time to again set into the water since lunch was still half an hour away.

Photo: Vasu with his kayak

Lunch comprised of pulao and kesari baath. Post-lunch, we went atop the tree house and slept like logs for sometime. After an hour, we decided to undertake the final leg of our journey - a trek to the remotest part of the island by penetrating the forests. We did it successfully and came across some amazing landscapes made by the water over the centuries. Land-carvings, steps, amphitheatre-like steps etc. were the sights of the day. Unfortunately did not have my camera at that time.

On our way back, we tried to take a different route but took too much of a right turn and landed up in a different part of the island. Sanity prevailed and we decided to circumference out the island to get back to our camping spot. Soon enough, we reached it :).

We quickly packed our bags and put it onto coracle, paddled across by Vasu. Bishu and myself enjoyed the responsibility of paddling across the two Kayaks to the mainland. Took some 15 mins before we were there at the mainland. This was followed by another swim and a walk across to the nearest bus junction, to catch the bus to Sagara at 6 PM.

The journey back was uneventful: Took Sagar-Shimoga bus, had dinner at Nandini and caught our inter-city train to Bangalore. We reached Bangalore at 0430 hours. I was home by 6 AM.

PS: It was a wonderful fun-filled trip enjoyed in a natural setting of Sharavathi backwaters.

Hope the sanctity of the place is maintained over the years to come.

PPS: Sampath and Sharvathi nature trails has been doing a wonderful job promoting eco-tourism in the Sharavathi valley, both in terms of treks and island camping. The model of involving local people to whom these forests are dear, has been successful and hope we continue to see many more new trails and places explored in this area. Also, a special thanks to Narayana and his efforts to understand my version of Kannada and replying back with his version of English while explaining tit-bits of vegetation, trails etc. :)

Tips on Travel:

1. If its trek, then there is only one KSRTC bus from Bangalore to Kargal(end point: Linganamakki)

2. If its island camping, local bus is available from Sagar.

3. On the way back, please make sure not to miss the 6 PM bus, the bus stop is 1 km from the campsite.