Mangalooru Bengalooru Train Journey

It was 8.40 Am train started to Bengalooru from the Mangalore junction  which is at 36 feet above the sea level , It was dream route to travel  which came true on 22 sep for us , As usual we cousins jagan,vijay,phani,gopi, vaishu booked  seats  well in advance. The journey started through the plains. Slowly the train started ascending in the hill region, as We crossed low lying hills, few curves, areca nut and coconut plantations and small rivers. Some of the stations that passed were Buntwal, Kabaka Puttur. Near Panemangalur the train crosses the Nethravathi River via a tall bridge. The train reached Subramanya road at 10.40 AM, a mid sized station surrounded by lofty hills. Now the train is at 380 feet, where two more Diesel WDC  Locomotive are added to rear side  which helps to Push the train in Ascending Ghat section, the switch took well over 20 minutes. The 3 stations in the Ghats are for rail crossing. Near the station, one gives us the glimpses of the Superb Kumara Parvatha nearly 4000 feet tall. 

Train started at 11.00 Am, Slowly picking the speed entering dense green deciduous Forests. The train traveled at a very slow speed of 20-25 KMPH.  We preceded further, more tunnels, curves, dense forest covered the line clinging to the ledges on the hillside, NH 48 was barely visible as a thin line from the track. As we entered a tunnel everyone in train started enjoying, making there own sounds, whistling, everyone expressed there happiness in their own way .It was a memorable moment .We passed through a series of short tunnels and bridges. One of them fairly tall at 125 feet, built on a gentle curve. Almost after an hour, of roller coaster ride we reached Yedakumari. A forlorn, attractive awesome wayside old station built on a rocky ledge with 2 tracks for trains to cross. We are on a high hill, unfortunately train stopped for only few seconds at this station. The travel was slow, meandering. Kumaradhara River, one of its tributary passes along side of the track at many places. Train ascends steadily through a series of loops after Yedakumari, reaching Donigal, a small wayside station closer to highway. The journey now is through the tropical forests of the Sahyadri Hills, away from civilization It took nearly 3 hours to complete the Ghats. By this time we had traveled across  

Tunnels 57
Total length of tunnels - 10.98 kms.
 Longest tunnel - 578 mts.



Bridges 670

Major – 91, Minor – 549, 

Road over bridges – 16,

 Road under bridges – 12     

 Curves   110  
8⁰ - 85 Numbers, 
3⁰ to 5⁰ - 25 Numbers.                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                              

A splendid engineering, every curve or bridge which is technically designed to ensure safety, hats off to INDIAN RAILWAYS for implementing their skills, by taking risks at the height of 3000 feet above, Its not a easy task to accomplish such route, where you can expect heavy rainfall, landslides etc, walls have been constructed to avoid landslides in selected places, heavy size rocks have been placed and covered by iron mesh to hold it together. Drain system have been constructed all the way along the both sides of the track,   for easy flow of rain water which is directed towards nearest streams or rivers. Inspection Trolley will be deputed before every train journey. Track between Subramanya and Sakleshpura in a difficult terrain of the Sahyadri Range. Providing an easy access to the surrounding area to the west coast. Most of the passengers are mesmerized by the passing scenery, sitting near the open door of the train. We reached Sakleshpura station around 2.05 PM; it is situated at 3100 feet.

 At this station, the extra two engines were detached; train left to Bengalooru via Hassan, Arsikere, Here the train direction a change, shunting process took place, Every Passenger can feel the Push and pull process in the journey. Reached Bengalooru at 8 00 pm. hope many rail fans, Nature lovers will travel over this delightful route and have a breathtaking ride. Thus unforgettable journey comes to an end.




Embarrassing Moment :, some of passengers throw water bottles, plastic covers, food waste outside into rivers, Forest, streams ,Write their  names on tunnels, bridges ,spitting etc which is really bad , I really don’t Understand  why people behave so .According to me ,”We have every right  to enjoy the nature ….but…. we don’t have the right  to pollute it “,  With these Lines I  request all of you to take a step forward to  save Nature  and its purity , Implement it and forward it to all.

Kodachadri...ಕೊಡಚಾದ್ರಿ ...!! ಪ್ರಕೃತಿ ಮಾತೆಯ ಮಡಿಲು ...!!!

Kodachadri...!!

Me, My Bro, sis-in-law, 2 year old kid Pranav, Gopi, phani, varu, Naren, Viji planned for a weekend to Kodachadri, Contacted a Person named manjanna who is the Head of Nisarga Viharadhama about the accommodation, as soon as we got confirmation started looking for reservations, Since it was already Thursday no seats were available in any of the buses going towards Kodachadri, So finally we decided to get the seats reserved to sagara in KSRTC rajahamsa and arrange a jeep to move further. This idea was suggested by Mr.manjanna who also arranged for the jeep. We accepted his suggestion promptly since we had 2 years old kid “pranav” was also traveling with us. As per the schedule we left Bengalooru at 7.30 Pm, Everyone was so excited to spend time enjoying Nature. I even forgot to have my dinner, it was a Friday night and the traffic was hectic, it took us nearly 100 mins to cross yeshwanthpura, I felt there was something wrong but couldn’t guess what that was?? Finally realized that it was that I missed my “dinner “, I was damn hungry and was waiting for the driver to stop for dinner. Bus stopped near Second toll booth at 10.30, We all finished our dinner, I got bit relived and carried on myself to be a part of photo sessions, cracking jokes etc, again we started traveling and reached shimogga around 2.30 Am. Everyone was awake by that time ,since none of us were aware of the distance and the time needed to get to Sagara , though conductor had given us a rough idea of the time needed to reach there, we continued talking to Each other till we reached sagara at 3.45 Am. It was too cold, we had nice hot Tea with a Bun, by then the jeep was ready and we started traveling towards Nisargadhama, It Was around 4.04 AM in the morning. , 5 door open jeep with shutters on, Road was totally covered by Mist, fog and bit of rain, but it was really a great experience to travel in that jeep. Cold breeze was blowing from everywhere, the thick fog was making the driving difficult as things were poorly visible, hence the driver decided to open the front glass….my god, Earlier it was five sides open and now one more side adding up the chillness..!!We were 11 people including the driver and a helper along with our luggage in the jeep. Everyone of us were trying to hide under the luggage to get rid of cold...hahah it was an unforgettable Experience, we traveled all the way cracking jokes, chatting ,teasing…umm it was really awesome. We would have really missed this if we had got direct reservations..!!Thank God..!! We started walking towards a Unknown Fort, there we experienced a Beautiful Sunrise..!! Again camera’s started Flashing every corners of the fort. After a nice long break we started moving towards our destination and finally reached around 8 Am, There was a kuteera waiting for us that was made up of bamboo sticks, Awesome interiors. We got fresh, played some pranks over each other. Till we were served the breakfast everyone was hungry by that time. They served a nice cup idly covered with palauo leaves, Sambar and Khara Chutney which was really delicious. Mean time Manjanna was back fresh and energetic to arrange the vehicles for us.

HIDLUMANE FALLS ..ಹಿಡ್ಲುಮನೆ ಫಾಲ್ಸ್ ...!! ಕೊಡಚಾದ್ರಿ ಡೇ ೧ ..!!

Assured by him for a nice team for outing, by 10.30am Jeep was ready. After the delicious breakfast, we were charged to visit HIDLUMANE FALLS. Nine of us, the driver and the guide were ready for some fire vroom vroom…!!!, Jeep splashing the red dust hit the muddy, stone road and proceeded on Kollur road for about 3 kms and took a left turn inside the forest to cover another 4-5 kms. From there along the zigzag stone road across the stream and reached the Onti Mane dead end called “Hidlumane”. From there trekking starts towards the falls. Passing through the greenery filled paddy fields, sugar canes, we started on the path along the small stream with caution. We hit the small fall and taught its real, started saying….wowww..!!!Guide told us that the real one is further up 4 kms showing the further road which starts shrinking and we had to move further with utter caution. We would only have the support of trees branches, Roots, hard stones to hold and climb further on the skidding wet path. Climbing successfully up we saw the creativity of the nature. Amazing, Awesome, Hidlumane falls originates in Kodachadri hills and here it gushes out to hit the rocks below at a distance of 70 -80 feet. The water is very chilled and the shower we had under it . Seemed to vanish all the pain and I wondered that it could be due to that balanced force of water . we Enjoyed the bath for some time in that insatiable water beauty Even the 2 year old PRANAV started enjoying it ..!! Everyone took him for quite longer a distance along the trekking..!! . I fell at two or more places. At last reached the flat place. There also we spent some time in water and by noon returned back. Meals were ready to be served to us. We were very much hungry. We hogged nicely and took a small nap and geared up for the Kodchadri hills.

Kodchadri Hills:

We started at 3pm and Jeep started splashing the red dust hit the muddy, stone road and proceeds on opposite side of Kollur road .The road was good only for few kms and after that started the real trekking even though we were in jeep ..!! Road was covered by small and big potholes, everyone started jumping from their seats. Since we were aware of road as per driver’s warning, we stuck to our place tightly holding some strong objects like metal bars, seats, seat covers, hanging bars, others… what ever we felt was reliable. But the guide again said real real real real difficulty is further ahead and said its just a PROMO roads started shrinking and we had to further with utter caution keeping the smile consistent.. going forward we realized that it was just Potholes and no more road ;0.everyone started jumping from there seats as soon the jeep started climbing those hard stones and suddenly diving into potholes with hairpin curves ,high Steep roads ,Opposite directioned traffic was an added Dangerous for us. By that time our laughter had stopped and literally our lives were in the hands of driver and its then that we realized the hidden truth of driver’s earlier laughter and also the Importance of 4*4 suspension jeep…amazing..!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We reached top of hills on the way guide explained us about the places highlighting film scene’s shot there…..!! As we got out of jeep our dress color turned to mud red color …ha-ha to reach sun set point we had to walk for around 2-3 km towards the tip. We managed to walk with glucose, juices, etc finally reached the point….. Many people were waiting to see the most beautiful sunset, we could see the ocean from that tip. It was superb scenic beauty to experience visually, again camera’s started flashing …!! After sunset we were eager to start early since we realized that we need to go back in the same route and the daylight would no more be there…when we returned, it was 7 in the night. Lurking darkness surrounded as making us less realize the absence of shutters around the jeep. As usual we promptly gave our lives to driver and started chanting mantras whatever was known to us, since we had kid with us (posing smart ha..??)….. But also enjoyed every moment of new experiences……we faced…just loved it to the max…!!!Had nice dinner took a nice sleep without any noise.

DABBE FALLS..ದಬ್ಬೆ ಫಾಲ್ಸ್ ....ಕೊಡಚಾದ್ರಿ ಡೇ ೨ ...!!

Dabbe falls

Started our journey on day 2 after a nice breakfast, packed lunch for us and headed towards DABBE FALLS. Its was glooming by the lush greenery everywhere. We crossed a few streams to reach a good waterfall for our first big break. The waterfall though is very small and safe leads to one bigger fall on the other side of the bridge. After a few snaps, we headed on the same path to ‘Gowdara Mane’, The place against what it name suggests belongs to Manju and his family. we began to trek down hill and it was tough.

The steep and the inclination made it hard to climb down. The forests are very thick and carrying a rope would have helped but not to be this time. From Gowdara Mane itself the sound of the waterfall can be heard clearly and as we began to climb down this became very strong indeed. even 2 yr kid enjoyed a lot...ahh..!!A good experience tooooo..!!!!The first view of the huge huge huge waterfalls made us all scream with joy and forget our tiredness. It is a great scene to watch any waterfall in its full glory and this was a tall one. From this point to the base of the waterfalls was even tougher to go and it was almost like getting down a huge steep rock. This time kid dint climbdown till the falls.he went back with his mom and dad.

Thankfully it did not rain for it would have been near to impossible to trek down in rain. Its easier to trek when the shoes is not wet as one gets the grip on the rocks. I did venture to get close to the falls and feel the freshness of the water sprayed from it. Ooh we h ad nice bath ….for nearly 2 hrs,again photo session started everyone had their snaps with different poses….ahhhhh….. I miss that………..maga!!! came back to Mane..!! had our lunch.. started coming back to our destination, everyone was remembering the incidents took place in the whole trip, enjoyed a lot…came back to our kuttera, Packed our Luggages, Finally manjanna talked with us, we all thanked him for his arrangements and nice hospitality given by him. He was very happy to hear that. We took a group snap with him and he accompanied with us till bus stop to drop. He took strain to arrange seats for us even in Holiday season. At 8.30 pm we boarded DURGAMBA TRAVELS, it was last row seats but we dint have other option open, still managed to sit in that congested 3 * 2 seaters, came back to Bangalore on Monday Morning