TREK TO DUDHSAGAR

This trek was planned suddenly, when my colleague cum friend Vishwanath who was my trekking partner in previous 3 treks came to me and gave his Wedding Invitation which was held in Dharwad.

ATTRACTIONS IN VICINITY:

Greenery, Breath taking views of Western Ghats, Tunnels and Bridges & Plenty of natural streams to enjoy on the way, Gigantic and Beautiful Dudhsagar waterfalls.

TREK DATE:

This Trek was planned on 21^st and 22^nd of June 2014.

TREK LENGTH:

Caranzol to Dudhsagar Falls - 8 km

Dudhsagar Falls to Vantage point To-N-Fro - 2 km
Dudhsagar Falls to Dudhsagar Station - 1 km

ROUTE:

Bangalore >> Dharwad >> Londa >> Castle Rock >> Caranzol >> Dudhsagar >> Sonalium >> Kulem >> Bangalore.

TEAM:  

This time I did this trek with my colleague’s  i.e., Govind, Sandeep (Me), Chirag and Pradeep.

JOURNEY:

Our Initial plan was to attend the marriage on 20^th June and visit Dandeli, Do white water rafting in Kali River, visit Supa Dam, Ulavi, Crocodile Park, Sikes point, Syntheri rocks, Kavala caves and Molangi. Train tickets got booked a week before to Dharwad and back from Hubli. 
Later Govind and Chirag suggested doing Dudhsagar trek instead of Dandeli trip. I and Pradeep too agreed for change in plan, as it was in my list of treks from a long time. Return train tickets from Kulem to Bangalore for Sunday got booked and Hubli ticket got cancelled. 

Our next priority was to arrange Tent, raingear and sleeping bags. Chirag took initiative to get Tent & sleeping mats on rent near his house. I had 4 sleeping bags, it got packed. My colleague Phani Shashank recently had been to Dudhsagar with 11 of his friends. He had rain gears for all of us. We hired it from him. Our backpacks got packed.

On 19^th June we finished off our work quiet early and left the office. We reached Yeshwantpur railway station @ 8.45pm, almost an hour early to train departure. We met some of our colleagues, who were also attending the marriage. We greeted each other and started chitchat on some topics.

Train Rani Chennamma arrived beyond schedule, 10 min. late. We got into train and train departed towards Dharwad. It was a joyful journey as most of them in the compartment were my colleagues.  We got down in Dharwad around 6.30am, where my colleague cum friend Ravi was waiting with his car to pick us up to Marriage hall. Ravi dropped us at marriage hall and went back to pick rest of them. We met Vishwa’s elder brother in Marriage hall. We greeted each other and he showed the way to rooms which were booked for us.

 We got freshened up, had breakfast Kesaribath N upma along with Tea. Later we met the Bride Groom Vishwa, did chit chat for a while and cracked some jokes on him. We saw marriage rituals and later pundit sung some old romantic songs along with our chorus.

Later we did dance in front of Baarath along with Vishwa’s family members. Vishwa was sitting N smiling on top of decorated horse. We had lunch after Baarath and greeted the wedded couples, took rest for some more time in the room and departed to Lodge, which was booked for us for night stay. 

 For night dinner we went to hotel Vimal, which was a small hotel but famous for Biryanis (suggested by Ravi & Mayur). It is located exactly opposite to Sangam Theater. We had dinner which was really delicious. After dinner we purchased Jowar Roti, Pickle, Chutney, Bread, Jam and chocolates for the trek and went to Lodge & had a good night sleep.

Next day morning we woke up @ 5am, got freshened up and went to Railway station in an Auto. We took General compartment tickets to Kulem and waited for the train arrival. Meanwhile, we ate biscuits and cream bun which Govind had bought in a shop in railway station. Chennai-Vasco Train arrived to station half hour beyond schedule. 

We got into General compartment. The train was not crowded, so we easily got the seats. We had breakfast Idli-Vada on the way in Londa junction. From Dharwad to castle rock the travel was in dense Jungle. Train halted in Castle rock station. Here additional 2 more engines were added up to this train for pulling it in Ghat section. The Braganza Ghats starts from Castle rock in Karnataka and ends up at Kulem in Goa. It is around 26km stretch. Being Saturday, a large number of trekkers had got down at Castle rock and started their trek. 

Govind had been to this place twice. He suggested us to start trek from Caranzol station which is in Goa, as there are only 4 tunnels in between, nature is not much picturesque and will reduce 6 km of walk. Everyone agreed as the weather was about to downpour. We proceeded in train towards next station. A few meters of travel we found a fallen station which was covered with algae. 

Later the train enters into 1^st tunnel in a slow pace. Everyone in the compartment started to scream, as it become dark inside the tunnel. Same thing happened in next 3 tunnels too. Out of 4 tunnels 2^nd one was the longest with about 410m in length.

We got down at Caranzol at around 11 am and started trek towards Dudhsagar falls which was around 8 km from here. Just within few minutes of initial trek there was a heavy down pour. We wore rain jackets in a hurry and proceeded further in the drizzle. Walking on the tracks was quite tricky as the boulders pierce into your foot and there were human excretion in center of the track. We avoided walking in center of track. After a while we got used to it.

The rain was playing hide N seeks with us. Whenever we try to remove rain gear there would be a shower. After wearing rain gear, sun used to come out and smile on us. 

After the showers the Nature became more picturesque. There was mist all around and the views of the valley were breathtaking. After a kilometer of walk we came near tunnel-5, before the tunnel there was a rivulet flowing. We clicked some snaps and proceeded further.

 The tunnel was dark and curvy. With the help of torches we traveled further. After crossing the tunnel again there was a downpour. Even after wearing rain gear we were soaked wet. In the entire trail we saw plenty of rivulets flowing before or after the tunnels.

Tunnel 6 and 7 were connected with a lengthier bridge. From here the view of landscape was mesmerizing. We further crossed tunnel 8 and 9. After 9^th tunnel, we saw a goods train which had been stopped.  When we went near it, we saw some railway workers changing the element in railway track.

We took snaps in front of the engine and also did chit chat with the Loco Pilots and proceeded further. After crossing tunnel 10, we walked further for about 15 min and we were in Dudhsagar Station.  

From here distance to the falls was about a kilometer. We traveled further, crossed tunnel 11 and within a few min. of walk we heard roaring sound of the falls and saw a glimpse of falls. We took almost 3 hours for reaching the falls.

We started to walk briskly and we were in front of the falls within minutes. All our fatigue and pain was gone by viewing the gigantic falls. The water was cascading on rocky terrain and forming white foam which looked like sea of milk. 

We clicked plenty of snaps with different poses and in different angles. While photo shoot a passenger train got passed towards Kulem. After passing, we continued photography.

Dudhsagar is a 4 tier waterfall created by Mondovi River. It is India's 5th tallest falling from about 310m high. This is one of the hidden gems in Goa. King Khan Shahrukh acted Hindi movie Chennai Express and Kannada super hit movie MYNA had been shot here. After these movies the falls became more famous and crowded. 

Kudos to all the workmen for their hard work in drilling these tunnels and constructing the bridges. Even today the bridges stand still to tell the tale of the quality of work they have done over a century ago. From this bridge we can only see half of the falls. To see full view of the falls one needs to travel further a kilometer towards Sonalium.

Our next priority was to pitch tent, as we knew that a trekking association was on the way with 40 to 50 members. We pitched the tent on top of the view point shelter. There was a small shop beside this, who was selling Avalakki upma and tea. We had Avalakki and Tea. Meanwhile it started to drizzle again. We took rest for about an hour. Govind suggested us to visit N finish the full view of the falls and he gonna look after the tent. 

 We 3 of us started around 4 pm, by the time we started rain had stopped and sun was also shining. We crossed 2 more tunnels which were adjacent to each other and saw few rivulets on the way. We hiked further and saw a clearance in the jungle canopy thru which we saw 3/4^th  view of the falls, further a few meters of walk there was another clearance.From here we got full view of the falls with the bridge up front of the falls. We waited for a while to capture a photo of Locomotive passing on the bridge, but our wait went in vein as it was becoming dark we started heading back to the camp site.

On the way we saw our ancestors ;) Langur monkeys on tree tops. They were very shy and because of our presence they disappeared in the jungle canopy. On the way back we collected fire wood for camp fire for night. As there was a heavy down pour earlier, there was very little dry wood. I suggested Chirag and Pradeep for searching dry wood inside the tunnel. In 2 tunnels itself we got about a cement bag full of dry wood.

We came back to camp site removed our shoes, wore slippers and spent some more time near the falls. As we were not wearing shoes me and Govind got bitten by blood sucking monsters i.e. Leaches. We removed the leaches which had filled its belly. But for us it took almost 10 minutes for stoppage of bleeding from our legs.

Mean time the other trekking groups arrived and started pitching their tents. There were more than 30 tents in and around the view point shelter, and we were the only lucky ones, who pitched the tent on top of the view point shelter.

Around 6.30 pm, me and Pradeep were roaming on the bridge next to falls, we saw 2 men searching for something, holding torches in their hands in rivulets and in bushes. We went near to them and asked what they were searching; they caught a Huge Crab and showed to us. The crab was bigger than my hands. We did some chatting with them and came to know that they were railway workers. They also said that this is the breeding season of crabs and these crabs come out to breed after the first rainfall. Within half an hour they collected a gunny bag full of Crabs. Even they showed a crab which was breeding its new born’s. They also said they cook one of their favorite delicacies from crabs in Goa and it’s seasonal.

 We also came to know that there is a village called Kuveshi on top of the falls and belongs to Karnataka state and also knew that one can do trekking from that village thru the Jungle to top of the falls after monsoon.

Later we went to camp site and lit up a campfire. We were the only team which had planned campfire. Other teams too joined with us. We sung antyakshari and some romantic songs, did dance and had dinner. A group of 10 trekkers from Hyderabad had not brought any dinner for the night. So we gave them Bread and Jam which was our breakfast. Around 9pm again weather changed and started to downpour. We went inside the tent and fell asleep. Night 4-5 goods train plied with horn and the area around the bridge used to quiver.

Next day morning we woke up lately around 8am, did our daily activities and got freshened up in nearby rivulet. We did not have breakfast as the shop guy did not open the shop till 9am. We packed all our belongings and walked back to Dudhsagar station and waited for 11am Chennai-Vasco train. Train came as usually late, we got into the train and went to Kulem to have a Good Lunch & to catch return train to Bangalore.

It took almost an hour to reach Kulem. We got down from the train and went to a hotel named Shobha Restaurant which is in station road and had stomach full. Luckily that hotel owner was a kannadiga from Kundapura and he suggested us to go to the river bank of Mondovi which is on the way towards Dudhsagar and can spend some time.

As per his suggestion we went to river bank, did swimming for a while and spent 2 hours over there. All our pain had vanished after swimming. Other side of river bank was entrance of Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife sanctuary and Mollem National Park. One can even visit Dudhsagar thru this sanctuary on an Off-road vehicle.

On the way back to railway station we saw plenty of home stays and resorts, where one can stay for few days and they even arrange activities like elephant rides, trekking, jungle safari and so on.

We came back to station and had a cup of tea, and waited for the train arrival. As usual train reached the station an hour and half late @5.30 pm. We got into train and sat next to window to see again the glimpse of falls.  

Again we saw the glorious Dudhsagar falls thru train, travelling further we saw a monitor lizard running away from the track into bushes. At castle rock we ordered our dinner. We spent some time chitchatting, meanwhile dinner arrived. We had dinner and went to asleep. Next day we reached Bangalore at 6 am, had coffee and dispersed from there towards home.

TIPS FOR TREKKERS:

-Do carry a strong waterproof backpack, First aid kit as this trek is usually done in Monsoon, Carry snuff powder for leeches or even you can apply odomos mosquito cream  or Volini spray to avoid leech bites.

-Do carry ready to eat food as the availability of food is very minimal. Shop near the falls will be open only on weekends and will be from 10am to 5pm.

-Carry good rain gear and pack all the belongings in covers to make it additional waterproof.

-Dudhsagar waterfalls comes under Bhagwan Mahaveer wild life sanctuary. It is always advised to stay together as there are wild animals.
-Kuveshi-Dudhsagar route to be avoided during monsoon as one has to cross Mondovi river and needs to trek through thick jungle.
-Avoid getting into Base of the waterfall near bridge, As it  is dangerous to getting into the water due to heavy turbulence of the falls.

-Beware of Macaque Monkeys near the view point shelters. They may try to steal food and don’t feed them. Let them stay wild.

-Don’t forget to take torches which is essential while crossing tunnels, as there may be snakes in drenches.

-Please don’t litter this beautiful place. This is my humble request.

PERMISSIONS:

-Permission not required if you are hiking on railway tracks but watch out for locomotives as plenty of them ply en-root.

-Permission required and need to bare nominal fees, if travelling thru Bhagwan Mahaveer wild life sanctuary, Kulem.

-Coordinates of Dudhsagar Falls: 15.3128° N, 74.3142° E

  

Catch you guys soon with my next blog.

Till then.....................................Sayonara!