Bijadi - Day 2

As is my habit when on a trek I woke up early and set off for an early morning walk. Traipsing through the village, soaking in the quaint sights of life there I wondered about the differences in the lifestyles of city dewellers and village folks. Jolting me out of the thought process were many birds including parakeets, barbets, koels, caucals, robins, babblers, treepies and wagtails. They all sat and posed for me. I still can't figure out how they knew that I was not carrying my camera along.

The thought of 30+ kms travel in the truck once again for our visit to Toodalli falls very nearly tempted me into stuffing myself with breakfast. I somehow resisted. During the journey some could not resist succumbing to sleep inspite of the discomfort.

There were others who enjoyed the scenes flashing by.

As the truck made it's way along the path we caught sight of the falls at a distance. It definitely looked quite for away.

Having come as far as we could in the truck we got down and started walking. Rains kept visiting us quite regularly. Some of the trekkers ahead of me spotted a viper. The light was very poor which prompted me to take out the digital camera and here is what I captured. (Wish I knew how to capture the snake too)

Rains had ensured a wet ground. There was a carpet of moist leaves. Ideal conditions for leeches. Surprisingly though we did not find too many of them. The path was not well defined and we had forgotten to bring along a sickle. Harish, Brijesh and Prashanth (organisers) however made way for us through the thick vegetation. Thorny bushes and plants had quite a few of us ouching and aahhinng. Strong currents in the streams that we had to cross compelled us to make use of ropes.

The roar of the falls grew louder and then... it was right in front of us. It was a magnificient sight and it took my breath away. The force was such that venturing anywhere near to the falls was ruled out. We stood on the boulders nearby and watched in awe Mother Nature's ability to combine brute force and graceful beauty in a single entity called waterfalls.

One can never have enough of such gifts of nature but we had to tear ourselves away and head back. A few of us were slightly ahead of the rest of the group and this gave us an opportunity to take a dip in one of the streams. Being the monsoon season water was flowing with enough force. That is all that is needed for a wonderful and relaxing natural massage... how could I pass it up? Soon the rest of the group caught up with us and we continued our trek back. Yet another curious creation of nature caught my eyes. Can you guess what this is?

At the last stream puliyogare and chips were waiting for us which made me realise it was time for lunch. Yet again it was a delicious lunch.

Kshitija nature camp was our next and last stop. The view of the sea was spellbinding.

Everyone sauntered around for a while. Coffee was served which was essential after the long ride in the truck. The plan had been to finish the trek and reach the base camp by 2 pm. However we reached back only a couple of hours later which put paid to our hopes of visiting Marvante beach before catching our bus back to Bangalore. Before dispersing we took a group photo.

The organisers did a commendable job in arranging this trek. It was one of the very well organised and managed treks I have participated in. Kudos to Brijesh, Harish and Prashanth for such wonderful efforts.