Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Narashima Parvatha

Introduciton:

Due to intense naxal activities in and around Narashima Parvatha, it is quite difficult to get people to accompany you for the trek. Well I managed to brain wash 3 people into this trek. The others dropped out after hearing stories about Naxals attacking a local Doctor / money lender. The group consisted of just Meeliya, Ganesh, Amar & Roti(me).


As usual we had not booked any tickets and had the freedom to reach majestic at our convenience. We made it to 21:15 hours Red bus to Sringeri. Reached Sringeri by 5.
After a brief visit to the temple complex (Amar took exceptionally a long time to complete eleven rounds in the temple complex) soon after we headed straight to Kigga [12 km from Sringeri].

Guide menace
On reaching Kigga, we found no guides who were willing to take us up. We had to wait till 11:00 to get hold of ಎಣ್ಣೆ ರಾಮಾ [Boozer Rama]. The best drink out here to beat the heat is a local lassi sold in Lolly kind plastic packing. We gulped down 4 each to beat the heat.

The Trek Begins:
The trek initially begins through small huts on level ground and soon turns into a 60Degree inclination. The climb to the top took us 2 hours. There have been other blogs where they mention it as 4-5 hours, but it does not take that much.

The view from the top is majestic as any other peak. You can spot Khudremuk peak from here. There is not much to see or do on the peak.
There is no portable water anywhere. There is a dirty twin pond on the peak which people use to bathe and drink from [:D].

On the peak you will find a solitary Forest guard house which is bound to collapse anymoment. There is also a small nandi further up. One can enter Augumbe Ghats, Bharkana Falls and then to Bharkana View Point. We could not do it as we were illegally trekking in the forests. I also understand that this trek has been closed due to frequent naxal - police encounters.

Trek Ends:After lunch we soon started get down the same way back down. It took us about an hour to reach the temple. We next went to Sirimane water falls which is 6 km from Kigga, it is a commercialised place but well maintained.
The bus back to Sringeri was at 18:45 hours. After reaching Sringeri we booked tickets for 20:45 hours, we werent lucky to get Rajahamsa tickets we had to settle down with Red bus. Meeliya, Ganesh & Amar tried some kind of `Sinus Killer` at a local shop in Sringeri, impressed by it they decided to buy it. Well everyone bought one or the other weird stuff from here.

The ride back home was bumpy and left us with no sleep. The leech bites started to get itchy too. We reached bangalore at 05:15 hours.

Panoramic view from Narashimaparvatha over Sringeri:


Expense Sheet:
Bangalore - Sringeri - 200 [Red Bus]
Food - 49
Sringeri - Kigga - 6 [Local transport]
Guide fees - 30 per head [120]
Kigga - Sirimane falls- 40 per head [160]
Sringeri - Bangalore - 200 [Red Bus]
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Total - 525
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1 comment:

alwaysrohit said...

Contact Venkatesh for GUIDE & Auto service:
9480639030
if not reachable try after sometime. The place has poor connectivity!