The Place: Sharavthi valley near Sagara situated in Shimoga.
Places encountered on the way: Kargal(This is where you get down), Yalakanagadde, Sharavthi backwater.
When it happened: 21st Jan 09 to 23rd Jan 09
My 7th semester vacation. This was my first college trip since 3years, but as they say ‘Older honey tastes better’- our wait for the trip made it the best till date for most of us. We planned this in December itself and executed successfully. Our gang split into 3 groups while departing from Bangalore. Few boarded the bus from Majestic, I boarded the bus at Navrang and few others at Jalahalli Cross. Well it was a private travels bus named as Maharaja Travels. We spoke a lot in the bus and all of us were really excited about this trip. At Sagar, we met a person named Mr.Narayana who has 18years of experience in forest survey. He was our guide for the trekking along with few others.
Day 1:
Meet Narayana at Sagar, get down at Kargal, catch a jeep freshen yourself mid-way where you find a stream. On the way you get your breakfast. Start trekking to view few falls on the way. Have lunch. Continue trekking and finally end the day at ‘Yelakanagadde’. Have dinner, campfire and retire for the day. Below are few snaps.
Day 2:
Get up and finish your morning activities, have breakfast and walk few km to reach the Sharavathi backwaters. Start stripping and get ready with your life jackets. Mr.Ravi will guide you on the basics and check you life jacket. Jump into the water, have a long swimming session, coracle ride. At around 2pm shift yourself and your entire luggage to an island. Have lunch, take rest. At 4pm coracle to another island to view one of the best sunsets along with two juice bottles. Return to the island, have dinner, campfire. Due to heavy winds, we could not setup the tents, but Ravi and others made alternate arrangements for us. Below are few snaps.
Day 3:
You can get up little late, find a bush suitable to sit, take a mini bath in the water, have tea, watch the sunrise, and have breakfast. Another long swimming session; kayaking and rafting. Unfortunately the paddle of the canoe broke into two and rest of us couldn’t try it out. Swim as long and as far as you want. Start packing your luggage, have lunch and start your trek from ‘Yelakanagadde’ to ‘Devaragudda’. From the peak of the hill, you can see the islands explored. Descend the hill, catch a bus to Sagar and then back to Bangalore. Below are few snaps.
Food we had:
Day 1: Uppittu, avalakki, tea, rice, sambar, pickle, papad.
