27 Oct 2011

Devaramane

by | posted in: Asia, India, Karnataka, Trek | 16
22 October 2011
My friends Aishwarya and Rakesh Holla had been to this place before. The photos shared were awesome prompting me to visit Devaramane. The initial plan was to trek to Minchukallu from Devaramane village, but looking at the recent adventures of Rakesh Holla, I decided to add nearby Ballala caves into the itinerary.

 

 

Buses go till Guthi, which is 6 km from Devaramane. Instead of walking on the road, we decided to hire a Jeep. Unable to get a Jeep, we finally hired an auto from Mudigere. Unfortunately, the auto-rickshaw could not climb the stretch after Guthi, and we had to walk on the tar road!! The road was steep, but our spirits were high as it was the beginning of our walk. The cloudy conditions also helped us a lot. When we reached Devaramane, it was already 9:30 AM.

 

 

The first person we met in the village was Kushalappa, who was busy with some carpentry work. Rakesh Holla had said that Kushalappa is the only person in that village who knew about the caves!! But since he was busy with carpentry work, Kushalappa refused to come. After pleading and convincing for few minutes, he agreed to guide us!! We did not waste much time and dumped all unnecessary things in Kushalappa’s house to started our walk.

 

 

The trail started behind Kushalappa’s house, and after a climb of about 5 minutes, we descended into a valley. The views were great, but due to overcast conditions, we could not enjoy it in full. After a short descent, we entered a Shola forest. It was a leech territory, and we ran as fast as we could. We then had to climb up a hill wading through shoulder height grass.

 

 

After crossing the grassland, we rested on a rock which was an ideal place to remove leeches. Everyone was bitten by leeches and we spent some time in removing them. Our guide showed us a place called “Kaati mettida kallu” which had imprints of bison hoof on the stone!! Sadly, this was also a hunting ground for workers from the neighbouring state employed in a nearby estate.

 

 

The journey was mostly on grasslands where we crossed several mountains. It is said that the ruler Ballalaraya built a fort there. The remains of the fort can be seen at several places. One of the hills is named after the servant of Ballala. It is called Banta kallu.

 

 

We were moving along the border of South Canara and Chikmagalur district. It was amazing to see that people worked at these remote places to identify and mark the border!! We finally reached the end of the cliff. It was a perpendicular drop of a few thousand feet. The guide showed the Ballala caves. It seemed that no one was able to explore it fully. Kushalappa said that during his Father’s days few people who tried to enter the caves never returned back. King Ballala also entered the cave never to come back!! Even Kushalappa had never entered that cave.

 

 

I tried to enter the cave. It is the scariest and risky attempt. One needs to get down over slippery rocks with very little support. It was dark inside, and any mistake would end our life. Even if we get down, coming back would be difficult. Gone were the days of taking such risks in life, and I decided not to venture into the cave any further. Rakesh Holla and his friends had explored some parts of the caves last month. Hats off to them as they are the real adventurers!!

 

 

After spending some time at the caves, we continued our walk. Minchukallu was our next destination. Since we had booked an overnight bus, we had to return on that day. The last bus from Guthi was at 5:30 PM. We also had an additional 6 km to cover from Devaramane to Guthi. Minchukallu was still far away. We decided to drop Minchukallu half-heartedly. As a consolation, we started climbing a small hill nearby. Our decisions changed as we climbed that small hill. Minchukallu was visible, and we felt that we could make it. Yasin and I started walking briskly towards Minchukallu while Chitrai and Ashok decide to halt on a nearby hill. For the next 30 minutes, we almost ran towards Minchukallu. The last stretch was steep and took away all our energy. I was completely tired when I reached the top of Minchukallu. Destination reached!!

 

 

Minchukallu is one of the highest peaks in the Charmadi area. But due to misty conditions, we could not see much. The mighty Amedikallu was visible. It is a day’s trek from Minchukallu.

 

We spent some time on the top and then started climbing down to meet Chitrai and Ashok at the base. It was time to have some lunch. With clouds hovering around, Kushalappa was worried. He said that it would be difficult to return in the rains and asked us to hurry up. So we put off our rest plans and started back.

 

 

The return journey is always tiring, and this was no exception. Especially the last stretch to climb to the village of Devaramane was tough on my body. Back in Kushalappa’s house at Devaramane, we were greeted with delicious buttermilk. That was a relief for our dehydrated bodies.

 

 

The last leg of the journey from Deveramane to Guthi was boring and tiring. But we were just in time for the last bus from Guthi.

 

The dog
It was the dog from the Devaramane. It accompanied us all along the trek. The friendliest dog I had ever seen. At one point, Ashok and I were trailing behind and were not visible to the people in the front. The dog came back to check our progress and ran to the front again!! It even accompanied us from Devaramane to Guthi!!

16 Responses

  10. Pratap Sikdar
    | Reply

    Dude, awesome writeup…not much not less. I had been to the same place. Initially i had no idea abut this place. But ur write up made me to go to all these places…thanks a lot.

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