Trek to Iruppu Falls and Brahmagiri

Participants:

1. K.Parthasarathy
2. Sudhir P.
3. Puskar Paranjpe
4. Myself

Date: 12th – 14th February, 2010

Mode of Transport: Bus

Iruppu or Irpu Falls lies on the Karnataka side of Brahmagiri. According to legend, when Rama and Lakshmana were searching for Sita, they became thirsty. Lakshmana shot an arrow into the Brahmagiri from which the river sprang. The falls is also known as the Lakshmana Tirtha Falls, derived from the name of the tributary of Cauvery which starts from these falls, the Lakshmana Tirtha River. The Rameshwara Temple is situated on the banks of the Lakshmana Tirtha River, en route to the Falls. This temple attracts a large number of pilgrims during the festival of Shivaratri.

Brahmagiri is a mountain range in the Western Ghats of South India, situated on the border between Wayanad district of Kerala state on the south and Kodagu district in Karnataka on the north. Brahmagiri Hill, at 1608 m height, is a scenic place with lot’s of Shola’s and lot of wildlife.

Route Information:

Irupu is situated at 48km from Virajpet and around 260km from Bangalore. One needs to take a bus to Gonikopal from Bangalore and from there catch a bus to the falls. Once after reaching there, you would find the Rameshwara Temple at the base of it. You need to take a walk for about 3 kms from the temple base to the falls. The best time would be during the monsoon season when the falls would be filled with water, but however during our visit on the 2nd week of February , water was still in abundant.

A forest trail leads from the Irupu falls leads to the Brahmagiri Peak in Southern Kodagu. You need to take permission from the Forest Officials for enduring the trek. Moreover the important thing is that you need to carry your own food in case you are planning to stay at the forest guest house at night. You need to feed yourselves as well as your guide. Water is in abundance and you can have pure mineral water from the streams. It is around 10 kms from the falls to Brahmagiri. It is quiet a pleasant walk through the valley except near the peak where the steep is somewhat more. You will find lots of elephant dungs and in case you are lucky could spot one also. We were able to spot one Sambhar and tiger footmarks, which was 2 days old.

 

RFO Srimangala Contact Details/Phone number:

a. Srinivas Naik (RFO) – 09481989970
b. Pramod (RFO Office Assistant) – 09448813835
c. Pavan (Forest Guide) – 09900328596

Travel Itinerary (3 days)

1.   23:32 hrs – Take a bus to Gonikoppalu from Mysore Satellite Bus stand
2.   04:45 hrs – Reach Gonikoppalu
3.   05:35 hrs – Catch First Bus to Srimangala
4.   06:15 hrs – Reach Srimangala
The RFO office opens at 08:30 hrs, so you need to kill time which means you can have breakfast etc.
5.   08:30 hrs – The RFO office opens
6.   08:50 hrs – Get all the necessary approvals
Entrance Fee to the Forest – Rs. 40/- per person, Trekking Fee – Rs 600/-
Night Halt – Rs 500/- for 1 person, Rs 100/- per extra, Guide Charge – Rs 300/-
7.   09:20 hrs – Catch bus to Irupu Falls
8.   09:45 hrs – Reached Irupu Falls Base, get hold of the forest guide
9.   10:00 hrs – Start of the trek to reach the Forest Rest House
10. 12:15 hrs – Reach the Forest Rest house
11. 13:05 hrs – Start towards Brahmagiri
12. 14:30 hrs – Reach the base of Brahmagiri
13. 14:50 hrs – Reach the summit
14. 15:15 hrs – Start descending from the peak
15. 16:48 hrs – Reach the rest house
You need to wash utensils, collect dry woods to prepare your food.
16. 18:30 hrs – Start cooking
17. 19:30 hrs – Dinner over
18. 20:45 hrs – Bed time
19. 06:30 hrs – Get up and shoot some morning photographs
20. 08:00 hrs – Start descending from the rest house
21. 09:05 hrs – Reach Irupu Falls
You can spend 40 mins in the falls
22. 10:05 hrs – Catch bus from Irupu to Gonikoppalu
23. 11:30 hrs – Reach Gonikoppalu/ Eat and Drink
24. 13.57 hrs – Catch KSRTC Airavat to Bangalore
25. 19:45 hrs – At Kempegowda Bus Stand (Majestic)

One liner:

1. Partha – Bhison Prokandu Hati !!
2. Puskar – Misti Khabe?

Courtesy:

a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmagiri_(hill)
b. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irupu_Falls

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