Place: Mekedatu & Sangama.
Distance: 100 x 2 = 200kms.
Directions: Bengaluru
– Kanakpura – Sangama – Mekedatu.
Particiapants: Madhu (Barca) > Manohar (Notorious) > Karthik (Sp).
Bikes: GS 150> CB
Unicorn > Pulsar150.
IN
LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Mekedatu is a dangerous, fast flowing, and
scenic water spot. Last visit to this place nearly two years back almost took
my leg away, well this time things were different, the forest almost took our
legs away ha-ha!!
INTRO
& PLAN:
Initially the plan was to visit a reservoir
and forest in Tamil Nadu. But like always, we prefer Plan B – unplanned one.
Manu & Madhu were the only people on the confirmed list. So after
finalizing the people and bikes we crashed.
TIME: 23:00 hrs (15/12/2011)
ASSEMBLE:
As usual I was up at around 05:00 hrs, had
a sip of coffee did a few push-ups and was all set go. Manu arrived at my place
at about 05:45hrs & as we waited for Madhu, Manu and myself were discussing
other options. Manu suggested Mekedatu, as he hadn’t seen the actual place.
Though I was taken back at the suggestions after the previous visit to this
place, it was time put aside the fear and go back to this wonderful place. We
departed as soon as soon as Madhu reached my place.
TIME: 06:45 hrs
RIDE I: (Bengaluru – Kanakpura)
This was a
40-50kms stretch. Madhu said he knew a shortcut to reach Kanakpura Road
TIME: 08:15 hrs
KANAKPURA: (Breakfast stop)
Alright…. We
ordered some hot breakfast and coffee. Yeah as we ate the light breakfast, we
again had a discussion about the destination. BR hills & Muthati were the among the hot favourites, but finally we decided to stick on to Mekedatu. After the
breakfast we hit road without wasting anytime.
TIME: 08:45 hrs
RIDE – II: (Kanakpura - Mekedatu)
This was another
40-50kms stretch, but we took our own sweet time completing this stretch. We made
sure we rode slow to enjoy the surroundings and the curves as we had no
intentions of returning back home till evening ha-ha!!
We rode at a
decent pace, back to back keeping the formation intact. We took lot of
pit-stops, sitting on the road, enjoying the fresh air and scenic view all
around us.
The final
stretch to Mekedatu comprises of 2-3 hairpin curves, we switched of our engines
and allowed our bikes to take us for the nest 3-4kms to reach Sangama.
TIME: 10:00 hrs
SANGAMA:
First things
first, we parked our bikes under a tree. We started fooling around climbing up
trees. I guess our basic instincts got the better of us ha-ha. Even the few
monkeys at the place were taken aback.
As we moved on,
I received another shocker. The place had a complete make over, restaurants,
temples, gardens, clear boards, inspection bungalows etc.,
Two years back
it had and absolute hardcore isolated look, with only on small shop and nothing
else.
As we reached
the river we were glad that the water level was low. Last visit it was here
that I crushed my knee against a boulder as fell into the flowing waters. So I
requested Manu who was the tallest among us to carry my bag which had their
jackets and other belongings. We cautiously crossed the river and reached the
other side.
TIME: 10:15 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK:
So…, yeah we had
reached the other side. And as we did we heard there was elephants spotting
near by :D, there was no stopping me from rushing to the spot. Jumping across
the rocky terrain and running we reached the river shore to find these two huge
elephants on the other side i.e from the Muthati forest.
Alright…, there
are two ways of reaching Mekedatu after you cross Sangama. One way is the
normal way by taking the bus and then there’s our way by picking up basic tools like a stick and
a knife and walking 12-15kms through the forest filled with snakes and other
wild creatures.
As we started
the walk, we picked up our sticks and started chatting and cracking jokes. The
trees were initially lean but as we proceeded it got real thick and we felt
completely isolated. The silence was something we were enjoying but yeah it was
scary too.
We were eagerly
waiting for some wild animal to jump out of the forest when all of a sudden
Manu and me who were in front felt the ground trembling (just like in the
movies). As we turned back we could see Madhu, and yeah behind him was a sight
I won’t be forgetting for a long long time.
About 30-40 huge
bulls were charging right at us, in a matter of seconds we jumped out the muddy
trail & hopped onto some rocky terrain beside the fast flowing waters.
Trust me we were saved by a whisker :)
We waited for
the gang to pass and then we resumed. After about 30 minutes of another
isolated walk we encountered them again. Believe me they meant business, few of
them actually turned back and started walking towards us. So we decided to go
off the off-road :P. We continued along the fast flowing waters on the rocky
terrain and rejoined the path only to find more bulls.
Alright…, we
worked out a detailed plan and the plan was simple “walk right past it :P”… and thankfully
it worked as we didn’t make any sudden movements to piss it off.
Finally the
forest adventure ended as we reached Mekdatu :)
(Yeah all these
encounters with bulls might sound funny, but trust me we had the same notion of
bulls as simple creatures but this was something else)
TIME: 11:45 hrs
MEKEDATU:
Ah yeah there
she was eagerly waiting for my arrival. We took some rest at the sit out and
started to descend the rocky steps. We spotted a small snake on the steps but
it was not worth the catch so we moved on to reach the place. And guess what, we
were the only 3 at the entire place. Yup we were very glad to have the place
for ourselves, and yeah it also meant extra dangerous.
We removed our
shoes and started to explore with caution as the force of the water was simply
terrifying, the thunderous roar of the water hitting the rocks could be heard
during the walk only. Madhu & Manu were totally happy & satisfied with
the place; I mean yeah it was worth all the efforts put into the walk.
Continuing further we reached the final tip of Mekedatu where the water splits
by hitting a boulder on which we were happily sitting.
We were at the
tip; the clear instructions were no stupid and foolish tricks as nobody was
around. We started fooling around, Manu and madhu threw their sticks into the
water to examine the force, after further fooling around we took a small 20mins
nap on the boulder.
After a while we
woke up safely thankfully not falling off our beds haha!! We headed back to the
sit out. We didn’t even have water in the bottle, so took extra rest and
decided to walk back through the forest.
TIME: 13:00 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK 2:
As we walked
back, my right knee which had problems from the start snapped. But we continued
further and Madhu and Manu suggested we visit another spot along the way. And
there she was Mekedatu-2 aKa Goatiedatu.
GOATIE-DATU: (Mekedatu-2)
Well yeah the
name was coined by us only. But yeah this place was simply brilliant; it had a
balance of fast flowing waters and small peaceful streams. The water was
crystal clear and first thing we did was quench our thirst. Further we washed
our faces and started to explore the place to find trees fallen down due to the
force, small falls etc.,
We spent some
quality time at this place and as we left the place found my shoe sole had a
huge crack in it and my right knee was in deep shit pain.
TIME: 13:45 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK 3:
As we continued
further, we kept laughing all the way to find the biggest hurdle of the trip.
About 100-130 bulls were on either side of the muddy trail. And as per the
day’s proceedings, even a tiger seemed less dangerous than these creatures.
Slowly without any sudden movements we started the 10min walk (literally) amidst
the bulls smiling at every creature ha-ha!!
Once we were out, we spotted a snake but unfortunately couldn’t catch it as it disappeared into
the woods. We continued further taking a shortcut to reach Sangama.
TIME: 14:30 hrs
SANGAMA:
As we reached
Sangama, Madhu & Manu jumped into the waters for a much needed rest as I
sat ashore. After spending about 30-40mins we crossed back the river cautiously
to reach our bikes. And yeah I still had my stick with me (latter it had a name too:P), it was all ready to
ride back to Bangalore with us
TIME:15:30 hrs
RIDE III: (Sangama- Kanakpura)
This was about
40 kms stretch. We rode at a decent pace without taking any breaks to reach
Kanakpura hotel for a much deserved lunch.
We entered the
hotel limping, and ordered a very heavy lunch, ah yeas it tasted so much better
since we had earned it totally. After a heavy Oota we washed our faces and
left.
TIME: 16:45 hrs
RIDE: IV: (Kanakpura – Bengaluru)
This was about
50kms formality stretch; all we had to do was stay awake as we had eaten a very
lunch. As the sun started going down, the shadow formed on the road as we rode
is something you should have a look. Haha we looked like warriors. We did some
smooth riding on NH-209 to reach Bengaluru.
TIME: 17:45 hrs
Sat at the NICE
road exit and spoke for about 30mins and left to reach our respective homes.
TIME: 18:30 hrs
CONCLUSION:
“Well this was one kickass adventure, on of
the best till date. It surely stands up with the other adventures like
Pearlvalley - In search of Elephants,
Skandagiri night trek - Misty Death trek,
Kabbalu trek - Peak into the next life,
TG reservoir - Fun run etc.,
It was crazy on the part of us to walk 12-15kms
through the forest encountering snakes and bulls but trust me it was worth
all of it”
PARTICIPANT VIEW:
MANU: Led the way
throughout and it was him who suggested this place else we wouldn’t have had
such a great adventure.
MADHU: Known for his
reserved nature, but this time kept the spirits up with his jokes and not
forget his golden find “Goatie-datu”.
SP: Brought back the
“Weapon of mass destruction”, ( Haha now you know what the stick has been
named)
Until next time,
ta-da Ciaa\m/
PICASA ALL PHOTOS:
MAP:
