Sirsi- Shivganga and Benne falls

SIRSI -- Shivagange and Benne falls. (ಶಿವ ಗಂಗೆ ಮತ್ತು ಬೆಣ್ಣೆ ಜಲಪಾತ )

Before I forget the place(local) names, wanted to write a blog about it.

A glimpse at amazing Shivagange falls , before I proceed :)

Plan was --

To leave Friday night from Bangalore to Sirsi ,
Saturday morning, get freshened up , Trek to Shivagange falls, enjoy the nature and come back and take rest for the day.
Sunday morning , get the details about Benne falls and trek and enjoy the place.
Sunday night , leave Sirsi and Monday morning Office !!

Our execution was almost according to our plan.
Our group consisted of Amrutha , Chethan , Sathvik , Shwetha , Vinay , Vyshanth.

Saturday morning 6 o clock we reached Sirsi, we reached early and had limited resource to enquire about the place , Vinay’s home town is near Sirsi , so it was little easy for us to handle the situation :D ,

Vinay informed us that within 3 km from the old bus stand we have standard lodges , We took an auto and unlike Bangalore auto’s bizarre demand they took nominal charges. We reached a lodge called “Samrath” and booked rooms for 2 days , kept all our luggage , got freshened up , and had breakfast nearby, adjacent to lodge.

The memories of hotel and waiters will bring smile each time I think about it because of various reasons :D “ Nimma paalige ishte ” and waiters reaction , Vyshanth and Vinay’s sarcastic replies.

About food, Food was decent at this place.

ShivaGange falls

After enquiring few people and according to information we collected, we knew that we had to reach a place called Jaddi gadde (ಜಡ್ಡಿ ಗದ್ದೆ ) and from there around 2-3km walk to the view point. Note that , this place is quite lonely and frequency of bus to Jaddi gadde is very low. once in 2hr or so.

We planned to catch a bus at 8:30 but we missed it , so we had to wait till 10, Instead of wasting time we explored that place and saw a famous temple called Marikamba temple. It gave me an opportunity to try my hands on Street photography , as u can see.

At 10 we got a bus and by 11:30 we were at Jaddi gadde . From the last bus stop we walked for few kms and reached view point, First look of the falls kept all of us mum for few seconds , then everyone started talking and photo session as usual :),

Then came the actual part , started descending from that place, we saw lot of small streams,

and after searching for the route and slipping few times, we reached the bottom of the falls. I got lost in the beauty and camera in hands , I could not resist.

By the time we planned to go till the edge of the falls, It started raining and clouds were looking really dangerous and we were around 2km from the top . Keeping our breath and moving fast , started ascending the place, All of the small streams had become fast and furious !! Rocks slippery . Had become difficult to judge our next step, with the help of veteran trekkers(Vyshanth, Vinay) :D , reached the view point back in time , Everyone was hungry and we had lunch packed, Mangalore buns and Banana :) , In the abusive rain , In mid of forest , having Mangalore buns and Banana !! Ahh.. It can only be experienced :D , rain never stopped , but we had to leave as last bus from jaddi gadde was 18:00 hrs , we hitch hiked a Lori (another experience) till half the route and we got the bus from there and were back to Sirsi.

After getting drenched in rain so badly , took our time to freshen up and then came the game of cards !! Vyshanth suggested some game which was very new to me and the fun we had there was just awesome , hope Vinay is not laughing still !! :D , then we head for lunch.

Next day:

Benne falls:

According to the plan we reached old bus stop and took bus to Kumta and we got down at a place called Kasagi and “Benne falls” was around 4km inside from that place , landmark which I could remember is a government school and road beside the school takes u there.

This route was very good for photographers and reptile enthusiast, Because of Vyshantha and because of sharp eyes of Amrutha , I was able to take some unusual pics. Thanks to everyone for having patience with me :D.

We spotted reptiles , snakes , camouflaged frogs , leeches all the way !!

Slowly but steadily we heard the sounds of falls. whole route is full of leeches , U stand still for a min and there are 20 leeches on your leg :) , We reached to the place which was just adjacent to the Benne falls , and as Benne in kannada suggests , water was milky white and was worth the effort.

Enjoyed the serene environment , lonely place, with only 6 of us. Returned from there and boarded bus at 9:30 pm and were back to Bangalore and Office :D. Weekend spent worthily among friends, nature and photography :D

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