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Trek to newly explored water falls in Bisile forest on 28/29th Jan 2012

2012-01-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

Trek to newly explored water falls in Bisile forest

The Trail:- We explored few very beautiful unexplored water falls In bisile forest recently. This weekend ie., 28/29th of Jan 2012 we are trekking to these falls. This is the first time we are attempting to trek after exploring these water falls. These falls are located on streams which are tributaries of Kumaradhara river.

Here is the tentative itinerary for the trek.

On 27th Dec 2012 Departure from Bangalore by around 11:30 PM and reach Sakaleshpur by early morning. Hire a vechicle to reach trek starting point.

Day1:

Reach the trek starting point and have breakfast.
Trek to 1st water falls, enjoy and trek to 2nd falls.
Play in the falls and have lunch.
trek to night halt place and stay there.

Day2:-

Wake up and freshen up. Have breakfast.
trek to 3rd water falls.
play in the falls and have lunch
trek back to road and catch a vechicle and start back.

Here is the link to photos of these water falls.

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2012/01/very-happy-and-green-new-year.html

This is tentative itinerary. Itinerary may change on the trail.

If wish to join us, please mail to prapancha@gmail.com ASAP

A Very Happy and Green New Year

2012-01-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

We the staff of Sharavathi Nature Trails... wishes you all a VERY HAPPY AND GREEN NEW YEAR. And we thank you for all the support we got from all of you through out the year.

To End the new year with a memorable trek, we explored couple of falls near bisile ghat. Here i am sharing few pics. We may organize the trek to this route in some time on 3rd weekend of JAN 2012. We will announce it in sometime.

Trek 0n 29/30th Dec 2011

2011-12-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

The Trail:- To end the year with the great memory, we are organizing a exploratory trek on 29/30th Dec 2011. We recently came across few unexplored water falls in Bisile forest area. This is the first time we are attempting to explore these water falls. These falls are located on streams which are tributaries of Kumaradhara river.

Here is the tentative itinerary for the trek.

On 28th Dec 2011 Departure from Bangalore by around 11:30 PM and reach Sakaleshpur by early morning. Hire a vechicle to reach trek starting point.

Day1:

Reach the trek starting point and have breakfast.
Trek to 1st water falls, enjoy and trek to 2nd falls.
Play in the falls and have lunch.
trek to night hals place and stay there.

Day2:-

Wake up and freshen up. Have breakfast.
trek to 3rd water falls.
play in the falls and have lunch
trek back to road and catch a vechicle and start back.

This is tentative itinerary. Itinerary may change on the trail.

If wish to join us, please mail to prapancha@gmail.com ASAP.

Trekking in serene Wildlife sanctuaries on 3/4th DEC 2011

2011-11-27T23:05:00.000-08:00

This is trek route which trekked last week. It will be done again on 3/4th dec 2011.

Here are the details...

Trek Date:- 3/4th of December 2011

Team size:- ~10

Trek Route:- Deep inside Nagrhole wildlife sanctuary( With forest department permission).

Stay:- Anti poaching camp inside sanctuary

Attractions of the trek:- Wildlife sighting and visit to water fall.

Travel:- Hired vehicle.

Tentative itinerary:- (As its new route, entire itinerary is tentative)

Date:-2-12-2011

Departure from Bangalore by late night (Night 12:00 )

Date:- 3-12-2011

Enter Nagarahole wildlife sanctuary and have on road early morning sighting.
Reach Anti Poaching Camp, Freshen up and have breakfast.
Start trekking deep inside santuary and reach water falls.
Have lunch and trek back to anti poaching camp
Reach the camp and Have camp fire
Have dinner and retire for the day.

Date:- 4-12-2011

Wake up, freshen up and have breakfast
Continue the trek to a wildlife habitat and wildlife sighting program.
Trek to a river pool and and have lunch
Trek back to APC
Travel back to Bangalore and reach by 10 PM.

Program Blog and photos can be found in the fallowing link

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2011/11/wondering-in-wildlife-sanctuaries.html

Wondering in wildlife sanctuaries.

2011-11-22T21:41:00.000-08:00

Wondering in wildlife sanctuaries.

Every time we plan for a exploratory trek, it us
ed to be either water fall or a peak in new territ
ory. As i communicated with the group we wanted to b
e totally different exploratory this time, so we planned for a trek in the wildlife sanctuary. As usual i communicated with the group about the trek.
There were lot of response for the trek. But finally we settled for group of 20. Great thing was that this time mostly it was all our old trek pals and their friends. Group was just amazing. Plan was to trek in the nagarhole sanctuary and stay in anti poaching camp, but as there was some permit issue, sancuary guys gave us alternative of trekking in brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary(BWS). I readily i agreed as the BWS is part of westernghat and its most beautiful at this period.

Biggest disappointment was that of vehicle I hired. Though he is a regular guy who

gives vehicle for us for long time this time he disappointed us with the kind of vehicle he sent. We started off from mejestic as planned earlier by 11:30PM. Picked up many on the Mysore road and started off towards Nagarahole. We reached nagarhole gate by 4:30 itself. But gate opens for traffic only at 6:00 AM. So all of us pulled out sleeping mats and slept on the road itself. Guard at the gate did scare us saying dont sleep too far as there could be wild animals attack!!. Everyone had early morning short sleep. By 6:00 AM guard woke up and he took about 15 minutes to settle down. we were the first to enter the sanctuary and we were hoping to have some wildlife sighting. First sighting was deer! as usual as there are plenty. Then there was gang of 3 indian gaur(bison). Later we found a tusker. We reached nagarhole office by 7:30AM. Guard rajanna was waiting for us. He offered us a very nice ginger tea. He offered us the BWS anti poaching camp as nagarahole one is closed. We agreed and wasted no time. Our cook had gone p

revious day itself to prepare breakfast. we reached breakfast point on the way to our base camp(APC) and had br

eakfast. After the breakfast, we traveled to our base camp. Reaching base camp was bit tedious as the roads are narrow and really in bad condition. The location of the base camp is just amazing. Its located in a small patch of beautiful grassland surrounded by beautiful forest and mountain. Its

so refreshing feel to be there, just to be there. We just dumped luggage and got ready for the activity of the day quickly.

First activity was to trek to falls nearby. So we started off the trek towards falls. Though everyone was tired,The serenity of the place made feel fresh. On the way to falls we came across lots of lovely streams, took pics and moved ahead. It was odd time for wildlife sighting. But we came acrosstiger pug mark and elephant foot

print etc. The trail was infested by leeches. some got paranoid by seeing so many leeches. Our cook had reached early and was preparing the lunch at the falls. We were spell bound by the beauty of the place. It was moderate stream falls down to the valley. I cant make out the height, but truly breath taking scene. We all played in falls. It was welcome massage to our muscles!!!. As we played in falls, we were so hungry. It was a tasty rice sambar. We had stomach full and spent sometime in the stream. We decided to reach back the camp and relax so started the trek back.. It was getting dark, we decided to have camp fire. Someone shouted everyone to collect the firewood. So we all went out to collect firewood and got plenty of them.ne shouted everyone to collect the firewood. So we all went out of firewood and got plenty. The camp fire place is beautifully done. We lit the camp fire and it was so awesome experience to be around camp fire in such a place. The place was so silent. So we could hear deer bark, once a while birds chirp. By then dinner was ready and we had dinner. As we were tired decided to rest for the day..

We woke up as early as 5 AM next morning. The plan was to go for a trek in Tholpatty wildlife sanctuary in the waynad district of kerala. I called up the RFO of tholpatty sanctuary who had agreed for a trek previous day. But when i gave a call, she said "sorry, there are no armed guard, so cant arrange for that day. But she said she can arrange it for the nextday" . It was dissapointing, but she gave alternative of having a safari in the sanctuary. Reluctantly we agreed but the safari was in the afternoon. We had time in the morning. We planned another trek to remote place, a big grassland which is home to various animals. there is absolutely no habitation or disturbance from human habitation over there. Many of us decide to trek there which is about 8KM one way. Some decided to stay back and relax at the camp. trek group started off trek towards the animal habitat. The trail was fl

at and as usual was infested by leeches. Many trekkers were applying all sorts of anti leech solution! to their feet but leeches showed no mercy and were having feast!!. As we were fresh in the morning and the nature was at its best in the early morning, we trekked very fast. We covered about 7KM in an hour!. We just a saw a huge tract of flat grassland. Our guide told us to maintain silence before we enter

ed this place. We were not disappointed !!. T

here was a sambar deer looking at us!. It was great welcome indeed. By the time we click pics, it just vanished in to thick jungle. As we moved around grass land in search of wild habitats, we could see fresh elephant dropping and foot print but not the elephant itself. The sambar deer which disappeared in to woods appeared again to see whether we have left their place!. We could see him/her(!) from close range.

As we still had sometime, we asked what else we can do. He suggested to trek another KM to a river to have splash!. All of us were so thrilled and we nodded in affirmative. The trail was thick serene wood. It was so enjoyable trail. On the way our guard had a sight of INDIAN MONITOR LIZARD. He alerted us, but by the time we turn, it had disappeared. There we cou

ld see a pleasant river flowing calmly. Guard took us to a place where we can have a swim. the place was so amazing. The seen was truly paradise of sort. We were spell bound by the beauty of the place. the river has formed a pond, the pond is covered by huge boulders on both side and the pond is about 100ft in length and a about waist deep water. It was apt for a splash. It was like man made pool.

We all dived in to pool. Oh! water was freezing cold. My muscles got cramp for a while, but did not step back. We spent enough time trying out various swimming strokes!! and had great time in the water. We decided to call off swimming session and get back to camp.

When coming back we passed through the same grassland, but alas we could not find anything. On the way back there were small grassland. As soon as we entered one such grassland, Oh! what a sight! there we spotted a ASIAN WILD DOG. Its all called "dhol" and in kannada its called thola or seelu naayi. This dhol is classified as endangered by IUCN. They were gang of 4. When they saw us, they did not disappear, which we anticipated. rather they were staring at us!. It was scary scene! We took out our cameras, and clicked few pics and to our shock they posed fr few minutes !!!. Then one by one jumped out and disappeared in to thick woods. We were so happy sighting them. There was a stream after that, we crossed the stream and gosh! another gang of dhols!. but they disappeared quickly. With this sweet memories, we reached back camp. By the time we reach lunch was ready, we wasted no time and had sumptuous lunch. As we it was getting late, we just packed quickly and started off from the APC with with sweet memories.

The next plan was to reach Tholpatty wildlife sanctuary in waynad of kerala for safari. We reached karnataka - kerala border and there were safari vehicles waiting for us. We hopped in to waiting jeeps and traveled towards sanctuary. On the way we spotted a tusker on the road!. We took few pics and traveled in to sanctuary. This

is safari is longest and very good place for sighting. But the problem is there were too many safari vehicles playing! so hardly animals will be there on the en route. So we spotted only sambar deer, barking deer and spotted deers in this safari.

It was getting late, we had to enter Nagarhole sanctuary before 6pm. so we rushed and were just able to make it. As it was evening, we were eager to have some more sight en route. After we crossed nagarhole forest office , we were lucky to spot herds of indian gaur(bison) and a tusker along with them. We just stopped vehicle next to them and we had a sight very close. Whole two days, we spent with wildlife in various sanctuaries. It was memorable in many ways. Most importantly the gang. Raghu, vinod, ravindra and chandranath were all my old time trekmates. I cherish this trek trip for long....!

Photos links by fellow trekkers...

By Raghu

https://picasaweb.google.com/srinivasa.raghu/BrahmagiriWLSAabailuTrekNov2011

By Vinod

https://picasaweb.google.com/vinod.gaitonde/NagarholeAbail

By Harish

https://picasaweb.google.com/100966038036500792479/NagaraholeAbailu#

Note: Next trek in the same route is on 3/4th Dec 2011. If anybody is interested, they can get back to us ASAP

Exploratory Trek deep inside Wildlife Sanctuary

2011-11-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

It has been a while since i communicated with the group. As usual busy days at our camp in Sharavathi, so a disconnection with the group. Few passionate trekkers in the group kept asking when we would go on a exploratory trek again?. Usually whenever some exploratory trek is planned, we always yawn it to be different from regular treks. So we kept talking about something different this time too for a while. This time we have totally different plan. This time it would be in the deep inside Nagarhole wildlife sanctuary and we will be staying in a forest department's anti poaching camp !!!. This trek will be escorted by forest department's guard. We are keen to make it another memorable trek this time too.Input we have got is we will come across a water fall too ! :).

Here are details about the trek.

Trek Date:- 19/20th of November 2011

Trek Route:- Deep inside Nagrhole wildlife sanctuary( With forest department permission).

Stay:- Anti poaching camp inside sanctuary

Attractions of the trek:- Wildlife spotting and visit to water fall.

Travel:- Hired vehicle.

Tentative itinerary:- (As its new route, entire itinerary is tentative)

Date:-18-11-2011

Departure from Bangalore by late night.

Date:- 19-11-2011

Reach Nagarahole, Freshen up and have breakfast
Start trekking deep inside santuary.
Have lunch and trek to anti poaching camp
Reach the camp and Have camp fire
Have dinner and retire for the day.

Date:- 20-11-2011

Wake up, freshen up and have breakfast
Continue the trek in different direction
Trek till afternoon and have lunch
Trek back to Main road
Travel back to Bangalore and reach by 10 PM.

Please mail to PRAPANCHA@GMAIL.COM for more info...

Coorg in monsoon...The Scotland of India

2011-08-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

Coorg in monsoon...The Scotland of India

It was coorg calling this monsoon. We planned our first monsoon trek-trip outside Sharavathi on 30/31st July weekend. Coorg or Kodagu (originally called Kodaimalenadu) means 'dense forest on steep hill'. Dubbed as the Scotland of India, this place has a lot to offer to the tourist. Misty hills, lush forest,

acres and acres of tea and coffee p

lantation, orange groves, undulating streets and breathtaking views are what make coorg an unforgettable nature lovers destination.Coorg is on the Western Ghats. Set amidst verdant valleys, imposing mountains and teak wood forests, this is one of the most beautiful hill stations you can visit. It lies on Karnataka's southwestern end, covering an area of 4,102 sq km.The river Cauvery originates here at

Talacauvery and is worshipped by the locals.Our group policy is to explore new nature trails and experience it rather than going to regular trails. This motto leads us to explore new trails now and then. So we explored this particular trail about an year back. Heroor cave hill is an amazing hillock.

Nature is at its best. What makes interesting is it has all hues of nature. It has beautiful lakes, awesome green grass lands, rocking rock formation and a cave in this rock formation. The 360 degree view of western ghat is just awesome. This time we added bit of excitement to the trek experience by adding rafting activity in river cavery o

n day 2. As usual floating on brimming cavery gives us a amazing experience.

As planned we hired a

vehicle and started off on friday (29th July 2011) late night. After introducing each other, we slipped in to deep sleep. NH 48 road is awesome till CR pattana. Later the SH is too good till Arakalagud. But later its nightmare till Shanivarsante. We reached earlier than we planned. As it has rained heavily, local roads are worst condition. But our driver never complained. We reached our friends house where planned to stay for the night. Our cook, Dharma had arrived on previous day and had prepared the nice breakfast. It was masala idli and masala vada. It was apt combination for the chill weather!! :). We just got freshen up quickly and finished breakfast. Got ready quickly and started off.

Traveled till trek starting point and sent off the vehicle. Initially the trail was inside an coffee estate.

As we progressed, the trail was infested by leeches. But it was not as bad as sharavathi. But my formula of amruthanjan as leech repellent worked wonderfully. But some who had not applied had the music. Later they too were forced to apply it and escape the leech wrath :). On the trails we came across the first lake of many lakes in the are

a. It was so beautiful to see the brimming lake. Had a photo session and continued the trek.After we crossed the estate, we came across a small hillock. The hillock had a great black rock formation. But some greedy people and politicians had started the granite mining and now hillock looks so bruised. This is where we had a protesting rally way back in 2006 against mining. It was a great successful and mining had to be stopped. But by then damage was done. The view of hill range is picturistic from this place. We just stopped there for a while and started off towards cave hill.

The trail was so slippery after bounty full rain.

Many slipped and had a great fall!. On the way we came across couple of beautiful streams and it was time for refreshing with spring water. We found another beautiful lake on the trail. This was mother of all lakes in terms of beauty. We spent lot of time seeing the beauty of lake and surrounding nature. Continued the trek towards the peak. The trail was awesome with lots of green grassland. So uphill trail did not strain us.

After a steep climb, we could see the green grass land surrounded peak. All of us reached the peak and we were spellbound by the beauty. It was green grassland, with heavy mist covered. We just sat down for a while and had some photo session. In monsoon, it always rains there in the peak. It just started raining, so we trekked towards the cave. We could not see the full view of the valley from peak as it was covered with mist.

It was difficult for me to locate the way down to the cave coz weed had covered the way. Finally i was successful and we started going down. It was so slippery. Entry to the cave is so narrow, most of us had difficulty to pass through. Everyone managed to sneak through the narrow entry. People from villages have installed a god in this cave. So they com

e once a while to do pooja. These people have littered the cave. I decided to plan for a clean up drive sometime in summer. Spent some time in the cave and decided trek back as we were so hungry. We trekked up the peak and started coming down the hill. There is a huge lake on the peak. Its so picturistic. This is where our cook dharma was preparing lunch. It started raining like hell broke. But dharma had made a temp shelter with a tarpaulin. We were not ready to wait till rain to stop for having lunch. So we just pulled out our plates and went inside temp shelter and had stomach full..It was a nice hot hot sambar and rice!. Drumstick sambar was yummy!!.

After the lunch we did not wait as it was still raining with less intensity. So we started trek down the hill. On the way we found another lake which i have nick names as "spatica sarovar" I called this is so coz the water is so clear even when its raining. Normally when it rains, water will be muddy with rain water. We spent couple of moments there and trekked down the hill to reach the waiting vehicle. We reached the pickup point and traveled back to the house where we planned to stay. Got freshen up, by then our snacks, hot chilly bajji and tea was ready. We had some chatter time by then dinner was ready. We had dinner. As usual it was tasty dinner. As we were tired to the core, decided to have a sound sleep.

Woke up early morning, freshened up quickly. By then dharma had prepared "akki rotti and badane kaayi chutni !!". It was again mouth watering breakfast. Our host Raji offered us orange which were from his estate. Oranges were so fresh. We lost no time and packed off. We traveled to Dubare straight. Some wanted to go to elephant camp, so we fixed our rafting later.By then dharma went to a house and was preparing lunch.Everyone came back from elephant camp and we started the rafting. Every one were so excited. It was more exciting when our instructor said we can have dip in over flowing cauvery!!. I just lost no time and dived. I almost swam for a KM or so. Though there were very few rapids, it was nice experience floating on brimming cauvery river. It was drizzling all along the rafting. So it was shivery cold. We packed off from there and reached a house where dharma was preparing lunch. Changed the dress and had lunch. As we wanted to reach bangalore bit early, we started off from dubare. Reached bangalore by 10PM. It was an another enchanting monsoon experience in western ghat.

Full photo album from Murali Camera can be found in the fallowing link,

https://picasaweb.google.com/115560532966265290012/BisileGhatTrekk?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn4saaw76mgPA#

NOTE:- This weekend trek route is Veegi falls ---> Melnur --> Kanoor Fort ---> Hebbayana keri --> kanoor. For the itinerary pls check the fallowing link. http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2011/01/trek-on-2223rd-janurary-2011.html

Please let me know if anybody wants join us for this trek ASAP

Trekking, Cave exploration and River rafting on 30/31st July 2011

2011-07-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Trekking, Cave exploration and River rafting on 30/31st July 2011

Synopsis of the Program.....

The Trek:- Monsoon at its best and its raining everywhere. Its amazing experience to be in western ghats specially now. With the short travel from Bangalore (about 5 hrs ) journey, there is a beautiful cave hill on the coorg-sakaleshpur border in the Bisile ghat range. Specialty of this hillock is there are couple of amazing lakes, a cave and about half kilometer rock formation. There are couple of grass lands which are amazing to see in this season there.

The Rafting:- The most enjoyable water sports is white water rafting. Our own western ghat gives so many options for rafting. One among them is cauvery river in Dubare elephant camp. The 7 KM raft ride is amazing in this season as cauvery river is brimming with beauty. You pass through thick forests and scenic surroundings negotiating mostly the calm rapids. River rafting here allows you to rejuvenate yourself and enjoy the flow of the river. River rafting here is safe and it’s usually a smooth stretch.

The visit:- Dubare is a picturesque forest area famous for its elephant training camp. It is located on the banks of the river Cauvery in between Siddapur and Kushalnagar. During the reign of erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore, this place was used to train elephants for the Mysore Dussehra festival.An elephant training camp of the Forest Department of Coorg is located here. Local tribe, Kurba, dwell in Dubare. Here, you can observe and learn a great deal about the elephants

Stay:- Stay will be in a local house near Somvarpet.

Food:- Will be simple freshly cooked food.

Probable itinerary of the program.

Day1:-

Reach Trek Starting point and freshen up in the stream.
Have Breakfast and start the trek towards hill top.
Enjoy the beautiful lakes view and play in a small water falls.
Have lunch and rest for a while.
Trek up to the top of the hill and explore the cave. U get 360 degree view of the western ghat from this point.
start trek down to the foot hills and travel to the the night camp.
Reach the camp, Have camp fire and dinner.

For the trek route blog and photos please refer the fallowing link.

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2010/08/unforgetable-trek-trip.html

Day2:-

Wake up early morning. Freshen up and have breakfast.
Travel to Dubare Water rafting starting point.
Have a wonderful time floating on the river cauvery.
Have lunch and visit dubare elephant camp
Start journey back to bangalore.

Some pics of these Bits....:-

Beautiful lake on top of the hill (i call it 'Spatika sarovara')

Beautiful falls on the hill top

Cave on top of the hill

White Water Rafting @ Dubare

Please mail to prapancha@gmail.com for more info....

Beautiful pics of 16/17th July Monsoon Trek

2011-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

Beautiful pics of 16/17th July Monsoon Trek

We had a beautiful monsoon trek on 16/17th July 2011. Heavy rain in the valley only added colors to the mother earths beauty. All streams are full, falls are brimming, grass lands are green to the core. The trekkers have captured some of the most beautiful pics. Here i am sharing some for the for the viewing pleasure. Thanks to Subbu and Manju for the nice pics.

Green Grass around Kattinakaar

Stream Crossing near Falls

Smoking Mountain!- A view from meghane peak

A castle on the way

March past

Misty all around

Full Album by Subbu

https://picasaweb.google.com/subbukl/137_Meghane_16July11

By Manju

https://picasaweb.google.com/manjunathkokhle/18July2011?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJbEyuLUtYXMZA&feat=directlink

Second Monsoon Trekking For 2011

2011-07-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

Second Monsoon Trekking For 2011

Couple of weeks back we had our First monsoon trek. The experience was awesome with heaviest rain lashing out on those 2 days . After i Shared our first monsoon experience with the fellow trek mates, there were group of people who wanted to do the same route. So we have this trek again this weekend.

Monsoon this year has been on time and it has not disappointed us like last 2 years.Monsoon is in full vigor in the malnad region. It is raining heavily over there in the Sharavathi valley. Water level in the Linganamakki reservoir raising. As it is raining heavily, all streams are full so the water falls !. We had not seen the such a fury in the falls which are there in sharavathi valley before. Last weekend we had couple of treks, it was an amazingmonsoon treks.

When it rains , Sharavathi valley becomes like a bride draped in green sarees and wearing jasmine flower on her pony tail !. Here green saree is the lush green grass and the jasmine flower is the cloud !!.

The landscape valley is so awesome to see, as there are beautiful grass land and cloud kissing mountains around this place. This place is the main point for our all treks. The seen in the monsoon in this area is really treat to all nature lovers eyes.

For the people who missed out the first monsoon trek of this year monsoon trek program, We are planning again for Nagavalli-->Meghane--> Haddina bare water falls.

Meghane is one of the highest peak in the sharavathi valley and its in. It is one of the high density of fauna in the sharavathi wild life

sanctuary .

In this hill region common sight is indian gaur, civet and many more. We used to trek to this peak regularly till year 2005. Later entry was banned as there was a serious poaching problem. This peak is awesome place to sit and watch the nature beauty. On the one direction you can see the arabian sea, and all other side green cover of valley.

The plan of trek is as fallows:-

Trek Dates:- 16/17-07-2011(weekend)

Start from bangalore on 15th friday evening in KSRTC rajahamasa bus and reach Kargal on 16th Saturday Morning.
Start from Kargal to Nagavalli in a local bus/hired vehicle which is about 35KM.
Reach Nagavalli forest check post and trek up the meghane hill.
Have lunch half the way and continue to the peak.
Reach peak and spend sometime.
Trek down the hill and reach a onti mane (single hamlet) and stay over night.
Wake up and continue the trek towards a new falls.
Reach falls and enjoy.
Trek back to Hogevaddi and travel back.

For some pics and blog please refer to the fallowing link,

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2011/06/first-monsoon-trekking-for-2011.html

So if you are free that weekend and wish to join us, please send me copy of some photo ID proof like DL, PAN card, PP etc., immediately. This is required for obtaining wild life division permission to enter the sanctuary.

Please mail to prapancha@gmail.com if u need more info

Another Awesome monsoon experience.

2011-06-29T09:18:00.001-07:00

Another Awesome monsoon experience.

Monsoon mesmerizes nature lovers. Forest becomes lively after dry days of summer. trees turn green, streams over flows, water falls brims with the beauty and grass lands become like well maintained golf course. Over all its a treat to our eyes. But there is a rider ! we can experience all this beauty only if we over come leechophobia !!! :p.

After many years of our association with our jungle friends (!!!), we have researched best repellent which will keep t

hese intelligent parasites at bay!. Though we have many solutions like lime paste, tobacco, salt etc to avoid leech, best solution is to apply some pain balms like amruthanjan, zandu balm vicks etc., These pain balms have strong odour and also they are very oily,

so when its raining the solution we apply wont get washed away easily and lasts long.Coming back to our monsoon mania, As usual we wait for the monsoon to see the glory of the forest every year. This year luckily monsoon has set in at right time without delay. For the last few years monsoon had been elusive in the June and even in July. But this time we have bountiful rain in June itself. Many requests us to plan for monsoon trekking. So this time too there were some requests.

Then started planning for a monsoon trek. Thought of doing some exclusive trek. For quite sometime we had not trekked to meghane peak. This is because forest department was not permiting. Few years back some hunters from bhatkal had hunted GAUR for meat and then thet were transporting the meat. At Nagavalli forest checkpost they were stopped for checking. Then suddenly hunters whipped out weapons and attacked forest guards. There were serious injury to the guards but there was no casualty. After this they had stoped permitting stran

gers to enter the peak and surrounding.

This time i managed to get permission and started off the preparation. When announced in the forum, got lot of response, but final count was 9 in the gang. We booked the ticket in Linganamakki bus. All of us met at mejestic bus stand. There was one goof up i had done, when i was sending out mail i had typed a wrong mobile num ! . So everyone were struggling to reach me. Trekmate Deepak had almost hope of catching up with us...! some how all us met. But there was bad news one of the girl dropped off in the last moment!. Still managed to sell the ticket reservation though lost little amount in the bargain. Bus started off at 9:45pm from mejestic. There was one foreigner in the gang. Mr.Mamoun is from comoros island. He was very adoptive and talkative. Soon we all became friends and chatted for a while. Mamoun sat with me and we chatted for a long about culture , politics etc all about our nations. But could not tolerate sleep any more ...

Rain god showed no mercy and intensified further. By the time we reached

Nagavalli forest checkpost , ran had given break for a while. We quickly distributed the grocery among all trekkers to be carry it in their

backpack and submitted the permission letter to the guard there and started off trek. Rain just started pouring again. As mentioned earlier, meghane hill is one of the highest in the valley. The peak assent is really challenging to any seasoned trekkers. Moreover, now the condition was most in hospitable as it was raining heavily over top and leaches were having feast down on the legs. As advised by me trekkers had applied amruthangen, so though leeches were coming on shoes they did not bite most of them. But fellow trekkers were so scared of them and started removing religiously. The assent got tough as we progressed. Couple of trekkers were lagging behind and i had to be with them.

Reached kargal by morning 6:30 AM. Had a nice sleep and was fresh. I had requested for a jeep to drop us to the trek starting point a day prior. So jeep came in 10 minutes without delay. All of us got in to jeep. We reached muppane nature camp where breakfast was ready. As there were other groups for trek and water sports, break fast was ready for all. We were the first group to reach camp. Trekkers got busy with morning ablution.. By then Breakfast was ready and everyone had sumptuous breakfast. Got ready and were all packed to jeep. Then the rain god started showing up and as the time progressed, it was just hell broke loose.. ! It just rained like hell. We stopped at kogar forest office and submitted letter of permit and moved towards Nagavalli.

Rain started pouring with more intensity. As rain has muddied the water, some trekkers fell short of drinking water. for sometime it caused a problem. Luckily there was a small pond

constructed for wild animals. We found a streak coming out under a stone. it was crystal clear water. We collected some water and moved on. After a while were able to see the sky !!!.. Till now from the bottom of the hill we were never able to see the sky as the thick canopy of tree were blocking it. There we found a beautiful green patch filled with budding grass. But we were barely see anything as thick fog formation covered us. The visibility was nil !!!. So though it was disappointing as we were not able view the entire valley, but it was a nice feeling to be in cloud, feeling like floating along with the cloud.

Soon rain started pouring. As we were open area we could not tolerate the pour. So we thought of trekking down. But there was a hitch. We could not make out the way down!. Though i had done this trek many times long before, with the thick fog i was totally confused. But we started searching for the way. We took almost an hour to come to conclusion for the way. There was one more problem, we had not had lunch!!. All of were getting hungry. Rain was not letting us to cook and eat. Finally we found a way out to down and started going down.

Many were tired to the core. It was very steep way while going down. Knees were aching like hell. And the problem of leech just got worse

while going down. Our ways was filled with knee deep water. It was skidding. Some how we managed to reach ONTI MANE (single house). Our cook sridhar went and asked landlord to permit us to stay put for the night. He happily agreed. It was a big relief and every one got in to house and changed the dress. By then Our cook sridhar prepared the hot tea. It was a amrutha at that time for all us. Within no time our cook prepared lunch (at 5pm) and it was yummy. All of had nice lunch. The sambar was just amazing. We thought we will continue the trek to next onti mane, but we decided against it as it was raining still. Our cook was preparing for the dinner, so we sat and had a chat session. And outside it was pouring without break. By 10pm , dinner was ready. Sridhar had prepared nice dinner.

Though there was a problem with the bisi bele baath, other things were very yummy specially payasa. We finished dinner and we had no patience to sit anymore as we were damn tired and slept off.

Next morning woke up and had a morning cuppa. Got freshen up. by then breakfast was ready. It was a raagi and rice dosas along with the brinjal chutney. It was yummy breakfast. We thanked the land lord and moved towards our next destination. The pouring continued without break. We had to change our plan to reach the new falls as the streams were all full and brimming. So we trekked towards basavana baayi. Reached the falls and had fun time. It was time to pack off. Our cook was preparing lunch at a house near by. We reached the house and had nice lunch. Called a taxi and reached Kargal. It got delayed a bit and some had to miss the reserved bus. All buses were full, luckily we got some bus with last row of seat. Reached bangalore with great memories of mother natures hues and colors in the monsoon. All the time we were there in the valley, it just poured like anything. Linganamakki dam got almost 5ft of water in 3-4 days. its a record of sort.

Link for photos of the trek:-

By Vijay,

https://picasaweb.google.com/vijay.gadwal/SharavathiValleyMeghaneTrek2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPyvw9GmztvdQA&feat=email

By Raghu

https://picasaweb.google.com/srinivasa.raghu/SharavathyValleyJune2011?feat=email

NOTE:- As few more Trekkers want to trek in this route, We have it again on 16/17th July 2011. So if anybody wants to do this route, please mail back asap.

First Monsoon Trekking For 2011

2011-06-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

First Monsoon Trekking For 2011

As we have been busy these days with our standard trek+water sports activity on all weekend, we did not find time for any new trek program. Meanwhile there were many in the group who are keen to be in the valley this monsoon.

Monsoon this year has been on time and it has not disappointed us like last 2 years. Monsoon is in full vigor in the malnad region. It is raining heavily over there in the Sharavathi valley. Water level in the Linganamakki reservoir raising. As it is raining heavily, all streams are full so the water falls !. We had not seen the such a fury in the falls which are there in sharavathi valley before. Last weekend we had couple of treks, it was an amazingmonsoon treks.

When it rains , Sharavathi valley becomes like a bride draped in green sarees and wearing jasmine flower on her pony tail !. Here green saree is the lush green grass and the jasmine flower is the cloud !!.

The landscape around kattinakar is so awesome to see as there are beautiful grass land and cloud kissing mountains around this place. This place is the main point for our all treks. The seen in the monsoon in this area is really treat to all nature lovers eyes.

To start this year monsoon trek program, We are planning for Nagavalli-->Meghane--> a new water falls.

Meghane is one of the highest peak in the sharavathi valley and its in. It is one of the high density of fauna in the sharavathi wild life

sanctuary .

The plan of trek is as fallows:-

Trek Dates:- 25/26-06-2011(weekend)

Start from bangalore on 24th friday evening in KSRTC rajahamasa bus and reach Kargal on 25th Saturday Morning.
Start from Kargal to Nagavalli in a local bus which is about 35KM.
Reach Nagavalli forest check post and trek up the meghane hill.
Have lunch half the way and continue to the peak.
Reach peak and spend sometime.
Trek down the hill and reach a onti mane (single hamlet) and stay over night.
Wake up and continue the trek towards a new falls.
Reach falls and enjoy.
Trek back to Hogevaddi and travel back.

For some pics and blog please refer to the fallowing link,

http://srikslib.blogspot.com/2007/02/meghane-trek-log-ii.html

Please mail to prapancha@gmail.com if u need more info

Trek on 22/23rd Janurary 2011

2011-01-17T04:34:00.000-08:00

Hi All

This weekend ie., on 22/23rd Jan 2011, we have organised a open group trek to the fallowing route. Those who have not done this route can join us. If joining us, please send me scaned copy of some ID proof like DL, PAN card etc ASAP.

Sampath

Welcome to Sharavathi Nature Trails.....

Who we are?:- The sharavathi Nature Trails. is a non-profit Registered organization working on nature conservation and to generate rural employment. We conduct island camping, kayaking, canoeing in Sharavathi backwater and Trekking to very serene tarils in sharavathi valley where u will be exploring lots of hidden water falls.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Accomdation:- Stay in tribals house.
Food:- Food is going to be Simple Vegetarian food and it will be freshly cooked food at the camp site.

Route:- Veegi falls ---> Melnur --> Kanoor Fort ---> Hebbayana keri --> kanoor..

Itinerary:-

* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 10:00 PM.

Day1:-
* Reach Sagar by 6:00 AM in the morning.
* Catch a jeep or van to reach trek starting point and freshen up on the way in a stream.
* Reach Trek starting point and have Breakfast.
* Start the trek towards first veegi falls. Spend some time in falls
* Trek to second veegi falls. Play in the falls if interested.
* Have lunch and trek towards melnur tribals house..
* Reach Melnur and Camp in tribal's house.
* Have fun time around camp fire.
* Have dinner and retire for the day.

Day2:-
* Wake up by 5:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Tea and start the trek towards Kanoor fort.
* Reach kanoor fort lake and have breakfast
* Trek inside and ruined fort and then trek towards Hebbayyana keri
* Have lunch and play in the river and trek to kanoor
* Start the journey back to Bangalore

For part of trek blog and photos, check the fallowing link
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/11/1-2nd-nov-2008-trek-report.html

Nature Etiquette (Every campers must fallow):-

Our programs are basic and minimalist; do not expect city-like comfort, adjust with what ever is being provided. Any additional requests need to be made prior to the start of the program
We strictly do not allow smoking, drinking (alcohol) and consumption of non-veg on our programs. (If anyone voilates these rules, we will stop the activities right at that point)
We follow the 'leave no trace' & 'zero impact camping' practice; do not litter on the trail, please carry back all the material garbage you generate on the program
The forests have their own orchestra of sounds; use of Walkman's & music systems is strictly prohibited; we would like you listen to birds, animals, leaves and the wind
The locals, animals, birds have the right of 'way' and 'say' in our programs. We wish to respect their dignity to the fullest extent possible.

Things to bring for the camping:-

A proper BackPack. (A bag which can be put on our back and other kinds of bags wont do).

A plate with a spoon for eating food. (Must) (please dont bring disposable like paper plate etc))

One cup for drinking water, tea etc. (Must) (please dont bring disposable like paper plate etc))

Please bring One lite bed sheet. Foam sleeping Mat will be arranged by us.

A small hand torche. (Must)

A 1 ltr. water bottle.

Please wear sandals, wearing shoe may be a problem as u have to removing when u r getting in to Boat.

Toilet kit (brush, toothpaste, comb

Sun cap and Sun lotion.

Please carry only items which we have mentioned. Please dont carry anything extra, if ur bag weighs heavy it will be discomfort to u.

Please feel free Mail to prapancha@gmail.com or call me on my mobile if you need any more information

A Very Happy and Green New Year

2010-12-30T01:38:00.000-08:00

My Dear fellow Trekkers,

We have come to end of another year. The year 2010 was so good and buzzing with activities. Only regret is we did not have chance to announce many treks as we were full almost all the weekends with our standard camp activities. The year 2010 monsoon treks were amazing as usual. We explored 3 more new water falls in the season. We had a clean up session along with students of 'Madras Christian college' in the valley. We cleaned up a common tourist point in the valley. It was another memorable moments with you all for the activities in the valley. Thank you all for making such a wonderful year of activities.

Moving forward,

We, the staff of "The Sharavathi Nature Trails.." Wish You Very Happy and Green New Year" in advance. We look forward to have you back in the valley.

With Best Wishes and Regards,

Staff of "The Sharavathi Nature Trails..."

Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life

2010-10-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life

Month of September was hectic for us, so could not think of announcing any trek. Many were asking for the trek trip after our first successful trip in august.
So we are planning this "Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life " program again this weekend (9/10th October 2010) with little change in the program. The stay will b inside wildlife sanctuary with tents.

Synopsis of the Bits.....
Bit of Trek:- This is trek up to a hill lock. this hill lock is near Sakaleshpur Bisile ghat. This trek will b around 5KM one way. Its easy trek. On the trek route we come across 2 beautiful lakes on top of the hill and also a small water fall.
Bit of Cave Exploration:- On top of the hill there is a huge and beautiful stone formation. In this stone formation there is a cave.
Bit of Wild life:- We will b going for early morning safari in Nagarahole wild life sanctuary.

Stay:- Stay in the jungle by pitching tent.

Probable itinerary of the program.

Day1:-

Reach Trek Starting point and freshen up in the stream.
Have Breakfast and start the trek towards hill top.
Enjoy the beautiful lakes view and play in a small water falls.
Have lunch and rest for a while.
Trek up to the top of the hill and explore the cave. U get 360 degree view of the western ghat from this point.
start trek down to the foot hills and travel to the camp near Nagarhole national park.
Reach the camp, Have camp fire and dinner.

Day2:-

Wake up by 4AM. Freshen up and have tea and leave for Wild life Safari.
Roam around in the park travel back to the camp and have breakfast.
Visit Irupu falls,play in the water and have lunch.
Start travel back and reach Bangalore by around 10PM.

For the trek route blog and photos please refer the fallowing link.

http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2010/08/unforgetable-trek-trip.html

Please mail me (prapancha@gmail.com) if anymore info u require. Let me know ASAP if u r joining us.

Some pics of these Bits....:-

Beautiful lake on top of the hill (i call it 'Spatika sarovara')

Beautiful falls on the hill top

Cave on top of the hill

2010-08-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dear All,
I had mentioned in my earlier mail about trek to Bheemeswara and dabbe falls coming weekend(4/5th sept). But this weekend i was in valley and i have come across 2 new beautiful water falls. So the itinerary will change. Here is the itinerary and other details about the trek.

Trek Route:- Hogekeri---->Vaddimakki water falls---> Megur(Halt)--->Doddabyana water falls--->Bheeswara water falls.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Likely Itinerary for the 2 days trek

Departure:- on 3rd sept 2010 by KSRTC Rajahamsa bus to Kargal. From there hire jeep to reach hogekeri.

Date:- 04-09-2010

* Reach Hogekeri , the Trek start point.
* Freshen Up in the stream, Have Break fast.
* Reach vaddimakki water falls and Have lunch.
* Start the Trek towards Megur camp in a tribals house.
* Have a Camp fire and enjoy the evening(Depends on rain situation). Also interact with Tribals.
* Have dinner and retire for the day

Date:-05-09-2010

* Wake up by 6:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Breakfast and start the trek to Doddabyana water falls .
* Trek to Bheeswara water falls and if possible Enjoy in the Water fall (depends on the water level.
* Have lunch and Trek to the road.
* Catch the vehicle and travel back to kargal and then to sagar.
* travel back to bangalore.

For now i have info photos of bheeswara water falls photos. Please check the fallowing link.
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/07/mungaaru-maleye-yenu-ninna-hanigala.html

Please reply me ASAP if u r joining us as we need reserve the bus tickets and feel free to reply for any clarification or doubts.

Unforgetable Trek-trip

2010-08-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

Many of my trekkers after exploring Sharavathi valley trek routes, used to ask me if i have trek/camps and other programs in other parts of western ghats. As it used to be busy weekends in our camp, i had not thought of anything for a while. But i had some free weekends in august as there was less water sports activity.
We planned to explore some new routes and we planned to combine various activity to make it more diverse activity program. Accordingly, we explored a 1 day trek route near sakaleshpur and combined it with wild life safari in Nagarhole sanctuary, rappelling and playing in a lake with life jacket.
We announced this activity in the group for the weekend of 21/22nd of august. Though the initial response was less we could get about about 10 trekkers for the program finally. We hired a Tempo traveller. We planned to leave on Saturday early morning. As planned we started off at 4 am in the morning. But by the time we pickup everyone and leave Bangalore it was 6:45am. I was thinking it will b too late, but cab driver was just excellent and we were in channarayapattana by 9 am. We had quick breakfast and started off journey. We reached trek starting point by 11am and started off the trek.
It was pleasant weather with now and then drizzling and mostly cloudy. Initially it was all over lush green coffee plantation. Then it was great evergreen forest cover. We were engaged in lot of talks while trekking and suddenly our fellow trekker kinjal pointed to a lake which was hiding under the thick forest cover. It was just an amazing view from the top. Though it was small the vegetation cover around the lake had given so much beauty to the lake. Trekkers took some nice shots of the place and moved on. After this point the talks got less and everyone was enjoying the natures wonderful creation. Few had gone ahead and had stopped on a small rock formation. This rock formation has been destroyed for granite quarrying. In the same place we had held a massive protest rally against this in the year 2006. Luckily it is now stopped though the damage is visible. It was a breath taking view from this point. There were small grass patches (locally called ByaNa) which were so green with budding grass. It was a treat for eyes.
After a small stop over we moved further. We came across a small stream where we tanked up some mineral water. After some trek we came to a junction where we had to deviate to the peak where caves are there. But our lunch was getting ready down near another lake. We had to decide which is first. According to majority we decided to have lunch and moved towards lake, where our chief cook Dharmanna was preparing delicious lunch. Some got down to see a small water fall near the lake , others rested on the lake bed. It was an amazing place to be. The lake bed was looking like natural gulf course. Lunch was ready to b served. We just collected some plantain leaf to have the lunch which gave extra flavor to the delicious lunch. Dharmanna had prepared rice, eere kaayi sambaar, papad and pickle. It was just amazing to eat such a tasty food in such an amazing place.
After the lunch we wasted no time and trekked towards peak. It started raining heavily.This peak gets covered with fog in almost all seasons. Its an amazing peak with 360 degree view of the western ghat. In this peak there is a rock formation which is almost 500 mts in length and about 100 ft depth. And this rock formation looks like curved stones and it has flat surface which is idea for claiming and rappelling . In the same rock formation there is a cave. We got in to the cave. Getting in to the cave is difficult as it as very small entrance. so once is pot bellied then its truly difficult ;).
After the cave exploration we started going down the peak. It was raining heavily still. We reached the foothill of the peak , where our cab was waiting for us. It was truly awesome trek though it was short trek. We came across string of small lakes which are treat to nature lovers eyes. We got in to cab and drove towards Nagarahole. It was drizzling still. We drove through somvarpet , kushalnagar and hunsur. we reached camp leopard rock, where we supposed to stay by 10:30PM. Dinner was ready by then. As everyone were tired and sleepy just stuffed some food and slept off.
Sharp 5 AM, Our instructor woke us up and asked us to get ready quickly to go for wild life safari. We had tea and left for the nagarahole sanctuary. After entering the gate we were observing both sides keenly for any movement of animals. After some distance , we came across spotted deer, which are very common. Then we came across wild boar. We reached nagarhole sanctuary office, where we opted to go on safari in to the sanctuary by department bus. We could not any special animals, we came across only deers and langur. All of us were really hungry , so planned move out of the sanctuary and reached the rappelling spot near the camp. By then our cook dharmanna had prepared nice "malnad akki rotti" and avalakki. we wasted no time filled up our stomach. It was nice breakfast.
Our instructor Ram was readying the rappelling kit and by then we rested for a while. First Ram gave us demo and then asked all of us to go to the top of the rock one by one. First it was santhosh. He was daring, we were amazed to see his enthu. then all of us had a great experience.
After the rappelling event, we traveled back to camp and rested for a while. Then we went to near by lake with life jacket and swam for a while. Then came a raft. we had bit of still water rafting. Came back to the camp and dressed up and assembled at the dining hall for the lunch. Dharmanna had prepared delicious bisi bele baath and curdrice with hesaru bele payasa. Had stomach full lunch. It was superb lunch. Then we had a final group photo session and said good bye to the camp and traveled towards Bangalore.
Reached bangaore by 10:30pm. It was a great trek-trip with various adventure activities. I must say group was just great. An another awesome weekend we had in the ghat. And readying for another weekend camp and leaving tonight!!.

Trekkers:-

Sachidanand banegal
Prashanth pathak
Benzamin
Nancy
Lal ringzuala
Rimi goswami
Kinjal shah
Praveen
Santosh
Muknd
Sampath

Photos by trekkers:-
By Prshanth:-
http://picasaweb.google.com/prashant.c.pathak/GaviBettaTrek_21_22Aug2010
By Benzamin:-
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/benjaminrtz/TrekToGaviBettaWithSampath
By Sachidanand
http://picasaweb.google.com/sachidananda.bs/GaviBetta#
By Mukund
http://picasaweb.google.com/111658344772397225103/GaviBetta?feat=email#
By Praveen
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/praveendbit/GaviBetta082010?authkey=Gv1sRgCMurj76K2OWShgE&feat=email#

NOTE:- Our next trek is on 4/5th Spet 2010, which is next weekend. The route will b Bheemswara falls-->Dabbe falls. Bheemeswara is heaven on earth in the monsoon season. Please check the fallowing link for more info on this route:- http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/07/mungaaru-maleye-yenu-ninna-hanigala.html . Please mail me ASAP if u r joining us.

Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life and Bit of Rope course

2010-08-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life and Bit of Rope course

Though the rain is less this time Sharavathi valley, its still raining. As usual we had some great groups coming to the valley for the monsoon treks to enjoy the "natural Golf course view" in and around Kattinakar also brimming water falls around this place.

Now we planned to bring in bit varieties to enjoy the nature, So this "Bit of Trek, Bit of Cave Exploration, Bit of Wild life and Bit of Rope course " program. We planned to have this program this weekend.

Synopsis of the Bits.....
Bit of Trek:- This is trek up to a hill lock. this hill lock is near Sakaleshpur Bisile ghat. This trek will b around 5KM one way. Its easy trek. On the trek route we come across 2 beautiful lakes on top of the hill and also a small water fall.
Bit of Cave Exploration:- On top of the hill there is a huge and beautiful stone formation. In this stone formation there is a cave.
Bit of Wild life:- We will b going for early morning safari in Nagarahole wild life sanctuary.
Bit of Rope course:- We will have a rappelling near the camp site.

Stay:- Stay in the "The camp leopard rock camp" near Nagarhole national park.

Probable itinerary of the program.

Date:-21-08-2010

Assemble in Mejestic area and departure by 4:30 in the morning(5hrs journey from blr).
Reach Trek Starting point and freshen up in the stream.
Have Breakfast and start the trek towards hill top.
Enjoy the beautiful lakes view and play in a small water falls.
Have lunch and rest for a while.
Trek up to the top of the hill and explore the cave. U get 360 degree view of the western ghat from this point.
start trek down to the foot hills and travel to the camp near Nagarhole national park.
Reach the camp, Have camp fire and dinner.

Date:-22-08-2010

Wake up by 4AM. Freshen up and have tea and leave for Wild life Safari.
Roam around in the park till 9 AM., travel back to the camp and have breakfast.
Leave for rappelling and come back for lunch.
After lunch play in the water with life jacket.
Enjoy the still water raft on the lake.
Start travel back and reach Bangalore by around 10PM.

Please mail me (prapancha@gmail.com) if anymore info u require. Let me know ASAP if u r joining us.

Some pics of these Bits....:-

Beautiful lake on top of the hill (i call it 'Spatika sarovara')

Beautiful falls on the hil top

Cave on top of the hill

The Camp leopard rock @ Nagarahole

A Meaningful Nature Camp Program

2010-07-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

Conservation of endangered plants.

In the beginning I started the trek in the wild just to be in the greenery as a true nature lover. But two incidents while i was on trek made a deep impact on me to think behind just enjoying the greenery.
Once when i was trekking in our Sharavathi valley, a fellow trekker got hurt by a thorn and blood was oozing out. Immediately my local guide went around in the forest and within few minutes he was back with few leaves in his hands. He squeezed those leaves and applied the juice on the wound. It was amazing to see speed at which blood stopped oozing out!. In another incident, while i was trekking along with the stream of Belligundi a pleasant aroma surrounded us. Out of curiosity, i asked my guide about the source of this aroma. Then he searched and there he could find "naga sampige flower" blooming. It was divine experience to see on my own eye!. Because these flowers i had only read it in some scriptures.
The above incident made me think of doing something to conserve these plants, so that they dont get extinct with depleting forest. I started thinking the way to conserve these plants. Then i came across this committed and dynamic Range forest officer of Sagara town. When i discussed this idea, he was very happy to help me out. We identified the "moolike vana (medicinal plants garden)" in sharavathi valley which is maintained by forest department. Then we devised a model to take up this conservation work. What we planned is involve local tribals in this process, so that there is a sense of responsibility for them and also we planned to pay some nominal amount per rare plant which they collect it from forest. This model has been working great from last 2 years. Last year we had collected about 100 species of tribal medicinal plants. This year we collected mix of about 100 species of 150 medicinal and other rare plants.

Nature camp for the students of BNMIT institution of Bangalore.
I was thinking of inviting some dignitaries to grace the occasion planting these sapling. By then Prof. Shesh prasad of BNM Institution Eco club contacted me to host the nature awareness camp for their students at our camp. After working out the itinerary, i just requested the Prof, whether we can involve the students to plant this saplings. Prof was very happy and readily agreed for this noble event. Accordingly we planned this planting event after the nature awareness camp. This time we had Mr.Devendrappa who is award winning Organic farmer. He is master of many subjects. He is a Income tax practitioner by profession but his interest drew him to the organic farming. He is also well read person and philosopher. On the night of Day1, We had lecture on Simple and natural living by him. He quoted many scripture and gave a meaningful lecture. For about 2 and half hour, it was introspective and inspiring talk by him. It was more of interactive session around camp fire. Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. On Day2 students enjoyed the water sports activities till afternoon. Then they had the lunch and rested for a while. Later students said goodbye to the island and traveled to "Moolike vana". Moolike vana" is about 2 KM from our camp place. Plants were kept ready in moolike vana itself and pits were also dug up earlier by our people. Students were asked to pick up the plants and move near pit allotted to them. Then demo was given by naturalist Harsha on how to plant the sapling. Accordingly everyone planted the saplings. After planting all of us traveled to the community hall in gubbagodu and stayed there over night. Prof Shesh prasad himself a famous singer, he is live on many TV programs. So villagers requested him to perform music. Its so wonderful to listen to his "dasara pada". He has amazing voice. Till 10:30 we had this music program and then we had dinner. Next day students went on trekking to Belligundi and Goodanagundi water falls.
It was very meaningful nature awareness camp. We are planning to host many more camps of these type for the benefit of students groups.

Please check the link for the photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/prapancha/BNMITJuly2010#

Monsoon Trek this weekend-3/4th July

2010-06-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

Monsoon, the word has something to cheer for everyone. Like monsoon brings joy to share market investors !! as markets pickup with good capital inflow, brings joy to the governments as it gives much needed relief from power woes, farmers are glad so they can take up farming in full vigor etc., But for we nature lovers, eye sight of the nature brings so much pleasure!. Specially western ghats, which are natures ultimate gift we trekkers and nature lovers.

Last year monsoon was delayed for almost a month and it was disappointing. But this time its normal and its raining in the valley. As it is raining heavily, all streams are full so the water falls !. When it rains , Sharavathi valley becomes like a bride draped in green saree and wearing jasmine flower on her pony tail !. Here green saree is the lush green grass and the jasmine flower is the cloud !!.

The landscape around kattinakar is so awesome to see as there are beautiful grass land and cloud kissing mountains around this place during the monsoon. This place is the main point for our all treks. The seen in the monsoon in this area is really treat to all nature lovers eyes.

Till now we were so busy with the camping and water sports in the backwater. Now we are planing to organize few treks to all our trekkers so that they can enjoy the beauty of the valley in the rains.

For a write up and photos of the route, please check the link below.
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2009/06/monsoon-raga-june-2021st-monsoon-trek.html

A Dream Trek after long time....

2010-04-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

A Dream Trek after long time....

Usually people enjoy the trek in many of their own way, like some people enjoy climbing to the peaks, some people enjoy trekking on snow clad mountains etc., but I enjoy walking along with the streams and watching water falls in evergreen forests a lot. So in every trek route of ours, we include at least 1 water falls. So far we have had at least 2 water falls in all our trek routes.
It has been our endeavor to keep exploring new water falls in the western ghat and take the true nature lovers to these serene water falls and make them enjoy. As part of this. this year i had requested our trek guides there to search for new water falls. About 2 weeks back, finally our guides found out about new water falls and informed me about the same. Usually i go and align the trek trails always when we make new trek trails. This time i decide to trek on 17/18th April 2010 weekend and align the trail. Initially i thought i will go alone with my guides, but i decided against it and decide to have few of my old trek pals. Accordingly, i fired a mail to some , whom i could remember. response was not that great but few replied and i too wanted very few for the exploration trek. But finally whoever had confirmed they also started having some or other personnel issues. so i was forced to fire mail in google group. But that could bring only one addition. Whatever, we had decided and finally we were five of us. Me, Ananth, Mahesh, Samit and siddarth were in the group. we booked the bus ticket in Linganamakki Bus. On 16th friday night we met up at mejestic and got in to bus. After intial hand shake and introduction we all fell asleep. Bus was punctual and reached the Kargal in time. By then jeep was also ready to pick us up and drop to trek starting point as we had informed earlier. It was pleasant morning. We reached kallugodlu after an hour jeep journey. Kallugodlu was our trek starting point. Dharma, our cook, had gone there on previous day itself and had camped there in a tribals house. We reached the house and dhrama invited us with the same smile. We had a quick freshen up session. After that it was time for hogging :p. Dharma had prepared nice masala "Idli , sambar, chatni". It was awesome taste as usual. We were hogging like anything but, there was a newbie in our team. He is siddarth. After having 2 idlis , he was getting ready to wash his hands!! then we explained about whats in store for rest of the day and adviced him to do what we were doing !. He reluctantly fallowed our advice and he came to know the importance of the advice after we returned from trek!. After the breakfast, as usual there was a tea and Khshaya. Mahesh started coursing me for the heavy food as he wanted to reduce some weight by trekking :p. this curse he continued for all 2 days !. After nice breakfast we wasted no time and started off the trek. Our guides yoga and dharma lead us and i was in the back. After a km of flat walk we started off descent to the stream. The trail had a loose sail and slope was too steep. Everyone had a great deal of fall and moved on by hanging on to the shrubs. Finally we got in to the stream.
It was a very pleasant feeling as there was cool breeze. All of us had stomach full of water, some drank like cow, tiger etc :p. Rested for a while and then stated off towards our destination in the stream. After Trekking in stream for a while, our navigator diverted us out of the stream and we had to claimb up. Again the trail was full of loose soil , so it was really tough patch. after just 10 mins of claimb all of us collapsed on a flat land !. After this pit stop we never stopped. The trails was full thorny bush. Everyone were bruised with the daggers like thorns. Now the next and important strech of trail. we had to go down the valley to reach the falls. This is what the most important aspect of the whole trek. The trail was almost like Trail of DABBE falls. But in Dabbe trail there were bushes, routes, creepers to hold on...But here there was abs no such facility !. Added to the misery, the soils was so loose and small stone slabs were hidden in the loose soil. One foot u keep, we used to go down about 4 to 5 feet down !! If there was little mistake by us, we would have fallen on rocks which were about 200ft down the gorge !. Finally with all the pain and fun we got down the valley and we were greeted by an amazing, awesome sight! There the majestic "Thumbe" Water falls!. It was amazing.....just awesome. I had experienced this pleasure when i had visited the Dabbe falls in way back in 1998. After that this is was the first time i was seeing such a place. It was worth taking all the risks and pain.
Water fall is almost 200 ft deep. But what makes this so great is it falls in a completely rock covered narrow gorge. This makes falls so elegant. It was a rare treat for eyes and soul. The weather was was bit cloudy but it was so humid. So all of us just stripped and jumped in to the pool formed by falls. Samit swam till the falls edge, which was about 100ft from the shore. But others did not dare to swim till there as the pool is supposed to b very deep. Meanwhile dharma (our cook) started off lunch preparation. We played in the water for almost an hour. By then we were hungry to the core. But we were not ready to leave the pool !. Dharma gave a final call! "saar ooTa Ready !". Dharma had prepared the mouth watering drumstick "Sambaar". Menu was rice, sambaar, pickle and papad!. We hogged like anything. After nice lunch some napped, some had a photo shoot session. We spent about an hour more and then decided to trek back. Coming up the valley was equally tough as the loose soil used to drag us down many times. We wanted to see the falls from top tip of the falls, so we trek down to the stream again. We went near the tip of the falls and had a photo shoot. It was an amazing gorge view. Started off the trek back along with the stream. On the way back we came across lots off falls. Mahesh decided to take dip in every falls and pool he finds on the way !!. The Stream was so beautiful. It had many hidden falls. Dharma quit us and rushed back home to prepare food for us. In the last falls, samit and mahesh took dip again in the falls. We trekked back to the tribals house. As it was humid, we were sweating again. So decide to take a final dip of the day. We rushed to the stream near the house. we played in the water for almost 30 mins and came back. By then dharma had prepared nice "Mirchi bajji , Tea and Khshaya". Bajji was superb. Dharma has become finest chef of late!. After the high tea, we had great deal of debate over many (unwanted) debates on politics etc., Later we had a call from dharma for dinner. Menu was chapathi, palya, pulav and payasa. We hogged again as the food was superb. then we wasted no time and we slept off in the open to sky platform (KaNa) in front of the house.
Woke up for a refreshing morning after a nice sleep. Bed tea was ready by then had tea, freshened up quickly and got ready. After a while breakfast was ready. It was authentic Malnad "Akki rotti and brinjal chutney". It was awesome. I stuffed in 4 rottis, so others !!. We had another round of tea and kashaya. This time kashaya was prepared with "Joni bella (Liquid joggery)". It was just superb, we drank like drinking fruit juice !!. we wasted no time and stared off trek to BR falls. It was humid again but it was cloudy. We trekked in jeep track for a while and then got in to the thick vegetation. it was again descanting in a loose soil trail to the valley. After some time we got in to the stream. The stream was just superb. The nature at was its best. We trekked along with the stream. On the way we found one water falls, it was a too scenic. I called it "Sharada Pheeta" !!!. Coz the scene was like the one we see in the portrait of Goddess "saraswathi" in which a water falls behind and stream flowing in the backdrop drawn. We enjoyed this part of the trek. Stream was serene at its best. Finally we were at the top tip of the water falls !. Oh, what a gorge it was !!!. Almost 100+ feet deep, but there was no way to go down. We really risked our lives and held on to a dry bush and crawled down to the gorge. Finally we got down to the gorge. falls was not single lap, it had many laps. Its almost 150 ft fall. But it was very scenic. As usual, all of us stripped off and jumped in to a small pool which was infront of the falls. Pool was not as big as the one found in thumbe falls. So we could not stay in the water for long time. Lunch was prepared by dharma meanwhile. It was an another mouth watering sambaar. We had stomach full. then we napped for a while and decided to start the trek back. Trek back was not that eventful as we were saying goodbye to the valley. But the mahesh was having a dip in all pools and falls we got on the way back!!. finally we reached the tribals house, by then our pickup vehicle had arrived. We had quick freshen up. by then Dharma had prepared "Nimbe juice". Had juice and then had a group photo session. Greeted goodbye to the hosts and started back journey to Kargal. We took local bus to Sagar. Reached sagar and had dinner. Our bus was at 8:45pm. Got in to the bus and we were back to bangalore on time.
It was an awesome memorable trek after long time. It was memorable in many ways. i had a small and like minded team. I Will cherish the trek for long time.

Links of Photos of the trek
Photos By Ananth
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ananth.hv/ThumbheAndBRFallsTrek?locked=true&feat=email#

Photos By Samit thange
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/samitthange/ShravathiValleyTrek?authkey=Gv1sRgCJqv0uSj0_q_sQE

Photos by Sampath
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/prapancha/1718042010ExploraoryTrek#

A Memorable day of the year

2010-04-05T02:49:00.000-07:00

As planned we had this year "Parisara Sri" and "Samaja Sri" Award function on 1st of April 2010. It was also a annual fest called "ayanotsava" of the village deity Sri Lakshmi narasimha swamy. The event was supposed to start at 6PM, But as our chief guest of the occasion Mr. Vijaya Kumar Range Forest Officer(RFO) of Sagar arrival was delayed, event started of at 7:30PM. Villagers had taken a very special interest in setting up dais for the event. The function was started off with invocation by Ms.Bhageerathi. Then Our Trust Joint Secretory Mr.Sridhar Hegde welcomed the gathering. Chief guest RFO vijayakumar inaugurated the function by lightening up the lamp. Then Trust Secretory Mr.Sampath Kumar briefed about organization last 1 year achievement and the next year plans to the gathering. Then award was presented to the awardees. This time "Parisara Sri" award was presented to Mr. Ranganath Hegde, a well known environmentalist who has been involved with many environmental organizations like "vruksha laksha" andolana. The award carried a cash prize and a memento. The award was presented by RFO Vijayakumar. His achievements were read out by Kumari Nayana. Then "Samaja Sri" award was presented to Mr. Siddaraju, State advocacy Secretory, Dalith Human rights. Mr. Siddaraju has been very active social worker and he has been involved with providing free legal help to the poorest of poor daliths in the state. The award was presented to him by Tust president Mr.Subbarao. His achievements were read out by Kumari Asha. Then "Seva Sri" award presented to Mr. Srinivas , driver and Mr. Ramesh, conductor of Gajanana Transport for their hard work and selfless service.
Later while addressing his inaugural address, RFO vijayakumar stressed the need of eco friendly alternative economical activities in and around forest. He briefed the gathering about the significance of eco touirism in the region. He detailed how kerala has been benefited with eco tourism activity. Later "Samaja Sri" Awardee , Mr. Siddaraju spoke on the occasion. He also stressed about the need of alternative economical activity in the vicinity of the forest, so that poorest poor gets benefited. Then "Parisara Sri" Awardee Mr. H G Ranganath Hegde spoke on the occasion and stressed the need to prevent forest destruction further in the region. He also said how forest destruction has been ruining the life of local dwellers and how its affecting the common man as a whole. Later kumari nayana gave vote of thanks. Mr.Ganesh , member, gram panchayath was the master of ceremony.
There were journalists from most local and state media. It has been covered very well in the media. Here are some press coverage clips(click on image to zoom in),

Vijaya Karnataka Dated 3rd April 2010

Samyuktha Karataka dated 3rd April 2010

The Invitation to be part of movement to protect Environment

2010-03-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Dear All,
It has been Our organization "The Sharavathi Nature Conservation Trust(R)" sole aim to protect last remaining forest all over and in particular Westernghat. As part of this we have taken up various activities.

To name few,

Pristine forest destruction is happening for various reasons. One of the major reason is livelihood of forest dwellers. So our organization initiated alternative economical activities like providing employment to the local youths, who were once part forest exploitation. To create employment, our organization started activities like Trekking, Nature camp and water sports in Sharavathi Backwater.
Organization has been working with forest department to conserve and protect some of the endangered species of the plants. As part of this in June 2009, we collected about 100 varieties of Tribal medicinal plants and we have replanted them in a secure place. The plan is to protect them and also get the research done on their medicinal value scientifically.
Government has setup forest force to protect the forest. But as usual, its a typical govt setup where very rarely honest and sincere work of the officers to protect the forest are recognized. So the our organization has setup an annual award called "Parisara Sri", which will be awarded to the honest forest officer. This initiative is to recognize the good work done by the officer and to encourage the officer to take up the good work with more vigor.

The Invitation:-
On 1st of April 2010, we have organized a function to present the 2010-11 annual "Parisara Sri" award. This year along with the forest officer recognition, we are recognizing people who are doing social service in the region.

This Year Awardees Are,

2010-11 "Parisara Sri" Award --> Mr. Shivamurthy. Range Forest Officer (RFO). Kargal Range.
2010-11 "Samaja Sri" Award -->Mr. Siddaraju R.State advocacy Secretory.Dalith Human Rights

I Invite all my fellow Trekkers, nature enthusiasts to attend in large number to this function. Your presence will surely encourage the awardees to take up the work with much more vigor.

Function Details:-
Date: 1st April 2010, Thursday.
Time: 6:00 PM
Place: Sri Lakshminarashima swamy temple, Gubbagodu village, Sagara Taluk, Shimoga District.

For more details please mail me to prapancha@gmail.com

Regards
Sampath Kumar
Secretory
The Sharavathi Nature Conservation Trust(R).

Wealth and environmental disaster

2010-03-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

Wealth and environmental disaster

I always felt unprecedented wealth generation or inorganic growth leads to environmental disaster. Last week i could see myself when I traveled abroad. I visited Bahrain, an oil rich gulf country for a personnel visit. Oil economy has brought fortune to gulf countries. We can see this everywhere from sky kissing buildings to SUVs zooming at max throttle on roads, there were no small cars on the road at all, swanky malls with all over world cuisine food stalls sans a single vegetarian restaurant etc., I hardly saw someone walking on the beautifully laid out pavement. If there was one or two, it was only a Indian or Filipino labor class people !! who make up large labor class there.
I could see only very handful of public transport bus. For the first few days i was forced to roam around in taxi even for a small distance, finaly fed up with this thought of taking stroll to go to our desi restaurant called "Mysore Hotel". I was fed up with only salad and juice and i was missing my favorite "anna-saaru". The restaurant was about 3 KM from the hotel where i was staying. started walking towards hotel on neat pavement. It was so windy, and there was a light fine sand storm... by the time i reached restaurant , there was this fine sand all over me. As they have money, they can always take up planting some desert friendly trees, but i noticed its hardly bothered them.
It was so nice to find "namma udupi hotel" in a place like this. But that was my last walk on pavement..it was not that i was lazy, but i was so scared of crossing roads! there were absolutely no signal for pedestrian crossing! so i was worried going under wheels of zooming cars..!. Added to my scare, just a previous day a keralite who was a pilot there came under wheels of a zooming car!.
Somewhere everyone dream is to get this kind of life. But i feel its an environmental disaster in the long run. Already global warming is creating havoc in everones daily life. Also we should not forget the havoc this creates on ones personnel health.I just got this article to share with for the reference, Interesting article on human cause on global warming
Everyone's day to day life style is the most important reason for the environmental disaster than the pollution caused by some industry, though they are also major contributors. i keep telling people how we have distanced ourselves from the "Living in harmony with nature". We have forgotten walking even for a small distance, we have stopped using the public transport, we need electricity for everything etc etc., This type of lifestyle is causing more damage than the industries etc., We need to care for environment , we need to care for mother earth. otherwise we will leave this earth in barren, unlivable condition to our next generation. We have responsibility leave this planet in livable to condition to our next generation as we got it from our forefathers.

Very Happy New Year To All Of My Fellow Nature Enthusiasts

2009-12-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

A few simple things that could be worked into the daily routine, starting today

Try to use less electricity at home and at work, to help combat global warming.

Take public transport or walk short distances instead of using a car, or use pedal power.

Book your car in for an engine tune-up, to help cut down air pollution.

Be Demanding Out Shopping. Making 'green' choices when you shop can have far-reaching benefits.

If organic items or eco-labelled goods are not available from your local shops, ask for them.

Businesses do listen to their customers. We have the power to change the selection of products that are available to us. So make shop managers aware of your demand for eco-friendly products.

Shop for products with a positive impact: recycled, reusable, and sustainable.

Buy organically grown fruits, vegetables, organic cotton clothing, and hemp-fibre products.

Don't buy bottled water - transporting water from its source to the supermarket shelves is an expensive waste of energy. And the plastic and glass bottles add to the already-high mountains of rubbish that we produce.

If you do buy bottled water, buy from a local source (read the labels) and buy water that comes in recyclable glass or plastic.

The green shopper brings their own reusable shopping bag and buys products that use minimal packaging.

Recycle your paper, glass, plastics and other waste. Call your local government to find out if they offer a collection service. Send e-greetings instead of paper cards.

Help reduce the world's rubbish dumps - don't use "throw-away" products like paper plates and napkins, and plastic knives, forks, and cups.

Use rechargeable batteries.

Make the leap to recycled stationery and calendars. If (it's a leap year) just means one more day to celebrate the year-round tradition.

Take your own mug along for your daily organic cappuccino / herbal tea, instead of using a disposable cup...

Cutting waste. If you purchase one cup of coffee every day in a disposable container, you create about 10kg / 23 lb of waste each year.

Recycle and reuse any containers etc and compost all kitchen waste.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

Our New tree house in island

2009-12-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

In our constant endeavor to give new experience to nature lovers, we have built a tree house in our camp island. Here are the pics of the same.

Please click on the below link for more photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/prapancha/NatureCampAndWaterSportsOn2612#

This weekend activities

2009-10-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

We have fallowing activities for this weekend.

Itinerary of 1 day Trek and 1 day Water sports activities :-
Day 1:-

* Reach Trek starting point and have Breakfast.
* Start the trek towards first veegi falls. Spend some time in falls
* Trek to second veegi falls. Play in the falls if interested.(Depends on water level and trekkers speed)
* Have lunch and trek Trek up the valley and come to road.
* Travel to Backwater camp site
* Transfer to Island in coracle.and camp in a Island.
For More information and photos of the First day water falls trek, please check the fallowing link.
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/11/1-2nd-nov-2008-trek-report.html

Day 2:-
* Wake up,Freshen up and Have Breakfast
* Group Introductory session and initial briefing by the Camp leader
* Introducing everyone to water, and a small swimming/floating session.
* Initiation to Coracle paddling.
* Have Lunch and rest for half an hour.
* Start the different type of boating( Kayak, canoe, raft etc) session.
* Have high tea and transfer to mainland in coracle.
* End of session.
For More information and photos of the Water sports / camping, please check the fallowing link.
http://groups.google.co.in/group/sharavathy-valley-trekking/web?pli=1

Please mail to prapancha@gmail.com for more info...

Very Happy Deepavali

2009-10-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Very Happy Deepavali to all...
May this festival of light bring you joy and happiness....Respect the nature and burst as minimum crackers as possible

Memorable 1st Anniversary celebration

2009-10-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

As planned, we went ahead and celebrated the Ayhudha pooja and our 1st Anniversary of water sports on 27th September 2009. As everything was new to us,There were some hiccups in the arraignment. Just randomly invited villagers for the celebration. But people never complained. In Rural life, people will be waiting for a chance to get together and have some nice time. Its exactly opposite to their urban counter parts !. In cities, people dont really care to attend this kind of get together. There was sea of people for the celebration !. We were overwhelmed seeing the crowd.
Elders, Ladies, children wore colorful dresses and were running around like their own event. Invitees themselves cooked, served and had the food on the river shore. It was awesome to see so many people on the shore, otherwise we can rarely find people in this place.
I will just share some of those joyous moments...
(For more photos click on the link---> http://picasaweb.google.com/prapancha/1stAnniversaryCelebration# )

Pooja time...

People who are our backbone,

Sea of people....

Busy preparing food,

It was time to have food...

And finally it was time to have some fun :)

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DECOMPOSE

2009-10-01T01:45:00.000-07:00

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DECOMPOSE

Banana Peel- 3-4 weeks

Orange peels- 6 months
Apple Core- 2 months
Paper Bag- 1 month
Cardboard- 2 months
Milk Cartons- 5 years
Newspaper- 6 weeks
Paper Towel- 2-4 weeks
Cotton Glove- 3 months
Tinned Steel Can- 50 years
Disposable Diapers- 550 years
Plastic Bags- 20-1000 years
Glass- 1-2 million years
Cigarette Butts- 10-12 years
Leather shoes- 25-40 years
Rubber-Boot Sole- 50-80 years
Plastic containers- 50-80 years
Monofilament Fishing Line- 600 years
Foamed Plastic Cups- 50 years
Wool Sock- 1-5 years
Plywood- 1-3 years
Plastic Bottles- 450 years
Wool Sock : 1 year

Tinned Steel Can: 50 years

Aluminum Can: 200-500 years (But if recycled, it can be reused within 6 weeks!)

Plastic Jug: 1 million years

Styrofoam: 1+ million years

So next time you go out THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU LITTER

This weekend Trekking to new route

2009-09-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
There are group of people who will be trekking in a new route this weekend. So if anybody is interested to trek in this route, please let me know ASAP.

Trek Route:- Bheemeswara Water falls--->dabbe water falls---->Hosagadde.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Level of Trek:- Moderate

Departure:- 01-Sept-2009 Thursday night.

Itinerary:-

Date:- 01-Oct-2009

* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 10:30 PM.

Date:- 02-Oct-2009

* Reach Kargal in Shimoga District by 7:00 AM.
* Hire a local jeep to trek starting point.
* Freshen Up , Have Break fast on the way
* Reach Trek point and Start the trek
* Start the trek towards Bheeneswara peak.
* Reach bheeswara and play in the water falls and have lunch at bheemeswara.
* Start the Trek towards dabbe and camp in a tribals house by 6:00 PM.
* Have a Camp fire and enjoy the evening. Also interact with Tribals.
* Have dinner and retire for the day

Date:- 03-Oct-2009

* Wake up by 6:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Break fast and start the trek by 7:30AM to Dabbe.
* Reach dabbe and go down to dabbe and Enjoy in the Water falls
* Have luch and Trek to Hosagadde.
* Catch waiting jeep to Sagar.
* Reach Sagar and have dinner.
* Start the journey back to Bangalore by around 10:00 PM

Fore Photos and the blog of the route, Please click on the link below
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/07/mungaaru-maleye-yenu-ninna-hanigala.html

Anybody interested to joining us, please confirm as soon as possible as we need to reserve the bus ticket.

Please MAIL me to prapancha@gmail.com if u need any more information

Its Time to Celebrate and Thank People.

2009-09-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Greeting from all staff of "The Sharavathi Nature Trails..."
Hurray ! we have completed 1 Year of Water sports activities !

Though we were organizing Trekking activities much earlier, we are just completing 1 year of water sports activities by this weekend.

Nostalgia :-)
What made us to start these activities?
I have been an ardent nature all through my life. Whenever i see a beautiful landscape, i get the most satisfaction compared to doing anything else. When i first trekked in Sharavathi valley, I just loved every bit of the this rain forest. I liked the peaks, water falls, valley and ever lively streams. Also i will not forget to describe the Linganamakki Reservoir backwater region in the valley. I simply call it as "Heaven on earth". Yes it is indeed. That thick lush green vegetation, those mountains guarding around the backwater makes the place heavenly. When i first Trekked in 90's i just fell in love with this valley. I used to trek every weekend in the valley then. Seeing my enthusiasm, trek organizers offered me a volunteer post where in i will guide the trek team. I was so happy for getting what i was interested in !.
As i was interacting with tribal people of the valley regularly, i came across lot of harsh realities. Major problem was that of livelihood ! for them. Many families are the one displaced when Linganamakki dam was built. All they got is an acre or so land when their loved house, land submerged in the backwater. By now this one acre has been divided in to small pieces of land among sibling , so the livelihood problem. They were forced to find the alternative livelihood as the land they got was not sufficient at all. But the alternative they found was really bad for the forest, themselves and to everyone ! ie., they started cutting off and smuggling rose wood / jungle wood logs !. Forest department had harrowing experience to contain this problem. But people are really nice, they were doing just for the livelihood.

How it started ?

I watched all these problem and decided to do something for it. That's when i came across Narayana of kattinakar. He is simply awesome. His attitude, his abilities to grasp things, his love for the forest, his forest knowledge all became handy to put things in order. What ever i plan and inform him about it, he would simply do it and show me. I really got the major support from him. Thats when we decided to keep doing things which will employ these people, so that they get the decent livelihood. We started off organizing trekking and initially we employed about just 3 people. But our perseverance gave the great result in the first few days itself. And now we have been able to create employment for about 20 youths. Encouraged by this, we started off thinking other type of activities to employ more people. Since i had little knowledge on water sports activities, we thought we would do something on these lines and started searching for a perfect place. For almost 6 months we searched for the place and finally we landed at Gubbagodu.

The people who have helped us

Though we had idea and knowledge, we had problem for the capital required to purchase the equipment. Even conservative estimate started crossing a Rs lakh mark !. When i approached few regular trekkers, they were all appreciative of this effort and helped us generously. Among them are Rahul pathak, his cousin Prshanth pathak and Vinod gaitonde. These people's monetary help and the moral support helped us to start off things smoothly.
Though surrounding villagers were skeptical about our motive initially, they all supported our effort eventually. We will remember the services of Mr.Subbarao of Gubbagodu village at this moment. Without his consistent effort , it would have been difficult to convince sarrounding villagers. The other 2 persons who helped us to settle down and convince villagers are Mr.Sridhar Hegde and Mr.Ranganath Hegde. Both of them worked hard to convince villagers and Govt authorities to grant permission.
Another person whom we remember forever is Mr.Vijaya Kumar, Range Forest Officer of Sagar sub division. He is one of the most upright officer. smugglers have a very bad time in his tenure. He was appreciative of our effort and he encouraged us to carry on as it helped the department in containing the illegal logging and smuggling of other forest resources.
When we went and met Mr.Praveen Kumar, The Assistant Commissioner of Sagar Sub division to grant permission to conduct the activities, He too appreciated the idea and helped us to settle down. Our sincere thanks to him.
Other two persons we would like to thank is Mr. John Fransis (Joe) and Mr.Shashidhar Gadad. Initially they helped us by shooting some of the most beautiful photos of the camp place.
Last but not least, Almost all our trekkers have helped us directly and indirectly, we would like to thank all of them.

The Invitation

Our Water sports / Nature camp program completes 1 year by this weekend with much success. To mark this occasion, We plan to have a "Pooja" in our camp at Gubbagodu on 27th September 2009 Sunday.
On behalf of Trustees and staff of The Sharavathi Trails..., I cordially Invite you all for the Pooja. Please free up yourself This weekend and grace the occasion.

Sampath Kumar
Secretary
The Sharavathi Nature Trails...

A memorable trek with a unique group

2009-09-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

A memorable trek with a unique group

In our country there are so many problems, issues, crisis etc., Though Most of them are solvable easily, we make them complex and live with them !. In the olden days nature of problems were different, like mostly it used to be related to eking out livelihood. But now we must say we have almost come out of this problem atleast in urban areas today with economy booming. Especially after IT/BT and other export related economy boom, we have almost solved the livelihood problems. But in this process there are many issues which have come up. Among these new type of problems are disappearing of joint family living concept is a serious one as it creates emotional problems. With this problem seriously affected are our elderly people. Though many of our elderly people have no problem financially, problem is activity less, loneliness life disturbs them a lot emotionally.
Many of us sheds crocodile tears for them but ultimately only few come forward to help them. "Ananda Balaga" is one such informal group, is doing great service by involving elderly people in activities like Trekking, Camping and trips to many interesting places in all over country.The group has covered many himalayan trek routes like Manasa sarovar, aadhi kailas, pindari glacier etc., and also they have explored many routes in our own wetsern ghats. This group was started by Anand sir, who has retired from Government services. He is a nature lover himself and he is the motivational force behind this group. As i have trek organizing experience, i must say its toughest job to put people together...!. Still anand sir does mind going through this process.
In the month of April "Ananda Balaga" approached me for the camping/water sports in sharavathi backwater. I happily agreed and we had a great camping time for 3 days. It was most memorable association for 3 days with great minds assembling in one place. For our luck we had a cultural fest also. Gubbagodu , near by village to our camipng place, had a annual utsava and cultural evening. The group had a chance to enjoy the cultural programs.
After the camping program, Anand sir was planning for a trek from ling time in sharavathi valley. Finally they decided to trek and fixed the dates for 29/30th August and as suggested by me we planned to trek in our ace route Basavana baayi-->belligundi -->goodanagundi falls route. After all yes-no-yes group size became 20 people. I requested him to organize private vehicle to reach the trek starting point as going by bus will waste precious morning time. Accordingly TT was arranged. I requested group to leave bangalore as easrly as possible, so that we can reach trek starting point early and start off trek. It was anounced that departure time is 9:00pm but as usual we left by 10:00 pm by 1 hour lag. We reached Kattinakar by 7:30. On the way from sagar itself, it was raining heavily...indicating whats there in store for us for next 2 days. We were lucky, by the time we reach kattikanakar, rain had taken a break and allowed us to finish daily routines and freshen up. After we freshened up , hot masala idlis were ready for the breakfast. Dharma as usual had prepared nice masala idli and sambar with chutney. All of us had breakfast n as usual kashaya and tea. Took a drop till hogevaddi and started off the trek to the basavana baayi which was our first destination without wasting time. Trekkers were so scared of leeches..!! couple of yards trek, red zone for many started !!.. leeches started having a great feeding fest !. Some did not bother much for the leech but many started removing them... But i must say leeches are the most intelligent parasites on earth ! :). By the time they remove in one part they used climb in other part...in the end they never escaped the sting !. With blood stained legs, finally we made it to the Bsavana baayi. First thing everybody did is to remove the shoes and deleech the legs..!. After a while we decided to move to the falls. As it had rained heavily, stream which we had to cross to reach the falls was full and brimming. With our guides help everyone crossed and reached the falls. As usual it was amazing scene, everyone just plunged in to the falls and pulled everyone who were scared in to it. Everybody enjoyed for quite some time and had to return as everyone was hungry. By then Dharmanna had prepared a nice lunch, wasted no time and had lunch nicely.
After the lunch, we split the group in to two based on individuals interested and capability to trek. One will take tougher route to reach our night halt tribal house and other will take easy route. I went with a tougher route. We usually dont trek on trails..we just barge in and make our own trails. So we started off the trek in the dense forest towards kendollare peak. Trekkers were all fine on trek front but many were scared of leeches. After seeing their plight, i directed manju, our guide to change the course and make to the plain land instead of the thick jungle. So we avoided kendollare peak and came to plain of nakkalu village. As there was still time we decided to climb a small peak and then descent to the kanchigadde majnanna's house where we were supposed to halt. in the plain there were no leech so every one were thrilled but rain started pouring. Trekkers did not bother for the rain and we climbed the "hoovina bare"peak. After spending couple of minutes on the peak, we started the descent as it was getting dark. It was about half an hour trek and we were there in the house where we had to camp. it was so chill. Narayana had sensed the situation and had put up a small camp fire. All of us had a small warm up session and by then hot tea / kashaya along with Hot Mirchi bajji were served. It was a great relief to warm like in this fashion. After little relaxation there came call for dinner. Menu was nice pulav, chapti and payasa...everyone enjoyed the food. As we were tired, went to the sleep early and opened eyes only in the morning!. By then bed tea was ready and we hall had tea.Rain god was kind enough and had taken a break..so we all ran in different direction in the forest behind the house to get freshen up...! we wasted no time and started off the trek.
Looks like rain god finished the break and started pouring heavily..but we did not bother for him much and we trekked towards padubeedu, where we supposed to have breakfast.The trek trail from kanchi gadde and padubeedu has a beautiful grass lands. These grass lands are treat to the nature lovers. They look like well maintained golf course !!!. By the time we reach padubeedu Dharma had prepared akki rotti and badane kaayi chatney...all of us had stomach full rotti. Again we wasted no time and started off trek to our next trek point, goodananagundi falls. It was again trail in the thick jungle. People found it tough to wade through. Leeches had a feast day in this trail..!.But everyone made it to the falls. As it had rained heavily, falls can be seen from far only. It was mejestic falls, i call it as Nayagara of our state. Specially the background and stream way and the rock formation around the falls is amazing. Everyone enjoyed the falls view and started the trek back. On the way we took deviation and went to the stream just above falls and some swam for some time there.
After this falls view we started trek to the belligundi falls. coming back was bit easy, everybody trekked well. We reached belligundi view point and we were lucky, the valley was clear. otherwise many times in rainy season, valley gets covered and will not get cleared for hours. Belligundi view is just amazing, its very artistic background attracts a lot. we spent lot of time over there. after photo shoot we decided to trek back to padubeedu. By the time we were back, yummy lunch was ready. We hogged like anything. Rain god did not show any mercy, he was at his fierce as possible. After the lunch we trekked back to kattinakar. As it was chill weather, we decided to have a hot tea and kashaya. After the tea party, we said bye to narayana and co...started off journey back to bangalore.
It was memorable trek in many ways..It was nice group of various background and different age group. All thanks to anand sir for putting together such a nice people.

More Photos :-

Our Central Environment Minister is working in top gear

2009-08-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

The central government will soon set up a national authority to enforce environmental laws, minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday.
“At the state environment and forest ministers’ meeting yesterday (Tuesday) in Delhi, there was a broad agreement on this aspect. We need an institutional set-up to enforce environmental laws and impose penalty for non-compliance,” Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told reporters.

Ramesh said the government will circulate a discussion paper on the National Environmental Protection Authority (NEPA).

Earlier, speaking at a meeting on Management of Agro Biodiversity Hotspots in an Era of Climate Change, the minister said around 21 percent of the country’s geographical area is under forest cover.

“Of that, two percent is high density and 10 percent medium density forest area. The remaining is degraded forest cover,” he said.

The consultation meeting was organised by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.

Ramesh said the challenge was to cut the degraded forest cover area and also improve the medium forest cover.

Nice viedo......

2009-08-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

Nice video created by Anil Kulkarni after a visit to our back water program...

Why vegeterianism ? some points to ponder

2009-07-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

What do George Bernard Shaw, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leo Tolstoy, Leonardo Da Vinci, Paul McCartney, and Pythagoras have in common? If your answer
is they're all towering figures of European culture, you're only half right. The answer is: they've all been passionate promoters of vegetarianism. While Pythagoras dealt with three straight lines, McCartney sang about the long and winding road. Indeed, the effort to promote vegetarianism has been a very long and very winding road. But with the former Beatle's initiative of meat-free Mondays, and the Belgian town of Ghent pledging to go vegetarian one day a week to do its share for the planet, the only direction that road is heading is forward.

While these laudable actions are finally grabbing headlines in the West, in India vegetarianism has quietly been a way of life for centuries. But, whereas in Europe and America vegetarianism goes hand in hand with liberalism and progressive values, the opposite seems true in India. It is almost as if meat eating is seen as an act of rebellion against 'orthodox' society, a sort of status symbol drawing on western ideals. With many Indians upwardly mobile, increase in purchasing power has seen a parallel rise in meat consumption. Unfortunately those who have turned non-vegetarian are often unaware of the direct causal relationship between what they eat and the poorest having nothing to eat. Put simply, over-consumption of meat directly contributes to world hunger.

India, where precious national parks are already under threat from illegal cattle-grazing, is the world's eighth largest producer of meat. Despite the sacred place cows occupy in Hindu culture, and despite the importance of buffaloes in agricultural work, India continues to churn out an annual 4.9 million tonnes of meat. Statistics compiled by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) show that the total number of animals slaughtered for meat in India nearly doubled from 66,299,600 in 1980 to 106,239,000 in 2000. In a world increasingly facing scarcity with regard to basic human requirements, as evidenced all too clearly in last year's global food shortages, increasing meat production looks to be progressively unsustainable.

Rearing animals for human consumption is a grain-intensive process. According to Kaushik Basu, professor of economics at Cornell University, as the populations of India and China begin to consume more meat, an increasingly greater strain will be placed on grain supplies, exacerbating world hunger. It's a point also made very clearly by David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University: "If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million."

Ksenia Glebova, a member of the Finnish Green Party turned vegetarian after volunteering in India. "The meat industry wastes huge quantities of food and water which are required to raise animals. Instead these resources could be used far more efficiently and equitably," comments Globova. Her call is supported by research from Cornell University, which reveals that for every kilogram of grain-fed beef, 100,000 litres of water are used. This finding is nothing new to animal rights organisations that believe alleviating the suffering of animals also helps alleviate human suffering.

Most crucially, as governments around the world struggle to lower their dependence on fossil fuels responsible for pumping millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, we must also recognise the part played by our diet. The FAO has found that global livestock production constitutes 18 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. This figure is expected to more than double by 2050, precisely because of increased meat consumption in developing countries such as India.

"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, going vegetarian clearly is the most attractive opportunity," says Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

There are various compelling ethical reasons to abandon animal slaughter. The conditions of animals in slaughterhouses are heart-wrenching. They led Bernard Shaw to highlight the key point that slaughterhouses are kept far away from human eyes because that makes meat much easier to digest. As Jane Goodall so succinctly said: "Thousands of people who say they 'love' animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs."

Perhaps the next time we sit down to dinner, we should think about what we are doing. Not just to the animals, but to the planet too. It may be a long and winding road to a green future. But there's only one way to go.
Source :- TOI

The puzzle of surroundings that soothe...

2009-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

The puzzle of surroundings that soothe...
Say you are living in less than optimal surroundings. Your upstairs neighbour routinely rearranges furniture at midnight. The dog next door is bored and lonely and loud. His owner snarls as you pass by. Your living room is the wrong shape, the windows are in the wrong place, and the paint colour that seemed so creatively chic five years ago is getting on your last nerve.

Say you are living in less than optimal surroundings. Your upstairs neighbour routinely rearranges furniture at midnight. The dog next door is bored and lonely and loud. His owner snarls as you pass by. Your living room is the wrong shape, the windows are in the wrong place, and the paint colour that seemed so creatively chic five years ago is getting on your last nerve. Then you move. And as you bask in silence and symmetry, with pleasant neighbours, a soaring view and soothing white walls, you feel something in your brain click on. Or does it click off? Either way, you feel very good. What is doing the clicking, and why? These are the deceptively simple questions Esther Sternberg tries to answer in ‘Healing Spaces’, an exploration of environmental influences over the brain, the body and (all due respect to your new living situation, but there are more important issues at hand) the course of mental and physical disease. Sternberg, a prominent neuroimmunologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, has given herself a gigantic assignment, incorporating architecture, aesthetics, psychology, neurobiology, physiology and aromatherapy, among many other disciplines. She can't quite pull it off, but her effort does define the complex parameters of what may well be one of the biggest remaining mysteries of medical science. After all, if your brain can make you miserable in your living room, think how much worse things are likely to be in a standard-issue hospital room, surrounded by noise, confusion, bad smells and highly unscenic views. You would think that a science so adept at scanning the brain could figure out how to soothe it with equal dexterity. But the neural circuitry responsible for mental ease, primal though it may be, is still staggeringly complex. Furthermore, the science describing the links between aesthetic and physical well-being — the infamous mind-body connection — is tentative and controversial, and most treatments have yet to be rigorously assessed. Bricks and trees It all begins with the five senses, which is where Sternberg begins, too: "If you were a patient in a hospital bed, just waking up from surgery, what would you prefer to see when you opened your eyes — a brick wall or a grove of trees?" You may think you know the right answer and why, but consider all the variables scientists must consider to analyse your decision. Among them are the position of the bricks and the trees (different parts of the brain handle near and far objects) and the colours involved (our yellow-green vision was the first to evolve; is that why greenery pleases us?) Individual patients may have different conditioned responses to bricks and trees. Further, do garden views really help abdominal incisions heal? A few small studies suggest they may, but can the findings be generalised to all patients, all bricks and all trees? How about nearsighted patients, sunny brick walls and dying trees? And that's only the beginning. Sound and smell must also be considered, and then there is the sense of place, spatial orientation and direction, a composite experience so finely tuned that losing your way in a strange dark place (like a hospital basement on the way to radiology) can bring on the worst sort of stress, but walking slowly and deliberately along the hedge-lined corridors of a garden is a recipe for tranquillity. It is sobering to consider that among all the great minds who have explored these phenomena, Walt Disney was probably the most successful at the large-scale manipulation of the environment to soothe and cheer the brain. Even the scary rides at Disneyland — Sternberg deconstructs the Pirates of the Caribbean ride from a scientist's perspective — are carefully designed to click the brain's switches in all the right directions. And so a new nursing home has a Disneyesque Main Street to calm the deteriorating neurons of its residents. Then it is only a small neurologic step to Lourdes in France, home of miracle cures, where a host of environmental cues may switch suitably prepared brains to a state of rapture, releasing a flood of potent neurochemical mediators that may well relieve suffering. Thus Sternberg outlines a tentative biology of the miraculous, which, as she hastens to point out, "would not diminish the wonder of the phenomenon." Science Times

Dance of Monsoon

2009-07-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

Even though monsoon is delayed, it has not disappointed us in the end. Monsoon is in full vigor in the malnad region. It is raining heavily over there in the Sharavathi valley. Water level in the Linganamakki reservoir raised of about 15 ft in a week !!!. As it is raining heavily, all streams are full so the water falls !. We had not seen the such a fury in the falls which are there in sharavathi valley before. Last weekend we had couple of treks, it was an amazing monsoon treks.

When it rains , Sharavathi valley becomes like a bride draped in green sarees and wearing jasmine flower on her pony tail !. Here green saree is the lush green grass and the jasmine flower is the cloud !!.

The landscape around kattinakar is so awesome to see as there are beautiful grass land and cloud kissing mountains around this place. This place is the main point for our all treks. The seen in the monsoon in this area is really treat to all nature lovers eyes.
I thought of sharing those visual treats with my fellow trekkers. Here are they,

Photos courtecy:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/wmsuperman/

While crossing a stream at Basavana baayi to reach the falls

Basavana baayi water falls

Belligundi Water falls

Up close

Goodana Gundi water falls (Nayagara of our state !!!)

Fore more visual treat, click on the fallowing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wmsuperman/sets/72157621049478754/

For blog by Vineeth on this trek,
http://vineethkashyap.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/the-monsoon-trek-into-sharavathi-valley/

A Very Interesting Interview of a Dynamic Central Environment Minister

2009-07-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

The conflict between development and environment should not cause unnecessary delays, says Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh

Over the last five years, the Environment Ministry was seen as being on the defensive on actions that were projected as harming the environment. How can you change that?

I am aiming at transparency and working within the framework of the law, yet within a time limit, rather than making the conflict between development and environment cause unnecessary delays.

Since I have taken charge, I have sent back 10 to 12 proposals which required diversion of about 1,000 hectares of land in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh review. These were highway and railway projects, and of course the Navi Mumbai airport project, which would have meant removal of mangroves.

I have written to the chief ministers in all these cases. I have written to the Karnataka chief minister about projects in the western ghats, which is a very eco-sensitive place. About 1,900 acres of dense forests are being cut for a 400 Mw hydel project. I have said this can't be done.

All rejected proposals come back and get accepted in due course.

I am not a policeman. I can only work within the framework of two laws, The Environment Protection Act and the Forest Conservation Act. I have to implement these. I can do it like TN Seshan, who was once the environment secretary, or I can let everything pass.

I'm like an umpire. I will not favour either individuals or non governmental organisations. I will weigh issues for their merits. For instance, when NGOs opposed something, I did not bother because what was going to come up in the area was a school. But I put my foot down when I found that the Jabalpur-Nagpur six-lane highway would divide the tiger corridor. If we don't take a stand, all is gone. But I am helpless if decisions are taken at the political level.

What about foundation stones being laid before environmental clearances are given? Views of the people at public hearings don't influence the decision of the ministry.

There is all that. We can only try to change this. There is an attempt to get a new independent regulator. We are trying to see if independent bodies should conduct public hearings.

What is your priority now?

Cleaning of rivers and lakes. For 20 years, the Ganga Action Plan has spent Rs 1,200 crore. People can ask what happened. Most of the funds went into setting up sewage treatment plants, most of which are lying idle as the municipalities don't have the money to pay electricity bills.

How can the rivers be cleaned?

We need a new approach. We spend Rs 350 crore annually and distribute it among 164 towns. Each town gets a small amount and nothing gets done. Instead of looking at it from a town perspective, let us look at it from a river perspective.

Is there a model for this?

The Rhine was the dirtiest river 25 years ago, but today, six countries draw water from it for drinking.The Ganga basin authority, chaired by the prime minister, is a priority with the government. It has five chief ministers as members and we are expecting something for it in the Budget.

What about lakes?
I visited the Wular recently. There is no lake there. Only 2 million willow trees. I will have to uproot these to revive the lake. As for Dal lake , all you need to do is watch a 1960s Hindi film and visit the lake now to gauge the work ahead of me.

What is your strategy for afforestation?

Our green cover is 23 per cent of our total area and we want to increase it to 33 per cent. We manage to increase it by eight to nine hectare annually. To get green cover in a third of the country, we need to add 2.5 million hectare per year. We will start the Green India programme soon.

Plantations won't get you the bio-diversity that forests have. It would also encourage logging of more forests.

There is no substitute for forest cover. Compensatory forestry programme will give priority to regeneration of existing forests. Cutting forests and replacing them with eucalyptus plantations is no option. There is a difference in how we view forests. In the 1970s and 1980s, forests were seen as a source of revenue. But today, we see them as absorbing carbon, a source of rainfall. There is a proposal to amend the Indian Forest Act, 1927, to change the whole perspective about forests.

You have been talking about changing gross domestic product to green domestic product. How will you do that?

Your GDP growth might be 9 per cent but how you used your natural resources might get you a score of 5 per cent or even less. Our policies should be such that they are not a drain on forest resources.

You recently openly disagreed with Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on scrapping of board exams and bringing in the Foreign Universities Bill.

I never said that. But I have always maintained that I am opposed to the Foreign Universities Bill. It will finish Indian universities while we will never get the best foreign universities here. And nor will it stop Indian students from studying abroad.

In the last three years, you had the ministry fighting on the side of industry against the tribals in Niyamagiri in Orissa. Why is the ministry not insisting on alternative sites, even when they are pointed out?

In India, 250 million people live in forests and depend on forests for their livelihood. Hence, bio-conservation of the western ghats and the north-eastern regions is very important. What is Project Tiger about? All 37 tiger parks are in areas rich in bio-diversity. They cover 6 per cent of our forest area. If we protect them, we achieve a lot more than protecting tigers. Two weeks ago, I went to Corbett and I was so angry when told that there was once a proposal to locate Uttarakhand's
there. That would have finished it off much earlier. Tiger is only a symbol of bio-diversity.

Yet, do you have means to stop such intrusions, especially mining?

The truth is that we pay lip service to environment protection. There is only one example when a political person decided to give importance to environment over industrial development. That was Indira Gandhi 25 years ago, when she stopped the Silent Valley project, which could have finished off the rich rain forests. We must learn to say no. Unless governments
take a firm position, we will keep making compromises.

As power minister, you were allowing power projects in forests and now you are learning to say no.

If I say there is no contradiction, I would be lying. We must make choices. Al Baruni, who came here with Mohammad Gazni, spoke of Hindus as people who cannot choose. If given two options, they would take both, he said. One has to take a clear stand.

What about the hydel projects in Arunachal, the Renuka dam in Himachal, and several dams on the Teesta in Sikkim. We don't seem to be ready for compromises when it comes to energy.

That is horrible. I am talking to them. If I say no to one dam, others will get a signal.

The chairman of the Environment Impact Assessment Committee was found to be on the board of several power companies.

He has quit. Other committees are also being revamped. The chairman was on the board of Lanco, which got many projects in Sikkim.

Can these projects be reversed now?
Let us see.

Courtesy : - rediff.com

2 days monsoon trek on 4/5th July weekend

2009-06-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Mansoon has set in the valley. As you are know, valley is so beautiful when it rains and it looks like heaven on earth.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Route:- Veegi falls ---> Melnur --> Kanoor Fort ---> Nagara bastikeri --> Gersoppa..

Itinerary:-

* Deaprture from Bangalore by around 10:00 PM.

Day1
* Reach Sagar by 6:00 AM in the morning.
* Catch a jeep or van to reach trek starting point and freshen up on the way in a stream.
* Reach Trek starting point and have Breakfast.
* Start the trek towards first veegi falls. Spend some time in falls
* Trek to second veegi falls. Play in the falls if interested.
* Have lunch and trek towards melnur tribals house..
* Reach Melnur and Camp in tribal's house.
* Have fun time around camp fire.
* Have dinner and retire for the day.

Day2
* Wake up by 5:00 AM and get freshen up quickly.
* Have Tea and start the trek towards Kanoor fort.
* Reach kanoor fort lake and have breakfast
* Trek inside and ruined fort and then trek
* Reach bastikeri and visit 14th century stone curved Jain temple (Basadi).
* Have lunch and play in the river and trek to gersoppa
* Catch a local bus or hired jeep to Sagar.
* Reach Sagar and have dinner.
* Start the journey back to Bangalore by around 10:00 PM

towards Bastikeri

Photos of the previous trek
Photos by Shashidhar
http://picasaweb.google.com/shashi.gadad/HaadagereVasugatthiFalls1819Oct08#
Photos by Phanikiran
http://picasaweb.google.com/pvpkiran/KanoorKoteChaturmukhaBasadi#
Snaps by shashidhar
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/shashi.gadad/SharavathiExploratoryTrek1st2ndNov08?authkey=qd17f9MK1p8#
Snaps by Krishnamurthy
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mpkrish/SharavathiValleyTrek3#
Snaps by Prahlad
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/askpsk/SharavathyValleyNovember1st2nd2008?authkey=PAHz7l08KaI#
Blogs:-
http://sharavathi.blogspot.com/2008/11/1-2nd-nov-2008-trek-report.html

Monsoon Raga... June 20/21st monsoon Trek memoir

2009-06-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

As the monsoon was not in full vigor, i had not thought of arraigning the trek activity. But some of regular trekkers were eager to do a monsoon trek and asked me to organize one. Meanwhile Narayana had come accross a new water falls, so we decided to go on a exploratory monsoon trek. Thats how planning started for this trek. When i mailed about the trek to the group, it was more than 25 ppl. so was bit worried as trek will not be interesting for such huge crowd. But as usual, most of the initial responders dropped off sighting some personnel problems. Finally after all addition and subtraction group left with 10 trekkers. As it was a new route, I wanted to start of the trek as early as possible so we hired a TT and by 9:30 we started off from mejestic. On the way we picked up Dinakar / Ranganath / yadu. we had little introductory session and chat session for a while and everybody went in to sleeping mode.
As usual, I contacted Rajanna for vehicle. He never dissapoints us. He sends the best driver and best vehicle with the competative charges. The result was we reached Sagar by 4:00 AM !!!. unbelievable !. Driver had stopped vechicle for the tea and i looked at the watch i jsut could not believe myself !. I was really very happy and thanked the driver. Finally we reached Kattinakar by 6:00 AM. Narayana did not expect us by that early and he was shocked to see us so early !. Breakfast was getting prepared at dharmas house, so we all went to dharmannas house. All of us went towards the stream to get freshened up. By the time we came back, breakfast was ready. The breakfast was a bisi bisi masala idlies and dharma has mastered the idli making. We dont get these type of idlis anywhere. All of us had stomachful and then had Khashaya. Some trekkers were tasting the Khashaya so initially they were bit wary, but after tasting it everyone enjoyed it. After nice breakfast, we started off in the vehicle to reach the treak starting point. Reached base of a peak which was our trek starting point. As usual shared the grocery and put them in to our backpacks. Then we had intial briefing session and started off the trek.
Just before the ascent to guddolli bare (Peak) started we went to a tribals house on the trail. Suddenly the hosehold became so active and welcomed us with a great smile. They brought water in a pot and served us. Then came the surprise ! They served us JONY BELLA (Liquid Jaggery) on a piece of plantain leaf!. For me it was known but many were tasting for the first time. It almosts tasted like honey. Everyone emptied a big bottle of Jaggery. Then thanked eveyone at tribals house and started off the trek.
As in everywhere, Malnad region has not recieved the adequate rain in this monsoon. But it is mostly drizzling. So grass on the ground is already turning in to green. The train on ascent was open one and did not have tree cover. It was wonderful to see the valley as there was no tree cover on the trail. Initially the peak looked not so tough, but as we progressed it was becmoing tougher. Along with this Sun was too hot when we were claimbing. Ultimately we made it to the peak. As soon as we reached the peak hot sun dissapeared and it became cloudy.It was nice 360 degree valley view with the pleasent breeze. We rested for a while on the peak and took some snaps. Then decided to descent and move towards a tribals house where we supposed to have lunch. The light shower was on and off all along the trail which made the trek very pleasent. After an hour of descent to the valley from the peak we landed near a tribals house. The house so beautiful sarrounded by high rise mountains. There was a huge stream flowing near the tribals house, so we decided to take a dip in the stream till the lunch is ready. We had nice swimming session in the stream. As swam nicely, we were too hungry and decided to have lunch and continue the trek. Our cook Dharma as usual had prepared nice sambar and rice along with pickle and papad. Had nice lunch and rested for a while and some were snoring too..!
After saying thanks and bye the host tribal family, started off the trek towards the water falls. after an hour of trekking we reached the falls area. But we did not have no clue that we already near the falls as this falls is hidden in a thick vegetation. The falls was in deep gorge, so we started descanting to the falls. As it had rained a bit, it was infested by leaches though it was not to the worrisome level. Gorge was too steep, some how by hanging on to the bush / trees we got in to the stream. There it was !. It almost looked like our first half level of Goodanagundi water falls. Though it was not fery high, it was a nice falls. some got in to falls and some enjoyed the view. Rain kept visiting us off and on. Finally we thought of saying goodbye to the falls and started climbing up the stream. From here we trekked straight to the house where we supposed to halt for the day.
By the time we reached the house, Dharmanna had prepared nice khashaya and served us hot Khashaya. This khashaya has become part of our all programe. Everyone like this drink. It is made with many herbs and spice which are available locally. It is good for health as well we can avoid tea / coffee for a moment !. This drink is good for digestion and good for cold whether. We dumped our backpacks in the house and our next agenda was to claim the mincha bare a nearby peak and see the sunset. Ascent was very steep and difficult one. After about half an hour trek we were in the leak. it was amazing to see the valley. To our south wast it was treat of mountain range. First one was armane gudda, then was megani and then others. armane gudda is so beautiful, plan to trek some time to that peak. Sunset was not so intersting as the cloud played the spoilsport. By then breeze was too much and it was very very chill on the peak. So started off the descent. Descent was not so easy as it was too steep. Finally we landed in the house. By then Dharmanna had prepared tea and Menasikaayi bajji (chilly bajji). It was an awesome dish in that chilli weather. We all had these bajji's and chatting for a while. Then came dinner call. Dharmanna had prepared superb Pulav, Kheer, chapati and palya. All of us had nice dinner and retired for the day.
We woke up early in the morning and finished freshening up quickly and had tea. By the time we packed up our backpacks, breakfast was ready. Breakfast was Akki Rotti. Very tedious to prepare this dish. But dharmanna had woke up by 3:00 am and prepared the rotti only feed us the malnad special !. It was nice breakfast and then we had Khashaya. We invited everyone at home and thanked them for thier superb hospitality. They treated us like kings. I briefed trekkers about that days agenda and started off the trek.
We first trekked to Halli bare ( a peak which was visible from Mincha). It was a great peak with beautiful view again. Sun was bit hars so it was tiring a bit but still it was enjoyable as view was beautiful. By the time we reached the peak, Sun dissapeared and it started raining !. it was awesome moments. after a while rain stopped but fog covered the whole valley. It was a pleasent stay at the peak for some time. We then decided to descent the peak towards the Sullalli. After about 2 hour trek we reached the Sullali. We wanted to play in the water very badly as we had not taken bath in the morning. We reached a big stream and all of us got in to water and our cook dharmanna had started the lunch preperation on the bank of the stream. All us had a nice swimming session for about an hour time. Then we had nice lunch. By then our vehicle driver braught the vehicle there. All us said goodbye to Narayana and Dharmanna and started off the journey back to bangalore. It was a nice trek. Only lacking was not rain was not intense as it used to be.

Trekkers:-

Sampath
Raghu
Dinakar
Ranganath
Prasanna
Ashutosh
Varun
Yadu
Jovin
Soujanya

Links to the photo Album of Trek
By Soujanya
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/tummala.sowjanya/SharavathiValleyTrek?authkey=Gv1sRgCMXJlefAo8zS5gE#

By Raghu
http://picasaweb.google.com/srinivasa.raghu/Sharavathy_valley_june09?authkey=Gv1sRgCLats8Ly0KL9oQE&feat=email#

By Dinakar
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=funmagics&target=PHOTO&id=5350862975091942706&aid=5350858134163517025&authkey=Gv1sRgCJft9r3U3MuPSA&feat=email

By Prasanna
http://picasaweb.google.com/prasanna.sga/MansoonTrek?feat=email#

2 days Mansoon Trek to a new route on 20/21st June 2009

2009-06-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Mansoon has set in the valley. As you are know, valley is so beautiful when it rains and it looks like heaven on earth. Many of our regular trekkers were keen to start the mansoon trek ASAP. So here is the new route to begin with for this season. This route is from Kattinakaru to Sullalli in sharavathi valley. On the route we will visit a water falls which we explored recently and which is yet to be named.

The Sharavathi Valley:- The Sharavathi river valley nestled in the central Western Ghats, Shimoga district has been an ecological paradise. The Sharavathi River, rising at Ambuthirtha in Thirthahalli taluk flows north-west and drops down in the Ghats at the world famous Jog falls. The sharavathi Valley is home for many water falls and to some of the beautiful streams. The valley is evergreen to semi-evergreen forest along with moist deciduous type of forests dominate the entire basin along with scrub savannah, grasslands, marshy areas and plantation of acacia, cash crops like areca and rubber providing diverse niches for a variety of taxa. Rare evergreen species such as Dipterocarpus, Syzygium, Cinnamon, Diospyros, Aglaia, endemic Palms along with the globally endangered Myrist-icasps makes this an ecologically sensitive region to be conserved and not marketed.

Likey Itinerary ,

Date:- 19-06-2009

Departure from Bangalore at around 10PM.

Date:- 20-06-2009

Arrive at Kargal, Freshen up, Have breakfast and leave to Trek starting point by hired jeep
Start the Trek from Kattinakaru
Have lunch on the way and continue the trek to water falls.
Reach the the falls and enjoy the beauty
Trek to Mincha and camp at a tribal house

Date:-21-6-2009

Wake up very early in the morning, have tea.
Start the trek towards Sullalli.
Have lunch on the way
Reach Sullalli and Travel back to Sagar
Reach Sagar and Have dinner
Catch bus back to Bangalore

The above itinerary is totally tentative. It all depends on how people trek. The trek will be bit hard.

The above route is completely new route and it is in the core forest. So no snaps of the route is available.
Please mail me to prapancha@gmail.com , if u need any more info.

World Environment Day on June 5th

2009-05-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sarpagandha, Indian medicinal plant is botanically named Rauvolfia serpentina is available in Western ghat.

"The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its live activity; it offers protection to all beings offering shade even to those who destroy it." --Budha

Tropical forest cover in India has been reduced to two major areas: the coastal hills of the Western Ghats (about 55,000 square miles or 135,000 sq. km) and 14,000 square miles (34,500 sq. km) in Northeastern India. Very little of India's forest cover is considered pristine.

Tropical rain forests are incredibly rich ecosystems that play a fundamental role in the basic functioning of the planet. Rain forests are home to probably 50 percent of the world's species, making them an extensive library of biological and genetic resources. In addition, rain forests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases and stabilizing rainfall, protect against desertification, and provide numerous other ecological functions.

However, these precious systems are among the most threatened on the planet. Although the precise area is debated, each day at least 80,000 acres (32,300 ha) of forest disappear from Earth. At least another 80,000 acres (32,300 ha) of forest are degraded. Along with them, the planet loses as many as several hundred species to extinction, the vast majority of which have never been documented by science. As these forests fall, more carbon is added to the atmosphere, climactic conditions are further altered, and more topsoil is lost to erosion.

Despite increased awareness of the importance of these forests, deforestation rates have not slowed. Analysis of figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shows that tropical deforestation rates increased 8.5 percent from 2000-2005 when compared with the 1990s, while loss of primary forests may have expanded by 25 percent over the same period. Nigeria and Vietnam's rate of primary forest loss has doubled since the 1990s, while Peru's rate has tripled.

Overall, FAO estimates that 10.4 million hectares of tropical forest were permanently destroyed each year in the period from 2000 to 2005, an increase since the 1990-2000 period, when around 10.16 million hectares of forest were lost. Among primary forests, annual deforestation rose to 6.26 million hectares from 5.41 million hectares in the same period. On a broader scale, FAO data shows that primary forests are being replaced by less bio diverse plantations and secondary forests.

The effects of deforestation are plenty. Very Important among them are climate change, rare species / plants are getting endangered, food /water crisis etc etc., Various institutions( Government / Non-government) in the world are working towards reducing the deforestation and its effects. But somehow these efforts are not making big impact and deforestation is happening at alarming speed.

One of the Very important problem with the deforestation is some of the rare species / plants are getting endangered. Not many institutions are working on this effect and even though some are working it is only half hearted effort. As Our organization " The sharavathi nature conservation Trust (R)" foremost priority is conservation, we are planning to work on these areas in a big way in future.
This year to mark the world environment day which falls on June 5th of every year, we have planned to conserve the endangered native Medicinal plants of western ghat. The plan is to rope in tribal's to identify the medicinal plants which they were using for various ailment, collect them and plant them in a place where they will be taken care. Also plan is to make this plantation as a "Plant Bank" where we can multiply these endangered plants. Also if our plan is successful, tribals or anybody who needs these plants in emergency situation they need not search around. All they have to do is land in this place !. This will help many tribals who are depending on native medicine. We also have plan to get these plants medicinal value scintifically probed later on.

For this purpose we have roped in Karnataka Forest Department and Forest department has been very happy on our inititative and has allocated a small area of land to the trust. We have requested Sri Ananth Hegde Ashisar(Chiarman of Wetsern Ghat Conservation Task force, Government of Karnataka) to be chief guest for the occation. As he is busy till mid of June, He has not allocated the date for us. It will be sometime in 3rd week of june. We will intimate Exact date to all of you once he gives us the date.

So we request all Nature lovers / Trekkers to be present on that day and support the cause. Your inputs on this program is highly appreciated. If you have come accross any native medicinal plant, please do bring it on that day, we can plant it over there.

"PARISARA SRI" Annual Award for Year 2009-10

2009-04-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

As part of our organization "The Sharavathi Nature conservation Trust (R)" initiative to take up various nature conservation, we have setup an annual award called "PARISARA SRI". We are going to present this award every year to the genuine people who are working for nature conservation and people who are saving prestine forest. The aim this award is to encourage and motivate the people to take up the consevration with more vigour.

This year we selected Sagar Range Forest Officer (RFO) Mr. Vijaya Kumar for the 2009-10 "PARISARA SRI" award. This officer is very experienced officer and a wild life enthusiast himself. This officer is very honest and very hard working officer. Mr. Vijayakumar went after smugglers, people who used to occupy forest land and curtailed the deforestation process. Within couple of months after he took over as RFO, we could notice the difference in forest administration. Also this RFO is very creative and brought various measures to save wild life and forest. So this time we were very happy to recognize such a great personality. The award carried a momento/citation and we gifted utilites like head torch/ solar rechargable lantern etc.,

We organized the first such award ceremony in GUBBAGODU village in sagar taluk where we are conducting our nature camp activities on April 11th 2009. The function was attended by RFO Mr. Vijayakumar, our trust president Mr. Subbarao and secretory Sampath Kumar . There was huge gathering as there was a village festival too on that day. All dignitories took the opertunity to sensitize the villagers on the ecological issues and importance of saving forest. Speaking on the occation RFO lauded our organizations nature conservation initiatives. Perticularly he was happy for our effort to create rural employment as unemployment is fueling various types smuggling in this forest region.
It was a memorable, colorfull and meaningfull event. We have decide to present this award every year to the distinguished people who are working on conservation issues.

Human Chain @Lalbagh on Apr 15, 6pm opposing Illegal Metro Construction in Lalbagh

2009-04-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

Earlier this week(April 13 and 14), the Bangalore Metro Rail corporation (BMRCL) has demolished over 500 feet of Lalbagh's wall and cut down 5 eucalyptus trees inside Lalbagh. BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself - Bangalore's distinctive botanical garden!

Lalbagh is protected by a separate, stringent law. In a highly undemocratic move, the Karnataka Government changed the law by moving an ordinance to acquire Lalbagh land for the Metro, rather than prefer a debate over the changed law, in the Assembly. The opposition has also failed to protest this undemocratic move.

Lalbagh and Lakshman Rao Park on R.V.Road, (also called the AC Road, Nanda Road ), both major landmarks and heritage of Bangalore are being destroyed for the Metro. This when the High Court is hearing PIL over alternatives in Metro alignment.

What seems like a minor portion of Lalbagh gone today will surely lead to greater portion of the park being taken away to create parking zones and malls that the Metro plans at its stations.

When they sought clearance, Metro authorities claimed trees on Nanda Road will be pruned, and not felled. Now they want to cut 323 trees on Nanda Road(R.V.Road) alone.

The BBMP Tree Officer has confirmed that the tree felling in Lalbagh was not cleared by him. This makes felling of Lalbagh's heritage trees, daylight robbery!

Don't be a mute witness to this wanton destruction and illegal desecration of our parks and open spaces.

Come out and protest. Demand from candidates standing in the Parliamentary Election from Bangalore South to make their stand clear on the issue.

Let us stop the illegal construction of Metro in Lalbagh.

Join the Human Chain to be formed at the illegal demolition site(at R.V.Road, near Lalbagh westgate) on Wednesday, April 15, 6.00 pm.

Be there. 6 pm. .......

Hasiru Usiru

For details call: Vinay Sreenivasan: 9880595032 or Raghu: 9880283974

More details about Hasiru Usiru and the Campaign against encroachment of Public Commons and Destrution of Green Spaces, visit www.esgindia.org