It had been a while since our last outing, and I was itching to get out of the city for a while, probably go off on a small road trip. So when my colleague Venu approached me asking if we could organize something, jumped at the idea.
My first idea was to go rafting, but was unable to find something that didn't involve a 2-day trip atleast ( travails of a a 6-day working week! ). We'd practically settled on going to Tipu's Summer Palace, approx 60km away, when Venu heard of this place called Muthyala Maduvu, 40km from Bangalore, a sort of tourist spot with woods and a waterfall.
Planned to meet up at 8.30am Sunday, 8th Jan, so in true Indian style, left home at 8.30 and reached Venu's place by 9.00. Turned out none of the guys were ready yet, with most of them watching TV, and a couple of them fussing over a huge bowl of lime rice. Turned out they had news there was no food available at the place, so decided to take adequate precautions.
5 of us finally left, after breakfast at a local tiffin center, around 10.30 am, and after meeting with a 6th guy enroute, proceeded to the place.
The ride is nothing to write home about. We had to take Bannerghatta road and proceed further after crossing Bannerghatta park, via Anekal (I guess....am bad with names). Actually one of the worst roads I'd seen, potholes and loose stones the entire way. Wasn't like a highway drive at all, with us going in 2nd or 3rd gear most of the time. There were stretches where the road would suddenly become smooth, and we'd think the rough part was over and rev the bikes up, only to be confronted with the potholes a few metres later. Thank God it was only 40km!
The place itself is decent. There's a restaurant run by the Karnataka Tourism Board, with a couple of balconies that give you a good view of the woods. Found a couple of families playing soccer and chess there. After a refreshing cup of coffee, proceeded to the falls.
Tip: if you like a sense of adventure, don't take the well-trodden path. They have steps laid out down upto the falls, but Venu and me decided to skip those, and climb down the rocks instead. A bit slippery, but great fun! We landed up at a stream leading out from the falls, and went up-river for a while, clambering over rocks in the stream. When the stream thinned out and disappeared into the ground, clambered back to the falls.
The waterfall is actually quite small.The river (stream, actually) apparently originates from some underground source nearby, and falls down a cliff creating a small pool at the bottom. Meanders again away from the pool and disappears somewhere. None of the loud roaring noise or foam you associate with a typical waterfall. On the good side, you can wade into the pool and have a shower right under the fall. (I couldn't do it as I didn't bring a change of clothes)
Got bored after a while of sitting around, so decided to try and climb up the cliff, along the waterfall. Again, advantage of a small waterfall; none of the rocks was slippery, and there seemed to be sufficient hand and footholds. So Venu, one of his friends and I started up, but the friend (Ramesh...or Praveen??) soon felt it was risky and stopped.
Venu and I continued up, and turned out to be one of the most fun things I'd done in a while. Felt a bit like Stallone in Cliffhanger at times ;-) . Not really dangerous, especially with V along. The guy seemed an expert climber, probably was a mountain goat in his previous avatar! He' d go jumping up the rocks ahead, and pointing out the easiest routes while I followed at a more sedate pace. Great views along the top, plus I always feel a thrill when I see everybody down there looking like ants. No feeling like being alone in a scenic spot, being one with nature, with city life far behind you...plus of course the adrenaline rush of doing something dangerous and physically demanding. Would've been perfect if I had some beer, ofcourse (tip: beer tastes best when had under a waterfall) but had forgotten to bring any. We climbed upto the very top, upto the path leading up to the restaurant, and then came back down. Getting down was a tad more difficult, with me slipping down at a couple of places, but again with V to help me out, reached the bottom in one piece.
On the way down, noticed a girl bathing under the falls. Turned out most of our guys were suddenly feeling extremely sweaty, and had this urge to bathe as well. Not that I'm suggesting anything...pure coincidence, of course! So after they did that, shooting lot of snaps along the way (of themselves, of course) we sat down to a good lunch of lime rice and curds, with feet dangling in the water, surrounded by a lot of monkeys eyeing our food. After that, walked up to another place where there was supposed to be a second falls...but turned out to be nothing, plus there was a guy there who'd gotten drunk and was puking his guts out, so turned away quickly.
Wound up after that. There was a small road leading up from the restaurant, so drove there, and came up to a grassy plain, with a few trees scattered around. Sat there chit-chatting for a while, and then there was the bone-jarring ride back to Bangalore.
All in all, Muthyala maduvu is a decent place, (notwithstanding the road) although I expected something more, going by the name. Quiet peaceful little place, and not too many tourists around. Kind of sedate, though, so may be a let-down if one is the adventure-loving kinds. Unless of course, you're enterprising and create your own adventure, the way we did :-)
Next post - My ride to Savandurga with Nimish.
My first idea was to go rafting, but was unable to find something that didn't involve a 2-day trip atleast ( travails of a a 6-day working week! ). We'd practically settled on going to Tipu's Summer Palace, approx 60km away, when Venu heard of this place called Muthyala Maduvu, 40km from Bangalore, a sort of tourist spot with woods and a waterfall.
Planned to meet up at 8.30am Sunday, 8th Jan, so in true Indian style, left home at 8.30 and reached Venu's place by 9.00. Turned out none of the guys were ready yet, with most of them watching TV, and a couple of them fussing over a huge bowl of lime rice. Turned out they had news there was no food available at the place, so decided to take adequate precautions.
5 of us finally left, after breakfast at a local tiffin center, around 10.30 am, and after meeting with a 6th guy enroute, proceeded to the place.
The ride is nothing to write home about. We had to take Bannerghatta road and proceed further after crossing Bannerghatta park, via Anekal (I guess....am bad with names). Actually one of the worst roads I'd seen, potholes and loose stones the entire way. Wasn't like a highway drive at all, with us going in 2nd or 3rd gear most of the time. There were stretches where the road would suddenly become smooth, and we'd think the rough part was over and rev the bikes up, only to be confronted with the potholes a few metres later. Thank God it was only 40km!
The place itself is decent. There's a restaurant run by the Karnataka Tourism Board, with a couple of balconies that give you a good view of the woods. Found a couple of families playing soccer and chess there. After a refreshing cup of coffee, proceeded to the falls.
Tip: if you like a sense of adventure, don't take the well-trodden path. They have steps laid out down upto the falls, but Venu and me decided to skip those, and climb down the rocks instead. A bit slippery, but great fun! We landed up at a stream leading out from the falls, and went up-river for a while, clambering over rocks in the stream. When the stream thinned out and disappeared into the ground, clambered back to the falls.
The waterfall is actually quite small.The river (stream, actually) apparently originates from some underground source nearby, and falls down a cliff creating a small pool at the bottom. Meanders again away from the pool and disappears somewhere. None of the loud roaring noise or foam you associate with a typical waterfall. On the good side, you can wade into the pool and have a shower right under the fall. (I couldn't do it as I didn't bring a change of clothes)
Got bored after a while of sitting around, so decided to try and climb up the cliff, along the waterfall. Again, advantage of a small waterfall; none of the rocks was slippery, and there seemed to be sufficient hand and footholds. So Venu, one of his friends and I started up, but the friend (Ramesh...or Praveen??) soon felt it was risky and stopped.
Venu and I continued up, and turned out to be one of the most fun things I'd done in a while. Felt a bit like Stallone in Cliffhanger at times ;-) . Not really dangerous, especially with V along. The guy seemed an expert climber, probably was a mountain goat in his previous avatar! He' d go jumping up the rocks ahead, and pointing out the easiest routes while I followed at a more sedate pace. Great views along the top, plus I always feel a thrill when I see everybody down there looking like ants. No feeling like being alone in a scenic spot, being one with nature, with city life far behind you...plus of course the adrenaline rush of doing something dangerous and physically demanding. Would've been perfect if I had some beer, ofcourse (tip: beer tastes best when had under a waterfall) but had forgotten to bring any. We climbed upto the very top, upto the path leading up to the restaurant, and then came back down. Getting down was a tad more difficult, with me slipping down at a couple of places, but again with V to help me out, reached the bottom in one piece.
On the way down, noticed a girl bathing under the falls. Turned out most of our guys were suddenly feeling extremely sweaty, and had this urge to bathe as well. Not that I'm suggesting anything...pure coincidence, of course! So after they did that, shooting lot of snaps along the way (of themselves, of course) we sat down to a good lunch of lime rice and curds, with feet dangling in the water, surrounded by a lot of monkeys eyeing our food. After that, walked up to another place where there was supposed to be a second falls...but turned out to be nothing, plus there was a guy there who'd gotten drunk and was puking his guts out, so turned away quickly.
Wound up after that. There was a small road leading up from the restaurant, so drove there, and came up to a grassy plain, with a few trees scattered around. Sat there chit-chatting for a while, and then there was the bone-jarring ride back to Bangalore.
All in all, Muthyala maduvu is a decent place, (notwithstanding the road) although I expected something more, going by the name. Quiet peaceful little place, and not too many tourists around. Kind of sedate, though, so may be a let-down if one is the adventure-loving kinds. Unless of course, you're enterprising and create your own adventure, the way we did :-)
Next post - My ride to Savandurga with Nimish.
Comments
we had a 6.4 hours adventure trek through the forest in search of elephants
http://prabhukarthik03.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/21-pearl-valley-muthyala-maduvu-10910/