Sweet Pure Mountain Water

Reaching there
The Meghadhoot service by N.W.K.R.T.C. (North West Karnataka RTC) runs A/C Luxury (that’s what is claimed anyway) buses between Hyderabad and Hubli. Starting at 9:00PM in the morning, the 11hours journey is exhausting to say the least. It was drizziling slightly when we deboarded in Hubli. The last few days had also seen rain. This brought down the temperature and the countryside was green all around. Its another 2 hours to Dandeli and a light breakfast from Hubli would be an advisable option. The ride from Hubli to Dandeli was pleasant, mostly due to weather and most definitely not due to the bus (which had as much shock absorbers as on a truck). The bus took us to Dharwad (made famous by a well known dental college), Haliyal and finally dumped us at the Dandeli old (or new) bus stand. There were MUVs from the farmhouse ready to pick us up at the bus stand and it took another half hour to reach Stanley farms.

Accomodation
There are various accommodation options available from high end resorts like the Bison to low cost options (farmhouses) like Stanely Farms.

Kali
Kali River fabuolous water, cold, clear and sweet. I only hope there are no more modernization project to 'develop' the river. The river is surrounded on both sides by dense (tropical) forests.

Activities
Apart from offering a glimpse of the beauty of the western Ghats and lush tropical rainforest. The river Kali and the general terrain provides an ideal ground for various adventure activities like White water rafting, Kayaking, River crossing, Rappelling.

White water rafting
As compared to Rishikesh and other rafting venues on the Himalayas the gradient is not steep. Hence the rapids are mostly short interspersed with stretches of slowly flowing river. However the scenic beauty is amazing. As compared to the raw rocky terrain of Rishikesh, the river kali has banks of filled with flora and fona. The steeply rising hills with trees dotting the landscape provides a enchanting view. It’s a bit costly at upwards of Rs 1200 per person but its worth it for the novelty. Had the costs been lower we would have gone for another round.

Night Trek
Technically it would be called a night walk but we will leave the technicalities for later. Considering we were right in the sanctuary we just had move out of our farm and take a small walk in the surrounding jungle. We were lead by our guide. A long train of torch lights, heavy footstep on the ground, smell of the latest deos and incessant chatter signaled our arrival to every animal who cared to listen. Considering that years of evolution has trained their ears to detect the faintest sound and smallest of movement we were not so successful in our search for ‘tigers’ and ‘deers’. We did spot a couple of flying squirrels, its orange eyes peering down from the trees. Humidity certainly made us sweat, negating all benefits of a bath. Somehow the trek was refreshing although a bit tiresome. Post the night trek we slumped in our beds. (Two pieces of bedsheet on a Insulation padding material) Anything will do when you are tired. It was a night truly under the stars. By daybreak heavy dew had soaked our ‘beds’. Another incentive to wake up early.

Trekking
After waking up early in the morning , We pushed off from Stanely farms for a trek to Cavala caves. The jeep path that leads us to the caves has been cut out by broken tree trunks uprooted in the last major rains. There are around 535 steps (counted precisely by one fellow trekker) to the Cavala caves (all downhill). The cave initially appears to be a huge gap in the rock face. Its only later that we found that there is a tunnel which goes to the shiv ling located inside the mountain. The tunnel was cramped, smelled of bats (or something) and pitch dark. It was a slightly scary but completely delightful experience.Anyways the journey back is tiring to say the least. The view as usual is spectacular and the air filled with sounds of thousands of cicadas falling and rising rhythmically.The trek certainly does build up appetite for breakfast and makes the humble Upama quite delicious.

River Crossing
River crossing is a novel experience. Although practically it can be called stream/pond crossing. Hanging between two ropes pulling yourself into the water is surprisingly absolutely delightful. Although not ideal’ compared to the river crossing done over quick flowing mountain stream, it has a pleasure of its own.

Kayaking
Kayaking is a great option to help. Sadly it rained when we were due to do our kayaking and we just stood there drenching ourselves (which was also fun).

Coming back
This time we ditched our ride on the local bus from Dandeli to Hubli and instead hitched a ride on the MUVs ( tempo Trax). The journey was uneventful but the scenic beauty was amazing. Somehow the setting sun one side and the dark clouds on the other lit up the landscape with a strange hue. The depth of colour was amazing and simply too hard to explain. The bus from Hubli to Hyderabad also passed too quickly by and we reached Hyderbad and hop skipped on various share autos to our homes.

2 day trip to dandeli might be a slight stretch another day (a long weekend is most preferable).