A trip to Shivamoga, Kundapura and Kodachadri - My Experience

Karnataka is full of amazing places. It has a history of 2000 years. Every 50 kilometres, the language and the culture takes a shift, such as the dynamism of this land. Today I am going to tell you about some places. I had been to these places with my parents. They are Shivamogga, Kundapura and Kodchadri.

I left Bengaluru at 5pm and reached Shivamogga at 10 pm. There we halted in my relative's house. In the morning we left Shivamogga at 11am and reached Kundapura at 3pm. There we stayed in a resort called UVA Meridian. There were bikes to ride, swimming pool, lawn tennis court, badminton court and cycles to ride. The swimming pool is allowed till 7:30 pm.

Then we went to Kodi beach which is some 4 km away from the resort. It was an unexplored beach with white sand and breeze. From there, we went to a hotel called Nandini pure veg hotel. There is no lodge in this hotel. From the hotel, we came back to the resort and slept.

The next day we went to Kodchadri. We left the resort at 11am and reached Kolluru at 2pm. From there we went to a place called Kattinahole which is on the way to Nagara. From there we started our journey to Kodchadri around 3pm. We went to the hill by jeep. We stayed in IB [inspection bungalow]. You will have to do prior booking if you are travelling during the weekend.

Now I am going to tell you in detail about Kodchadri. Kodchadri is a hill station. The jeep route in which we went was dangerous and the only vehicle like Jeep could travel in that road. We did reach Kodachadri at 4 PM. After sipping a cup of coffee, we started to climb up and took an hour to reach the peak, which is Sarvagyna Peetha.

Weather was cool and full of mist and fog. Though it did not rain, there was so much mist around that we could easily lose our way. On the way to the hilltop, there is a Ganapathi cave and we did spend some time praying to Lord Ganesha. Sarvagyna Peetha was the place where ShankaraCharya did penance. This is on the very hill that Devi Mookambike killed the demon Mookasura. There were no people around and many people who climbed before us, started to leave the place and only three of us left on the peak. We just closed our eyes and started to feel & enjoy the sound of wind and the beauty of nature.

By 6.30 PM mother nature blessed us by clearing the mist and fog. We could see the beautiful sunset and green covered valleys. There is a small water fall behind the peak and it is called Chitramoola but we could not go there as it was getting dark. Luckily my mother was carrying a torch and with the help of that, we could climb down. When we reached back at IB, it was around 7.30 PM. We had dinner at 8 PM and started to gaze at the sky. It was a wonderful experience looking at the sky and starts. I felt as if someone had put a serial set to the sky.

Next day morning at 7.30 AM, we started to climb down from Kodachadri Even the walking route in which we came down was very steep. There are many routes for climbing and coming down. The jeep route is different and walking route is different. The walking route in which we came was by the Hidlumane falls. We played in the water fall for 1 hour. The water was cool. We walked through the dense forest and at some places even the sun light could not penetrate the jungle.

We walked for more than 6 hours to climb down. The route in which we climb down is usually used to climb up and since it was a Saturday morning, more than 200 people were climbing up. The route through the water fall is very steep and I did fell at a few places but did not hurt myself. Rocks are slippery especially near the water fall and you will have to be careful while walking.

Once you cross the water fall, you will reach a small village with beautiful paddy fields and banana plantations. After reaching down to Kattinahole, we had lunch and left to Bangalore. It was a memorable experience and I would love to go there once again when I grow up with my friends.