Waterfall - what comes to your mind, when you hear the word waterfall? Clean water, falling from a decent height, forming a plunge pool, people taking baths under it, and girls are busy with selfies, right? 

Wait!! stop your imagination, because I am taking you to a waterfall, which is amazingly beautiful, but path taking to it is not. Have you heard the phrase, “Bad Roads Takes You to Beautiful Destinations” - that’s indeed true!!!

Hebbe Waterfalls situated in the western ghats of Karnataka( India), in Chikmagalur district. The waterfall is formed by the Bhadra river and located at the famous hill station of Chikmagalur, called ‘Kemmangundi’. The waterfall has an amazing view, as it is surrounded by lush green forest, inside a coffee estate. Though you can drive your four-wheeler, But, in my view, it's only worth it if you trek the hills to reach the destinations. There is no joy at the destination if you do not enjoy the journey!

I am sharing my memory with you, reminiscing about this journey. Back in 2012, I was working in an MNC, an IT firm. I was relatively new to the industry, and if you know it used to be difficult to get leave from the office. It was not an era of Work From Home either!

I had escaped from the office to celebrate my birthday and other festivals in my hometown in North India. And, I returned to Bangalore after 3 weeks! ( No one used to get leaves for 3 weeks, I was absconding )

As soon as I returned to Bangalore, in the evening, we sat together to do nothing and spend time ( people call it a waste of time, but time wasted while enjoying, laughing, cherishing is not actually, wastage of time ). I believe, in every group of bachelors, there would be a person, who would always want to travel, and explore, and would be a kind of philosopher. Even, we had one - the name was ‘Abhishek’. 

He had a plan, the plan was to go on a trek with a group of people ( including me) who had never been on the trek, and probably never heard or realized the actual meaning of trek for the first time. Well, no one was asking my opinion, I had no option but to join the bandwagon!! 

The team composition was like this - Abhishek (Leader), Sawan, Pk, Saurabh, and Obviously me. Except for Abhishek, no one had experienced a real trek.

At night, we boarded a train from Bangalore Central, for Chikamangalur, and about 3 ~ 3.30 in the morning we got down at a stop, from where Kemmangundi was about a few kilometers. 

There is also an interesting story about the Train Ticket Checker/ Collector, who refused to take the ‘Bribe’ ( We had confirmed seats but in a different compartment, and we all wanted to sit together, to which he denied - we thought to offer some money, this is how the system at Railways used to work, but he refused! )

Well, we got down, at the station, it was in the month of September, we were feeling cold - we had not carried any warm clothes. We rushed to the Tea Stall nearby to grab a cup of tea!

We took an Auto Rickshaw and headed for Kemmanagundi Hills - we got down at the bus stop, and started planning the journey ahead.

Kemmangundi, Chikmagalur is a beautiful hill station -  when we reached it, it was drizzling. We could see a cluster of clouds above our heads as if we were touching the Cloud, and in reality, we were in Cloud Nine, but with ZERO visibility. It was hard to see the person standing next to you.

Winter, drizzling, natural water, and rainfall  - an Ideal breeding ground for Leeches. Yes, leeches, I have only heard of it. In my vision Leeches are scary, and in reality, they are scarier. (It’s a parasite, which sucks blood, don’t compare it with humans who also suck blood!! ? 

Anyway, though it was our first trek, but we were ready like a ‘Pro’ - we had carried, Salt, Diesel, and petrol, as they work as a guard against Leeches, also if you pour diesel/ petrol/ salt on leeches, most likely they leave your body ( but not so easily )

When we started the trek. Image by coolsage

We started the trek, reached the top of the hills from where we had to trek down to reach the waterfall. As soon as we started walking inside the forest, Leeches started welcoming us. It was all rosy( not so rosy), in a few minutes or say within half an hour we all started fighting with leeches. They were all over us, on our head, neck, back also inside shoes. Seems, they were immune to salt and diesel, and soon salt/ diesel exhausted and we were left with leeches. 

We started ignoring leeches, as we realized, they are small in size and not dangerous. We slowly marched towards the destination, though we did not have the route to the waterfall. We were under the impression that we would find people along the way, but guess there were none! (It was an Era of 2G, and there is no need to mention Google Maps, as it doesn’t work without a network. )

We did not want to look back, continued our trek, jumping small water streams like a frog, we reached inside a forest, a dense one - we were so excited as if it was an expedition for treasure. The forest we were dwelling on, was connected to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary / Bhadra Tiger Reserve. Anyway, our hunt was still on.

After walking for a few kilometers, we reached a point, from where nothing was visible, it was raining heavily, and the wind was strong enough to shake our bones! We were wearing only a shirt/ T-shirt.

Our first halt, Image - by Coolsage

Saurabh, the person who never looked back! He was very excited about the trek!

We had a small bottle of diesel left, we found a shelter under a small rock, and tried to lit some paper and wood, but it was a failed attempt. Our body was shaking, we heard a Trumpet-like sound ( Elephants make a sound, called Trumpet). Though we were not sure of it but got scared, as Karnataka, especially western ghats are known for elephants, and there were many elephant corridors. 

It was about 11.30 ~ 12 Noon, and we had about 12~15 KM to trek. We were all scared, the weather was not pleasant, it was raining, we were all shivering. Friends suggested to stop the trek, and to go back!

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ( you don’t get time, friends to travel to such places again and again. Though, you can visit the place multiple times, but how, and where do you find joy without friends?)

Abhishek and I took the stance, we decided  - we are not going back, and we will try to cover the trek as soon as possible, in case we are not able to find the waterfall before 3 PM, we will come back. It was a deal!

There is a zen proverb, 

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears”

As soon as we become ready with the backpack, a couple of street dogs joined us. As if they were the pathfinder. We trekked down a little where we found a person - we asked him the route to Hebbe Falls, he guided us. 

As we started climbing down the hill, the cloud started to disappear and we could actually see the ‘Ray Of Hope’ - there was a burst of sunshine, after heavy rain. Cloud disappeared.

Well, the journey was not over yet, we had miles to go. We were on a sloppy hill, amidst forest and coffee plantations. We did not have experiences walking on a sloped surface, we started slipping one by one, and it started with our friend PK, who could not resist the weight of his Belly, and fell for Gravity!!!

PK was a fat guy with a huge pot belly, but still, he was on a trek! On hills/ mountains there would be a lack of air/ oxygen - PK started feeling uneasy. Saurabh and Sawan carried the bag of PK and gave him support. Luckily, the situation was not bad and we managed to reach the bottom of the hill ( Remember, we had to climb the hill again :D)

We could hear the sound of waterfalls, we jumped with joy and excitement. After all, it was no less than an achievement. We started following the sound, we came across a couple of small water streams, we are still accompanied by our two new friends - Dogs, our pathfinder!

Abhishek, and I across the stream, near the waterfall. Image by coolsage

We sat down for some time, it was about 3 PM. We carried some Bananas and Glucose. Which ultimately, saved our lives, we were hungry. With full ‘Josh’ and remaining energy, we reached the waterfall!

There you go, a lovely waterfall, surrounded by lush green trees, falling from a height, forming a picture, as if “a Milkman is pouring milk on the forest from Hill Top”! 

Hebbe Falls, find my friends! Image by Coolsage

It was not just amazing, but it was an achievement, it showed how tough we are, yes mentally tough!! (Remember our Leader, Abhishek, back then his weight was about 45 KG only, you are free to laugh!! )

The journey doesn’t end here we had to go back, though we wanted to hire a taxi/ or any 4 wheeler, there was none in the Jungle. If you remember, we had climbed down the hill, and now we had to climb up! Now imagine our situation, we were all tired, and had nothing to eat, except glucose. It started getting dark, we did not have any plan to spend the night in the jungle. 

It started drizzling again, and as soon as we started climbing, PK started feeling sick - his situation was not good and we had a long way to go. It was tough, it may sound funny or scary, he started praying to god to save his life ( we were a little scared, but still in a funny mood). 

Abhishek said, 

“what if we encounter a Tiger here, we just have to run faster than PK”. 

We all burst into laughter, where there is a group of friends, there would be a slapstick comedy!

It gave some courage to PK, as he did not want to die without getting married. We started climbing up while taking rests in between. Though it was difficult, we were all pumped up by now. 

While returning, we met a few other wanderers. Image by Coolsage

I removed my T-shirt, carried the backup, and started climbing up without looking back ( I thought if we halt a lot, we might miss our bus and it would be late). And, in one go, I almost reached the point, on the hill from where we had started climbing down. The last few steps were steep, I passed the backpack to Abhishek, our Iron Man, and he successfully reached the top of the hill.

Can you see my biceps? Image by coolsage

Ah! We were happy but tired, we gathered at that point, breath In Breath Out. We were happy about our accomplishments. We started walking towards the bus stop but took a different route, unaware that there would be a forest check post.

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The Ghost of Kemmangundi

It was about 5.30 ~ 6 PM in the evening, we were walking down the road, yet to reach the check post, and suddenly - we heard a voice as if a woman was crying! We were shocked, it's raining, it's dark, its dense dangerous forest, who could be crying here? 

To be honest, we got scared but continued to walk. After walking for a few minutes, we saw a woman crying under a Tree. Before I proceed, let me ask you something - Do you believe in ghosts, or in Paranormal Activities? 

Well, I do believe, I gathered some courage and went near the Tree ( It's inhuman, if you leave a creature in such position, despite being aware of the possible circumstances. Irrespective of the fact, whether it's a human or an animal ). She would be in her early 70’s, she looked like a Tribal woman ( Or a Ghost for now) - I tried to speak to her in my broken vernacular language i.e. Kannada, but I was not able to understand her language. 

At first sight, we thought she was a witch or ghost ( mind is powerful, you know… it has the ability to think beyond imagination). Since we were not able to help her, we thought of leaving the place as we were getting late to catch the last bus. She looked scary and was crying continuously. I think she was trying to communicate with us, in her local language, might be a dialect of Kannada, or Kodagu, I guess she was not a ghost. She was just a woman in trouble, I wish I could help her. Back then we were young, tired, and scared - we could not do much!

Forest Police officially caught us - they started questioning us, and we had no clue about their questions! Soon, we saw a board over there, with a picture of a giant Tiger - there was a red alert, a tiger was roaming in that zone!

(Remember, the hill is connected to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, a Tiger Reserve. Forest officials, had spotted a Tiger, and there was an alert)

At Forest Check Post. Image by coolsage

Actually, we all became  Trespassers, it was illegal, an offense though it was unintentional. After some inquiries, they left us. I pushed Abhishek to rush to the bus stop, as the last bus was about to leave. We had no energy left, feet were unable to move. Abhishek somehow managed to reach the stop and got the bus!

The bus dropped us, near the railway station, we saw a Dosa Corner - every one of us had 2~3 Plates of Dosa, probably the tastiest one in my life. After all, it was an award for great achievement! It showed us how strong we are, and what we can do with planning and strong decision making!

We boarded the train, and headed back to Bangalore with a fond memory!

( Remember PK, my friend, he had bribed GOD, all the way, praying for his life and wellbeing, as soon as we reached Bangalore, none of the promises were made. Haha!! God does not need anything from us but thank god, he always protects us!)

• By Coolsage