Agani - The Secret of Sakleshpur

Friday night, I was just getting ready to leave my office when my phone buzzed. It was Ajju.

Ajju: It's been more than 2 months since we've been on a trip!
Me: Okay, do you have any place in mind?
Ajju: No, you decide the place. (As usual everything on me)
Me: Coorg or Chikmagalur?
Ajju: How many times are we going there?
Me: Okay okay... Let me think
What about Western Ghats?
Ajju: Where in Western Ghats?
It’s raining everywhere. (Always negative)
Me: I don’t know where exactly in Western Ghats!!
We’ll definitely explore something new, believe me.
Ajju: Okay
Me: See you soon...

Started from Bengaluru quite early, at 4 AM in the morning so that we can cover as much distance as possible and mainly to skip the Bengaluru traffic. There were no plans, no hotels booked, no backpacks and the empty road. It’s NH75, the road is so orbital and clear, one of the best roads in Karnataka.

NH75, Kunigal, 06:28 AM

We divided our journey into 3 stops over 250 km. Ajju usually calls it Chai Stop. It is basically finding a chaiwala on highways after every 70 or 80 km of our ride. The best part of bike rides is having chai on highways. Believe me or not, the best conversations of our life happen here. Our first stop was near Kunigal and second was Hassan. We almost rode 180 km of our journey and we didn’t have any idea about the destination. The 3rd stop was in Sakleshpur where we had chai with breakfast. It took us 4 hours to reach Sakleshpur from Bengaluru, we were just sitting on the bike and didn’t know where to go!

Ajju: What’s next?
Shall we drive back to Bengaluru?
Me: Ha ha, of course not!
Ajju: Bisle Ghat, Manjarabad Fort, Sakaleswara Temple, Mallalli Water Falls... (Reading from the google)
Me: Wait wait!!! We visited those places during our last visit to Sakleshpur and everywhere it’s crowded.
Ajju: It’s hard to get a peaceful place in Sakleshpur.
Me: We will continue driving, let's see where the road takes us.

Ahhh, our conversations never end. We started our journey again in search of a destination.

10 km from Sakleshpur

Sakleshpur is a very beautiful hill station in the Western Ghats surrounded by coffee and tea plantations. Bisle ghat is always the best attraction of this region. It is filled with lush green forest and waterfalls. Though Sakleshpur is not popular in India but this place has a unique identity on it’s own. After riding about 20 km from Sakleshpur, the road was becoming narrow and we reached the dead end. Luckily we found a homestay and decided to stay there.

It’s Karadi Kallu homestay, located in the middle of westen ghats with a private waterfall. We were thrilled by the location of the homestay. It has the basic amenities with the super friendly staff. Manjunath is the caretaker of this place and he suggested a few nearby places to visit. We explored most of the places by walking around the homestay. We were the only 2 guests in the homestay, so hospitality was great. Manjunath served us delicious snacks in the evening and to add spice to that, he lit bonfire. It was almost dinner time, we were talking with the cook and he suddenly asked us,

Did you guys visit Agani?
I said, No.

Bonfire in the Karadi Kallu homestay

Next day morning at 5:30 AM, we were getting ready for the trek. Thanks to the cook for telling us about this place. Agani is a 7 KM trek full of mist, forest and waterfalls. We did not know the way, so a guy from homestay came along with us. We started our trek without carrying any food or water, hoping that nature will take care of us. The moment when we entered into the forest, birds and insects welcomed us with whispers. I had a feeling that this place is going to be in my heart forever. Our first stop was an artificial pond, which is made to store water for villagers and animals for drinking.

Artificial Pond in Agani forest

After playing some time in the water, we continued our climb. There is no clear route or trail to reach the peak, we were just following Ramkrishna (guy from homestay). He used to speak in pure Kannada, giving all the knowledge around the place and his village. What I understood by talking with him is, visiting the mountains is easy, but living in the mountains is not. After crossing the dense patch of trees, we almost covered half way and scenery was absolutely stunning.

Beautiful view of western ghats range

The Peak

Continuing trek was becoming difficult, because it started to drizzle in a thick fog. For some time I felt like “I am walking in the clouds”. It was steep, slippery and difficult to see anything, but pushing ourselves hard to reach the peak. That was the first time I realized how small we are, how big nature is. After all the zig-zag, we finally reached the top of the Agani. It took us 5 good hours to reach the point. It was quite foggy at the peak, the 360 degree view was unreal. I ran around the place, I did meditation, I slept for some time, I took photographs of all that beauty I have never seen in my life.

I am very grateful that I was there at that moment!

Going back to Homestay

Check out Sakleshpur Gallery for more photos.