Cavala caves are pre-historic lime stone caves and descending into the dark caves is a thrilling experience. An exhausting truck to the caves and descending into the dark with bats flying around is a memorable experience.

Bird watching in WOODS LIFE

On a misty morning, feel the joy of watching birds flying around backwaters of Kali river. Listen to the music of birds singing in the bushes and up in the tree canopies. Some of the common varieties of birds you see here are Egrets, cormorants, kingfishers, peacocks, bulbuls, woodpeckers and many more. Our guides will help you to identify birds and make your visit more informative.

                      …..Feel close to nature

·        Sunrise over back waters of river Kali

Rejuvenate your day by watching the rising sun above the horizon over the back waters of the river Kali. Watching the sun rise over water and sun light reflecting over water is a memorable experience and best opportunity for photography.

sunrise over back water of river kali

 Hey…….I am not talking about color here. It is about a team who is committed to return the green color to nature. Flame Orange is a team of young fellows of the Deshpande fellowship program. We started our work four months back through the name of fellow lead activities. We cleaned Nrupathunga Hill, Hubli in our first venture. Now betta is shining with ‘cleanliness’, which is next to ‘godliness.’ 

Here we followed Gandiji’s method. First we did so many things on the Hill like cleaning, planting, adding dustbins, painting to dustbins, restoring rest shelters, providing children’s playing materials, etc. After that we motivated students and daily visitors of the hill to join with us. Recently we arranged a ‘cycle jatha’ from BVB college to Nrupathunga Hill. School and college students also joined us and no doubt -  it was a huge success.  

I should have written this long back  but was busy with my work. I am going to write here about my one- week eco-tourism trip to Honnemaradu. It is a beautiful place famous for the picturesque hills of the Western Ghats. It is a village submerged under the Linganamakki reservoir in Shimoga District. From Talaguppa we hired two jeeps to Honnemaradu which is 12 kilometers away.

 Finally we arrived at the Honnemaradu water–sports training centre, that is a shed by the side of the road where we had to dump everything from our fears to our backpacks. The shed was visible at one end with forest everywhere else, with the sweet chirping of hundreds of birds that makes your heart swell. Right along this path is an open well, a source of water to every activity in the days we were to dwell there.

We walked to the river bay which was half a mile away, questioning whether our life jackets will come to save the day. Everything was calm on the banks of Sharavathi, a couple of dead trees sticking out their claw- like branches here and there. Our equipment for sports lay still on the shore and the sight of water was not scary but exhilerating. I had never ever realized the convenience or importance of a life jacket until then. A few dips in the water showed that we could not sink.

We enjoyed the joy of swimming a lot. The next day we had the experience of paddling in a coracle (round small boat). With four people in one boat, two people were controlling the boat direction. After around half an hour struggling we learned the techniques of coracling.

One night we stayed on a nearby island. A day before we had learned to pitch tents, so on the island we pitched our own. That night, under the open sky and twinkling stars and beside a campfire, was really an amazing moment.  The next day morning we coracled back to the mainland.

Trekking to Keladi fort

This place with an old fort in the middle of the dense forest is the center of attraction. Also known as Keladi Kote. Kote stands for Fort in Kannada. KeLadi is the name of the dynasty who ruled the place. This Fort of Keladi dynasty was constructed by Kari Menasina Rani Abbaka devi. The queen was exporting spices to European countries.

We embarked from Kanoor village to Keladi fort, which is situated on the top of the hill. We had already been told the basic principle of trekking: slow and steady ascent. Otherwise the high energy level won’t last for more than a few furlongs. So, medium pace with small breaks in between can only lead you till finish. We passed through water streams, and we could see the leaches in between the floor of the forest.

Some cool memories…………….

Throughout our trekking we enjoyed puns and fun. Sikandar was in high spirits, singing all Shishunal Sharif’s songs. He was standing beside every water stream and saying slogans about saving water. He is working in water harvesting and is always thinking about water catchment areas.

Rajendra taught us a new tribal “dabbi dance”(!), the song starts with “dichiki dichiki”!!!.

 Ooops…….Shahina was so sad, as she did not find any opportunity to implement her work experience in the forest. Her working field is sanitation. So everyone started to give innovative ideas to her, like “sanitation for wild animals”!!.

Taryn was enjoying her first eco-tourism moments in India. She is from USA and was very curious towards all things throughout the tourism days.

In the beginning of our journey Jagdish gave half an hour speech about rules and discipline that all should follow in the forest area. He is very much passionate about wildlife conservation. But everybody forget his words when leaches started dancing on our feet. Most of us screamed “Na Olle, Na Olle” (No No) in North kannada language.

One of the things for which Fellows should be commended was that, without expecting anything, all fellows donated blood to leaches. Some were busy with removing leaches from their legs by putting salt on them. At that time Tippanna announced his next plan– “leach conservation in forest”!!. 

After a few hours of trekking everybody felt so tired. Ashu was motivating everybody by saying “Don’t worry, yar. Let’s have fun!!. He is working on his own idea “India without Beggars”!!. He was at the height of happiness because there was no chance to find beggars in forest.

Everyone showed a different side of themselves in the forest. One very surprising thing was that he typically silent guy Pramod started to respond to Triveni by his pun dialogues.

These  things are all sweet memories in my life. Apart from fun, I learned so many things, which is useful in my life. The taste of simple living, coordination, eco awareness, discipline, observing each and every small things………infinite learning.