When I got into the bus last Friday evening, I was headed towards fulfilling a long-standing plan: to climb up the Brahmagiri hills. Brahmagiri peak, located in Coorg district of Karnataka is a part of Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. The climb goes through leech ridden tropical forests to grasslands and shola(forest high in the hills where grass is the dominant vegetation, and trees are found in small groups where water is available) above the forest line, and offers great vistas of Sanctuary area and the planes below.
Irpu Waterfall
We started our hike a little late on the Saturday morning. By the time we had breakfast, took the necessary permits and changed buses to reach Irpu, it was already 10.30am. Fortunately it was not a sunny day, which made the climbing easy. The climb starts from Irpu falls, a well known landmark in Kodagu(Coorg). Leeches waiting on the forest floor gleefully welcomed us into the National Park once we walked past the waterfall. The initial part of the journey offers easy walk via tropical forest and lot of bamboo, and starts getting steeper slowly. We encountered several streams on the way and water is in plenty. Forest floor all the way is littered with colorful dry leaves and green saplings besides the bridle path.
Rich colors of the forest
It was 2 hours of climb before we left the forest below us and hit the grasslands. Some steep climbing for another 30 minutes and we reached our base camp – the Narimale forest camp.
The Narimale camp inside the forest
A Stream that runs next to the camp
Narimale camp is built to shelter forest guards who are on duty to watch against poaching. It serves as an excellent base camp to visit nearby peaks – Narimale peak and Brahmagiri peak. The presence of the camp also reduces the load of the trekkers by not having to carry any camping material.
More about Coorg on paintedstork.com
* Driving trip to Coorg
* Relaxing in Coorg in the monsoons
Tired and hungry that we were after a good climb, we quickly prepared food and hogged on it. After a short rest, we headed for Narimale Peak, which is 1.5km walk from the camp. As we walked through the grasslands, a Sambar emerged from the shola and ran away after seeing us. Some one in the group sited an elephant too. Narimale Peak offered us beautiful vista of the plains below, the sholas and the Brahmagiri peak at a distance. As the sun moved below the horizon, we made a quick retreat to the camp. It started raining as soon as we reached the camp and we were lucky not to get caught in the rain. We prepared an early dinner at the camp and then went to sleep.
Our escort takes a look at the sholas from the Narimale Peak
View from Narimale Peak
The next morning was foggy and the visibility was low. We contemplated over breakfast if it makes sense to climb the Brahmagiri peak in this weather. But since we did not have much else to do, we decided to make it anyway. The walk to Brahmagiri takes you through grassland, and occasionally through small patches of shola. Small white and pink flowers dot the green grassy plains.
The peak to the extreme right is Brahmagiri where we were headed.
After an easy walk for almost two hours, we reached the foot of Brahmagiri Peak. As we looked up to it, the peak was completely covered in fog and we could not see what is up for us. The bridle path to the peak suddenly got steep and we were quickly climbing at 45 degrees. It soon got worse – it must have been around 60 degrees slope or even worse. It would have been a climb of may be 150 meters to the top but the quick ascent got us tired quickly. But once we were up there, the vista was beautiful and worth all the effort. Interestingly, while we climbed up in foggy weather, other side was completely clear and offered us nice view of a valley in Kerala.
At the Brahmagiri Peak. Inscription reads that the Peak is 1600 meters above the sea level and is 9kms from Irpu waterfall.
Walking on the ridges of Brahmagiri Peak
We rested here for a while and walked a bit on the beautiful ridges. A bit of walking and we saw a few Sambars and a ma elephant with its baby. Weather had completely cleared up as we headed back and offered good view of the surroundings and the Brahmagiri peak itself. We also got to see Wild Gaurs on the way back. A few of us discovered thorns of porcupines here and there. Elephant dung was littered wherever we went. A pair of Nilgiri Langur were spotted on a tree at a distance. There was life in every part of the sanctuary.
Nothing goes waste in the forest. Even the dung of the elephant supports some form of life
As we returned to the base camp, we packed up quickly and headed back to Irpu. An hour and a half and a lot of leech bites later, we were back at Irpu Waterfall for a refreshing dip in the water. We came down from here for a session of refueling our stomach and returned to the city by the overnight bus.
Brahmagiri Information.
REACHING
Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary is a restricted area and one has to take permission from Range Forest Officer(RFO) at Srimangala village. Call the RFO a few days in advance and inform your trekking plans so that they can arrange a mandatory escort for you. Getting permits is easy and hassle free.
To reach Srimangala, take a KSRTC bus to Gonikoppal from Bangalore, which is 6 hours journey. Change buses here and travel for another hour to Srimangala. Pay the necessary fees at Srimangala RFO office and get your permits. You can also shop here for groceries you will need for your stay at the top. Irpu falls, where the trek begins is another 30 minutes by bus. There are not many buses from Srimangala to Irpu and you may have to hire a jeep if you can’t get a bus.
ACCOMMODATION NEAR IRPU
You can get no-frills accommodation at the temple near Irpu offers. There are also some home stay kind of resorts near Irpu, one is Ramcad which is pretty close to Irpu. Nearby village Kutta has some places like Pearl Garden, Chilligere Estate and High Falls Holiday
TREKKING IN THE PARK
The Narimale camp, which is in the middle of the forest, is the best place to stay. Camping elsewhere is probably not allowed, but check with the RFO if you want to. Narimale camp is 4.5km from Irpu falls and can be covered in 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on your fitness. From the camp, you can trek to Narimale Peak, which is about 1.5km, and takes around 1.5hrs to go and come back. Brahmagiri
Peak is 5kms and takes around 2 to 2.5 hours to climb up. Another place to visit is Munekal Caves, which is 3.5kms from the camp. Munekal caves is called as Pakshi Patalam at Kerala side of the sanctuary.
Arun, have you ever trekked HP or Uttranchal?
Thanx arun this provided me gr8 info.. so i can plan for next trek would u plz give RFO no.
No Mridula. Sikkim is the only place in Himalayas where I have been. My only Uttaranchal experience in skiing in Auli. And have never been to HP. Was keen to do some treks in UA but looks like I can’t do it this year..
My pleasure Anon, I don’t have the RFO’s phone number. But if you email me, I will try to find that and respond to you.
hi,
spotted your blog while searching for info on coorg… great info. can u tell me how you would rate the irpu falls trek in terms of difficulty? i havent done any serious climbing, and its been a while since i did the last trek…
thanks,
anu
Anu, Getting to Irpu falls is just a 10 minutes walk. You don’t need to trek.
Arun – Thumba chennagide photos. Keep up the good work Arun!
Anant
hey arun, thanx a lot for al the great info u’ve provided… m goin to brahmagiri this weekend was hunting badly for this kinda info , thanx a lot.. wil come bac n let u kno how the trek was..
Thanks Arun, should plan to protect self from the leaches. And some very good photos from your site,hope to get some good clicks.
Bsreddy.
Hey arun, I am from mumbai and a frd and i are going to coorg from bangalore.
I have read abt all the places one can visit in coorg however i am still unclear about what could be the best route,I mean from where to beign and where to end.
Can you help, if its not too much
Kusum, I just left a response for your question at http://travel.paintedstork.com/indiatravelforum/viewtopic.php?p=7#7
Take a look.
Hi Thanks for the info and photographs Would like the Rfo no
Nandini
Nice article. Great reading. I’m from Coorg and am planning to do the Narimale peak trek soon. In the meantime check out http://www.indiabackpacking.com
hey arun
I am unable to get in touch with RFO Brahmagiri(tel number not available), is it very necessary to do it well in advance or can i do @ srimangala also, pls let me know , mail me @ sriharsha.kr@gmail.com. we are leaving this weekend
I am not sure if it is needed to have advanced permission, but we had got it in advance.
gr8 photos, can u tell me which side of trekk is best ? kerela side / karanataka side ?
I think the Kerala side is a much shorter route.
Nice info here …
as i` have already planned to organize this trek on 10th & 11th of this feb.. i just had a glance if any budy has a ne pix posted here.. i got surprised…
too good one..
Aman.
& as far as somebody commented over there… u `ll need prior permisssion to go ova ther!
hi Arun,
is decent veg. food available where you trekked.
Ravi
Hi Arun
That was a highly informative and interesting account of your trek. iam going there this weekend. Any specific tips to help me ward off leeches?
Well, I dont know if the rains have started there yet. If it hasnt, there wont be any leeches to worry about. But they are in general difficult creatures to get away from. Leech guard socks are the best, but dono if they are available in and around Bangalore.
Hi Arun
Well, Iam back from brahmagiri. It was raining. but as Murphy’s Laws go, I was drenched by the time I could get my raincoat out. And after I twas out, rains stopped! Ah leeches! Iam still scratching my ankles! But an awesome trip though. Beautiful place. You can visit my blog regarding the same on http://ravindran-iit.livejournal.com/
wow..
Found your blog while searching for info on Brahmagiri…
Nice!
wow..
Found your blog while searching for info on Brahmagiri…
Nice!
Arun,to start,u’ve got excellent writeups abt your trips,and this one,brahmagiri,in particular is great.I relived my time when i went for this grt trek,thru the same trail,as u did.Skies had meltedthe two days we were in the vicinity in April-2006,and earth boiled with leeches But the only thing that made it a life long exp’ was the satisfaction of reachin the peak at 3 in the afternoon,blazing thru clouds and elephant dungs.
Keep writin friend.
Thanks Sushil. Being up there on the peak is indeed a satisfying experience.
hey u have given nice information……vll u plz give RFO number…..n details about their prmission….
Sorry but I seem to have lost RFO’s number.
Hi Arun,
It’s indeed great info that you have provided which no other website usually has. I’m a wild life lover basically.It would be great if you can suggest a sanctuary which is nearest to Hyderabad for a weekend trip.
Thanks,
Sampatj
This is a very nice report.Good equipment is hard to come by in India but things are improving. India now has a new online store for outdoor equipment called Adventure-Edge. http://www.adventure-edge.com Prices are reasonable and the people are good to deal with.
hi Arun ,
The information seems really good , but for one thing i would like to know , you have mentioned that u had to take some permission before starting u’r trekking at Brhamgiri .. can u please update me regadring that, from whom did u get this necessary permits and how ?
regards
Abhishek Shetty
Arun,
Your blog is kinda inspirational for me to plan for a trek to Brahmagiri, but before i go ahead with my plans, just wanted to have the details regarding, RFO…
Could you please provide me with the same if u had !! Looking forward for ur reply…
You can mail me @ pradeephoysal@hotmail.com
Pradeep, unfortunately I don’t have the number with me now.
hey u have done a great job…
can u tell me approximately how much it will cost per person?? n how to get rfo’s no???
Guys,
The phone number is : 9448813835
& the contact person's name is Mr. Pramod
(I guess the number is still valid)
Hi,
The photographs made me remember the days i had spent in the nirmale camp, the cold waters of that stream and the fog covered hills. and Mr chinnappa with whome i had been there.
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