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A few of my friends got together and this trip happened. But then, that is how it is with friends. I read it somewhere “One should go on unplanned trips”. Well, this was partially planned as we had to book the place at our destination, Jenkal near Sakleshpur.

Sakleshpur is about 230 kms from Bangalore and is full of coffee estates and scenic mountain slopes and brooks. The altitude is around 3000 feet and weather is more or less pleasant through out the year.

The six of us started from Bangalore late on a Saturday, around 12 noon from Bangalore. The route goes through Neelamangla ( take a left here, straight is Pune Highway), Chanrayapatna and then a big industrial town, Hassan. After Hassan you take a diversion towards Sakleshpur. The highway is a single lane and it does slow you down. But, the road is good enough. We reached Sakleshpur around 5 pm and stopped at Munzerabad club. One of the owners of the bungalow at Jenkal, Karthik, is a secretary of the club. This club is of the British times and retains that charm. We were treated to some nice coffee. Karthik also gave us a baked dish to carry to the bungalow at Jenkal.

The Gang at Munzerabad club
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Let me give you a brief about Ashtvinayak (8 Ganeshas). It is a pilgrimage of 8 temples in Maharashtra, each temple having its own history. Some of these idols are Swayambhu (self-existent) which means they were not created, but discovered in that form.

This trip was pending since long and when we started we just had a rough idea of the route ( courtesy a sketch of a map pulled from the net). Now let us get going and let me take you along on this trip.
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Kemmangundi- what a heavenly place, unknown and unexplored.

Enroute
We chose monsoons to visit the place. A group of six- Kantharaj, Vinay,Anurag,Ramu,Anil and yours truly Sudhir- drove upto Kemmangundi (1434 m)in an Innova. Bangalore to Chikmanglur was a routine highway drive. Just before Chikmangular, we took a detour to Belur. It houses a fascinating ancient temple that dates back to 1117 AD built by a Hoysala king. After spending some time there we reached Chikmangular where we stopped for lunch. Lunch over, time to hit the hills. From thereon, we did not take the standard road via Tarakere. Instead, we took a narrow uphill road via Kaimara , a dangerous proposition in the monsoons.

We negotiated around 4 landslides and were scared also the tyres would get stuck in the mud. Most of the time we were engulfed by fast moving clouds. Only once were we rewarded with a scenic view when the cloud cover lifted for a couple of minutes. The landscape is anyway full of forests and waterfalls.

The distance from Chikmagular to Kemmangundi via kaimera is about kms. It took us about 2 hours to reach Kemmangundi. Negotiating the treacherous narrow road ( or should I call it a path) was an experience in itself.

About the place
Our booking was in a PWD bungalow. There are no hotels or resorts out there, which in fact is a blessing.

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