Month of September, full of work and need an adventure, here you go, “Sathodi” falls. A place located in the dense forest of Western ghats, the Sahyadris.
We planned for 2 day trek to edukumeri, the green route, but due to heavy rains we changed the plan to Sathodi overnight. We took the Rani Channamma express to Hubli, this trains leaves at 10 pm from Bangalore city railway station. After capturing couple of group photos to mark the beginning, we opened up the road map and started to prepare the plan for next 2 days. As usual we were not able to come to conclusion and went for sleep. Train reached Hubli at 5.30 am and we started to walk the 1 km distance from railway station to bus stand. We caught the 6.30 am bus to Yellapur, and we reached Yellapur at 8 am.
From Yellapur we need to go to Ganesha gudi which is about 16 km from Yellapur and 1 government bus goes there at 8 am from Yellapur, We were unlucky as we watched the bus move beside us while we were entering the bus stand. But you can rent a jeep, if you want to travel by vehicle till the falls or you can hire a maruthi van which will go till Ganesha gudi. Sathodi falls is about 10 km from Ganeshagudi and its totally downhill path. You won’t know when you reach the falls as you move enjoying the nature’s beauty. We hired an cab till Ganeshagudi (Do not pay more than 200 or at max 250 rs as its only 16 km and not 30 km as driver would say). There is a small Ganesha temple, we prayed to god and set foot towards the falls.
On moving about 4 km you can find a route with sign board showing towards “Ulavi”, our destination. You need to come back to this point after you trek to falls. We reached the falls by around 1 pm. It had rained heavily and the falls was at its full potential and we were forced to watch it from distance.
There is a small hotel “Hotel Woodland” near the falls and you will get decent and hot south Indian meals. You need to tell them before if you want the food and pay advance. Food was good and we ate as if we didn’t have anything to eat in long time! Here starts the problem. As per our plans we were supposed to move from Sathodi by 3 pm and reach Shivapura,a place about 12 km from Sathodi, but heavy lunch made us to take rest and we spent time in Battara mane (Batta’s home). There were people doing fishing in the river and we started talking to them. We got an idea as to why not we use this boat to cross the river and reach shivapura. This would save us 5km of up hill trekking. We made a deat for 200 rs to take us to place which will help us reach shivapura soon. We requested the hotel people if we can stay there and they informed that as per government rules no one can stay there after 6 pm. However as it was already late they agreed to give place to sleep. We had dinner at the same place and slept. Through out the first day there was no rain.
We left from Sathodi at 6 am and got into those fishing boats and they dropped at a place which will lead to shivapura and from there to Ulavi. We had saved 5 km but still 8km was pending. Here starts the fun it started raining heavily and we knew we can’t wait for rain to stop and we started walking in rain after we covered our bags with raincoats. It was totally uphill and tiresome task. Initially we were walking at 2 kn per hour but later as the steepness increased. We hardly made 1 km per hour. There are no leaches near the falls or on way as many blogs and web links suggest. When you are about 2 km from Ulavi the leaches have their territory. There are long and fierce, longer than what you find in Kodachadri or Kemmanugundi. We were prepared for this and our shoes and legs were coverd with tobacco powder which gave us some resistance. As you come near Ulavi, there is a view point and good road towards the village. It was still raining heavily and we were tired and drenched completely. As we reached the temple complex we saw the bus we were supposed to catch to Hubli. It was scheduled to leave in next 10 minutes ( 2.30 pm). But we wanted to visit the temple, have bath and lunch. Lucky we were to find that there in one last bus which will go to Hubli at 3.30 pm. You get temple rooms at nominal price and you can get refreshed there. We had our lunch in temple after the darshan and we heard the bus pressing the horns.
Bus takes about 2 hours to reach Dandeli and 4 hours to Hubli. We got down in Dandeli as driver told we would get a rajahamsa bus from here. Bus left to Bangalore at 5.30 pm. We got the same and finally started traveling back to Bangalore. Its exactly 12 hours journer from Dandeli to Bangalore and we reached Bangalore at 6 am.
Details at a Glance:
Place: Sathodi
Distance: 500 km from Bangalore.
Travel: Catch train to Hubli, take bus to Yellapur and hire a jeep to Falls.
Food: Available near falls but make sure you have backup incase.
Difficulty level: Moderate till Sathodi, difficult if going till Ulavi.
