Place: Mekedatu &Sangama.Distance: 100 x 2 = 200kms.Directions: Bengaluru– Kanakpura – Sangama – Mekedatu.Particiapants: Madhu> Manu > Sp.Bikes: GS 150> CBUnicorn > Pulsar150.Previous visit: KanvaReservoir – 2nd anniversary run.INLESS THAN 50 WORDS:Mekedatu is a dangerous, fast flowing, andscenic water spot. Last visit to this place nearly two years back almost tookmy leg away, well this time things were different, the forest almost took ourlegs away ha-ha!!
INTRO& PLAN:Initially the plan was to visit a reservoirand forest in Tamil Nadu. But like always, we prefer Plan B – unplanned one.Manu & Madhu were the only people on the confirmed list. So afterfinalizing the people and bikes we crashed.TIME: 23:00 hrs (15/12/2011)
ASSEMBLE:As usual I was up at around 05:00 hrs, hada sip of coffee did a few push-ups and was all set go. Manu arrived at my placeat about 05:45hrs & as we waited for Madhu, Manu and myself were discussingother options. Manu suggested Mekedatu, as he hadn’t seen the actual place.Though I was taken back at the suggestions after the previous visit to thisplace, it was time put aside the fear and go back to this wonderful place. Wedeparted as soon as soon as Madhu reached my place.TIME: 06:45 hrs
RIDE I: (Bengaluru – Kanakpura)This was a40-50kms stretch. Madhu said he knew a shortcut to reach Kanakpura Road, so we followed him.Believe me it was one kickass route, through thick trees on mud roads and saveda lot of time. Once we reached Kanakpura road it was just formality, we rode ata decent pace negotiating the curves of NH-209 to perfection to reach the townfor breakfast.TIME: 08:15 hrs
KANAKPURA: (Breakfast stop)Alright…. Weordered some hot breakfast and coffee. Yeah as we ate the light breakfast, weagain had a discussion about the destination. BR hills & Muthati were thehot favourites, but finally we decided to stick on to Mekedatu. After thebreakfast we hit road without wasting anytime.TIME: 08:45 hrs
RIDE – II: (Kanakpura - Mekedatu)This was another40-50kms stretch, but we took our own sweet time completing this one. We madesure we rode slow to enjoy the surroundings and the curves as we had nointentions of returning back home till evening ha-ha!!We rode at adecent pace, back to back keeping the formation intact. We took lot ofpit-stops, sitting on the road, enjoying the fresh air and scenic view allaround us.
The finalstretch to Mekedatu comprises of 2-3 hairpin curves, we switched of our enginesand allowed our bikes to take us for the nest 3-4kms to reach Sangama.TIME: 10:00 hrs
SANGAMA:First thingsfirst, we parked our bikes under a tree. We started fooling around climbing uptrees I guess our basic instincts got the better of us ha-ha. Even the fewmonkeys at the place were taken aback. As we moved on,I received another shocker. The place had a complete make over, restaurants,temples, gardens, clear boards, inspection bungalows etc.,
Two years backit had and absolute hardcore isolated look, with only on small shop and nothingelse.As we reachedthe river we were glad that the water level was low. Last visit it was herethat I crushed my knee against a boulder and fell into the flowing water. So Irequested Manu who was the tallest among us to carry my bag which had theirjackets and other belongings. We cautiously crossed the river and reached theother side.TIME: 10:15 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK:
So…, yeah we hadreached the other side. And as we did we heard there was elephants spottingnear by :D, there was no stopping me from rushing to the spot. Jumping acrossthe rocky terrain and running we reached the river shore to find these two hugeelephants on the other side i.e from the Muthati forest.
Alright…, thereare two ways of reaching Mekedatu after you cross Sangama. One way is thenormal way by taking the bus and then there’s our way by picking up basic tools like a stick anda knife and walking 12-15kms through the forest filled with snakes and otherwild creatures.
As we startedthe walk, we picked up our sticks and started chatting and cracking jokes. Thetrees were initially lean but as we proceeded it got real thick and we feltcompletely isolated. The silence was something we were enjoying but yeah it wasscary too.We were eagerlywaiting for some wild animal to jump out of the forest when all of a suddenManu and me who were in front felt the ground trembling (just like in themovies). As we turned back we could see Madhu, and yeah behind him was a sightI won’t be forgetting.
About 30-40 hugebulls were charging right at us, in a matter of seconds we jumped out the muddytrail & hopped onto some rocky terrain beside the fast flowing waters.Trust me we were saved by a whisker :)We waited forthe gang to pass and then we resumed. After about 30 minutes of anotherisolated walk we encountered them again. Believe me they meant business, few ofthem actually turned back and started walking towards us. So we decided to gooff the off-road :P. We continued along the fast flowing waters on the rockyterrain and rejoined the path only to find more bulls.
Alright…, weworked out a detailed plan and the plan was simple “walk right past it :P”… and thankfullyit worked as we didn’t make any sudden movements to piss it off.Finally theforest adventure ended as we reached Mekdatu :)(Yeah all theseencounters with bulls might sound funny, but trust me we had the same notion ofbulls as simple creatures but this was something else)TIME: 11:45 hrs
MEKEDATU:
Ah yeah thereshe was eagerly waiting for my arrival. We took some rest at the sit out andstarted to descend the rocky steps. We spotted a small snake on the steps butit was not worth the catch so we moved on to reach the place. And guess what wewere the only 3 at the entire place. Yup we were very glad to have the placefor ourselves, and yeah it also meant extra dangerous. We removed ourshoes and started to explore with caution as the force of the water was simplyterrifying, the thunderous roar of the water hitting the rocks could be heardduring the walk only. Madhu & Maanu were totally happy & satisfied withthe place; I mean yeah it was worth all the efforts put into the walk.Continuing further we reached the final tip of Mekedatu where the water splitsby hitting a boulder on which we were happily sitting.
We were at thetip; the clear instructions were no stupid and foolish tricks as nobody wasaround. We started fooling around, Manu and madhu threw their sticks into thewater to examine the force, after further fooling around we took a small 20minsnap on the boulder. After a while wewoke up safely thankfully not falling off our beds haha!! We headed back to thesit out. We didn’t even have water in the bottle, so took extra rest anddecided to walk back through the forest.TIME: 13:00 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK 2:As we walkedback, my right knee which had problems from the start snapped. But we continuedfurther and Madhu and Manu suggested we visit another spot along the way. Andthere she was Mekedatu-2 aKa Goatiedatu.
GOATIE-DATU: (Mekedatu-2)
Well yeah thename was coined by us only. But yeah this place was simply brilliant; it had abalance of fast flowing waters and small peaceful streams. The water wascrystal clear and first thing we did was quench our thirst. Further we washedour faces and started to explore the place to find trees fallen down due to theforce, small falls etc.,We spent somequality time at this place and as we left the place found my shoe sole had ahuge crack in it and my right knee was in deep shit pain.TIME: 13:45 hrs
ADVENTURE WALK 3:As we continuedfurther, we kept laughing all the way to find the biggest hurdle of the trip.About 100-130 bulls were on either side of the muddy trail. And as per theday’s proceedings even a tiger seemed less dangerous than these creatures.Slowly without any sudden movements we started a 10mins walk (literally) amidstthe bulls smiling at every creature ha-ha!!Once we were outwe spotted a snake but unfortunately couldn’t catch it as it disappeared intothe woods. We continued further taking a shortcut to reach Sangama.TIME: 14:30 hrs
SANGAMA: As we reachedSangama, Madhu & Manu jumped into the waters for a much needed rest as Isat ashore. After spending about 30-40mins we crossed back the river cautiouslyto reach our bikes. And yeah I still had my stick with me (latter it was named), it was all ready toride back to Bangaloreas well.TIME:15:30 hrs
RIDE III: (Sangama- Kanakpura)This was about40 kms stretch. We rode at a decent pace without taking any breaks to reachKanakpura hotel for a much deserved lunch.We entered thehotel limping, and ordered a very heavy lunch, ah yeas it tasted so much bettersince we had earned it totally. After a heavy Oota we washed our faces andleft.TIME: 16:45 hrs
RIDE: IV: (Kanakpura – Bengaluru)This was about50kms formality stretch; all we had to do was stay awake as we had eaten a verylunch. As the sun started going down, the shadow formed on the road as we rodeis something you should have a look. Haha we looked like warriors. We did somesmooth riding on NH-209 to reach Bengaluru.TIME: 17:45 hrs Sat at the NICEroad exit and spoke for about 30mins and left to reach our respective homes.TIME: 18:30 hrs
CONCLUSION:“Well this was one kickass adventure, on ofthe best till date. It surely stands up with the other adventures like Pearlvalley - In search of Elephants, Skandagiri night trek - Misty Death trek, Kabbalu trek - Peak into the next life, TG reservoir - Fun run etc.,It was crazy on the part of us to walk 12-15kmsthrough the forest encountering snakes and bulls but it trust me it was worthall of it”
PARTICIPANT VIEW:MANU: Led the waythroughout and it was him who suggested this place else we wouldn’t have hadsuch a great adventure.MADHU: Known for hisreserved nature, but this time kept the spirits up with his jokes and notforget his golden find “Goatie-datu”.SP: Brought back the“Weapon of mass destruction”, ( Haha now you know what the stick has beennamed)Until next time,ta-da Ciaa\m/
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