Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The words from Robert Frost’s poem refreshed in my mind as we passed through the rocky terrains of Anchetty Forest on July 15th.
Destination: The stream that ends as Anchetty Falls
Started at: Bangalore
On: 15th July 2006
As I entered Vikas’s place to join the ‘July Adventure Team’, I was welcomed by a set of backpacks, tents, food, and the enthusiast team arranging luggage into them. This being my first adventure tour, it took a little while for me to realize that it requires a whole of preparation but soon joined them to quickly pack the luggage and head towards Anchetty Falls, located 95 Kms from Bangalore, on way to Hogenekkal Falls (comes under Krishnagiri Dist of Tamilnadu).
At around 9:30 AM, the thirteen member team started out in three 4-wheelers towards Anchetty Village. Anchetty was known to be the playground of Veerappan and is famous for elephants. We stopped for a while at Hosur for treating our starving stomachs and then headed towards Anchetty. The journey after Muttadi was amazing. We drove to Anchetty through awesome curves that would surely give a complex to Mallika and Malaika, and started on our trek from there. Our aim was to reach the falls and to meet few elephants on the way.
As we contemplated the route that should be taken to reach the falls, we met a forest officer who showed us two ways – one that is rocky and has no elephants and the other – bushy and used with a likely chance to encounter elephants. We took the rocky path to enjoy the nature in its full glory and I am glad we did.
We went downhill through a rough path that ended at the stream flowing from the falls. From there, we just had to follow the stream to reach the falls - but then, it wasn’t all that easy. Passing through boulders and jumping over slippery rocks to cross the stream with luggage on the back was a little tiresome for this first timer. But then, the sound of woods and the refreshing stream water kept me/us going.
With the help of few 1 minute breaks that pumped energy into the tired souls, we finally reached a huge boulder that led to the main falls. The point was steep and difficult to ascend. After Kangkan managed to fall through the climbing and ended up in a sprain, the experts in the group took over the task of helping tensed souls like me onto the other end. I still wonder how Sushrutha managed to jump over that boulder!
The path from here was much more easier – considering that we passed through a worse terrain. After we reached the falls, Vikas, Sashi, Jagadish and Chitvant ventured towards finding the way up to the stream that led to this falls. The rest of us relaxed our muscles under the falls. Awesome to the power of infinity is what I can say about the feeling I had as I stepped under the splashing cold water.
By this time, the team had found the path and we have moved to join them above the falls. As I reached the place, I was so surprised to see that the stream that led there is so small and that I can actually walk through it comfortably. As I relaxed my feet under the water, I could feel the tiny fish nibbling at my skin. Small frogs were jumping across the tiny water pools that formed in the rocks and the scene is beyond my words.
Hungry by then, few of us went towards preparing lunch while the rest went to pitch in the tents. I donno if it is Swati’s recipe or the water or anything else but Noodles never tasted better!
Post lunch, we again split into teams - few went down towards the main falls while four of us went ahead to collect water from the falls that were 100 mts away. We lost our way and ended up at another fall. The place was so beautiful that it has become dark before we realized. In search of a short cut, we took another route this time only to trip and fall more often into the water and wet the shoes. With the help of voices that were calling out for us, we could finally manage to reach the camp.
Thankful that we were back safe n sound without giving an interview to the wild life, we quickly changed, had tea, set the camp fire and started playing Antakshari. Neither of the groups was willing to lose… so, we had to compromise for a draw and set off for preparing dinner at 9:30 PM.
For starters, we roasted few potatoes (rather most of them), onions and tomato under the fire and ate them with chatpata lemon, salt and mirchi. We could successfully finish cooking dinner by 11:30 after the camp fire turned into a cooking flame.
Post dinner, we had some more masti and then slowly slipped off under the tent to relax for the night. Those few who tried to sleep on the rocks under the sky were also pushed inside as the rain started showering in the mid of night.
Next day morning, we finally managed to pull out of beds and post Sushruta’s cup of chai, we went for a small stroll across the hill to view the morning mist. As we sat at the edge of the hill, watching the water flow down the valley into the woods and the sun rays playing hide n seek with the clouds, I started singing – aaj main upar, aasma neeche, aaj mein aagey, jamana hain peechey
The joy was not permanent.. Like all good things come to an end, so should this trip. We packed our bags and moved out of the jungle – this time through the other route. And then I thanked God that we took the route that was less traveled by. A beautiful location clubbed by a wonderful team makes this the most memorable trip.. I don’t need to say that this is a must see place but since it is a reserve forest (with a decent wild life population); one would require the permission of the forest ranger to camp out in that area. If by chance you forget to do that, you will comfortably end up earning the wrath and a whack from the local Anchetty Police.
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