Tandiandamol - a revisit

We had initially planned for a trek to Brahamagiri peak which is situated near to the town of Srimangala. Upon calling up the forest office for permissions,we were informed that two days trekking in the forest will not be allowed in this season because of forest fire problem, but single day's trek was still possible so after getting this assurance, 10 of us landed up in srimangala at 5 in the morning. A local police beat showed us the way to the forest office. This place was locked and we were informed it will open only at around 9:30. Since we had the mobile number of the forest officer whom I had called earlier, I again called him up to en quire about the situation. This time he informed us that trekking to Brahamagiri peak has been completely stopped for the time being but he gave us an option to trek to a place called Aa bayalu, A quick google search on a friends mobile phone didn't throw up any results for that place, hence deciding not to take any chance we all decided to go to Tadiandamol peak. I had trekked this peak around 2 and 1/2 years back, and had enjoyed the place very much.

Srimangala being a small town didn't have any decent hotels, so we caught a local bus to Virajpet and had our breakfast there. Then we caught a bus to Kakkabe, and after a journey of 1 hour the bus dropped us off at the starting point of the trek.

The initial 3-4 Kms from the bus-stop is a tarred road but has a continuous upward incline, those of you who want a strenuous climb can start from the bus-stop, otherwise it is better to start the trek from the palace from where it is a 4-5 Km climb to the peak. Since we started the trek around 11:15, the conditions were pretty hot and humid. The initial 5-6 Kms from the bus-stop was through forests and estates and doesn't provide any views, Only after the jeep tracks starts converting to a trail path do we get to see the beauty of the place. The grassy areas were gutted out due to forest fires, but still the brownish peaks were also quite majestic and beautiful.

A water point and a camping site can be found after a few meters into the trial. From here onwards the path takes a more steeper inclination. A final stretch of the forest before reaching the peak is the most arduous part of the trek as along with climb, the humidity saps all the energy out.

Finally we reached the peak around 3, and took in the magnificent view before resting and having the snacks that we had brought with us. the peak unfortunately was littered with plastics, one of the drawback of this place becoming a popular trekking spot. There were more than 6-7 teams that were climbing the peak on that day, with almost half of them camping. To my surprise I also saw three groups of foreigners.


Finally after spending an hour at the peak we started to make our decent. The occurrence of a blister in my feet started causing a lot of discomfort. Finally we reached the bus-stop around 7 in the night and caught a bus which dropped us off at Napoklu. A private bus (Poornima travels) to Bangalore was standing at the bus stand, so we decided to return back to Bangalore that night itself. Thus finishing of the travel in one day. The bus was pretty comfortable and the driver stopped the bus in Madikeri for dinner, We all went to a restaurant named choice, which in fact served a very good vegetarian fare.