Bandaje Falls Trek

Nestled in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, Bandaje Trek lies in Chikmagalur which is a small town located 280 kilometers away from Bangalore. Chikmagalur attracts lots of tourists due to its pleasant climate, coffee plantations and two of the famous mountain peaks – Baba Budangiri and Mullayanagiri.

Bandaje trek was in my bucket list from a long time but as everyone says right time and right company matters always to plan your travel. One of my friend asked me out for this trek and my niece also agreed to join us which I was little surprised since she has never trekked before. So I didn’t want to bring her morale down by explaining her the trek difficulty but was so glad and proud of her that she successfully completed this trek with me.

We had booked this trek through a travel group called Incredible_Karnataka who organizes treks every weekend around various parts of Karnataka.

Day 1 – 14^th June 2024 - Friday

We were picked up from the designated pick up points by our Tour lead in Bangalore and we set off to Chikmagalur with an excitement of uncovering yet another beautiful trek of Karnataka.

Day 2 – 15^th June 2024 – Saturday

We reached Chikmagalur at 5:30 am in the morning. We were put up in Charmadi Homestay and I must say I was totally mesmerized with the first look of this place. Nestled amidst dense vegetation, lip smacking home made food and having all the bare essential amenities for a comfortable stay. In fact this stay was a luxury in itself. So thanks to Incredible_Karnataka for putting us up at this amazing stay for our trek.

We didn’t have time to take rest. We were asked to quickly freshen up in an hour and reach the dining at around 7 am for breakfast. We were served authentic homemade breakfast(Idli, dosa and rice bhath) here. Post filling our pot bellies with sumptuous breakfast, we then got into our buses and began our journey towards the trek.

We were taken to a point where we all got off from the bus and then hopped onto an open Jeep. From here started our off-roading experience in the lap of nature. After a roller coaster ride of around 30 minutes, we reached the parking point of the trek.

We got off from the Jeep and started walking towards the entry point of the trek.

First point is Rani Jhari for which there is no entry fee. So we started walking uphill to this point and I must say it was totally worth it.

Rani Jhari View point

Best location to feel the mountains and embrace the cool hug from nature.

Then we reached the entry point of Bandaje Trek point. And there was a big chaos here. Police officials were at the entry point checking each group’s ticket. And since Nethravathi trek was cancelled due to permission issues, most of the crowd has planned this one as their alternate option.

After a slight delay of around 30 minutes, we were let inside the forest area and our trek started from here. Total distance is 8 Km one way and might take easily around 5-6 hours depending on your speed.

The initial forest section is an uphill climb. If it rains, its going to be slippery. So please ensure you have the right trekking shoes with you and needless to say rain gear.

Once the forest section is done, you will get the first glimpse of the lush green meadows.

And from here the trek till the waterfall is on rolling hills as you keep climbing one hill after another.

To add to this thrill, it started raining heavily. So time to pull out our raincoats. But it was really tough to walk with rains splashing on face continuously with minimal to zero visibility. We stopped for sometime until rain stopped so that we are in a position to put our foot forward and then continued our trek.

After ascending and descending around 3-4 mountains, now the trail starts to descend towards the final downhill to reach the last point of the trek – Bandaje waterfalls. It was raining continuously hence I don't have pictures of the trek from this point since my phone also needed protection from rain.

Water is not gushing. Hence you wont hear the sound of waterfall until you have reached the actual place. But once you are here, its very calm and peaceful. We opened our packed lunches provided by homestay and had it here. Post lunch, we then walked towards the edge of the waterfall. I was pretty disappointed at the sight. This being a monsoon I was expecting gushing waters through the rocks but it wasn’t. We sat there absorbing the views in front of us for some-time.

And now comes the toughest part – steep uphill climb. Trust me when I say this, the more and more I was climbing I was thinking when is it going to end. It was really daunting.

Enroute we stopped by to see if we want to take a detour and scale up to peak to visit Ballarayanadurga fort. But I noticed some trekkers who came down were saying its not worth it since the entire fort is in ruins now but worth going for the panoramic views of the landscape. So I decided to drop this plan since dusk was sinking in and I wanted to ensure that we trek down the forest section before it gets dark.

Finally we made it to the entry point at around 5 PM. There is a shop at this point where you can buy water, Maggie, tea/coffee and some snacks too. So this was a big relief since our water bottles were empty by now and our body was craving for water. And it started raining heavily now. So we ordered hot Maggie which was the need of the hour. Monsoon trek cannot be completed without savoring Maggie and hot cup of tea .

We waited for our other fellow trekkers to reach and then hopped onto our Jeep for another off-roading experience. By the time we reached homestay it was 8 PM. We had no energy to socialize or have any fun activities since everyone wanted to freshen up. Post freshening up, we headed straight to dinner since we were starving. We were provided with homemade lip smacking homemade food which was totally soul satisfying. After this we took a stroll along the property which was really peaceful. Our tour lead briefed us about the next day’s plan which was to cover 3 spots enroute Bangalore which required us to start early at around 8 am from the homestay. So we then headed straight to bed for a much needed peaceful sleep after a tiring eventful trek.

Day 1 – 16^th June 2024 – Sunday

We woke up in the morning, got ready, had breakfast at the homestay and hopped onto our vehicle for our return journey to Bangalore.

Kodige Falls

This was our first stop of the day. Again to reach this spot we had to get down from our bus and enjoy the off-roading experience on Jeep to reach this place. Kodige falls is a 30 feet waterfall formed over Nethravathi river. The water at the base of the waterfall is shallow. So one can easily swim and play in water. And there are good, clean changing rooms too.

Kelagur Tea Estate

Leaving Chikmagalur without visiting a tea estate is incomplete. So our next stop was Kelagur tea estate.

We ordered cardamom tea at the tea shop located here. What a perfect setting - nature, rains and hot tea😊.

We then stopped at Kottigehara for lunch break. You don’t have luxury options here. But even the basic lunch options are good. We tried Neer Dose at Sri Udupi Hotel and the food was good.

Doddagaddavalli Hoysala Temple

After our lunch break, our driver drove continuously for an hour till this point which was the last stop of the day. When we reached here, it was just us and I was glad to feel this calm surrounding since last 2 days I was seeing flocks of tourists everywhere I went. So this looked really peaceful.

Incredible_Karnataka team had arranged a guide for us who took us around the temple and explained history in detail. Nestled in a quaint village between Belur and Hassan, this temple is one of earliest known Hoysala temples. This temple is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi facing east and right opposite to her is the shrine of Shiva Linga facing West. On the other side, you will see Goddess Kali is located facing south and Lord Vishnu is located opposite to her facing North.

Inside the temple, you will find lot of pillars in Hoysala style. On the exterior side of the temple, you will find some hero stones (Veera Gallu) too. The serene temple with lake in the backdrop is a perfect place for detoxification. This is truly a hidden gem and if anybody is planning for a Hoysala trail this place should be in their list. One can spend hours admiring this architectural marvel. So thanks to Incredible_Karnataka for taking us here.

While our fellow travelers were busy taking pictures of temple’s exteriors, we took a stroll in the village to soak into the rustic vibes of this place.