Chayagraha: Kumta-Gokarna Beach Trek

Kumta-Gokarna Beach Trek

It was since a really long time that I was craving to go to beaches and also to do a small trek around Bangalore. All plans were going in vain due to so many reasons.

And just a week ago my good friend and colleague Mamta pinged me asking if I am interested to join a beach trek she was organising as part of BAT(Bangalore Adventurers). It was my first trek with BAT.

It was a bumper bonanza that I could do both of them in one shot because of the nature of the trek with beaches and hills. The trek was from Kumta to Gokarna covering a distance of ~20 kms.

We were a group of 21 people and we started our trek on Friday night from Bangalore after a round of casual introduction. We started slightly later than when we were supposed to start.
It was a bus ride for ~490 kms.

We reached Kumta around 9 AM. We had our breakfast at a hotel in Kumta after freshening up and got packed meal for lunch box. It was 10 30 AM when we started our trek. Since we started late, we did not reach on time or the ideal time to start trek which is early morning before sun starts to get harsh.

We started our trek from Vannalli beach of Kumta. It was a constant switch between walking by the beach shore and trekking on smaller hills to reach the next beach in line. We had trekked and crossed almost 2 to 3 beaches and hills after losing our way and finding one by noon when we decided to take a break for lunch.

I had fun doing a little bit of photography in this stretch of the red leaves, of the shells, of the crabs, of the ocean. It was fascinating to see big crabs moving into smallest of the holes by folding themselves. They were moving so fast on sand that all our efforts to get a good glimpse of them were going in vain.

Until we finally found an almost immobile crab and got a good view of it. We also found a jelly fish on our way. These were some moments of sheer joy where the child in us were awoken.

Sharing some of the snaps.

We then met a family of fishermen who were separating captured fishes from the net.
We had a small chat with them about timings of fishing and pricing of fish. It seems they charge around Rs 2 to 5 for a small fish in local markets and that the fishes are caught early in the morning in good number. They go for fishing twice a day, once early in the morning and again in the noon.

At the last leg of the trek for the day, we had to trek a hill with fort on top before we reached our campsite at Aganashini. It was a beautiful grassland that reminded few of walking dead series. The fort on top is built of reddish brown laterite rocks called as murakallu in Kannada/Tulu. The descend starts once the fort is crossed. The view of the sea from atop the fort is mesmerising.

We lost our way while descending and waited for a while until Srikanth, who was our host by the beach came to guide us. It was right on time for sunset when we reached the shore. We got a glimpse of the setting sun for about 5 mins. I almost fell down running down during descend to not miss the sunset view. :D Sunset at Aghanashini was so amazing with mountains touching the sea making the best combination.

We then were served hot tea made at Srikanth's house and some spicy chilli and aloo bajjis.

Srikanth's house is located just by the sea and it reminded me so much of my childhood home which was on the banks of Bhadra river. I had such a great time spending time with Srikanth's daughters Sampada, Pavithra and Shravya. Shravya entertained us all with her singing.

Their mother reminded me of my mum and our time in Singsar. Listening to her talk about safety of the gals made me appreciate how my mother protected us in that deep forest.

The best part of the evening was cooking BisiBele Bath using firewood. It was nothing but a trip down the memory lane for me.

Srikanth helped us with setting the campfire and we all sat in circles to eat our dinner. We also played dumb charades.
We then slept in our sleeping bags in open gazing at the moon and the stars. That was such an unique experience and something that I was looking for in the trip. One has to experience falling asleep to the sound of waves.

Next day after having bisi bisi uppit for breakfast, we continued our trek after bidding adieu to the kids and family.
When someone made a remark on how the people here are living in deep forests, it reminded of all the times tourists would ask us similar questions in Singsar, my childhood home. The answer is simple. We did not know a world outside of that and the cruelty. It was our happy heaven.

After walking for almost an hour we reached Belikhana from where we had to take a ferry ride over the Tadadi-Aghanashini ferry line.
We then walked on the roads of Gokarna for a kilometre and started trekking again to first reach Paradise beach and then Half Moon beach. I also met an old couple from France who were on their 20th odd visit to India. They first visited India in 1976 and they mentioned that the country has changed a lot for good. It is our nations diversity and culture that has kept them coming back.

Seargus and Annie from France

We reached Om beach around 1 and had lunch in one of the local shacks. After few hours of chill and refreshment we walked upto Kudle beach and reached our bus. We then started our journey back to Bangalore.