Enroute DoddaSampige | BR Hills – Trek Notes
Clicked in Dec 1998 / B.R. Hills Trek
I was desperate for a trek. My soul was beckoning me to have a wild experience. And looks like Vivek was having a similar fit… So, we decided to leave for one on that very night.
We decided on a trek in the BR Hills. Vivek headed the research. We soon found out that vehicles (which includes buses) are not allowed to ply in the BR Hills region from 1800 hrs to 0600hrs because of the frequenting elephants and other wild animals on the roads. Our research also told us that the place was teeming with wildlife and one had to be really careful in these jungles. I believe the elephants of this place can be quite aggressive .
It was clear, we needed more people with us on this trek. And we could find only one other at such short notice. It was the one and only, Dhananjay. So, it was to be the 3 of us hiking the jungles of BR Hills.
On the day 1 of our hike – We packed and left for BR Hills by the first bus available in the morning . We were there by afternoon. Ate lunch at Giridhar mess, which is in front of the CPWD quarters. Visited the temple and did some inquiries about the trekking opportunities.
We then took a bus to a junction from where Doddasampige was 6 km. We hiked the 6 km to reach the place of 101 lingas. You have to get down a few stairs built into the pathway to reach it. The 6 km can be covered in a four wheeler comfortably for it is a jeep track. There is a cool stream right behind the big tree. We got to witness some sort of a religious ceremony being performed at the Doddasampige by the people of an entire village who had walked 30 km to reach this place. Quite an experience. We also got to visit the tribe residing at the Doddasampige.
The children of the tribe had only one thing to say “Kaasha kodi, Kaasha kodi , Kaasha kodi…” which means “give money” . A bunch of around 20 of them followed us everywhere, chanting “give money, give money …” . It took me sometime to understand their accented kannada lingo.
The funny part was when Vivek pulled ten bucks and handed it out to one kid, instead of sharing with the rest, he ran away leaving the rest to chant with renewed fervor.
We got to talk to few of the tribesmen and found out about their life style. One of them was listening to music on a radio in his hut. Well!! civilization has definitely touched these tribes men’s lives. After having quite an interesting and fascinating experience we headed back to the junction on the highway.
There was supposed to be a bus at 1730 hrs which is the last one. It was 8 km to the CPWD quarters from the junction. We reached the junction close to 1800 hrs. We waited lying down on the highway waiting for any transport that came on wheels . These roads are extremely dangerous after 1800hrs and hence the ban on vehicles after this hour.
The bus was nowhere in sight. And so it was!! A hike on these dangerous roads in the dark, which even the local villagers avoid and it is for a good reason ‘Elephants‘. Just the 3 of us with our torch lights and our bags as silently as possible started walking. This is the same road where even the milestones are painted camouflage colors for the Elephants root out the white ones.
A bunch of Nature junkies we were… we reached the village which is 2 km before the CPWD quarters . The trek was without incident except that we were the topic of discussion with the local people for our daring trek which they considered foolish and dangerous. Later in the night we checked out the local bhajji and omelet joint.
