Hidden Gem - Ermayee Falls

Ermayee is a resplendent waterfall around 15km from Ujire near a village called Kajoor.

3 of us pushed ourselves out of bed, early morning at 4AM, on a fine Saturday in December 2013 and set on our trail from Mangalore. Our plan was to visit Kukke and Dharmasthala Temples first and then explore the falls.

After taking blessings at famous temples of South Canara, we started towards our actual destination at 2PM. A left diversion at Somanatadka on Ujire to Charmady Highway and around 18km journey will lead you to the falls. Along the way we could see the beauty of the Kudemukh range at a distance.

Nobody can easily spot the mud road which leads to the falls on the right side of the main road. We were not exceptional, and went around 1 km ahead of the mud road and then again came back. From there, it's hardly 3KM distance. One could ride half way with the difficulties and then have to cover the rest of the path on foot.

As I was walking got dismayed to see a fall, which was not thicker than my little finger. Oops! We rode more than 200Km since morning and ended up seeing this. No, I could barely hear another waterfall sound and increased my speed towards that direction. 5 minutes walk and I was in front of the howling Ermayee falls.

Ermayee fall runs down from the space between the gigantic rocks in two steps about 80m height, creating a deep pond in front of the fall.

Surroundings of the falls looked very clean as it was less explored by people. Before jumping into the water we thought of quickly exploring more of the falls, as we could see a trail near fall which lead towards the top of the falls. We slowly crawled up to the top of the falls and amazed to see another two step falls there.

Since surroundings were little scary there, we quickly had a glimpse and came down to the bottom of the falls to refresh ourselves in the water.

Spending an hour or more in the water we headed back to Mangalore with divine and accomplished feelings.

Dabbe Falls truly called Keppa Joga - Last trek of 2013 !!!

With the hope of making the last weekend of 2013 memorable one, we left for Dabbe falls. Dabbe falls is a stunning waterfall near Hosagadde, which is around 20km from Jog on the Sagar - Bhatkal Highway via Kargal. Dabbe fall slides from a height of around 300 feet into a valley which then continues to join river Sharavati. One has to get permission from Kogaru forest office to trek to this falls.

With usual excitement 3 of us boarded a private bus to Jog at 10:30pm in Mangalore and reached the Jog early morning. As the dawn broke over the Sharavati Valley we started to walk towards Jog falls viewpoint. I felt one should not come to Jog post monsoon, which explains the plight of the falls. Raja and Rani falls were barely visible.

We weren't disappointed much though, as this was not our destination. We stepped away from Jog lazily searching for the bus stand where one can board bus to Hosagadde. The view around bus stand was beautiful with full of scenic and a water body passing parallel to the road.

There are very limited buses on this route. After waiting for an hour bus arrived at 8:45 AM. It took almost an hour to cover the route which was passing through hilly region. Beside the Hosagadde bus stand there is a mud road which will lead towards the falls. Sun started burning above us as we started on the trail.

There are a couple of houses on the way, from whom we got guidance to reach the falls. At one point mud road narrowed to a small walking path. Walk along that path was just awesome with the full roof cover provided by small bamboo like trees, a canal running along one side and the sound of a stream flowing on the other side.

Covering almost 5km we reached Dabbe Mane from where we could hear the sound of the falls. From there the path is very steep disembarking towards the foot of the falls. At times the path was almost 80 degree incline. Thanks to roots and small plants, without them it is very tough to climb down. Though we had a rope given by Manjayya Jain of Dabbe Mane, we hardly used that.

In the meantime, one of my fellow trek mates was finding his bag very heavy and dropped it down with the thought that he will pick it up a little climb down. But the bag slid down so far, that it went out of our sight. We were surprised not to find the bag, coming down almost 300 meters from that point and with the sad note started discussing what all the things we might have lost along with the bag. Alas! We found the bag almost 500 meters down from the point where we dropped it, bringing a smile on our face in that tough trail. We saw the first glimpse of the falls when we just stepped out of the forest and all exclaimed Soooperrrrrrrr!!!

We wanted to slide down quickly from there like our bag did and reach to fall, but the path was even steeper. Finally a careful climb down brought us right in front of Dabbe falls.

The fall was elegant and stunning with its roaring sound which makes you almost deaf (that's why it is called Keppa Jog in local language). The surrounding of the falls was astonishing with a gigantic rock on one side of the falls kissing the azure, beautiful valley taking away the water of the falls and a pond almost 10 feet deep in front of the falls.

We spent more than an hour in water, yet no mood to move out. But remembering that the last bus to return was at 4:30pm, we pushed ourselves out of the water and started eating our lunch which we packed at Kargal. Climbing up was easier than climbing down though it was tiresome. After sipping small cup of tea at Dabbe Mane and hearing the falls sound one last time, we started back to Hosagadde.