The place is geographically adjacent to or part of the Bhadra wildlife sanctuary. It was on my list of places to visit and came up in a discussion with friends, resulting in the trip with friends and family we had been talking about for a long time. It was the first weekend of July. The rain had already started in Bangalore, and so was Kemmannugundi Hill.
Route:
It is around 280 km from Bangalore. The road condition is primarily good other than the very last part. Google Maps was sufficient to lead to the place accurately. A good portion of the route is through the Bangalore- Hassan highway, with ample food and fuel options.
Stay:
We stayed at Kemmannugundi Hill Resort by Jungle Lodges and Resorts by Karnataka Govt. It is the only resort on the hilltop. The road to the resort goes past the Hebbe Falls entry point. The resort has multiple cottages scattered on the slope of the hill in various layers and connected by stairs. We stayed at three of the Thungabhadra rooms. The resort is beautiful, and with the rain and cloud, it was the perfect place to spend a rainy weekend.
The room was nice. One side of the room was full glass with a specious balcony with seating arrangement. The view was also decent. The maintenance of the room didn’t reflect the sophistication. The room floor felt wet, and a damp smell was everywhere. Water was leaking from the terrace in one of the ground-level Thungabhadra rooms. The room boy helped bring extra mats and towels to at least soak the water. Still, management was not supportive and didn’t change the room or refund anything.
Food:
The only option for food was the restaurant in the resort. Food items were limited and was understaffed to handle the overcrowded situation during the weekend. People coming for day-visit at Hebbe Falls or the Z-point also had only this food option. We had to chase the waiter to take the order, clean the table, give the food, and so on. The situation was better at dinner, but breakfast was again the same. The quality of the food was decent.
Places to visit:
Z-point
The entry is at a walkable distance from our room. The entry pass was rupee 100/ person. It took us 1.5 hr of easy-level trek to reach the endpoint. In places, the path is narrow and muddy. We have seen the Shanthi waterfall on the way. At a point just before the endpoint, the wind was so high that we felt like flying. At times the wind was strong enough to make people fall to the ground.
The view was beautiful throughout and was terrific at the end. The cloud flowing from one side of the hill to the other was getting stopped by the hill and rolling over to the other side. The heavy wind made it tough to stand there, and that was an experience!
It took us more than 3hr in total to return to the entry point. There is no drinking water or food option after the entry point, so carry your own. Better to have raincoats than an umbrella if you are going in the rain due to the wind. Though our 5yr old managed to complete the trek by herself, I would not suggest it for any kid younger than that or to aged people. The path was muddy and had leeches throughout.
Hebbe Falls
We planned the first trip the next day morning at 7:30 am. You have to book it separately at the reception. The safari jeep took around 45min to the drop point. It was a 25min walk from there to the falls through a muddy road through the forest. We were the first group of the day to reach, so we got a close-to-nature feel of the falls. The waterfall was magical! It was filled with rainwater. The foggy and rainy weather added its glory. The wind was making the place filled with mist and droplets.
Raj Bhavan:
There is a garden and sunset point at the Raj Bhavan. The view is nice, but nothing compared to the Z point.
It was the perfect weekend trip with friends and family. The rainy season is ideal for visiting this place, provided you are okay with mud, rain, and leeches. Good service and maintenance at the resort would have made it better, but in any case, we enjoyed the trip thoroughly.
Published by Wriddhi Bagchi
