Since he day I had seen the pics of the magnificent waterfalls, I had been wanting to visit the place. A holiday and a quick plan set us up.
My cousin had been there and the road taken by them was Hubli-Kittur-Bidi-Ramnagar-Anmod-Molem. I did not know any other road so we decided on the same.
At 7 in the morning I left for the waterfalls along with a friend of mine .taking the NH4 towards Belgaum. Kittur is about 45 Kms from Hubli.. Just before Kittur bus stand is a road which connects to Kittur. Kittur had a fort ,so we decided to check the place out. Kittur fort which is in total ruins ,once ruled by Kittur Rani Chenamma . There is not much to see here , there is also a museum but was closed. Can be skipped unless you have time ,since the place is only a Km away.
From Kittur asked for the road to Bidi ,once you have taken the diversion to Kittur , from the circle keep going straight till you reach a road on your left , take this road, Bidi is about 15 Kms from here. The road is really bad ,luckily not very heavy traffic, but the road has potholes a feet deep at places .Traffic consists of a few trucks and Force Trax taxi and few 2 wheelers.
From Bidi we headed towards Ramnagar , on the way to Ramnagar on your left is a petrol bunk fill up here there is no bunk till Ramnagar .The petrol bunk dude is a very nice guy , more about him later.
The road from Bidi to Ramnagar is good with recently repaired tarmac. The distance between the two is about 30 Kms. From Ramnagar we headed towards Anmod. The road between Ramnagar and Anmod passes through jungles and the road here is good and good speed can be maintained. From Anmod to Molem is the ghat section infested by mining trucks. This road if it can be called a road , is one of the worst I have ridden on ,the dust here is incredible , one can hardly see the road ,every time a tipper goes, the dust density increases. My helmet visor was not cleaned properly and riding without the visor was hellish , my eyes started to water because of the dust ,had a very hard time trying to see the road and the watering eyes made it only worse with dust mixing in . The vehicles which ply on this road are all mining trucks, most of them tippers ,driven at very high speeds, over taking is very difficult and risky with very little reaction time and no space to move to avoid the on coming trucks . Most of the roads ,especially in the bends were bad ,any spill in here ,risks being run over. So after a lot of asking for direction right from Kittur we finally reach Molem and from here we proceeded to Colem.
Once we arrived at the turn to Dudhsagar in Colem we saw a bunch of guys sitting on motorbikes , these guys charge 400Rs per person for the drop to Dudhsagar falls on their bikes and anybody with there own bike is not helped or given any direction to reach the spot .I asked them for direction and all they said was your bike won’t go , you need a guide to show the place. Last part is true.
As we moved forward ,we came across manned level crossing. Which is most likely will be closed all the time ,leaned the bike under the gates and pushed it across As soon as we crossed the railway tracks, we found 3 roads ,one tar on the right, one mud road in front and a mud road going up to my left. After asking the gateman at the railway crossing for direction we took the left mud road . Riding a little ahead we reached an unused railway track. We rode on the track itself for a distance till it lead next to a track which was in use.
We got off the track and started riding on the trail next to the track in use. I did not know how long I had to ride or where I had to take a diversion , I kept on riding blind to the fact that ,when I reached the 49/500 or so signboard I had keep riding till I reach 46/000 and 45/900. I would find a milestone that has 51 on one side and 50 on the other and get down the trail . I stopped for a while hoping to ask some body for directions ,then I saw couple of guys riding towards me , seeing them gave me the confidence that I was on the right track or rather next to the right track ,I rode on . A little while later I stopped for the guys behind me to catch up. They never did .I turned back in search of them and they where nowhere to be seen, then I came across a small trail leading under a bridge. It looked unrideable but I walked down the trail looking for tyre marks and found a few and then got my bike down the trail and under the bridge beneath the railway track .I rode down right into a stream flowing below the bridge, continued following the trail , a few meters later I found a check post .
I brought tickets for the bike 40 Rs ,20 Rs for JJ and 5 Rs for me , 5 for me because students get a discount and I showed him my 3 year old expired student Id card. From the check post it was another 5 to 6 Kms . I was doing good speed here in the jungle and the inevitable happened. I rode right into a sludge pit ,which looked like a road , the pit was about 6 inches deep and about 5 feet wide the bike skidded and me and JJ both fell with the bike on top of us, we both started to laugh .Luckily no damage to us or the bike.
. After a river crossing on the bike ,we met up with the motorbike taxi guys I had initially met at the entrance. Started to chat with them and I tagged along with them for rest of the ride. Parked the bikes much before the spot ,as a log had fallen off on the trail. After parking the bikes all of us JJ ,me ,the taxi guys and their pillion started to walk to the falls about half a kilometer trek with river crossing waist deep water .
And finally we reached Dudhsagar. It’s a sight to behold it’s really beautiful and words won’t do justice to its beauty. We were not able to spend much time at the falls , since I did not want to ride the Molem- Ramnagar stretch at night ,we left early at about 2pm . Rode a bit fast since it looked it was about to rain and reached Bidi at 7.15 and stopped for petrol and started to move towards Kittur at 7.30. Was cursing the road all the way till Kittur and a smiled when I saw the milestone 2 Kms to Kittur. I get a call on mobile “sir you have left your bag at our petrol station. Calmly , resigned to fate I turn back and ride back to pick the bag . Saying my thanks to the petrol pump dude. I ride back to Hubli . Reaching home at 10.
This ride has been one if the best rides I have had yet, it was amazing, the ride is what mattered more and the water falls is the icing on the cake and cherry too.
I would recommend everyone to make this journey ,preferably by bike. This November , Jeep taxis will be introduced to the falls and the road will be different . But will not be much fun.
This ride has been one of my best ride yet. The Jeep ride which will start in November will move people ,but the two wheeler ride will move your SOUL .
Wear proper protection when riding the road we took , crash here can be fatal.
