Amedikallu Trek

Amedikallu is one of those trekking spot that is not known to many people. A beautiful hill in the midst of the forests and it is one of the best and hardest treks I have done so far.

We had booked for Qualis and left Bangalore at 11:30 towards Mangalore.Amedikallu can be reached through the village of Shishila. On NH-48 highway to Mangalore, one has to take a deviation to the left at Kokkada and travel further 15 kilometers towards Shishila.

We reached Shishila at around 7 in the morning. We made our way to Mr. Gopu Ghokale's house in Shishila which was our base camp. Gopu Ghokale arranges for food and guide for the trek. We had our breakfast in his house and left for the trek at 10 with our guide,Chennappa.

The starting point of the trek is 4 kilometers further in a jeep track and from there we started our trek in the dense forest. The first 2 hours of trek involves climbing hills through the dense forests. After that we reached a plain patch of grassland from where we caught the first glimpse of Amedikallu. It is an awesome sight of the monolith rock and each one of us were excited to climb it.

First view of Amedikallu

The word "Amedikallu" comprises of two words- "Ame" meaning turtle and "Dikel" meaning stove in tulu language. From far, the hill resembles the Turtle shell and the 3 stones of a stove and hence the hill gets this name.

Yettinabuja

All along the trek, the other hill that amused us was "Yettina Buja", the hill whose appearance resembles the Bull's shoulder. Our guide Chennappa told that it can also be trekked. Hoping to trek that hill one day :)

After another hour through the grasslands ,we reach the base of the hill. From here we start the real rock-climbing. The hill was steep and we had to stop every 5minutes to take a breath and enjoy the view all around us. Late in the afternoon, we reached the base of the 3 rocks and had our lunch there and relaxed for some time.


After reaching the base of the 'dikel' , to climb to the peak ,we need to go into the dense forest. Trek for another 45 minutes took us to the top of the hill. The peak of the hill was another 25 metres climb and this part was a real risky one. You have to climb the hill with enough space to keep one foot and one missed step, there is a dead drop into which you end up falling into.

At last ,we reached the peak of Amedhikallu at around 5. We then moved down from the peak to find our camping spot. We decided to camp in the forests bit further down the hill. We collected the dry wood from the forest and made a camp-fire and had our dinner.We slept in the tents and the sleeping bags we had brought and had a good sleep but for the loud scream by one of dreamers!!

We got up early in the morning to catch the sunrise and moved up to the peak to catch the sun. We then started to climb down the hill at around 7:30 in the morning and reached Gopu Gokale's place by 11:30. We had a refreshing bath in the river kapila and delicious lunch at Gopu Gokale's place before leaving for Bangalore.


All in all,an awesome trekking experience and memories that will last a lifetime


The Gang :Balu, Bala, Gupta, Pavan ,Shreyas, Shashidhar and Me
Date : February ,2-3 , 2008