Dandeli
Dandeli city is located in UttaraKannda District. It is very famous for wild sanctuary, Paper Mill, Syntheri Rock and Forest resorts. Kali River is the main water source.
Dandeli has got a curious history behind its name. Once upon a time there was a person named Dandelappa, who was working as servant in a Mirashi land Lord's house. One fine day Mirashi's family lady proposed Dandelappa. But as he was very innocent and obedient to his lord he rejected her proposal. She grew wild. She went to her brothers and lied that Dandelappa behaved very rudely with her. They got anger and decided to finish him. One sad day her brothers went to Dandelappa and with fine edged sword they cut his head. Dandelappa's head and body part went and placed in different places. At present there are two temples at two different places to memorize his existence. As his name was Dandelappa, people named that place as "Dandeli".
Anshi
How Anshi came into being
The people who reside in Anshi, migrated years ago from Goa when the Portuguese attacked Goa. The locals of a village called Anshu, fearing them fled to the Hills to hide. Since they came from a place called Anshu, they named it Anshi. The local language usually spoken is Konkani.
Local legend:
As the local legend goes, a tribe of Brahmin’s consisting of about 60 came into the jungles of Anshi. The Brahmins settled down and started to make canals to aggregate their fields. They were into agriculture. The canals can be seen even today. The locals of Anshi especially the leaders were weary and worried that the Brahmin’s would take over them. Fearing this, the locals killed the head of the Brahmin tribe and buried his body. Then put a stone on top of his grave. It is believed that the rock has increased in size since then and is growing.
Bhima Rock
It is believed that Lord Bhima from his journeys walked through the jungles of Anshi carrying a huge rock. As darkness approached, Bhima rested and left without the rock in the morning. Footprints are seen near the rock even to this day.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
My Trip to Dandeli and Anshi organized by Cee (Center for environment education).
We took a batch of MBA students from ISBR to The Dandeli and Anshi wildlife sanctuary. I was part of the faculty in the nature camp as a naturalist. The other members were Mr. Manjunath, Mr Venkatesh, Prajna and Mr Venkat. We left Bangalore with the students by train. The train journey was exciting for the student as they had finished their exams the very same afternoon. They had a good time on the train keeping us entertained as well. We reached haliyal the next morning and the bus we had hired was waiting for us. We settled in and took off to Dandeli which is about an hour’s journey. We headed to a farmhouse run by a local named Narasimha. The place is 13 km from the Dandeli city and is nestled in the forest. We reached and headed to freshen up. The students were given a hearty breakfast of south Indian cuisine. The locals had prepared us this lovely breakfast. After everyone had finished we went trekking near by to a hill called Bison hill. The trek was exciting as well as strenuous as the hill was very steep. We spotted lots of wildlife evidences like the claw marks of a sloth bear and feces of a bison. Along the trail we found ourselves in the presence of elephants’ nearby. We went the other way and trekked back down. The students got to work as a team as they helped each other during the trek. The trail leads to a lake and the students went boating and also swam in the lake. After this everyone was hungry and headed to the farmhouse. The food was hot and ready to eat as the cooks had prepared a lovely south Indian lunch. The students enjoyed the meal. Narasimha spoke about apiculture and showed them the bees in his farm. They got first hand experience in Apiculture. We organized a game on nature and then left to visit the Supa dam. Its like a sour thumb in the forest and surely the impacts of this dam is great. After the visit we headed to Anshi to camp for the next two days. Anshi is home to rare flora and fauna having evergreen forests. The camp site at Anshi has tents and the students were put up in them. Anshi is one of the only places were you don’t get network and there is only solar powered lights. This sets the mood of being deep in the jungle. For many of the students this was a first time experience. The students settled in and after dinner went for a small night trek. The next morning we took them birding. Anshi is a birders paradise as you find endemic birds in this region. But it is difficult to spot the birds in these evergreen forests. After a late breakfast we left to the Kaiga power plant. It’s about and hour from Anshi. The security checking was tight and after being thoroughly checked we were allowed in. The place is surrounded by lush forests. We were taken on a tour of the plant and given a brief insight on the working of the plant. We were taken to a view point. The trek was quite strenuous as the humidity is very high here. But the trek was worth it as the sight was breathtaking, the Kali River in her glory with lush pristine forests on the sides. There is great need to conserve these forests as they are threatened. After the visit to the plant we were taken to the quarters of the Kaiga employees were we had our snacks. From there we left back to camp. The sky opened up and it poured on our way back. We had dinner under the stars and headed to bed as we had to get up early. The next morning I heard the cackling of the hornbills but couldn’t spot them. The languars were right above the tent eating the fruits. I did a small ppt on the reptiles seen around Anshi and spoke about the reptiles. We also found a Green Vine snake in the camp.
We took a batch of MBA students from ISBR to The Dandeli and Anshi wildlife sanctuary. I was part of the faculty in the nature camp as a naturalist. The other members were Mr. Manjunath, Mr Venkatesh, Prajna and Mr Venkat. We left Bangalore with the students by train. The train journey was exciting for the student as they had finished their exams the very same afternoon. They had a good time on the train keeping us entertained as well. We reached haliyal the next morning and the bus we had hired was waiting for us. We settled in and took off to Dandeli which is about an hour’s journey. We headed to a farmhouse run by a local named Narasimha. The place is 13 km from the Dandeli city and is nestled in the forest. We reached and headed to freshen up. The students were given a hearty breakfast of south Indian cuisine. The locals had prepared us this lovely breakfast. After everyone had finished we went trekking near by to a hill called Bison hill. The trek was exciting as well as strenuous as the hill was very steep. We spotted lots of wildlife evidences like the claw marks of a sloth bear and feces of a bison. Along the trail we found ourselves in the presence of elephants’ nearby. We went the other way and trekked back down. The students got to work as a team as they helped each other during the trek. The trail leads to a lake and the students went boating and also swam in the lake. After this everyone was hungry and headed to the farmhouse. The food was hot and ready to eat as the cooks had prepared a lovely south Indian lunch. The students enjoyed the meal. Narasimha spoke about apiculture and showed them the bees in his farm. They got first hand experience in Apiculture. We organized a game on nature and then left to visit the Supa dam. Its like a sour thumb in the forest and surely the impacts of this dam is great. After the visit we headed to Anshi to camp for the next two days. Anshi is home to rare flora and fauna having evergreen forests. The camp site at Anshi has tents and the students were put up in them. Anshi is one of the only places were you don’t get network and there is only solar powered lights. This sets the mood of being deep in the jungle. For many of the students this was a first time experience. The students settled in and after dinner went for a small night trek. The next morning we took them birding. Anshi is a birders paradise as you find endemic birds in this region. But it is difficult to spot the birds in these evergreen forests. After a late breakfast we left to the Kaiga power plant. It’s about and hour from Anshi. The security checking was tight and after being thoroughly checked we were allowed in. The place is surrounded by lush forests. We were taken on a tour of the plant and given a brief insight on the working of the plant. We were taken to a view point. The trek was quite strenuous as the humidity is very high here. But the trek was worth it as the sight was breathtaking, the Kali River in her glory with lush pristine forests on the sides. There is great need to conserve these forests as they are threatened. After the visit to the plant we were taken to the quarters of the Kaiga employees were we had our snacks. From there we left back to camp. The sky opened up and it poured on our way back. We had dinner under the stars and headed to bed as we had to get up early. The next morning I heard the cackling of the hornbills but couldn’t spot them. The languars were right above the tent eating the fruits. I did a small ppt on the reptiles seen around Anshi and spoke about the reptiles. We also found a Green Vine snake in the camp.
We headed to the Ulvi temple and the caves near by. We trekked and the path has steps and is hilly. It’s quite tiring but when u reach the caves its all worth the trek. The caves are dark and narrow, we climbed in but went only a little in and got back out as the rains had made it slippery. It was exciting to crawl in the tunnels. The walk back up took some effort. We had to reach the top soon to have our lunch at the temple. We got there just in time. We left for Dandeli and stopped to swim in the Kali River. The students had a whale of a time. After freshening up we left to Dharward to get the train back to Bangalore.
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