My coastal odyssey - Beach trek from Kumta to Gokarna

I am back with yet another of my travelogue after a real long time !!!

It had been a long 6 months since I did my last trek. Devoid of any trek due to lazyness creeping in and also due to work, I was desperate to be on a trek and the Kumta - Gokarna beach trek by Travel Trikon seemed to have come at right time. Also the journey date was on my birthday so what a better way to celebrate a birthday that too on a trek !! Though the trek batch was full, Due to some last moment cancellation I got my place in the trek. God bless the girl who cancelled it last moment :-) 

My trek always starts from the moment I leave my house and this one was no exception. On the trek day I reached office in formal attire and a hanging backpack for it was a working day. Onlookers on the road glanced with curious gaze. The train we were to board was Mangalore express from CST in the evening. That day seemed to exceptionally long in the office but finally it did end and I was in my trek attire within no time. I knew no one in the trek group except Manoj the founder partner of TT. But then no one stays aloof especially on a trek and this was again no exception. Bhushan was at CST to co-ordinate and receive boarders at CST while Manoj managed it from Thane. It was a pleasant surprise to see for Sumi and Sunith, the travel freek couple whom I had met in my previous trek as part of the group. All in all 37 people group all heading to Kumta for beach trek that we had all heard a lot about.

We managed to get some sleep in the train and with train 2 hours behind schedule, had our morning breakfast in the train itself instead of having it at Kumta as decided.  We must have reached Kumta station by 10.30 am which was like a never ending journey. Finally at Kumta was the feeling of everyone in the group.

Our loader tempo arrived in no time. This was one of the best part of this trek, We didn't have to carry our heavy backpack. Just a small bag with our necessary stuff while the heavy backpack would ride in the tempo all the way to our camp directly and meet us in the evening. So we all got feather light and marched to our first destination which was Kumta bus stand for we had to catch a local bus to the beach which was a ride of around 10 minutes. But before that we all got loaded with oranges as they are the best electrolyte one can get on trek as it was going to be hot and humid day for us.

We had our introduction round just outside the Kumta beach, A varied group of people from vastly different fields but all at one place to soak into the beauty that this trek was to offer.

As we entered Kumta beach, there wasn't a single soul on the beach, waves lashing on the shore. Shoreline lined with trees at the far end. Some boats parked on the shore. Blue sea water. It was all too perfect for the start. Excited we walked our way through the beach and then on to road which was leading us to a small hilllock. Looking back from the small hill that we climbed we could see the vastness of the Kumta beach and a perfect setting for a wallpaper photographs. Few clicks below show the beauty of Kumta beach through my lens.

The hillock near Kumta beach turned out to be an ideal location for a photo shoot with vast ocean in the background. Small fishing boats on their way for the catch were all photographers delight. We had a blast at this place with photoshoots and group photos.

The abandoned house was the only structure on the hill but there was a pavered walkway lined with street lights and benches facing the sea. Best place to spend quality time on a weekend or in the evenings and not get bored at all. 

As we walked towards our next destination which our second beach, This was the one the views I could capture with trees lined near the shore and blue waters and the vastness of the sea. Pure bliss !!

The rustic volcanic rocks with three different shades of colour was sight to behold !! As I was to find out later during the trek that this was just a tip and more beautiful and picturesque rock formation awaited me further ahead.

As we crossed small village close to next beach called Vanali beach. We came across such netted structure used by locals to dry small fishes.

The first sight of our 2nd beach called Vanali beach had me in awe. A perfectly curvaceous beach lined with fishing boats, surrounded by small hills. This was turning out to be a walk in perfectly hidden paradise. 

The entire beach was full of shells, really beautiful & colourful. Sayali - one of my trekmate must have collected a bag full of those.

Out of no where we came across this naturally formed sand structure which someone said were lichens on the shore. 

We walked from one end to the other end of Vanali beach which was our first end to end walk on the beach, enjoying every moment and why not !! we had the entire beach for ourselves. Our leaders had arranged for packed lunch which was delivered in foiled bag by local villagers. It was packed veg & non veg biryani. It smelled awesome which only increased the intensity of our hunger. But we had to wait, for there was yet another hill and rocky patch that we had to climb.

Vanali Beach

Minarat of a local mosque standing tall among the trees

As I climbed and looked back to get one last glance of the Vanali beach. I could see few houses of the village hidden amidst the coconut trees that lined the shore. It seemed these local fishermen had the entire beaches for themselves except when occasional trekker group like ours would intrude and do trespassing !! 

As we moved further on the hill we came across more rocky part of the hill which had a very distinct rusty coloured rocks.

The different shades of colour on these rocks was a sight to behold. What a splendid beauty this was !

Every picture taken till now was almost like a desktop wallpaper. This was turning out to be hidden paradise and probably the best trek I had done till now. If half a day trek could surprise us so much, I wondered what it would be like further ahead as i jumped from one rock patch to another !! My excitement knew no bounds. 

We had no sense of time as we were all deeply engrossed in the beauty the trek had offered us so far. It was around 2'o clock in afternoon when we came across some shade after walking across beaches and hoping over rock patches that we realised that we were hungry and our packed biryani was waiting for us. Sitting on the rocks under the shades offered by trees above us and sound of waves hitting the shore making a rhythmic song we savoured our biryani. It was best biryani I have had in a long time. 

Lunch done, Rest done ..We were back in action and all pumped up to reach our destination - our evening camp on a beach. 

From our lunch point and just round the corner, We moved into yet another beach. It was very small beach nestled between two hillocks and lined with trees. Truly a paradise !! Name of the beach was Mangodlu beach. Quite a tongue twister name. But as the saying goes What's in the name :-) 

This was the first beach among the three we had crossed so far where we saw some kids playing. All in all 4 kids. And even they were happy to see some humans on the beach, waving at us while we walked our way through the beach.

After walking through Mangodlu beach we again climbed another hillock, hoped over some rocks and then landed on another beach called Kadle beach. Our 4th one since we started our trek. 

Crossing Kadle beach and then back on hillock and rocky shores we passed through Holanagadde beach. This beach was one that I really cannot remember. It was only after checking the pics and looking at google map while writing this blog that I realised that I had passed through it and didn't even take a note of it.

After Holanagadde beach when we climbed the rocky hillock, the colour of rocks changed from rustic red seen earlier to yellowish pattern like it was just out of M.F Hussain painting brush. Nature at its best.

Moving ahead there was sight of one of the longest beach seen through the day. Directive issued by the leader - Manoj that rest if you want as we have beach walk of around 1 hour 30 minutes before we move inland. Taking a small break in shade of the rocks we savoured our oranges to gain some energy. 

This beach was our 6th beach of the day called Gudeangadi beach. We came across some fishermen folks catching fish from the shore but apart from 4-5 of them there was no one else in the entire stretch of beach that our sight could go. We were now feeling the heat but we had to continue and that is what we did.. Kept walking !! Meghna one of us was by now low on energy but we kept her motivated that our beach walk was just about to end in next 10 minutes !! That 10 minutes remained 10 minutes for don't know how long. 

There were some ingenious fisherman houses that we came across made out of renewable resources. They clearly know how to optimally utilise the available resources at their disposal.  

Our beach walk by now had lasted more than one hour and tiredness was slowly creeping in. Also walking on a sinking sand on the beach really sucks every ounce of energy from your legs. But finally we reached the point from where we had to move inland. That point was start of yet another beach called Nirvana beach but thankfully we have had enough beach walk by now and it was welcome change to be now walking on muddy village road. Moving from the beach we came out on the main road where we were now to catch a bus. Bus stand came as welcome respite from continuous walk and everyone settled at every inch of sitting space available, some even sat on the road while we waited for our bus to take us to Aghanashini jetty.

A local bus ride for 15 minutes and we were now at Aghanashini village from where we had to do a boat ride to reach the opposite shore. A fishing harbour called Kumta Tadadi.

From the jetty we boarded a boat which was one of the most crowded boat ride i have done so far and not only that the boat was so low that I just wanted to get out as soon as i could. The boat ride was just over 5 minutes but had my balls in my mouth !! But there was more fun awaiting me. At the other shore the boatman tried hard to keep the boat steady while we tried to de-board. It took 3 attempts for me to be out of the boat. Phew !! 

We had now reached the Gokarna side of Karnataka, the place was fishing harbour called Kumta Tadadi. There were hugh fishing trawlers lined by one after the other and all were full of their catch - fish and were being unloaded. So much of fish !!! Really fishy.

From the harbour we walked slowly towards our final destination of the day. Belekan beach where we would do our night halt and setup our tents. Luckily it was just 10 minutes walk from the harbour.

Our backpacks had arrived much earlier and we got settled in a verandah of our host - villager's house. We were welcomed with hot tea & coffee with samosas. Tea & coffee seemed to have had wrong effect on some including Manoj and KC. They started karaoke and sang at the top of their lungs.

Having setup our tents, We had the sumptuous dinner with veg and non-veg options. Night had fallen by now but some in group seemed to have got a booster shot of energy after eating dinner.  They shook their legs to catchy numbers around a bonfire. If that was not enough, after the dance session we had the ghost stories session. By the time all went to sleep it was way past mid-night. 

Morning was quiet early for some, Breakfast of maggi with tea & coffee was amazing. Loading our backpack in the tempo yet again, we were ready for another long day of beach trek on Gokarna side.

Bidding adios to our host we begin our journey through a small detour through fields as it was high tide and was not possible to cross the usual dried stream bed. It was followed by plank crossing over a stream with no support. Scary a bit but not really.

Our day started with first ascend through a jungle route to the top of a hill, passing through an private property which was palatial bungalow hidden in the dense forest cover. Luckily ascend wasn't tough and we reached the top where we were greeted with a surprise. A hidden beach on the other side of the hill called Paradise beach. True to its name it really looked like a paradise. The beach had some tourist but later we realised that they were foreigners, They with the help of locals do come here, setup tents and hammocks and stay overnight or may be a day or two. Locals setup kitchen and prepare food for breakfast, lunch or dinner for them while they bask in the sun or do yoga or read books or just lie around. The tourist boats do come to show the paradise beach to the tourist but they don't land here.

From Paradise beach we moved on the hill again, hoped on the rocks, also found a water spring oozing sweet water very close to salty sea water. From top of the hill watching waves lashing on the rocks below was mesmerising. There were scenic spots down below ideal for camping but not sure if those spots would get submerged during high tide. They seemed to be right kinda spots for a secluded beach camping. 

We came across this strange rock formation on our way. One big rock split into two halves by the force of nature. The water spring that I described above was just close to these rocks. May be someone reading this blog can use this as a landmark on their trek.

As we walked further, out of no where we came across few abandoned shacks and land clearings. Further down there was this shack restaurant or a cafe filled with tourist. We had reached our 2nd beach for the day called Half moon beach. The beach had a shape of half moon. Some foreign tourist were lying on the beach sun-basking while few were enjoying the dip in the sea. The beaches on Kumta side were bigger and more secluded as compared to the beaches on Gokarna side. We took a small break at half moon cafe, enjoyed some cold drinks and interacted with foreigners. 

We met this gentlemen from Netherlands who really surprised us with his knowledge about Hindu religion, Vedas and numerology. Interaction with him left us in awe.

Bidding adios to our newly made friend and the Half moon beach & cafe, We moved uphill again and into denser forest path. Sun seemed to be little harsh then yesterday but some shade provided by forest cover was really welcome.

As we made our way through the forest cover on the hill, watching the sea and some boats cruising below. Meghna's hawk eye noticed some black objects moving in the sea and guess what !! That was the biggest surprise of all till now. Dolphins playing in the sea water !!! That was like Oh my God moment. Not one or two but couple of them .... They moved out and dived in the water so fast and swiftly that we could hardly capture them in our cameras. 

After Dolphin spotting and capturing it was time to move ahead. And we did we now reached our 3rd beach and first commercial beach of the trek. The famous OM shaped beach in Gokarna region. From the top we could see lot of tourist enjoying the sea below, with beach shacks lined all along the beach.

It seemed like we had reached back into civilisation after two days in wilderness.

Worth noticing was that Gokarna beaches were quite popular with foreign tourist just like in Goa.

We walked from one end to other end of OM beach, moving uphill again to reach the parking lot, Sun by now had sucked all energy out of our body and our stomach was calling to be re-filled. Dragging ourselves we crossed over into other side of the hill and descended into another beach called Kudle beach.

Kudle beach was less crowded as compared to OM beach but nevertheless commercial with beach cafes lined all along. Most of the beach cafe's served local cuisines as well international cuisines catering to the foreign tourist. One of beach cafe was our halt for lunch but we were aghast to find that our cafe was the situated at the farthest end of the beach. Somehow dragging ourselves with our stomach screaming with hunger we finally made it to our cafe. Now we had only one thing in mind .. FOOD !!

We were served once again the most tastiest veg and non veg lunch. Having had our fill and with some time in our hand. It was time for some dip in the sea. Few decided to rest in the cafe and skip the dip under hot sun while I and few others couldn't resist going in for a swim. We were now in the last leg of journey. 

From Kudle beach we moved towards the last beach of our journey which was Gokarna beach. The walk was not more than 15 minutes, moving uphill and walking on the plateau before reaching Gokarna beach.

From the temple overlooking the Gokarna beach. We could get the birds eye view of entire stretch of the beach. Gokarna beach was again full of tourist but being a part of temple town it was but obvious. It was more commercial. Before descending we spent some time at the temple, clicking group pics and shooting videos. We had finally completed our two day beach trail starting from Kumta beach, criss-crossing number of beaches on our way and finally ending our journey at Gokarna beach.

From Gokarna beach we moved into the town and with not much time left, hired an auto to reach Gokarna station. Our backpacks also arrived at the station after taking a royal ride in the tempo. 

It was now time to head home by train journey to Mumbai. But the train journey is never complete on a trek without a game of Mafia But all in all it was one of the most memorable trek I had done in a long time, Not just a trek but a beach trek covering some really beautiful virgin beaches and cliff walks. The trek was well organised by Travel Trikon team of Manoj, Bhushan and KC. But surely it would not have been memorable without Sumith and Sumi - the travel freek couple, Sayali, Priya, Meghna, Navin and everyone in our 37 member group.