Trek to Narasimha Parvatha and Barkana Waterfalls | Agumbe

Narasimha Parvatha – being called the “The Cherrapunji of the South India” because of its biodiversity and thick rainforest Augmbe hosts the magnificent beauty of nature. Narasimha Parvatha forest region (Agumbe forest region) is shared by 3 districts Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagalur and Shivamogga of Karnataka. Barkana waterfalls top view during the trek is the cherry on the cake. Being covered by Western ghats and many water streams in between the Narasimha Parvatha trek is the best weekend escape.

Trek Base: Malandur (Agumbe side) / Kigga (Sringeri side)

Treck to Narasimha Parvatha from Malandur

Malandur is a small village, 6kms away from Agumbe. Here local trek guides host the guests and provide a place for our morning chores, serve breakfast and pack lunch for the trek. The guide who hosted us also got us the permission from forest officer. Trek to Narasimha Parvatha peak is around 13kms from Malandur, it is better to start early around 8 AM. The Forest region starts after 1km from starting point of the trek and you will enter a deep forest region with small water streams side by (post-monsoon).

If you are lucky you will witness footprints of elephants, bears and deers. Forest has many ascends and descends with slippery trails or no trails make sure to have good shoes. Here leeches are common so keep a first aid kit. Around 4-5kms into the forest, you will witness the Sita river flowing as Barkana waterfalls. This is the first pit stop where you can spend some time watching the beauty of waterfalls from the top, But beware do not step into the water at the edge of waterfalls or try to risk your life for photos/videos.

From here forest gets thicker covered with huge trees and bushes. You will reach a big rock where you can rest and have lunch after 3-4kms from Barkana waterfalls. From this point, the Narasimha Partatha peak is approximately 4kms away. Soon you will enter grasslands and the surface is flat and descending. The last 1.5kms is again ascending trail but you can see a definite trail here. Once you reach the peak of Narasimha Parvatha there is big on top which there are footprints of lord Narasimha and just beside that, there is rock Lord Narasimha idol natural emersion and another rock with Lord Ganesh natural emersion. It was said that there will be pooja performed once a year at the peak. From the peak, you can see the peak of Kuduremukh peak and there is a scenic view surrounding the Narasimha Parvatha.

Once you are emersed in the beauty of Narasimha Parvatha and you are energized to descent. Start moving towards the Kigga route, the path is fully covered with rocks and you need to have shoes tied tightly otherwise either you end with ankle twists or torn shoes 😉 Descent to Kigga is around 6-7kms and it is better if you take fewer breaks in between. There is a definite trail that can be seen and following that you will reach the road to a place called “Rushya Shrugeshwara Temple” in the Kigga. Here the trek ends. You can catch local autos to Sringeri or Agumbe. The total trek distance would be 21kms and you will have a serene experience of the Agumbe reserve forest for sure.

Trek to Narasimha Parvatha from Kigga

We can also trek to Narasimha Parvatha from Kigga a place 6kms away from Sringeri. The trail is fully covered with rocks as said earlier section. But there is a definite trail that you can follow and reach the Narasimha Parvatha. You might not need a guide if you start from here but forest officer permission is a must. The trek will start from “Rushya Shrugeshwara Temple” and will take 3-4 Hrs to reach the peak. The trail is really steep and covered with tall trees at the beginning. The latter part is grassland and is mostly flat. If you start from Kigga you need to descend towards Kigga only. My recommendation would be that you start the trek from Malandur and get emersed in the beauty of the Agumbe reserve forest and Narasimha Parvatha.

Author – Sujaykumar Kulkarni