Maravanthe Beach – The Trucker’s Favourite!!

After spending the previous day at the divine coastal town of Murudeshwar, I was riding south on NH 17 towards Maravanthe Beach. Enroute, I took a pit stop at the picturesque Upunda River Bridge.


Maravanthe Beach stretches for a little less than 2 km, running parallel to NH 17, with the Sowparnika River on the other side of the highway. It is located north of Kundapur town in Udupi district and is about 454 Km NW of Bangalore.


The entire coastal NH 17 highway is picturesque and nearly all of the beaches in Goa and Karnataka are beautiful. But, the speciality of the Maravanthe Beach is its proximity to the highway, which is just 20 to 30 feet away.


To make it even special is the meandering Sowparnika river, which falls on the other side of the highway. The beach in essence is relatively empty and rocks are stacked up at the highway side to protect the highway during storms and high tides.


However, the truck drivers love this beach. It is free, they also get to revel in nature’s beauty and feel the salt breeze in their hair. A couple of small tea shops present here cater to these truck drivers. Local tourists typically come in during the evenings and this is when the other foot peddlers drop in to sell their wares.


This lovely looking beach with radiant white sand is very different though. It offers total solitude in spite of it being so close to the highway and long walks on it is very refreshing.


There is a total different side to the surroundings of this beach. A kilometre away is the well known Turtle Bay Resort, which offers great great tourist stays along with water sports, snorkelling and scuba diving trips. Close by is also the Kanchugodu fishing village, which allows on to get closer to the local folk.


One can also go on a boat cruise on the Sowparnika river – take a dip in the medicinal river, explore the umpteen islands, cherish the view of the Kodachadri hills in the background and visit the temples on its banks.

Maravanthe Beach offers great exploring options and its wares are aplenty, but I will always remember Maravanthe Beach as the “Highway Beach” and I am pretty sure that it is the truck driver’s favourite!!!
 

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Pit Stop on NH 17 @ Upunda River Bridge, Karnataka, India

I was on my way from one coastal town (Murudeshwar) to another (Maravanthe) on NH 17, when I stopped at yet another scenic bridge.


This bridge is over the Upunda River. It is not a long bridge, but provided some of the most exhilarating views that I have seen.


The palm trees and coconut groves on either bank, the hills in the background and the cloud cover added to the charm.

 
Didn’t see any boats/canoes on the river. Guess they come out for fishing in the early hours of the morning and the late hours of the afternoon.


Personally, would love to go canoeing on this river and explore its beauty!!

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Pit Stop on NH 17 @ Sharavati River Bridge, Karnataka, India!!

National Highway 17 is a highway of rivers, bridges and great views. Hence, every single time I am riding through NH 17, I try to stop at these bridges and sneak a good peek.


This time around, I was at the Sharavati River Bridge. At over a kilometre in length, this bridge is one of the longest in Karnataka.


The river that tumbles in the Western Ghats to form the impressive Jog Falls is a mighty sea of water at this spot and is very close to its estuary point.


And, as is true with any estuary, one can see a lot of fishing vessels, canoes and boats out in the waters with their fishing nets.

 
Specialities here are the colourful boat jetty that catches the eye immediately, the smell of the sea breeze and the fish that is very endearing and the innumerable islands that dot the river waters.

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Pit Stop on NH 17 @ Gangavali Bridge, Karnataka, India

This was a day of amazing bridges for me. Earlier in the day, I had seen the panoramic views of the Kali River Estuary from the Kali Bridge at Karwar.

Later in the day, I was at the Gangavali Bridge, a very green spot on the meandering Gangavali River.


The entire setting was very refreshing – a bright day with a clear blue day, a calm river, coconut and palm groves and densely forested hills in the background.


When compared to the Kali Estuary View, this view was very different, but both views very pleasing to my eye.

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Backpacking through the Western Ghats – Day 9 (the last day): Kodachadri Hills to Maravanthe Beach to Kundapur

The last 2 days that we spent at Kodachadri hills were pretty eventful. I woke up slightly late in the morning, but felt much better. Even the fever had come down. After a sumptuous hot breakfast, I felt even better.


So, me and my friend got ready to begin my descent. We had walked about 2 kms when I started feeling uncomfortable again. It looked like I hadn’t recovered completely. We retraced our way back to Kodachadri, where we got a lift from a tourist on his jeep. He was kind enough to drop us at Kollur. We had our lunch at Kollur.


From Kollur, we caught a bus to Kundapur and then another bus that took us to Maravanthe Beach.


Now, Maravanthe Beach is really special to me owing to its uniqueness. If one were to stand on NH 17 (National Highway 17), on one side of the road would be the Maravanthe Beach and the Arabian Sea and on the other side would be the Sowparnika river. So basically two types of water sources (fresh and saline) on either side of the highway.


Maravanthe beach is also known as the poor man’s beach and is a favourite spot with truck drivers. Though, this beach is one of the prettiest on the Malabar coast. A lot of eatery joints are present around this beach that offer mouth watering sea food.


The waters around Maravanthe are a great place to spot turtles, dolphins and underwater sea life. Snorkelling and scuba diving are very popular here. Turtle Bay Resorts, 1 km away from the main highway and the Maravanthe beach and Soan holidays offer a great holiday experience along with the provision of adventure activities.


My health started feeling wonderful the moment my eyes sighted the Maravanthe beach and my nose smelled the salt in the breeze. As soon as we stepped on the beach, we removed our boots. It was fabulous to walk barefoot on the beach after walking in heavy boots the past 8 days.


We did some walking, mild jogging, some crunches and then put this exercise to great work by snacking at the nearby shack. Sleeping on the beach with the evening sun shining on our faces and with our bellies full was very close to a heavenly experience for us.


As it got closer to sunset, we started watching the changing colours of the sky and the sea. More people started coming into the beach. A lot of interesting kids playing in the water grabbed our attention for a while.


As it got close to dark, we dusted ourselves and started on our last trek – the 13 km stretch from Maravanthe Beach to Kundapur, where we had to board our Bangalore bound bus in the night.

Total Distance Trekked: 16 Km
Trekking Time: 4 hours

Overall, 162 kms (+20% uncalculated trek) covered by foot in our 9 day backpacking expedition through the Western Ghats. 

To view the entire set of photos, click the album below.

Backpacking through the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India

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