About Karnataka Eco-Tourism Treks

Guides

As a general rule you will get guides at all the treks run by Karnataka Eco-Tourism. Guiding charges are included in the cost of the permit you pay online. However, I have heard from fellow trekkers that sometimes the guides aren't around or will leave you on the trail. But I hope these are mostly exceptions.
Usually the guides will wait for a group of 8-10 people before they take you out on the trail. Since it would be impractical to take each hiker one by one.
There could be times when there's no one to guide you when you reach the trailhead. This is more likely to happen on a weekday. Since there aren't a lot of people hiking on weekdays, they don't expect to get work. In such a scenario call the phone number on your e-ticket.

Each trek has time slots mentioned on the website.
If you're late, sometimes the guides & the trail manager might be reluctant to take you on the trail. Asking them nicely mostly convinces them, since you've come all the way for the trek.

For many of the trails listed on the Karnataka Eco-Tourism website, there's no proper trail info available online. Especially for the lesser-known ones.
I am working on documenting these, so if you want information about a specific trail from the list on the Karnataka Eco-tourism website, email me at shreshthmohan@hey.com. You can also hit me up for any other information about hikes around Bangalore.

After a complaint by a trekker, the forest minister ordered a CID probe. I don't know about the probe's progress, but trekkers can now get a permit directly from the Karnataka Eco-Torusim website for Skandagiri, instead of having no choice but to go through Namma Trip & pay a premium. Looks like the permits were also being sold for inflated prices offline too. [Story in Deccan Herald]