Jog falls, Tavarekoppa, Bhadra.

Another long weekend meant another trip around Bangalore. Having read about Shimoga and Jog falls in my text books when I was a kid, I was curious to see the famous Jog falls of Karnataka. A marriage in Shimoga was all the excuse we needed to embark on a trip to see the Jog falls. 

We left home around 9 am on Saturday. We took the Tumkur route, crossed Tiptur, Arasikere, Kadur, Birur, Bhadravati and finally reached Shimoga. The main crops around these areas is areca nut or betel nut. So on the way, we found a lot of specialized farm trucks, on which sonny dear went for a ride with his dad. He even got a ride back in a luggage auto. What more could the little hero ask for!

Since we had time till Sunday evening for the wedding, we decided to continue towards Sagara, a place closer to Jog falls. Being a long weekend, all the good home stays around Jog falls had been booked already. We did not get any accommodation initially. However, the people running the home stays around Jog falls turned out to be very helpful, and after a few phone calls, they got us a room at Shankara mutt at Sagara. This place had a room with a double bed and a bathroom and acted as a good overnight dump for us. They did not provide food, and we visited a near by restaurant called Varadhashree lodge, which served good south indian food (and ofcourse filter coffee!!). There was a quaint little Raghavendra swamy temple just next to the mutt. We spent a peaceful one hour there, and saw the preparations going on for the Karthikai (a tamil month) deepam there. The temple trustee was a very helpful person. He took us to the nearby market and introduced us to the owner of a shop which sold wooden artifacts. Sagara is famous for sandalwood and ivory carving. Lot of wooden idols and temple mantaps are carved beautifully and the expressions on the idols are captured wonderfully. We picked a little temple mantap for ourselves and returned to our room to crash for the night. 

Next morning, after a quick coffee at the Varadhashree lodge, we moved on to the market place to see if we could get rice Kadubus. Sagara and Shimoga are famous for this delicacy. However, we were too early for the sleepy village. We had to make do with the usual idly and khara bath from a Mysore cafe, and then proceeded towards Jog Falls which was a 30 km drive from Sagara. 

We heard from the local people that this was not the best time to visit Jog Falls as the volume of water falling was pretty low during this period of the year. So we saw, when we reached there. We decided to climb down the 1900 set of stairs to reach the bottom of the falls and experience the cold water under our feet (and hair for who so ever desired :P)

The climb down was pretty easy, with gravity helping us. We didn't think of the trip back up, and just decided to enjoy the water and the monkeys jumping all around the place. After relaxing for a while at the bottom we decided to start the walk up the 1900 stairs. And boy! wasn't it a tough one. Saving our breaths, taking some quick swings of lemonade, butter-milk and maaza, waiting every few minutes to gaze at the rainbow formation across the falls, we finally made it to the top. After some lunch (We couldn't eat anything it all. Liquids were all we could take), we sat in the car and headed back towards Shimoga. 

On the way to Shimoga, Tavarekoppa wild life safari beckoned us and in we went to take a look at the tigers roaming free and the ferocious leopards safe in their cages (or so we thought). I got the scare of my life here when two leopards pounced on my camera when, in my excitement to take some good pictures, finding a little gap wide enough for the camera lens, I went a tad too close to the cage. To top it, I even had the flash on. We got to see a lot of monkeys playing havoc too. Anyone having a pack of pop corn or biscuits, beware! Please make sure you have it all zipped up in the bag and the monkeys don't even get an inkling that there are eatables. They jumped and grabbed the food from anyone displaying it and walking around the zoo. Wonderful experience it was for our sonny boy. He got an "up, close and real" experience of the monkeys and their antics. 

  

After the safari, we headed towards Shimoga. Got into Samrat Ashok Hotel and Lodge, and after a cup of coffee, went up to rest a while. The evening was spent at the reception of a friend, and after the tiring day, we slept really well that night. 

Monday morning, it was time to move on towards Bangalore. Google maps indicated another interesting place called Bhadra dam, on the outskirts of Bhadravati, which was on our way back. A small deviation from the National Highway took us to Lakkavalli village, where we could  go on top close to the lighthouse near the Bhadra Dam. 

From there we had a beautiful view of the Bhadra river, and also spotted the Jungle Lodges (Bhadra) resort where people were going boating. Our next stop had to be that, so after spending a few quiet moments taking in the scenic beauty from the Bhadra dam, we moved to River Tern Lodges and asked for a boat ride across the river. Another beautiful discovery this. The steam boat took us along the forest edge and we even spotted a tusker on the way. The poor animal got a little perturbed with the noise of our steam boat, and moved away from the water further deep into the jungle. The river tern lodge was a beautiful setup by Jungle Lodges and resorts, with little huts right in the middle of the forested area. Imagine sitting in the balcony of your home looking out at lush greenery and a river beyond with butterflies and birds to give you company. Wow. What beauty and what peace! Dream on. We had to satisfy ourselves with the boat ride. The navigator Deepak gave us some good information about the area and the animal density, and we left for Bangalore promising ourselves that we would come back.