Shivanasamudra & Talakkadu

This was the second bike trip with my school buddies Raghu, Akshay and Poly. After our Melukote and Wayanad trip, we wanted to ensure that the next destination should be better than before which was a hard task coz wayanad was a place beyond expectations !! We initially planned for a trip to Gopalswamy betta but Raghu's instincts on helplessness in a remote area on tyre getting punctured made us change the destination to Talakkad and somanathpura which are known for its archaeogical importance. I included Shivanasamudra to the list as it was nearby to these places and i felt it as an insult that i have never been here. Covering all 3 places on a single day was indeed a tough task which we thought was manageable...but it wasnt !!

Though our initial plan was Somanathpura - Talakkadu - Shivanasamudra, we had to change our plan based on our interaction with the localites there. They suggested that the most practical plan would be to cover Shivanasamudra and Talakkad as the route which we took (Kanakapura road) was a longer route to reach Somanathpura first.

The main falls is known as Barahchukki and this is where we can get into the water. There is a viewpoint called Gaganchukki from where you can get a complete view of Shivanasamudra. Another point called Darga is also visible from here. We started off with Gaganchukki to get an overview of Shivanasamudra. There were few steps that we had to climb down to reach the view point.

There is nothing exceptional about this point. So without wasting any time we moved to the main spot - Barahchukki !!


The localites showed us a shortcut to reach Barahchukki which saved some time though r bikes had a tough time to cut across those underconstruction roads ! Barahchukki was beyond r expectation. An ideal place for waterfall lovers !! The tiny falls seen from Gaganchukki now appeared Gigantic and beatuful.

Within no time we were all set to get drenched in Barahchukki.

There were coracle rides but they were quite expensive which they claim was due to the water force at that point of time. We had to cross the river to reach the spot beneath the falls. Walking across was an option which looked risky and adventurous. Few of them from r group were game in for adventure and few preferred shelling cash for the coracle. Once we reached the other side we had our own doubts if we should carry on to the next spot as per plan or spend the rest of the day here coz it was superb! After spending a couple of hrs and ciicking a hundred pics, we packed up.

The highlight about Gaganchukki was crossing the river by walking across. At 1 point I felt like "this is probably the end of tonymon" !! :P.



Our next target was Talakkad. But on our way back we spotted Darga and realized that this was another spot that was viewed from Gaganchukki. So we decided to drop in to this place too. Here we had some effortless trekking. Not that great but the place looked beautiful.

After spending an hr in Darga we went to our next spot - Talakkad. By the time we reached there it was quite evident that it was not possible to visit Somanathpura as it was already 6 pm. We quickly covered Talakkad and saw the miraculous temple which is burried under the sand and appears just once in 12 yrs !! But at present its visible throughout the yr to promote tourism (Localites clear up the sand when it covers the temple).

Once we were done with visiting the temples in Talakkad, it was already 7 so our next destination was home sweet home.

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SHIVANASAMUDRA REVISITED .....

My next visit to Shivanasamudra was on Nov 1st 2011. I had planned an outing with my team mates (Wipro - TraCE WT team) since long but nothing had worked out due to tight schedules. Since my proj release date was nearing (nov 30th), we finally decided to trip on nov 1st ! Though hognekkal was considered initially, we finalized on Shivanasamudra. Swathi, Supreet, Deepak, Swathis friends and me went in a TT to Shivanasamudra. We 1st visited the Gaganchukki falls which wasnt that interesting. All we had to do was walk down to the viewpoint and see the waterfall from a distance.

Barahchukki falls : We knew for sure that Barahchukki wont be disappointing since few of us had been there earlier. We started off with the coracle ride. It was peak season, they charged us Rs.150/head. We went close to the falls in 3 coracles and this was a nice experience. Once we were done with the coracle, we crossed the stream to reach the other side where the falls was located. Crossing this was an amazing experience. It wasnt that easy, there was no risk and hence it was exciting. Once we reached the other side, we got into the ice cold water and spent some time under the falls. Among guys, few of us got adventurous and climbed few rocks. Gals were adviced not to climb since the rocks were quite slippery !! Once we were done with Barahchukki we moved on to the next spot - Talakkad.

Most of them who goto Shivanasamudra, make it a point to visit Talakkad also coz they are nearby ! By the time we reached Talakkad, it was a bit late and hence we couldnt enter the temple. We spent time in the beech. Guys went on another coracle ride and by about 7pm we were done for the day. We returned to our TT and reached Bangalore by about 10 pm. During our return journey we played "Telugu vs Hindi" anthakshari. We had a good time during our travel in the TT !!

Kodachadri, Jog falls and Mookambika

Credits : Johnson, Reji, Richie, Alex and Tonymon
Distance from Bangalore : Jog falls - approx 350kms ; Kodachadri - approx 400kms
Route - Bangalore - Shimoga - Kollur


This has been the best unplanned trip till date !! Since a week we had been planning for a trip but the venue kept changing every now and then. Finally Johnson came up with the Kodachadri plan on 26th evening. But many of them kept dropping in and out of the plan. At about 7pm on 26th it was decided that we would be going to Gopalswamy betta by bike. At about 8pm there was a conference call between johnson, reji, alex and me. Our final decision was Kodachadri and we decided to go by a Qualis. Reji arranged for a Qualis and the plan was to pick up Alex from his flat. At 10:30, the driver gets a shock that we had a 2 day plan in mind :D ...he disagreed and we were wondering how to go !! The next immediate plan was to go by train but prob was that Alex would have to board the train from Majestic as that was closest for him and he had to travel from Ejipura to Majestic in 25 minutes !! With great difficulty in filmy ishtyle Alex reached in time and got into the train and we boarded the same train from Ypur. We jumped into the Sleeper coach though we had a general ticket. As expected TT and cop caught us and warned us that we may have to pay a penality of 300 per head for traveling in a sleeper coach with a general ticket. Reji used his flattering and buttering skills to resolve this issue. The TT finally arranged for AC tickets !! (charged us Rs.70 extra but thats fine coz we got to travel comfortable !! )

We reached Shimoga by 6am the next day (27th Nov). From there we had to reach Simha farms which was rated the best as per my rough google search. After boarding into the bus we realized that there are no rooms available in Simha farms which was a big disappointment for us. The co passengers in the bus suggested that the best option for us would be to stay in Kollur as that was the nearest to Kodachadri. We went by the majorties opinion. The bus took 5 hrs to reach Kollur which was just 130 kms from Shimoga !!! As expected Kollur was a very religious place. We found lots of newly married couples roaming around Kollur in their Kerala attire !! To our disappointment the lodge that we found there wasnt as per what we dreamt about Simha farms but the low tariff rates balanced our disappointment :D. After a pathetic lunch we asked the lodge owner to arrange for a jeep to take us to kodachadri which was 30 kms away from Kollur.

Our mantra for the day while visiting Kodachadri was "MIST is a MUST". But unfortunately there wasnt any mist when we reached there. Without any delay we started our trek after promising the driver that we would return by 6:30pm. We kept walking amidst the scenic beauty.

There was a regular trekking path so wasn't hard to figure out the way. Finally we reached the spot where Shankracharya used to meditate. Like all other hills there was just a temple on top but the view was awesome.

Mist would have made it look better but nevertheless it matched our expectation. Some college students had come to camp on the hilltop. We too had plans of staying back till sunrise but considering the jeep driver we started our return trek after sunset coz it was getting darker minute by minute !!

By the time we reached the parking lot it was pitch dark. On returning to our room we played cards for about an hr and all of us fell asleep.

Next day morning (28th Nov) we woke up wondering whats in store for the day coz we had no clue where to go. After our discussion with the lodge owner we were left with 2 options - Jog falls and Murudeshwara. We finally settled with jog falls. The lodge owner arranged for a Xylo.

We started our day 2 journey by visiting Mookambika temple. All of us were excited to see the Elephant blessing those who gave a rupee as an offering. We too received blessings and then off we left to Jog falls !!

Jog is nearly 70kms from Kollur and it took us 2 hrs to reach there. But once we reached there we weren't that convinced coz Jog didn't appear as dynamic as we had visualized. The very thought of climbing 1400 steps brought down our spirits. But after climbing down we were back to form coz we had ample time to play in the water. None of us were swimming experts so didn't test our swimming skills much. The place was such that my Vrikshasan pose was obvious :D ...

For nearly an hr we played in the water and then decided to leave Jog coz we had planned our return journey by bus from Shimoga.Climbing 1400 steps was a BIG TASK !! Reached the bus stop just in time, boarded the 6:45 bus and reached Shimoga by 10, got into the 11pm bus to Blore and reached Blore by 6am. We were dead tired after our 2 days of unplanned trip and the 5 of us felt that this has been the best of this sort till date !!