Shivanasamudra - a beautiful art of nature

At last the day we have been waiting for has come. It was 25th November 2006. We(five of us) are supposed to start our trip to Talakad and Shivanasamudra around 6 AM, but started late as the vehicle had come a bit late and managed to start by 7:30 AM.

Day1 - Talakad and Shivanasamudra

Here we go... our journey started at last. It was a saturday and good to see that most of the Bangalore roads were empty. We picked all of our friends and headed to the Mysore Road.

We stopped for breakfast at the famous Janapada Loka Kamat Hotel which is most preferred by many of the tourists travelling in Bangalore-Mysore Highway. After having our breakfast comprising of Idly, Vada and masala dosa, we resumed at 9:30 AM.


We took a left after Maddur towards Malavalli. Soon after we started we could see a lake full of Lotus flowers beside the road.


I don't know what was the cause for the water being so blue


The monsoon this year was very good and it was reflected by the sight of greenery everywhere. Paddy and sugarcane are mostly cultivated in this part.


We reached Talakad at around 11 AM. It was an event called Panchalinga Darshan that was happening at Talakad when we went there. This event occurs once in every 12 years and during this time lots of people from different parts of the country (atleast from Karnataka) come here. This year it was published in the newspaper that around 10Lakh people visited this place.

Talakad (also known as Talakadu) is a town located at a sharp bend of the Kaveri river near Mysore in Karnataka. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic and spiritual center. Western Ganga Dynasty also known simply as Gangas ruled over much of what is now South Karnataka, with Talakadu as their capital. The Gangas were overthrown by the Cholas around AD 1014, who renamed Talakadu as Rajapura.

The Kaveri river takes a sharp turn towards the east near Talakad which is thought to be responsible for the sand covering much of Talakad - sand covers around 850 acres according to locals. This creates a beautiful beach like environment of sand dunes around the river. The Talakad sand dunes are protected by the Karnataka state archaelogical department.

You can get more information about Talakad here http://www.mylibnet.org/tk.html

As there were lot of pilgrims arrived at Talakad for the famous Panchalinga Darshan, we had to park our vehicle in a temporary parking lot and walk almost 3-5 km for reaching the Kaveri river and all the temples.

The Kaveri river bank at Talakad. You can take the Coracle boat here for having a small trip on the river. But as there were many pilgrims who visited this place we couldn't do this. Hope we can do it somewhere else on the way back home.


One of the five temples located in Talakad. We couldn't make into the temple bcoz of the long queues and so decided to pay a visit to all the temples just from outside and continue with our journey to Shivanasamudra.


This is Swamy Keerthinarayana's temple that was excavated by the archeology department and they are looking out for many more temples that are still buried in the sand dunes.


Here is one more temple called Vaidyeswara (also called as Vaidyanatheswara) Temple


We decided that enough of temples and started our nature tour. This picture is again taken in Talakad while we are about to get into our vehicle and go to shivanasamudra.


We started our journey from Talakad towards Shivanasamurda at around 1:45 PM. We all were very hungry and could not find a proper Hotel nearby for Lunch. In fact I read in couple of blogs prior to our trip about the place and also about the lunch arrangements others have done for their trip. But we didn't focus on having our lunch packed in bangalore before starting our trip. We were in search of a good hotel but invain. But at last, we managed to find a hotel at Shivanasamudra (near the entrance) where we had a decent lunch. It was not a great hotel or great lunch.... but getting something eatable when you are so hungry is just like Amrutham...

We finished our lunch and started towards Gaganachukki...

The Kaveri River splits here into two branches and each branch cascades down rocky cliffs. The more popularly viewed cascade is known as Gaganachukki and the other cascade is known as Bharachukki. These spectacular waterfalls are surrounded by hill forests of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

Gaganachukki

The Gaganachukki is 98 m tall, and has a maximum recorded flow of 667,000 cubic feet per second (19,000 m³/s). One of Asia's oldest hydro-electric power stations, still functional, is located at the waterfall. This is where hydel power was first harnessed in Asia and the electricity thus produced was used in the Gold Mines of Kolar and thus Kolar Gold Fields became the first city in Asia to get electricity. One can view these waterfalls from the Hydel Power viewing end or the Dargah end. The Gaganachukki itself has 2 facades, the western facade and the eastern facade. Many enthusiastic youngsters trek down the hill side towards the cascade and enjoy the water spray. One can ask the locals for directions to the Dargah and view the upstream end of the falls. The upstream is particularly awe inspiring after the monsoons when the Kaveri River is full.











Nice pose for a photo...





This the the road leading to the Hydel Power viewing end or the Dargah end.

Bharachukki

The Bharachukki is about a kilometer away from the Dargah. Bharachukki has a wider cascading edge. It has nice graceful cascade along the side. There are much fewer visitors to this falls and there is no viewing gallery construction here. To reach this waterfalls we need to get down lot of steps which we felt like not doing. But worth getting down the steps to have a look at the beautiful falls which we would have missed out.

Caution: Swimming is not advisable. The currents are quite strong and the gorge is quite deep. A number of lives have been lost attempting to swim here

At around 6:10 PM after visiting both the waterfalls, we started towards Mysore and stay for the night there. As we have not planned our trip completely even we didn't expect in the beginning that we'll be going to stay in Mysore for the night. And also as there were some elections in Mysore at that time we couldn't find accommodation easily. All the tourist hotels were full. At last we managed to get some accommodation in a decent Lodging for a sum of 500 bucks per room.

We had our dinner in a very good restaurant in Mysore called 'Adige Mane'. Food here was really good. Now its time to bed...


Day 2 - Bandipur and Balamuri falls, and back to Bangalore

Got up in the morning and we have not yet decided our next destination. With the help of Windows Live Maps and info from the locals, we decided to visit Bandipur National Park. On the way to Bandipur we had our breakfast in Kamat. This is the same road that leads to Ooty.

Bandipur National Park

Bandipur National Park is one of India's best known sanctuaries, and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in south India, and is contiguous with the Mudumalai National Park in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, the Wynad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, and the Nagarhole National Park to the northwest. It is home to around seventy tigers and over three thousand Asian elephants (as per the 1997 census), along with leopards, dholes, gaur and sloth bears. Bandipur is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Bandipur National Park's altitude between 680-1454 metres and is situated south of the Kabini river at the foothills of the Western Ghats.The rivers of Kabini, Nagur and Moyar flow through the reserve. Climate - Winter minimum 10, Summer maximum 28 degrees, Monsoon from June to September and best time to visit is open throughout the year but preferably in monsoon when wildlife is plenty and forest is green. Greenery is quite lean when viewed from road but gets thicker as we proceed into the forest.

Some photo shooting done on the way to Bandipur

Accommodation in Bandipur

Government of Karnataka provides spacious and comfortable accommodation at Bandipur National Park. The Rates they charge are quite reasonable. But most of the time all the rooms get booked well in advance. There are many resorts near Bandipur like Country club, Tusker trials, Jungle Lodges etc. They are luxurious resorts with prices on the higher side. Mudumalai is the Tamilnadu part of the forest where accomdation is available at cheaper prices. Just 20 km from Bandipur is Mudumalai. There are many resorts at Mudumalai to name a few Jungle Hut, Green park, Jungle retreat, Bear Mountain, Casa Deepwoods etc. Jungle home is on Mudumalai to Gudalur road in the crucial elephant habitat zone. It is a cottage near the forest which offers comfortable, clean accomdation at low rates. Elephant spottings are very common in this area. Leopards are also seen frequently almost once a week

There is also Nilgiri Resorts on the way

We reached the Forest Department reception office around 12 noon. But unfortunately we could not make to the safari as the safari timings are quite wierd. The safari timings are from 6 AM to 9 AM and again from 4 PM to 6 PM. Please ensure that you reach the reception office during these timings or do get your accommodation nearby Bandipur in one of the resorts so that you can make to the safari in time.

So the only thing we could capture is some photographs of the nature and some deers.

We were lucky enough to capture atleast one deer and this was just on the road side. Hope we could have seen many such animals if we'd have made to the safari.

We got to know about the Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta from the local people near Bandipur and thought we would atleast visit this place before heading to Bangalore on this unsuccessful day.

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

View from Mountain (Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta) in the core zone can be accessed by a small road through the village of Hangala north of the national park. Gopalaswamy Betta (betta is hill in Kannada) located inside the forest is a popular trekking spot. There is also a motorable road to the summit of the hill. The area is also frequented by herds of wild elephants. The hill gets its name Himavad (fog in Kannada) due to the fog during most parts of the year. Atop the hill is a temple of Lord Venugopala Swamy built centuries ago and a travellers bunglaow which remains locked now and belonged to Ruler of Mysore. Nobody is allowed to stay beyond 5:30 PM.These hills are covered with grass and classified as shola forests

The road leading to the mountain was very picturesque.

Lord Venugopala Swamy temple situated atop the hill that was built centuries ago.

We were really very happy that we could see atleast some place on our unsuccessful day. It is very scenic and picturesque.












Balmuri Falls

On the way to Bangalore while coming in Mysore-Bangalore Highway we took a left turn to pay a visit to another beautiful and our last destiny called Balamuri Falls. This is very near to KRS. The speciality of this particular falls is that it's not like another regular waterfalls. One can walk from one end of the falls through to the other end and you can't find this kind of waterfalls anywhere else.

This place is very ideal for swimmers, but be aware that you don't cross the limits as there are quite a few swirls around.




Here here.... You can also walk all the way through the waterfall like this... But be careful. the water currents are high during evenings.


Well here are some of the best pictures I have ever shot in this trip.




As we could not go in a coracle in the Kaveri river at Talakad, we have done it here.


Some last minute snaps of the day near the falls.


Thats me...


We started our journey back to Bangalore at around 6PM. On the way we stopped at Maddur for having the famous Maddur Vada at a famous hotel called 'Maddur Tiffanys'.

As all the good things come to an end, so is our trip to Talakad and Shivanasamudra. We entered into Bangalore city around 8PM, dropped off our friends and finally reached home by 9PM.