Hogenakkal Fall

I am back with a new story of my recent travel to Hogenakkal falls.... Few facts before we jump to story...

Place: Hogenakkal Fall, Dharmapuri Dist

Background: "Hoge" in kannada is smoke and "kallu" mean rock... So the name indicates smoking rocks... After going there, you will feel that for sure...

What to see there: A beautiful falls.. Some say it as Indian Nayagara. Actually its not one fall, but there are lot of falls. This is a border between Tamilnadu and Karnataka. So people call those falls as Tamilandu falls and Karnataka falls. And main thing to see is Karnataka Falls only. They call it as Main falls.

How many Days: Just a day trip from Bangalore

Total Distance: Depends on route you take. I took NH route and it came total 350KM up and down.

Route: There are mainly 3 routes which people take... I took the First one as I don't know tamil and don't want to take any risk on the way....


Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Pennagaram - Hogenakkal
- Owesome 4 lanes NH road. U can go at 140 speed also
- ~175km

Bangalore - Hosur - Rayakottai - Palakkodu - Pennagaram - Hogenakkal
- 2lane ok kind of roads...
- ~160KM Route-3:

Bangalore - Hosur - Denkanikottai - Anchetti - Hogenakkal
- This is also 2 lane road but here and there road is completely damaged.
- Hilly road and hence u cannot go in super speed but can catch up good views
- ~120km

Bext Time to Visit: Its all depends on what you like... This place is always hot and during summers it reaches 40s. During dry summer, the water will be less but you can enjoy a coracle (in kannada we call it as theppa) ride from bottom of the falls. They will take the coracle near to falls. And also can swim in river anywhere you want. But water fall will be very small and may not look that great. During winter, there will be huge water flow and you can see gigantic flow. It will be really scary to see that flow standing near to falls. I went in winter, so read below story for more details....


Story Begins....

Just few days back we decided and with bit of research on routes and climate on net we planned for trip. Actually from past few weeks we heard from newspapers and from few friends that water is more and falls will look great now.

Finally on Saturday morning woke up early at 5am and prepared our breakfast and lunch and packed it(In fact my mom and wife did it, i was sleeping till 7am). Started our Journey at sharp 7:30am. Many people told that hotels will be very bad in this route and you will never get hygiene food anywhere. So we planned to take our food packed. You can get few good hotels like Kamath, MecD, Anadh Bhavan, Coffee day, and few big hotels between Hosur to Krishnagiri. After Krishnagiri, you don't get any hotels. So full your tummy before you reach Krishnagiri.

Reached Hoganekkal at sharp 11am. Place was bit hot. I can't imagine how hot it can be in summers. From 3km to this places, at-least 4 places they collected toll fee, I just paid everywhere as i don't know Tamil to ask why. We tried reading all boards to find out where to start. This is a big issue with every traveler who reached there as there is no proper guidance and you have to know Tamil to ask some body. Finally we figured out a start point.

First went to Coracle place. They charge 150 each person and min of 6 people in one Coracle. We were of 4 and we didn't want other to come in our Coracle and hence booked full 6 seats and paid 900. Remember you cannot go to Karnataka falls with out Coracle. so to visit main stop you have pay this amount. As per them this amount is just to go near Karnataka falls and come back but they don't wait there. But for swimming the best place is near Karnataka falls. So we gave another 300Rs for extra waiting of 1hour. They charge a lot for everything. There is no proper office room or ticket counter. Each boat fellow charges his own price. So bargain a lot. Some boat drivers come to your parking place itself and starts asking you for ride. Ask everyone for their prices. Some kind of rules and a proper tickets should come to make this place more traveler friendly. And important thing is you should know Tamil to get good price. Note that the drivers know all languages but they don't speak it so be careful while talking near them.




Finally after a lot bargain, we started our journey in Coracle. He took us to some place in a river for just ~300 meters. There is a tower where you can watch entire view of all falls.... Can you a find water falls at the end.. that is where the main attraction lies... During Summer when water is low, they take the Coracle in the river that you see and they take near to all falls.. For now water current is heavy and we have to ride above the falls only.

From there you need to walk for at least 1.5km to reach Karnataka Falls. So keep your bag less for this ride. The Boat guy also lifts his Coracle and walk this distance. That is why they charge more. The money you give is not for efforts of riding. Total ride will be just 1-2KMs.

Finally reaching Karnataka falls, all our pain in walking is gone. That was a beautiful, gigantic view. You cannot take your sight of it... Your jaw will drop... Very scary also... You can walk very near to falls and have a down view of falls which is bit risky. After seeing this falls, my mind calm down as I was thinking, "what is there that great to see here" till that time.

Took few snaps and enjoyed the place for some time. Then boat journey started again where he will take some place in river where the depth is just 2-3 feet and sand base. There you can swim and spend more time. Don't dress-up again as there is one more place to get drenched... After swimming returned to the start point in Coracle. It was a small but a nice ride...

Now comes second spot - Hanging bridge. View from Bridge is very beautiful as you see heavy river flowing under you.... After crossing bridge you get some more beautiful views of other falls...

All this completed by 2pm. Its not complete yet... One more important thing to do in Hoganekkal is pending.... That is "OIL MASSAGE" . Near the Hanging bridge you can see lot of people with blue dress and oil bottle with them. They charge 100 per person. You will enjoy the Massage for sure... It pains but after feel will be great and refreshing....

Once you have massage done, there is a small water falls where you enjoy the gushing water. Water force was very high and it will almost throw you away. They have put some grills so that you can support on it and enjoy the force of water.... Spent another half an hour here and had a great lunch. Note that food is very bad there. If you are a fish lover then you will get lots of shops to eat fresh fishes... But cleanliness is last thing they follow.

By this time was 5pm, we are done with trip and back to Bangalore with nice trip and reached around 8:30pm.

Thanks for reading... Comments please....

Trip to Coorg

Coorg also called as Kodagu was our Destination this time. Below are quick info before we go in details...

Date of Travel: 5th Feb 2011 from Bangalore

Company: Myself and my wife Vandana. Harsha and his wife Chaitanya.

Duration: 2 nights - 3 days

Places Covered: In and around Coorg and Mysore (Just palace and zoo)

Places covered near to Coorg: Dubare Elephant Camp, NisargaDhama, Golden Temple(Tibetan camp), Abbe Falls, Thalakavery, Bhagamadala, Omkareshwara temple, Raja Seat

Total journey: 750km



Stay in Coorg: Raksha Homstay, Sidhapura. This is an excellent homestay with yummy food. Nice location in 30 acres of Coffee plantation. Very lovely atmosphere and great hospitality from host. Check out http://www.homestaykodagu.com/home_stay/raksh%20cottage.htm




Travel Mode: Drive my own car

Occasion: My 4th Marriage anniversary

Day-1:

Ok let me come to more details. Journey started at sharp 5am from Bangalore. We packed home made breakfast as we were not sure on hotels on the way.

From Bangalore join Mysore road and travel on Mysore express highway till you reach Srirangapatna (just 20km before mysore).

From Srirangapatna take the diversion (not that good road) towards Ranganthittu Bird sanctuary. Continue on that small road till you reach ilivala. Any person on road can guide you the route. Even if you don;t know the language, just tell the name of place and he will explain you. Not much complicate way actually.

At Ilivala you will reach highway again. Now take a right on highway and move towards Hunsur, Periya patna.

Just after Periyapatna, you need to take a first left (Check out Orange County Board) and move towards Sidhapura road.

Raksha Homestay in just half a km from Sidhapura(35km from Coorg) , a small town. Even if you don't take this homestay, rest of my travel guide will remain same.

We reached homestay around 10am (so it is just 5 hours journey). We had small refreshment and started our journey again.

Dubare Elephant Camp:

From Sidhapura it is just ~10km away. This is the place where Elephants are tamed and trained. Try to reach here by 9am to see how elephants take bath. You can even see at 5-6pm. You need to take a boat ride to cross the river to reach the actual elephant camp (just 10Rs per head). Enjoyed few snaps with elephant and if you wish you can take a rise also. Then crossed the river back and went for river rafting (100 per head) in the same place. The rafting was for about 2 km and it was really great experience. Finaly swim in river for some time.

NisargaDhama:

From Dubare a route towards KushalaNagar for ~5KM. you can see it to your right. Here the Kaveri river just divides and joins again to form a small island. There is nothing much to see except a bamboo tree forest where you can walk for some time. Enjoyed few pics and some time sitting with full peace.








Nyingmapa Tibetan Monastery and Golden Temple:

After NisargaDhama go towards Kushalanagar and after Kushalnagar with in ~5km you will find this golden temple. This is second large Tibetan settlement in India. You can see many monks and a beautifull Golden temple. Huge Buddha statue is the biggest attraction. felt very peacefull and silence in the temple. Spent some time just sitting inside the temple. Outside there is a small shopping place. We didn't buy anything as nothing much special.





Return to HomeStay:

All the above places will come in single stretch of road one by one as said in above order. After Golden temple we returned back to homestay in the same route what we followed. Spent rest of the day enjoying the place. Had a great dinner and slept.

Day-2:

Had breakfast and left the home stay at sharp 10am for next round of places. From Sidhapura ~35km you will reach Madekeri (Coorg). From madekeri again 48km is our next destination Thalakaveri.

Talakaveri:

River Kaveri which is one of the 7 sacred rivers of Sapta Sindhus of the Hindu scriptures, originated at a place is called Talakaveri (head of Cauvery) in the Brahmagiri hills, at about 4,500 ft above sea level. This place is marked by a tirtha kundike or Brahma kundike (small spring/pond) from where the river emerges as a small perennial spring, but flows underground again to emerge a short distance away.

Very beautiful place because of its view. Enjoyed some time and returned back towards madikere.

Bhagamandala:

From Talakaveri, it is just 8km down the hill towards madekeri. This place is also called as "Triveni Sangama". There is a small temple to see. Nothing special. You can skip it also. But it was just on the way and hence we dropped here for some quick view.

After Bhagamandala we came back to madikere and had lunch in small hotel (athithi hotel). It was tough time to place get hotel. Athithi was one of the suggestions from local people and we went there. Hotel was ok.

After food next place is Abbe Falls

Abbe Falls:

Abbe mean "waterfall" in kodagu language. This is again a beautiful waterfall and must see place. About 4km from madikere. Need to take few steps to reach the falls. We were completely upset as they are not allowing to enter the falls. We just saw the falls and took few pics and left from there.








Omkareshwara Temple:


From Abbe falls, came back to Madekeri. This temple is in heart of the city. Temple will open after 5:30pm hence we just spent some time in front of the temple and left from there. Nothing special place but we visited this place as it is one of the common place to visit by all.








Raja Seat:


Again this is in heart of the city. This is again must watch place and all ways make sure you reach here by 5pm. Very beautiful view. Watched the glorious sun set where sun say bye-bye at the edges of green mountains. After sun set there was a musical fountain (6pm-7pm).

This ended our places in Coorg. reached homestay around 8pm and again slept for the day.




Day-3:

Woke up at 8am and celebrated my 4th wedding anniversary. Thanks to Harsha and Chaitanya for cake arrangements. Had breakfast and checked out the homestay around 10am. We will never forget the stay in homestay. It was one of the best part in entire trip.

Started journey to Mysore. Around 130km from Sidhapura.

We we wanted to reach Bangalore by end of day-3 only, we choose only 2 places to visit in Mysore - Zoo and Palace. There are many other places to visit which again takes one more day.

Mysore Zoo:

A typical zoo with most of the animals. Very poorly maintained. If you are first time visiting zoo or if you have kids then this is must watch.












Mysore Palace:

No words to say. This Palace shows the royal life of Wadayar Family. This will be closed by 5pm so be sure you catch it. Almost 1 hour spent in palace. Took a audio guide to help us in knowing the history of palace and few important places inside the palace. After you exit the palace don't miss the musiam where you can see lot of things related to kings.







END:

So by this we end of trip and back to Bangalore. 130km from Mysore. Had a great trip and we will cherish this for ever.



Last thing...don;t forget to out your comments.... Thanks for reading....