Bangalore -> Hogennakkal - A Quickie

[csentil]

This was one of the last moment unscheduled trips that we did on the 27th of Oct.

NO Photos :-(

Origin: Bangalore
Destination: Salem
Total Gang: 4 (does that qualify as a gang)
Car: Honda Civic
Intention: To attend a wedding
What actually happened: We detoured to Hogennakkal
Pleasant Surprise: Excellent road conditions to Hogennakkal
Bad Experience: Horrible roads between Dharmapuri - Salem.

Starting time: 7.15 am from Airport Road
Breakfast: 8.15 am @ Rennaissance Inn, Hosur.
Good hearty Buffet breakfast there. They serve breakfast near the swimming pool. Best thing was they have sausages for breakfast which I like !! Its Rs.125/- for the breakfast and you get continental & Indian. Try it out if you have the time & the moolah to spend.


Small stopover in Krishnagiri @ my uncle's house for some more tea and snacks. :-)

We then decided to go to Hogennakkal after seeing the papers. The news report was that there was too much water and there was no waterfalls at all. My uncle warned me that we wouldn't be allowed or it wouldn't be possible to go near the waterfalls.

Anyways we headed to Hogennakkal.

Route:
Krishnagiri->Kaveripatnam: Normal two lane road. Bad @ places. Extremely high density of traffic. Kaveripatnam is a nightmare and has been so for a lot many years. Salvation is a year and odd away as the bypass for this town is being laid with a new bridge. Regular users of this road to down south will surely heave a sigh of relief when that happens.

Kaveripatnam -> Palakkodu:Take a right just as you exit Kaveripatnam towards Palakode. Very good road. Its being widened at a few places. This road joins the Hosur->Rayakottai->Dharmapuri road. Distance: 30 odd kms. Good drive through rural TN.

Palakkodu -> Papparapatti: Just as you exit Palakkodu you will have a right with a board which says Hogennakkal. This road is being relaid and is 90% in excellent condition.

Papparappatti -> Pennagaram->Hogennakal: You will hit a well laid road once you reach Papparapatti, take a right here. This is the Dharmapuri->Hogennakkal road. I was pleasantly surprised to see this road in excellent condition. It looks recently relaid and was happy to drive in it. Not much of traffic and you might have to drive over straw thats been laid on the road once in a while. :-) You need to take the bypass that curves towards the left in Pennagaram and keep going straight from then on.

You will have a checkpost before you enter the ghat section where you pay an entrance fee. I'm visiting Hogennakkal after a gap of 2 years and I should say there's been a 100% improvement in road conditions. The whole ghat section road has been widened & relaid. Was fun driving in it with the AT.

On Reaching Hogennakkal:


Do NOT buy the parking ticket at the entrance if you are going to stay in TTDC. Buy only if you are parking it in the parking lot behind the bus stand. Do NOT make any deal for boat rides with the touts there at the entrance. They will say rate is ONLY Rs.200/- per person !!!!
Do NOT carry plastics and dirty the place. As it is its already dirty.
Do NOT use soap or any other chemicals. Yes there are a lot of people who do that. But its my humble request not to do so. This water reaches Mettur and is used for irrigation downstream.

Do wear good shoes if you intend to clamber up the rocks.
If you are interested in coracle rides get closer to the falls and then haggle.
Do not deal with guys on cycles. These are typically touts.
A good price is Rs.50/- per person though we got a ride for Rs.30/-. But looking at the distance and the amount of work that guy puts in I felt sorry for haggling with him.

Since we didn't have spare clothes we didn't plan on taking a bath and we didn't take a camera/phones also as we might get wet or slip.

Things you can do:

1. Have a nice bath in the waterfall.
2. go for a coracle ride.
3. have a nice picnic on the other side of the waterfalls.
4. Trek.
5. Eat nice fish.
6. Visit the local Crocodile bank.

If anyone's been there you would know how deep the gorge is and how big the main waterfalls. Well, the day I was there the falls was only above 10 feet high. You can just imagine the amount of water that was flowing.

We took a coracle ride and clambered over the rocks on the other side to get a view of the many falls that are there. The total time for the boat ride and viewing the main falls took us 90 minutes or so.

We then had lunch at a small mess with some delicious fish pieces. (Btw most of the fish sold there are not caught in Hogennakkal, they come from dam sites and other places) .

We then proceeded towards Dharmapuri and then Salem.

wow man, thats a long post. sorry about that. No fotos though !!

[hvkumar]

Senthil,

Where do you exit Krishnagiri to take the Kaveripatnam road? Is there signage in the bypass?
I remember driving through the night several years ago (in 1987!!) on this Palakkodu-Krishnagiri road, it was virtually a dirt path at that time.
What is the distance from Palakkodu to Hogenekal via Papparapatti?

[jango]

Csentil, did you face any issues with the security personals in the check post just before entering Hogennakal ?? or where they nice this time ?

[csentil]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Senthil,

Where do you exit Krishnagiri to take the Kaveripatnam road? Is there signage in the bypass?
I remember driving through the night several years ago (in 1987!!) on this Palakkodu-Krishnagiri road, it was virtually a dirt path at that time.
What is the distance from Palakkodu to Hogenekal via Papparapatti?

Hey, Kaveripatnam is on the Krishnagiri->Dharmapuri road. If you are on the Krishnagiri bypass you need to go straight up on the second bridge. This leads towards Dharmapuri, Salem....

If you go down the left side of the bridge and take a left you head towards Chennai.

Palakkodu to Hogenakkal is 60 odd kms.

Btw, Hosur -> Rayakottai -> Palakodu road is not too good now. Though its shorter to reach Palakodu this way, there are too many small towns and road condition isn't too good. So its better to go via Krishnagiri bypass -> Kaveripatnam -> Palakodu -> Paparapatti-> Pennagaram -> Hogennakkal

[csentil]

Originally Posted by jango

Csentil, did you face any issues with the security personals in the check post just before entering Hogennakal ?? or where they nice this time ?

Nope.. I had to just sign in on the register. The guard/cop asked me where I was coming from and thats it. Yes even I was pleasantly surprised as they always treat a group of bachelors or guys with suspicion. Maybe having a big car helps and I certainly spoke to him in Tamil and asked him about water level and all that..... :-)

[akroy]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Senthil,

Where do you exit Krishnagiri to take the Kaveripatnam road? Is there signage in the bypass?
I remember driving through the night several years ago (in 1987!!) on this Palakkodu-Krishnagiri road, it was virtually a dirt path at that time.
What is the distance from Palakkodu to Hogenekal via Papparapatti?

Kumar ji, it is on the Kgiri - Dharmapuri stretch, immediately after crossing the bus stand at Kaveripatnam, there is a right turn (If i remember correctly there is a small signage for Pallakodu)

I did this stretch in my first Hogenakkal visit in 2004 (the day after Diwali 2004) and it was pathetic...road was fully broken till we hit the Dharmapuri - Hogenakkal road at Pennagaram...Pallakodu-Paparapatii was a dirt track, fully broken, it was a nightmare for us in bikes, cars couldnt even think about taking the road

Actually it is a pleasant surprise from senthil that that route has become a dream for a car (I am still speechless, it was pathetic to be called road), infact in that visit we returned via Dharmapuri and didnot turn off at Pennagaram...

From that Kaveripatnam turn, Hogenakkal falls is about 60km, out if the last 30km was Pennagaram - Hogenakkal which we took 30min and the first 30km took us 2 hours that time...

Abhi

[mobike008]

Nice update of the quickie trip. Wish it was backed up with a few pictures, it would have been a complete travelogue

[csentil]

yeah.. i was also surprised with the road condition. Its being relaid, so there's work going on. in some places its a single road and in some places its pretty neat. I hope further rain hasn't spoiled the road !!!

Sorry abt the missing fotos. We were going for a marriage and didn't lug ur cameras. Also when we went to the waterfalls we didn't even carry our mobiles becoz we feared it would get wet.

[rkg]

on monday i had to go to denkanikottai near hosur. we took the bypass at attibili junction before hosur and went via TVS factory- Madhugiri-denkanikottai. road condition is very good. on this stretch i have seen sign boards stating hogenkal 75km odd. did anyone used this route to hogenkal?
this route also goes through paparapettai. one need not go through hosur-krishnagiri.
iam planning to go via this route . any info will be useful

[Nitin]

Nice write up, senthil.
I vaguely remember visiting Hogenakal falls as part of a picnic from school. Quite a pretty sight on a sunny summer day. Must have been in 1993-1994,I guess.

[csentil]

Originally Posted by rkg

on monday i had to go to denkanikottai near hosur. we took the bypass at attibili junction before hosur and went via TVS factory- Madhugiri-denkanikottai. road condition is very good. on this stretch i have seen sign boards stating hogenkal 75km odd. did anyone used this route to hogenkal?
this route also goes through paparapettai. one need not go through hosur-krishnagiri.
iam planning to go via this route . any info will be useful

You mean you took the road that goes off to Anekal from Attibile and then took a left towards Mathigiri ? Or does this road lead straight to Mathigiri?

From Denkanikottai the road would probably join the Hosur->Palakodu->Dharmapuri road or would go straight to Papparapatti.

Nice option to check out. Will do it sometime.

I've been to Hogenakkal through Hosur - Palakodu - Papparapatti - Pennagram - Hogenakkal.

[maddy42]

one piece of advice to all is dont play the fool around and also its a sight to boys jump into the water from a 30 ft high rock...god looks dangerous and used to do it for like 5-10bucks
Also the coracle ride to the water fall is too good...poor guys have to put lotsa stress to control that coracle...awesome place btw

[tachobells]

I've been to hogenakkal thru both Dharmapuri as well as Denkanikottai..
the latter is a much better drive and scenic, though the last 7kms are really pathetic.
You'll miss the Hosur-Krishnagiri highway though.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by csentil

You mean you took the road that goes off to Anekal from Attibile and then took a left towards Mathigiri ? Or does this road lead straight to Mathigiri?

From Denkanikottai the road would probably join the Hosur->Palakodu->Dharmapuri road or would go straight to Papparapatti.

Nice option to check out. Will do it sometime.

I've been to Hogenakkal through Hosur - Palakodu - Papparapatti - Pennagram - Hogenakkal.

it is called attibili junction. one can see directions for TVS. turn in to it, don't go up to anekal. much before anekal there is a left turn with sign board for tvs. turn in . after TVS the road meets at junction. it is actually hosur town. turn right there. one can avoid the most of the hosur town. go straight. i did not go up to hogenkal. i went up to denkanikottai. but there sign boards which say hogenkal 75 km. road is practically empty.

[NIP]

a picture speaks a thousand words