Bangalore-Hogenekkal-Bangalore : One day Trip

[sj_koova]

Hi All,

This is my first Travelogue in T-bhp. I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Now read on..

Tour Destination : Hogenekkal, Tamilnadu (Karnataka border).
Date of Travel : 31st May 2008.
My Car : Mitsubishi Cedia Sports.
Starting location : Sarjapur Road, near Wipro, Bangalore
Number of people : 5 (My wife, her parents and sister. I am the driver).
Route Taken : Bangalore -> Hosur -> Krishnagiri - > Dharmapuri - > Hogenekkal.
Distance Traveled : 348 KM (174KM one way. No deviations taken).
Dress Code : I suggest nylon tracksuits and slippers.


My in-laws were visiting Bangalore for 3 days and I wanted to take them to a place near Bangalore which is not much crowded but pleasant. We also wanted to avoid over night journey or stay. My wife and I started thinking over different destinations with in 200km of Bangalore and the first one came up to mind was Mysore. But then all of us had been there many times and so we ruled it out. Few more destinations in Karnataka forest area came up but we could not do them without night stay.
It was a last minute decision from me after reading some of the Travelogues in the T-bhp on 30th Friday night. I said Hogenekkal and none of them had an idea what kind of a place it is. I showed them some of the pics in T-bhp and convinced them. (After all I had to make up my mind too). Anyway we finalized the destination and decided to start at 6:30AM in the morning.

As we decided we managed to start exactly at 6:30AM from Bangalore. Travel until Hosur was not that easy even at early hours. Lot of lorry traffic and a small jam at Chandapura junction.

After Hosur the road opened up pretty well and traffic lightened significantly. Hosur-Krishnagiri stretch was very good and familiar to me. So I managed to keep up the speed between 120-140kmph.

Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri stretch was also decent, but you need to keep your eyes fully opened as the road widening work is still on.

Dharmapuri-Hogenekkal was much better than I expected. Pleasant Ghat section drive with very light traffic.


We stopped at some nice spot on the Dharmapuri-Hogenekkal road for a photo section and bit of stretching exercise. My car was all set to pose.


We reached Hogenekkal at around 9:30AM after 3 hours drive with just 15min break in between.

Here is a view of scenic Kaveri river that welcomes you as soon as you reach Hogenakkal


It was time for bargaining for the coracle ride, which is must at this spot. Apparently this is the only way to enjoy the falls. Lot of boatmen surrounded me with offers starting from 600/hour. After a long negotiation what I could get was 600 for 2 hours. It was half of what they asked for. I know it was not the best deal, so do not take my advise on this rate.

Five of us were boarded into the coracle and taken to the first spot where we get a glimpse of the water fall. Coracle was an amazing experience for my wife and parents. They enjoyed every moments.
After crossing the river, I climbed the observation tower for a better view and some snaps. Here are some.



Now it was time to experience the only natural water falls spa of the country. The boatman asked us to get down through the stairs to the base of falls. We boarded the coracle once again at the base this time and he made the ride so adventurous by taking the coracle right under the falls and spinning it some much, which resembled a roller coaster ride. He did this until we were all wet and screamed for no more.



After this, it was again a bumpy boat ride through the rocky gap at the base of the falls. This was again so scenic and thrilling


Once the rocky gap got over, it is a different view of the Kaveri river there on. The water looks so still and the river banks were like beach with lot of sand. The boatman took us to the river bank where there were lot of shops serving hot fried fish from the local catch.




All this took around two hours. There were spots were we could take bath. We avoided this and returned to where we parked our car.

We also avoided eating at this place and started our journey back home at 1PM. We had our lunch at some Dhaba near Dharmapuri and resumed our journey. We reached home at 4:45 safely and with lot of energy left for a nice evening.


I am all set for my next trip. So expect more from me in this section.

[dadu]

Nice short travelogue. Pictures are also nice but they have a tinge of yellow in them !!!.

[mobike008]

Nice first write up. And, the pictures look really good expect for what Dadu pointed out. I think it is an issue with the WB, if possible change them and re-post. Look forward to more travelogues from your end.

Btw, which camera was doing the duty?

[sj_koova]

Yes. I too thought so. Some of the pics are yellowish. As you said White Balance should be the problem. I have a basic Sony Digicam-W55.

[PatienceWins]

Nice write up and pictures. The Cedia looks hot in red.

How did you protect your camera/ mobile etc when you were under the fall? I guess you had some water resistant/ plastic bag with you.

[NRKUMAR]

Some of the best pics I have seen about the water falls in Hogennikal. Kudos

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Nice write up and pictures. The Cedia looks hot in red.

How did you protect your camera/ mobile etc when you were under the fall? I guess you had some water resistant/ plastic bag with you.

That was a tough task. In fact my camera refused to power on after the ride under the falls. I have already lost one camera the same way 3 years back at another waterfall in Kerala. So this time I was very careful, but the heavy moisture content in the air was sufficient for the camera to malfunction. I removed the battery from camera and kept both in sun light for sometime. With no much I hope I tried to power it on after some time and my luck, the camera comes up without any issues.

[sj_koova]

Here are some more snaps


Krishnagiri freeway early in the morning. It was really fun driving my cedia on this road. I was keeping the speed up above 130-145kmph and still I felt my car asked for more. Until my wife told her parents that we are going at 145kmph, they absolutely had no clue that we are going that fast. Somehow they also enjoyed it.



Thats our coracle


Advancing to the fall. This is the most interesting part of the coracle ride


And thats the still river