[shankaranand]

Trip to Jog Falls:

It all started few days back when my wife and me were thinking of newer ways for our customary Anniversary celebrations. It falls around August end and my daughter has exams during that time !(Fancy this for a 4 year old!!. I was not even at school at her age. Lucky me :-) Aug 15th weekend was ruled out as I have an important review on that date (Punishment for working in MNCs, No independence on independence day as well :-(.

So we decided the weekend/3 day period in Aug 7-10 was the best period. We decided on Jog since my wife had not seen it and this being monsoon period, Jog will be at its best. Then came the unexpected part. We had our CIO visiting Bangalore office and I got a review scheduled with him on Aug 7th. Still we decided we will go to Jog after my meeting. (We could not book hotels because of all this confusion).

Friday came and due to the visiting CIO, the whole week was a hectic period. We could not finish work before noon and the trip got pushed to Saturday. That is when I decided to seek expert help on places of Stay. Thanks for those replied. We made a few notes and decided we will decide on the spot based on how the drive turns out.

This was eerily similar to Samurai San’s Let’s GO adventures and I was very apprehensive since this is the first time I am going on a major drive without proper booking.

Friday evening:
Got the tank filled with Extra premium diesel and got the tyres inflated to appropriate pressures. Bought snacks for early morning drive. Aso, bought the Karnataka road map from Eicher. (Been planning for this but was too lazy. My thinking so far has been I will ask around since I know the language.). Packed for the trip and retired for night.

Saturday Morning:

4AM : the alarm rings. Having slept at 11,can’t open my eyes yet. Still got up, had a shower and hit the roads by 5:30AM

We crossed Nelamangala tollgate by 6:25 and was cruising past Tumkur by 7. Morning drives are usually amazing. NH4 takes you to another level. Roads are great, traffic is sparse and morning breeze on your face. It feels great. Managed to hit speeds of 100+ Kmph.

Hit Tumkur by pass road and crossed Tumkur by 7:10. The by pass road is not bad but not great either. There are huge potholes at some places. But overall, good to avoid Tumkur city.

From here on NH 206 starts. The road is quite decent. Excellent upto Gubbi. Small bad stretches/road humps in between. Overall, I would say it is a decent enough road till Kadur.

Reached Arasikere by 9 and stopped there for Brekfast. For a Taluk headquarter, Arasikere still does not have a decent enough Hotel for breakfast. If you are planning to eat before Shimoga, I suggest Tiptur as it has couple of decent hotels (Tryout Vaibhav or Kamat). After searching around, we found a place called Pratham Sagar near bus stand. Food is nothing to write home about but still has manageable hygiene when on Road. Had some idli vadas and Khara bhaths.

Reached Kadur by 10. and from there on, the night mare starts. The road is good in patches. But also there are some very bad stretches near Birur and Tarikere. Your speed greatly reduces.

Around Bhadravati, you take the bypass road again and that stretch is really good. Once you hit NH 206 again, it is the same story although there are no major pot holes. Just broken tarmac to make your journey uncomfortable.

Shimoga town is a bustling, crowded place. Once you cross Shimoga and start driving towards Sagar, the road condition gradually improves and the roads are not at all bad till Jog Falls.

We crossed Shimoga by 11:40 and decided not to stop there since it was too early for Lunch. Drove continuously till we reached Sagar by 12:50. Decided to take our lunch break there. Sagar has couple of good hotels. We had lunch at a place after bus stop. Forgot the name of the hotel. But food is not bad.

Finally managed to reach Jog by 2:30 and it was pouring by Buckets by that time. Took out our umbrellas and headed for the view point only to be hugely disappointed. All you could see was white fog covering the whole valley. You could not even tell that there are hills ahead from which water is falling. But you could hear the falls roaring.

Stood there for 10 more minutes braving the rains and slowly clouds cleared up to give an awesome view of the falls and the valley. You cannot describe it. Pictures cannot show it. You just have to see it and experience it. Jog is truly awesome. I am pasting some pics here But don’t go by the pictures. This place is far more beautiful than my digital camera and novice photography skills can capture.

Also, please ensure that you visit another viewpoint popularly called Mungaru Male view point.(named after the popular movie that splendidly captured the beauty of Jog) The locals can guide you to it. Here you can get close to the falls and it looks really good. I had missed it during my last visit but this time we could go there.

Disappointingly, there are no decent places to stay around Jog. PWD guest houses are bureaucratic and need great deal of effort and influence to book one room. We checked with locals whether any good hotels can be found and since there were none headed back to Shimoga at around 5:30.

Reached shivamogga by 7:15PM. Asked couple of people around and found our way to Jewel rock. Unfortunately it was full and the hotel in front of that was full as well. I was getting tense since it was close to 8 already. Thankfully, the clerk at Jewel Rock suggested that I try out Samrat Ashok hotel and we drove there. They had only one room (top end A/c triple bed room for 999/-). I just took it without second thoughts got refreshed and hit the restaurant.
The food is quite good and we liked the food and the ambience here. Having driven 520+ Kms in a day so far, I was getting extremely tired and hit the sack soon after the dinner. The place overall is quite good and I will recommend to any one visiting Shimoga.

Sunday Morning:
We had breakfast in the hotel itself and headed for the Simha dhama near bye. This place is not to the level of Bannerghatta park but still is a good enough place to excite a 4 year old girl J. Spend couple of hours. Headed back to Shimoga, had lunch at the same place and headed to Bangalore by 1:30.
By then the rains were torrential. And drove continuously in pouring conditions with zero visibility. I like rains so the drive was good and fortunately without any events. (My biggest fear during rains is if the car develps a snag, you are stuck in the middle of nowhere and cant even get out of the car.) Thankfully nothing of that sort happened and we were back in Bangalore by 9 after couple of breaks in between. I was getting very tired by the time we reached KB cross. Stopped the car there and dozed off for 30 min. Then we stopped over at Kamat upachar on Tumkur road. This place is becoming really over crowded with badly maintained Toilets. We need to find a different place from next time onwards.

About the car:
My 2 year old Indigo with 27000 kms on it performed quite well. Passed the challenges without much hassle and was reliable as ever. I don’t care what others say about Tata cars. Agreed that it has poor plastics. But, this car has been a reliable performer over the past 2 years and I am happy with it.
Total Distance covered : 875 Kms
Fuel consumed: 50 litres.
Fuel efficiency : 17.5 kmpl.
Driving conditions: AC partially on with around 100 kms of city driving, 50 Kms of ghat section driving.


I tried to upload few pics and am facing issues. Will try to post it later in the day.

[shankaranand]

Few more pics from the trip.

[rjstyles69]

shankaranand you are just in time mate. Thanks for the update and yes btw the 1st post 2nd pic , I have one shot at the exact same location about 4 years back .



Incredible Karnataka sure it is .

[Lukeskywalker]

Hey nice pics there Shankaranand, the Tarikere stretch has been bad for a long time now, nice pics of the Jog Falls as well.
Preethi canteen in Birur is a good food option, but you have to sit in your car and eat.

[Mr.Bangalore]

hey shankar,

Nice writeup and wonderfull pics.
Truly Jog magnificent.

[sushrutha]

Beautiful pics there Shankar...Seems Jewel Rock is running packed house these days. I'm visiting Shimoga this weekend, Seems Jewel Rock is full, Shall try for other option

[DKG]

Nice pictures. Love the shot of the 2 monkeys

[praJEEP]

Damn i am missing my native a lot more pics please.

[HappyWheels]

Good photos! If the photos are so beautiful!

It was very wise of you to stop and rest for sometime when you felt tired.

Most people think that they will be able to make it and will rest after reaching the destination and start speeding - that is when things go wrong.

[snaronikar]

Good travelogue and nice pics. BTW, how did you manage to get a pic of Lion? Did you visit any of the wildlife scantury (in and around)? The FE you have ondicated is good too. Hope the car did not give you any problems.

[gowda79]

Shankar sir nice pictures and good travelogue.

You have mentioned 100kms AC in city, but how did you clear the fog formed inside at the time of rain you cleaned it with cloth.

You should have used AC at the time of Rains for defogging and safe ride.

The Antelope picture jumped to catch the leaf is really good and i hope your J enjoyed it a lot, the place mentioned is the Tavarekoppa tiger Safari and they have plenty of tigers in the capture and it is a good place.

The JOG is no words to describe, you said it right one has to stand in front of the falls to experience it.
The Reliance A1 plaza is good next to Kamat Upachar good toilet facility.

[khan_sultan]

Nice travelogue and pictures shankaranand. I am inspired to visit jog falls now. Have never been there or to that part of Karnataka.

So it seems that one can do this trip on a weekend itself -- leave Saturday morning and come back Sunday evening.

There are few better sights than majestic waterfalls in full flow and monsoons is the best time to see them in full fury.

So do you suggest making prior hotel bookings or just go and then look for hotels?

[senindra]

Lovely Pictures and great write up . Brings back old memories.

[shankaranand]

Originally Posted by gowda79

Shankar sir nice pictures and good travelogue.

You have mentioned 100kms AC in city, but how did you clear the fog formed inside at the time of rain you cleaned it with cloth.
.

I used AC during rains. I meant 100 km of City driving. I think the sentence did not come out properly. I meant Partial use of AC during the drive + 100 km of City driving.

You should have used AC at the time of Rains for defogging and safe ride.

Originally Posted by gowda79

The Antelope picture jumped to catch the leaf is really good and i hope your J enjoyed it a lot, the place mentioned is the Tavarekoppa tiger Safari and they have plenty of tigers in the capture and it is a good place.
facility.

It was tavarekoppa and I was just lucky to shoot that pic. Everyone in the Safari loved that scene.

[anurag_p80]

Absolutely loved the first pic...the Sunflower field. You sure you are an amateur?? Which camera?