This is my first travelogue… I hope to make this as interesting and informative as possible, and if I am not successful, well… I will make it better the next time around... :)
We had this long weekend coming up from Aug 30st to Sept 1st. I embark on my journey with my trusty pal - The '05 Zen... who has done 49k kms with me till date... (I am thinking of an ownership report at 50k kms)
Aug 30th
Came Home from work at around 2 am... Went about doing the following chores - threw some clothes in the bag... packed my Eicher India map, (GPS is not effective since rural areas/highways are yet to be mapped) My little travel book, printout of the route suggested by T-BHPians, hotel telephone numbers, water to drink, filled water for the wipers, cleaned the windshield. Checked if Camera is packed, batteries charged... I am charged too!!!
After a quick shower, left home at 3 AM... (This is going to be a long drive… no sleep... thankfully I am not the only one in the car who can drive, phew…)
Odometer read -
47,860 Km
I had about 9-10 liters of fuel in my car.. The bunk at tin factory was closed tonight. I said to myself "I am sure petrol bunks are open in the highway at this time. I mean, I have atleast 140 kms range before i hit dry tank... yes, surely they will be open. I got this covered!"
Boy, was I in for a rude surprise or what.
I am a little paranoid about driving in traffic (who isn't?) and i remember the time I got stuck in traffic on peenya road... at about 5 pm... This was on my way back from Belur/halebeedu. It took the entire feel-good factor of going on a vacation away :-(
So this time i was determined not to let it happen to me, even if it means driving 20 kms around the city... So we wanted to check the dodballapur-dobbspet route, so that it will be easy for us when we are returning to the city on monday afternoon, cos we will definitely hit traffic in the other roure - via peenya
So we decided the
Yelahanka-dodballapur-dobbspet route to hit the neelamangla-Hassan highway. The original plan was
Blr- Hassan- Kudremukh- udipi- maravanthe- murudeshwar- jog falls- tumkur- dobbspet- blr
But boy, do plans change.. and in a way, that is the fun of being on the road in your own car/bike. the freedom.. which you rarely get at work or even at times, at home. freedom to do things on impulse..
We drove to yelahanka, via hebbal and after jakkur you need to keep left. There is a small deviation from the NH which takes you to Yelahanka. We took this road, and after 1 km from the railway crossing, took a left turn at the police station signal.
Continued straight for about 25-30 kms (cross Angsana resort and go a long way down) and then took a left turn and headed towards Dobbspet which is another 30 odd Kms down. The roads are pretty good here.
We end up under the flyover at dobbspet. Somehow we dint feel like taking the left turn there and going to Hassan via Neelamangala (at that point we dint know the shortcut to Neelamangala - Hassan highway via Sivagange). We change plan and decide to do the trip in the opposite direction… fun!!!
So we take a right and head towards Tumkur... Its calm.. its about 5 AM.. nice breeze.. slight drizzle...
We keep driving and then the first light of the sun hits us... its day break... we can see the scenery a little more clearly... but I am not interested in the scenery... Its 100 kms away from BLR already and no petrol bunk in sight... my eyes are fixed to the fuel gauge... it almost close to empty...
Travel another 5 kms.. 10... 15 kms.. 20 km... nothing in sight.. all the bunks are yet to open.. Jeeez... big mistake...
Odometer reads -
47995 KMS
A full 135 Kms from start point I find a shady looking bunk.. What the heck.. I need fuel.. pull in.. Here is the picture of my Fuel Guage... I had 1 liter left in the tank at that point! Just 1 Liter.. That was close. Since the bunk dint look too great, I just filled in for 500 bucks.
Ok Ok.. enough of my chatter.. Let me post some more pictures from this point on... We filled up at another bunk a few kms down and went on towards Jog.. It was raining... the roads were pretty average.. nothing to write home about but the potholes were missing.. so that is a good thing. you can keep 75-80 kmph on these roads
We had packed some home cooked stuff so pulled over and finished up the yummy food... and drove on towards Jog falls..
After Tumkur, we took a left turn and headed towards Shimoga via Tiptur and Tarikere.
We pass through the lovely district of Shimoga.. I liked the red sand... it looks very fertile and I am sure it is. Cos it is just green all around. We also noticed this village on the way.. I thought it had a funny name
Around 10 kms after Shimoga, On the left side of the road, a signboard caught my eye - Lion and Tiger Safari... I glanced into in the rear view mirror... no vehicle behind me... slammed the brakes and pulled over...
Like I said, it is fun to be on vacation in a personal car/bike...
Bought the tickets and went inside. there was a van which was heavily "armored". This was the one which would take us on a safari into the deep forests and we would spot lions drinking water at the pond.. a group of tigers taking down a wild buffalo after a big tussle...
wake up... we are not in Africa... let me explain the reality. It is actually a huge enclosure in which these tigers and lions are house. Each enclosure is probably about 4-5 acres. They seat us in the van and drive towards a gate, which is opened, then we drive in and the gate behind us is closed. a second gate is opened and then we are into tiger territory... I was a bit disappointed at first... but what i saw 30 seconds into the enclosure, changed everything for me. I know I talk a lot... now onto the pictures again
These pictures was of a better quality before i resized them... :mad:
Next, we went in to meet Mr Lion.. I am not posting the pictures because they are not in good shape... the lions i mean. skinny as hell
Then we spotted some deer, elk and black buck. Saw a few peacocks as well but really feel that excited about seeing these "normal" animals... The tiger is something else. seeing it so close, right next to us is something else too.
Elk
Head out of the safari. It costs 30 rupees per head and 10 Rs for the entrance.
Now go back to Jog falls. The drive is pretty uneventful till we reach Jog. Jog falls is a total of about 400 Kms frm Bangalore. I was picturing in my mind that it would rival the Niagara falls... Hmmm it doesn't quite rival it. I was disappointed. They say that they let the water out once in the morning, every day during the rainy season. During other times, they leave it out only on weekends.
Initial plan was to search for a hotel in Shimoga but since I was not feeling tired/sleepy, we pressed on to jog. The safari woke me up and i was fully charged. no signs of fatigue at all.
That coupled with this disappointment of jog, we decided to carry on to Murudeshwar. I mean I was not entirely disappointed. At least I have the satisfaction of visiting the world famous Jog falls. Here are some pictures.
The scenery is good. But the people here are similar to the kind you would expect to find nowadays near other often visited tourist sites. You will see groups of young men, getting off Tata sumos and qualises'. No shirt, wearing glasses, smoking and reeking of alcohol. Passing comments on people. Gaping at anything that looks feminine. I think you get the picture.
There are no hotels worth a mention here. All of them look like the "lodge" type which is good for individual travelers and groups of men but definite no no for newly weds or young couples. So if you are planning a visit, stay in shimoga.
On the way to Murudeshwar I saw this sign.. Interesting I thought.
To be continued...
Good places to visit in right time. It hardly rained the week you visited JOG, hence less water. This week JOG is better since it rained more.
Regards,
Ravi.
Nice report and pics keep them coming. Your pics appear a little dull especially the jog falls pic. Any reason for this?
the last photograph is fantastic composition. thanks
Nice pics, keep them coming.
My 2 cents, pls dont start a journey with 9-10lit of fuel. You can run into trouble. Better do a tank full, check your tyre pressures and night before. By doing this, you will enjoy the early morning start and drive.
Abhi
Great pics - especially the tiger's. Jog, Shimoga and Kudremukh is one trip that I want to visit in Karnataka for a vacation - planned twice but went to God's own country instead.
Hello TBHPians,
This is my first new thread and need some advise on a plan that I am making for a December 2014 trip. I know it is still 7 months to go but I believe in - the early bird gets the first (best) worm :).
Now please look at my plan here in google maps
http://goo.gl/maps/kRO6o
Plan to start from Bangalore (point A) at 4 AM on 27th Dec 2014 and reach Jog Falls by 11 AM (point B). Stay there for an hour and set out for Murdeshwar (point C) and reach my 2 PM.
Check in a hotel/resort there.
Explore all the nearly beaches, temple, etc and start for Maravanthe (point D) on 29th Morning and check in a resort.
Stay there for a day and on 30th start for Malpe beach (point E) and stay there on 30th and 31st Dec. Will visit nearly beaches there too like Kaup beach (point F).
On 1st Jan 2015 start for bangalore (point G).
Now we will be having 6 families traveling with kids (all between 4 and 7 years old) and will go in 5 cars.
Need suggestions/referral as below.
1. Is the plan good?
2. Looking at the map are the road conditions exellent/good/fair/bad/terrible?
3. Requesting reference of all good resorts/hotel that I can contact for booking.
4. Is there any location I am missing out that I must visit on this trip of 6 days and 5 nights?
5. Do and Don't on this trip?
Anything and everything that you comment will help me. As we have lots of time so I would start booking of resorts only from next month.
Regards
The route looks fine, but in December there'll be hardly any water.
The itinerary looks little tight, and it will be better if you have a clearer idea of the number of places & which places you want to visit.
