[jjains]

Prologue:

Alas! Summer vacations are not for full time working people; however my nephew after his school exams, and in-laws – my wife’s uncle, aunty and their kids has come to Bangalore to spend some time with us! Usual work days are very hectic, and leave little time to actually do anything and everybody was getting ‘bored’! I had promised them that my weekend would all be theirs. I will be taking them out to some nice place!

Preparation:

Few inputs from friends, couple of reviews on Team-BHP and Google map helped me chalking out my day plan. I must have travelled to Mysore more a dozen times but had never been to these places. My folks were happy, and I was happy too, as I will do three things, I love a lot: Drive my DZire, Get closer to the Mother Nature and take picture.

Journey:

I am inherently a lazy guy, and even after spending 9 years in hostel – 5 of which were in boarding school, where I had to (painfully) get up every day at dot 5:30 AM, It has always been very hard for me to get up early! So by my standards, we started pretty early at 7:15 AM from Wilson Garden.

By around 9:30 AM, we had reached Srirangapatnam.

Most of our trips towards Mysore and beyond had included a short stop at Srirangapatnam for two reasons: Darshan and Pooja/Archana at 950 years old Digambar Jain Temple, and afterwards sumptuous Brunch! The main deity is Bhagwan Adinath swamy, 1st Jain Thirthankar of total 24 Thirthankars. His statue is mesmerizing and leaves you spiritually and emotionally fulfilled. After Darshan, we were all hungry and ‘Garma-garam’ poha, dahi parothas, mangoes and some sweets were well appreciated. We felt nice and happy – ready to explore all that we had listed out. It is going to be a nice day, I thought!

We started to drive towards Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary.

On the way, the sight of lush green paddy fields and coconut groves were all so soothing to our eyes! The fields were stretched to all that we could see on the horizon. It is just two colors that were visible – green green mother earth and blue blue sky! A sight to behold and take a deep breath… started feeling excited.

Sooner, we had reached at the barricaded entrance gate of the Bird sanctuary.

Rs.25 towards per Adult fee and Rs.30 for car parking is what we paid to get in, from there. This is the map of the bird sanctuary.


After the entrance, there is a well manicured park, with lotus pond:


We took a stroll in the park and flowing with the flow – followed the crowd. The park is built along the Kaveri River, and at one corner, there is a ticket selling window and a boarding point few meters down, to take a boat ride.

This is where we reached after the stroll:


The park:


Ah! These were the two serious photographer type folks that I saw, and see their large size lenses, must be with some very nice professional camera! Could not resist but clicked them, using my 3 mega pixel Sony Handycam HC90E.


We just started walking the track, along the river. We had a majestic river, flowing almost mutely on one side and were walking inside the lush green vegetation cover, bamboos and large trees, of which I do not know the names. Inside a Bird Sanctuary, of course our constant companions were the chirping birds, almost yelling. This was so different and so heartening, from the pollution and population that we had left behind in Bangalore, very relaxing indeed!

While we were walking, these were the pictures I clicked of the river:










Time for family picture (my wife is in the middle, flanked by her aunty and cousin). This is at the rope bridge:


Adventure time:


Being a strict vegetarian, my wife is still pretending to catch a fish!


And now her cousin is posing for the same:


Some more pics:


An observation tower:


Trying to click this flying bird, however the zoom was not sufficient:


I succeeded in actually clicking this flying Ferrari:


We saw a variety of Birds but could not identify them; neither was too inclined to stress out our brains! Being there, feeling nice and cozy, relaxing in the laps of sweet nature was all that I wanted.

Boat ride, more pictures and next section to Balmuri will follow up in 'Part 2'. Keep watching this space

[jacs]

Nice start Jjains .

Didnt know Ranganaithittu still has lots of birds, i thought season is almost over. There are lot of serious bird photographers visting this islands, i also spotted many (see the attached snap). Waiting for more snaps.

[jjains]

After a lazy stroll, chitchat and fun walking next to the river, we decided to take a boat ride.

While there were at least 3 dozen people waiting to buy the tickets and for the empty boats to arrive, and as the noon was progressing, it was getting hotter and the queue lengthier. Kids, Moms, Dads, some old hats and some new blokes were all waiting patiently.
Everybody was putting up a decent show until people realized they were made to wait there, because a large group of white foreigners had just arrived and their tour operators had connections to get preferential treatment.

One of us quipped: ‘They surely will get preferential treatment as they pay 20 times the price’. It is true, per head Rs.25 is what we had paid for the boat ride, where as it was Rs.500 per head for them!

Of course, people were fuming!



Finally an empty boat arrived and we happily chose to skip it, or rather were made to skip it, as it was already overloaded, and people who were waiting for long time, were all jumping in from all the directions!

Thank God, nobody took a plunge into the river.

Next came our turn, and we decently got placed on the back benches, which I thought were actually the best places to sit in the boat. These are some of the pics that I clicked







And these were the people who were still left behind, to keep waiting for the next ride:


My little sis in-law was too happy chugging her own boat! And it was floating around for quite some time


And this came as a surprise:




Yes, we were in the Bird sanctuary and here are some pics of the birds that we saw:




















Another crocodile was lazing on one of the islands:




Next is our visit to Balmuri / Yedamuri falls after Ranganathittu! it is going to be much more fun there. Keep watching!

[jjains]

@Jacs: Thanks Jacs. This is my first serious / full-fledged post on T-BHP. I am glad to hear that I have got a decent start. I hope, I will be able to write about Ranganthittu as nice as it actually was, although it's difficult and one has to be really a poet to describe all the beauty that one see there. It was really awesome!

I am not sure about what a typical season is, to spot most of the birds there, however I read, June to Nov. is the good time to visit!

I will cover few more bits about Balmuri tomorrow or as soon as I get a chance.

[ampere]

Nice pictures. Never been to Balmuri / Yedamuri falls. How is the route from Srinrangapatnam?

[jjains]

@ampere:
Hello ampere,
All these places are very near from Srirangapatnam.
The road is black top, tarred upto Ranganathittu, and then Balmuri, however with potholes - it is motorable.
From Balmuri to Yedamuri, the road length is about 2 KM, is not tarred. The surface was Ok at moment and were able to take my DZire. If you are going there post Mansoon, please checkout.

[MX6]

Time you upgrade to a nice camera and not use the camcorders 3 mp stuff to take photos! You got a flair for framing! Sad your camcorder doesn't support you!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by jjains

All these places are very near from Srirangapatnam.
The road is black top, tarred upto Ranganathittu, and then Balmuri, however with potholes - it is motorable.
From Balmuri to Yedamuri, the road length is about 2 KM, is not tarred. The surface was Ok at moment and were able to take my DZire.

Please provide the directions on how to get to these places in your next post. Never heard of these falls earlier. Would be interested in visiting these places for a weekend trip.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Please provide the directions on how to get to these places in your next post. Never heard of these falls earlier. Would be interested in visiting these places for a weekend trip.

@jjains,

Exactly. That was my question too.
How do we go these falls from Ranganthittu? Is it on the way to KRS?

[addyhemmige]

These falls come in between Ranganathittu and KRS. Look out for a village called Belagola and take a right turn after this village. IIRC, there should be an arch (temple arch) at the start of this road. There is also a board in Kannada giving directions to the temple.

Balamuri falls got its name due to the temple of Balamuri Ganesha/Vinayaka/Vighneshwara situated at that place. The falls itself is just water flowing over a bund/checkdam (?). You can walk over the bund when the water flow is less.

Yedamuri falls is just another bund/checkdam which comes upriver before Balamuri on the river Cauvery. These are within a couple of kms from KRS on the river. By road, it is farther.

While Balamuri is very commercialized and crowded, Yedamuri was just a haunt of the young & the restless. I don't know about the situation now though. You need to take a left turn on a dirt road just before you reach Balamuri to get to Yedamuri.

Hope this helps

[jjains]

@MX6: Thank you for your advise. I am feeling a lot motivated.
I am struggling between needs and fancies! I fancy Nikon D300S, and I am yet to ascertain my actual needs (cost / benefit analysis!). D300S will cost a real bomb and on top of it, I have never used a DSLR so am bit scarred!
I am depending on fellow BHPians to advise on which camera to choose and how! MX6 and folks, please respond. I believe this is the questions lot of people must be struggling with! I will also search for some relevant threads.

@ampere and @benbsb29:
Folks, Truly Balmuri and Yedamuri are not water falls, but just stop dams. They are referred as 'Falls' at most of the places on internet! So I went with the lingo.

I just saw a BHPian has posted some real nice and informative pics of Balmuri & Yedamuri here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...s-balmuri.html

I believe, addyhemmige's reply should help reaching Balmuri (Thanks Addyhemmige ). Later today, I will try to post the map that I had followed from Google.

Basically from Srirangapatna you drive towards Ranganathittu. On the road, Ranganathittu approach road is on your right hand side, you keep driving for about 5 more kilometers on the same road ahead and you will see a board there - I believe it was 'Balmuri Kshetra' or something - take a right turn, enter from the Arch from there, drive for about 1 Km or less and you reach a (sort of) parking lot, where they will charge you entry fee of Rs.20/- if yes, you know you have reached Balmuri. A mud road on left hand side takes you to Yedamuri.

Few important observations about Yedamuri:
1. In the shallow water, where kids were playing, I picked up a few glass pieces of broken beer bottles. So be careful.
2. That's my mistake that I didn't take good care, but I lost my brand new sandals. again be careful with your belongings and footwear, leave them in your car. (and is true any where in India so don't worry about it but need to be careful)
3. They are not very sophisticated, high end tourist attractions, so don't expect to get restaurants or proper loo there. Carry your water and snacks.
4. They were not littered with 'Kurkures' and Soft drink bottles, may be because not many people go there, so let's keep it clean and carry our leftovers back with us.

When I went there, the water was enough in the dam and it was overflowing the walls. I could actually sit under it and enjoy! It was kinda therapeutic when very high pressure water stream falls over you and massages your body!

Another plus point at Yedamuri was that there was not much of the mad rush there, just enough people so you don't start feeling lonely

With all the pros and cons, I had great time there, bathed almost for 2 hrs and came back to Bangalore, same day in the evening.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by jjains

I believe, addyhemmige's reply should help reaching Balmuri (Thanks Addyhemmige ). Later today, I will try to post the map that I had followed from Google.

Glad to be of help

Few important observations about Yedamuri:
1. In the shallow water, where kids were playing, I picked up a few glass pieces of broken beer bottles. So be careful.
2. That's my mistake that I didn't take good care, but I lost my brand new sandals. again be careful with your belongings and footwear, leave them in your car. (and is true any where in India so don't worry about it but need to be careful)
3. They are not very sophisticated, high end tourist attractions, so don't expect to get restaurants or proper loo there. Carry your water and snacks.
4. They were not littered with 'Kurkures' and Soft drink bottles, may be because not many people go there, so let's keep it clean and carry our leftovers back with us.

Another plus point at Yedamuri was that there was not much of the mad rush there, just enough people so you don't start feeling lonely

Most people don't know about Yedamuri hence the lesser crowd. And yes, broken beer bottles were always there since the only people who used to go there were college students and bachelors (usually).

Compared to Balmuri (downstream), this is a much calmer place. Balmuri is total chaos.

[MX6]

You can go for a beginner level DSLR if you really fancy a DSLR. Down the line you can upgrade the body.
Else even good point and shoot Digital cameras do a good job. Nowadays I'm in to so much of driving, that most photos you see that I've posted are taken from my digital camera. I rarely have time to use my DSLR (entry level one at that) during my drives.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MX6

You can go for a beginner level DSLR if you really fancy a DSLR. Down the line you can upgrade the body.
Else even good point and shoot Digital cameras do a good job. Nowadays I'm in to so much of driving, that most photos you see that I've posted are taken from my digital camera. I rarely have time to use my DSLR (entry level one at that) during my drives.

Thinking of getting a Panasonic FZ35. Super zoom and good image. I figured I am not a photo guy. So just need a good point and shoot with a good zoom.

Sorry for the OT.