Trip to Dandeli

On Thursday the October 11th, 2007 Kiran, Vishwa, Prashi, Manoj and I took some time out from our day to day activities and went on a trip to Dandeli and other places in Uttara Kannada district.

Usually we have this trend of going on long vacations when we friends catch up. This trip is dedicated to Prashi who had just arrived from UK to Bangalore. We started the planning for this trip one week in advance; chalking down all the places we could visit in these 3 days of time in Uttara Kannada district. The planning was easy as Manoj took the responsibility of booking the accommodation and travel tickets.

Dandeli is around 481 kms from Bangalore & 71 kms from Hubli. It is very famous for its Wildlife sanctuary, Paper Mills and Forest Resorts. Kali river is the main source of water. People of this city come from different states of the India .They are very good example for "unity in diversity" with their different culture, religion and language. So Dandeli city is recognized as "MINI INDIA". The plan was to travel to Hubli by train and then hire a taxi from there for the rest of the trip.

We left Bangalore on 11th October, 2007 at around 10 PM to Hubli . The journey was quite and restful after we could make it from office tired and tested. On the way to Hubli we had a photo session on the train capturing breathtaking view, as I woke everyone around 6 AM. The weather was quite cool with morning fog around. We reached Hubli the next day morning around 7.30 AM. As soon as we reached Hubli, we were greeted by Suresh (Our Driver) with a gentle smile; in fact he was already waiting for us 1 hr before our arrival since our train was delayed.

Day 1:
Suresh took us all to breakfast (Prashi was already succumbed to hunger). We went to Swathi Hotel which is considered one of the best of eateries in Hubli. Manoj’s cousin Maltesh who had helped in booking the taxi also joined us for breakfast. We indeed had a great meal which could last us till dinner, but for Prashi that wouldn’t be the case. (Prashi takes care of our eating habits with or without his knowledge.) Thank you Prashi.

After breakfast we all thanked Maltesh and left to Dandeli. From Hubli it is around 3 hrs journey since road isn’t too good after you enter the single lane. We reached Dandeli around 12.30 PM; accommodation was done at IB (Inspection Bungalow) by Manoj’s Uncle who is PWD engineer. The IB was located just on the banks of river Kali, with a beautiful lawn on one side and spectacular scenic view of the bridge over the river on the other side.

We quickly freshened up in the IB and left to visit some places close to Dandeli. We left the IB around 1.30 pm and headed directly towards Molangi taking few directions from the locals. Molangi is around 30 minutes drive from Dandeli. Molangi has the almighty signature all around it. It is a good camping place too. It is located amidst dense bamboo trees with the river Kali flowing through it. After taking few pics we started on our way to our next destination Supa Dam.

Supa Dam is one among the 7 dams across the Kali river. The dam is around 25 km from Dandeli. The dam is situated in Joida taluk of Uttara Kannada district. There is a large power plant under the dam. As we reached the dam we were not allowed to enter as it was restricted for public. We took some photographs and thought of going ahead. By then Manoj made some phone calls and we finally got permission to enter the dam. We were also provided with a technical engineer who explained the history of the dam. Supa dam is an engineering marvel. Dam is around 101 meter high and 330 meter long built across two hillocks. The water reservoir is vast and the view from top of the dam is really magnificent. We thanked the engineer and left for our next stop Syntheri Rocks.

Syntheri Rocks is around 45 minutes drive from Supa. Syntheri Rock is a 300ft tall monolithic granite located deep inside the thick Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary. With the Kaneri River gushing ferociously by its side, the Syntheri Rock is a spectacular sight. One can actually see the effect of erosion that has resulted in hollows on this rock. Thousands Of pigeons have made this rock their home. We need to walk 1km from the road to visit the place. It was already 6:00 pm by the time we left Syntheri.

All of us were very hungry as we did not have any lunch and headed directly to the IB. As soon as we reached the IB the food was ready. We hogged as much as possible and started planning for the next day. We spent some time on the IB lawn just under the moonlight with the cool breeze blowing and the pleasant sound of the river flowing.

Day 2:
Saturday 13th October, we woke up around 6:00am and all of us were ready by 7.30am. It was Kiran’s birthday. Our initial plans were to go to Cavala Caves. By the time we got ready Suresh had checked with the locals about the direction and the place. He told us that if we need to visit the caves we need to take a guide as the caves are trick, dark and dangerous; he also mentioned that there seems to be no guide around. We too checked with couple of local people the answer was same. We were a bit disappointed and we headed directly to Ambikanagar. Our end destination for the day was Jog falls, so we vacated the IB and continued our journey.

Ambikanagar is a small town around 16 km from Dandeli. For our surprise we bumped into Manoj’s brother Manju who was travelling with his college friends on a trip to Karwar. Ambikanagar is soaked in the green pristine environment of the Western Ghats. By this time Prashi was all hungry and had no intention of visiting any other place than the restaurants. However we convinced him that our next destination Sykes point is very close and promised him a good breakfast once we finished visiting that place. He came with us with a reluctant grin on his face.

Sykes point is around 5kms from Ambikanagar. Sykes point offers one of the best panoramic views of the river Kali flowing through the valley. I have seen many scenic places in India as well as abroad, this place is one of the best scenic place I have ever seen. For miles together we can see the green dense forest all around. This place also has a lot of giant hornbills flying around. For security reasons the officials informed us that the cameras are not allowed as there is a power plant just below the hilltop. If any one is in Dandeli or around it, this place should not be missed.

We then drove back to Ambikanagar, as promised we stopped at a near by hotel, which served delicious dosas. Our batsmen were in full form stroking one dosa after another. We left Ambikanagar around 9:30 and headed towards, Yellapura.

Yellapura is a small town in the middle of the Western Ghats. It has one single main road which connects many places around Uttara Kannada. We took a right in Yellapura main road towards Sattodi Falls.

Sattodi falls is around 25 kms from Yellapura. The road to Sattodi falls is really bad, infact there is no road for the last 5-8 kms. It took us around 2 hrs to travel this place from Yellapura. To our surprise Manju and his classmates were right behind us and were on the way to Sattodi itself. We had to walk for around 2kms to reach the falls. There is a pathway to the falls and the walk in the forest was really refreshing. As we went close we could hear the sound of the waterfall. As we went a bit further we saw a magnificent waterfall in the middle of the valley. The waterfall in the middle of the lush green forest is a view that cannot be explained with words. We took some photographs and climbed few rocks to get a better view of the falls. The 2kms walk uphill had taken a toll on Prashi. We then returned back to the car and headed back towards Yellapura.

Prashi spotted a restaurant in Yellapura and insisted on having lunch there. We had our lunch and left Yellapura around 1.00 pm on route Jog via Sirsi.

When we reached Sirsi, Suresh took a deviation to a pilgrim place called Sahasralinga which is around 17kms from Sirsi. As the name suggests, we can find thousands [Sahasra] of lingus in this place. It is on the banks of the river Shalmala and is famous for being the location where around thousand lingams have been carved on the rocks present on the river bank. We also saw few people enjoying a picnic around this place. The stop was short as we had long way to still cover.

We finally reached Jog falls [jogada gundi] around 5:00 pm. Jog falls is around and 125kms from Sirsi. The road is pretty decent even though it is a single lane. Jog falls is the highest water fall in Asia. The drive up hill is great.

Jog falls is the place where the river Sharavati crashes down 900 feet forming four different channels – Raja, Rani, Rocket and Roarer, to form a majestic view. As soon as we where at the jog hill top, we started to shoot the mesmerizing nature’s wonder. This place was crowded as it is one of the main tourist spots in Karnataka. It was dusk and we could not identify the IB where our booking was done. We finally found the IB and checked in. The IB is right on top of the Roarer and Rocket. We could get a good shot of the Raja and Rani from the IB.
At night fall we celebrated Kiran’s birthday in the IB itself. We also planned for the next day. After a long hard day we hit the sack by 9.00 pm

Day 3:
Next morning we were all up and ready by 5:30 pm, we had another 3 major places to visit - Yana, Gokarna and Murdeshwar. I really had doubts whether we could visit all these places. I suggested of skipping Yana as we might have to trek for 8 kms totally, I got a lot of angry stares from Kiran [the trekker]. We finally settled down for visiting Yana. However we still had to take some spectacular sunrise shots on Jog.

We left Jog around 6.30. Prashi insisted on having a early breakfast as he had to hike at Yana. We stopped by a roadside hotel and in fact we were the first customers for the day. After having some idli's, Prashi took a good stock of Appy and Mazza.

We headed to Yana and hoped we could reach there by 9. Yana is around 40 kms from Sirsi and is situated in the lush evergreen forests of Sahyadri Mountains. The road ends at around 3 kms from Yana. We started our hike and the initial 1 km is down hill, at a certain point we need to cross a stream flowing through the hills. Once after the stream, the forest is more dense and you can see a lot of trees fallen on the trial. After walking for 3 kms, out of the bloom we can see two gigantic peaks in the center of the valley. The two peaks are called Bhaireshwara Shikara[120 m] and Mohini Shikara[90m]. At the foot of the peaks, there is a temple and a house where the priest stays. We entered the temple and the priest gave us a good history about the place. He mentioned “ಸೋಕಕಿಧವನು ಯಾನಕೆ ಹೋಗುಥನೆ ರೋಕ್ಕಿದ್ಧವನು ಗೋಕರ್ಣ ಕೆ ಹೋಗುಥನೆ", hence goes the saying in this part of the world. “The one with tremendous guts and determination goes to Yana and the one with money bags goes to Gokarna “. This place is very sacred and also is completely looked after by lord Shiva itself. Scientists have explained the rock formation as a limestone deposit. There are also a few huge rocks around the temple. After exploring the rocks, we were ready to head back. The 3 km walk had taken a toll on Prashi. He had to take regular rests. He was so furious that he started abusing all of us. Finally we made it to the car and gave Prashi his much sort out Appy.

We then headed towards Gokarna. Gokarna is one of the coastal town famous for its beaches and the Shiva temple where we can find the Atma Lingam enshrined. Gokarna has lot of beaches and one of the beach is just around the temple and the town. We went into the temple got the darshan of the lord Shiva and headed towards Om Beach. Om Beach is one of the famous beach in Gokarna. This is named as Om as the aerial view of the beach resembles Om. The drive from the town to the beach is scenic with the Sahyadri mountains on one side and the Arabian sea on the other side. On Om beach you can spot a lot of foreigners too with their drums and guitars. It was already 1:00 by the time we reached Om beach so we could not spend much time there. We also could not go to Murdeshwar as it would be risky to catch the 10 pm train from Hubli to Bangalore. So we headed back to Hubli.

On the way back from Gokarna we had a good lunch in Kamat and all the folks were silent and fast asleep. We reached Hubli at around 5:30. We visited Manoj’s uncle who stays in Hubli. He was anxious about the trip and enquired if everything went well. We had a good Hubli style snack at his place and headed to the city to pick up some authentic Dharwad peda. On the way we stopped to have “Girmitte”, this tastes similar to our Bhel puri. If I am in Hubli next time I will not forget to have this. We took the sweets and headed the station. I was back in Bangalore around 7am next day.

This trip was really one of the most memorable trip which I have taken