Mekedatu

Route : Silkboard - Kanakpura - sangam & mekedatu - Kanakpura -Silkboard
Round Trip : 220 KM
Time : Aug 29th 2014; 2 PM - 8 PM


Bike : Thunderbird 350
Riders : Myself and Anshu

Places to Visit: (Time : 8 AM to 6 PM strictly)

   1. Kankpura Sangam
   2. Mekedatu

  

        It's a long weekend for Ganesh festival and weekend.  We all Friends thought of meeting for some fun, but everyone is busy on festival day with their family except me and Anshu. So I called Anshu at 10 AM, but no response. Anshu called me back at 11 AM and the conversation automatically made a road for bike trip. I suggested Mekedatu since it is rainy season. 

       I went to Anshu room at Bansawadi, and started immediately at 12 PM. Till kanakpura Anshu enjoyed the Thunderbird ride, after that I took the handle. Without any stop we reached Sangam at 2:30 PM. There is no entrance ticket or parking fee, beware of people who ask for parking fee. Finished Lunch by 3 PM in Sangam Restaurant, food is good but costly. Restaurant is right next to the sangam point.


Sangama Restaurant:

Sangama Restauran Menu:

        Sangam is really beautiful to see the much widespread water. Sangam is the place where River Kaveri and Arkavathi joins.  Low face Arkavathi joins with ferocious Kaveri.  Arkavathi water levels are low, but still we have to take the coracle to cross the River. Paid 40/- (To & Fro)  for person and stepped in to coracle. (keep the tickets safe for return journey). In the middle of water he made few spins of coracle....and stopped at a big stone in the half way and told us to walk for the remining distance. We got confused for a movement, but later realized that water levels are very low, closely 30 cm's depth. Walking in a water reminded me of childhood days. (Coracle guy asked us 10/- for Tea ... we did't pay as we don't have change)

That's My friend Anshu walking to the other end of the River:

       From the other end of Bank, we have to take the bus to reach Mekedatu or we can walk. It's too far to walk, may take more than 1 Hr. Bus fare is Rs 60/- for person for round trip, keep the ticket safe for return journey. Totally 3 buses are there, one of them is looks like from stone age. Lucky they are using only good buses, may be because of less rush today due to Ganesh Festival.

Stone Age Bus:

       Reached Mekedatu after a 20 mins of bumpy ride through the rock road. I don't understand why people called it as water falls, but actually its just a river passing through a narrow pass in a small rock hill. So much widespread Kaveri river passes though a small gap with a great force. We can listen the water force sound from long distance. The rocks in the water are beautifully sculptured by water in a different different shapes.

Mekedatu view:

That's ME:

Beautiful rock sculptures made by water:

     I should agree one thing, this place is really dangerous, many people died here. There is no fense or any support to see the water flow. When we reached there, its started raining and it made us more scary to walk on those rocks, but those rocks looks really beautiful after rain. Spent 1 Hr at Mekadatu and then started to Sangam with driver's call for Last bus. 6 PM is closing time, so generally after 5 PM on words, bus guys call it as last bus unless if there is another bus coming. Driver not allowed us to sit on bus roof instead packed all of us inside, there is no place to stand also. We were sweating like anything, to add more worse, in mid way few other guys also stepped into bus and it was like hell ride.  I suggest you to finish Mekadatu before 4 PM, so that you can retain the energy for rest of the day.

  Reached back to Sangam by 5:20 PM, no mood to dip in to the water because of bus ride. So we just sat on the rocks and enjoyed the view. Timely at 6 PM, security blow'd whistle to say end of the day. Again walked back in the water to the big rock and then took coracle. Bike is safe and started back to Bangalore, reached home by 8 PM.

Sangam view:

That's our selfie:

Shivanasamudra and Talakad

Route : Silkboard - Kanakpura - Malavalli - Shivanasamudra - Talakad - Malavalli - Kanakpura -Silkboard
Round Trip : 322 KM
Time : Aug 9th 2014; 8 AM - 7 PM

Bike : Thunderbird 350
Riders : Myself and SLK as Pillion

Places to Visit:

      1) Shivanasamudra:

                  a) Gaganachukki falls

                  b) Barachukki falls

      2) Talakad

                 a) Temples (There are many)

                 b) Kaveri river

      3) Old bridge on the way to Barachukki falls

       It's been 20 days from my last trip and there is no work in the office also. I feel like, I wanted to go for a trip everyday. 

      Initial Plan was to go to Nandi hills on Aug-10th and Shivanasamudra  on Aug-15th, but plans changed. Reviews says that current water levels are good at Shivanasamudra, so planned to go on Aug-9th itself. Since water levels are high, coracal ride is mostly not allowed. In that case not much time required for both the falls, so planned to go for Talakad also.

Route Map:

     Started at 8AM from Bellandur. By the time we reached Banashankari circle, traffic got worse and crossed NICE flyover at snail speed. Finished breakfast at UDUPI UPAHARA in Kanakpura and ride resumed at 10:45AM. Road is in a good condition till Malavalli and clear direction boards by Karnakata tourism. Roads after Malavalli also good, but we cant go faster as turns are very sharp and single roads. Somehow we missed Gaganachukki falls turn and reached Barachukki falls turn. Thought of going to Gaganachukki in return journey, anyhow from Masjid view also we can see the Gaganachukki falls.

      Reached Masjid view around 12 PM. For the first time I am seeing waterfalls in real. It's so exiting and so amazing to see the waterfalls with full flow. I feel like I want to touch the milky white crystal water. I was just staring at "how the water crawling on each hill curve". Nature is so mesmerizing us with it's beauty.

    Gaganachukki falls:

      From Masjid view, Gaganachukki falls is very close compared to main view point and also less crowded. Even we can feel the droplets of water on our face, but here we have to take pics through the fence. Spend 15 min's at Masjid view and started to Barachukki falls. 

  Rs 10/- for entrance+parking ticket at Barachukki falls. As we expected coracal ride steps route is closed. Barachukki falls are smaller but wider compared to Gaganachukki. Spend nearly 45 min's here and started to Talakad. 

Barachukki falls:

Old bridge :
Stopped at the old bridge for 10 min's. Here, we can feel the Kaveri River flow very closely and its little scary also. Its really surprising how come the old bridge is still standing opposite to heavy water force.  Took few pics of the bride and started to talakad.

   Little history about Talakad:

      Temples in Talakad are from 4th century and conquered by many kings and queens. River Kaveri flows through Talakad and takes a sharp bend here. In 16th century, Talakd is completely buried under sand dunes created gradually by the river. Still few temples are under sand dunes and have been digging by archaeologists. There is different story about the sand dunes is "curse of Talakad". you can find more in internet.

 Talakad entrance is 5/-. Clear route direction boards help you to reach main Temples and River. Temples are wide spread at different places, and it will take time to cover all. We have visited only the 4 main Temples and River. 

    4 main Temples are :

                          Vaidyeshvara Temple
                          Sri pataaleshwara swamy temple

                          Sri Maraleswara Temple

                          Sri Chowdeshwari Amma Temple

     These 4 temples are little far to each other, total of 1 KM distance walk through the sand. The sand in Talakad is so smooth like powder and it's very difficult to walk on it. Once you are done with Temples, opposite to pond you will see a ruin, which is the most attraction of Talakad (my feel). Currently some construction is happening at the ruin, so nobody is there. We spend more time to take lot of closeup pics.

   There is another way to save the time by visiting the temples in different order. Below Pic shows the Temples with numbers. Visit Temples 1,4,3 and then ruin. we can visit the temple 2 while going to the River. Arrow directions given clearly to follow the shortcuts. Hope this will help you to save the time.

   Old Bridge on the way to Barachukki falls :

     Talakad Temples:

     Sand route to Temples:
 

    Ruin :

   Ruin under construction:

    Reached Kaveri river at 2 PM after 10 mins ride from Temples. Again 5/- for entrance+parking ticket. Entire place is heavily crowded. There is no particular area for parking, we can park at any place. many people are playing in the water and others enjoying coracal ride.  Dress changing rooms are available for gents and ladies. Security is good, looks like military guys taken over all these places. Good relief is that, meals also available. Food is not so tasty but hygienic, price is 50/-. If you are going with family, better carry a MAT to relax at the edge of the bank and extra pair of dress if you want to go into the water.

   River:

   Food Stall:

    We settled on one of the concrete bench near to the water and enjoyed the view. At 4 PM, started return journey without going to Gaganachukki falls. Reached home by 7 PM.