Vibhooti Falls and Gokarna

When I was in hostel, Shimoga while studying engineering (2002-2006), we went to many places. This is about one such trip, when we went to Vibhooti falls (also called Mabage falls, since its near Mabage village) and Gokarna.

It was November 1st, 2003, Saturday and we had holiday because of Kannada Rajyotsava. We planned to have one day trip, starting early, about 4 AM, go to Vibhooti falls, about which we had read in "Taranga", a Kannada magazine (article titled Mabage falls), play for sometime and start from there and go to Gokarna and come back to Shimoga late night reserving next day for rest(Sunday). We didn't know by then that we would not come back on the same night due to unforeseen circumstances!

8 years back we were not used to Internet search. So, we just followed what was written in the magazine. And by doing so, we took a longer route of Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar-Kumta-Mabage. The better route was Shimoga to Sirsi and then to Mattighatta, Devanalli via Hegadekatta and from there to Vaddi Ghat from Vaddi cross and Mabage. As per our plan, we started around 4 30 AM and reached Honnavar via Sagar around 9. Having breakfast at Honnavar, we started towards Kumta and after about 20km from Kumta, took deviation to the right at the place where deviation to the left goes to Gokarna. We further traveled for about 22 km enquiring Mabage village. From here, left deviation goes to Yana at a distance of about 8 km and right one goes to Vibhooti falls, again at a distace of 8km. It was around 11 when we reached Vibhooti falls after about 2km trekking.

Vibhooti falls is a two stepped falls. Water collects at the bottom to form a pool which is a good place to swim and play. We played for about two hours and started back to our vehicle. We retraced to NH17 and took deviation towards Gokarna, where our lunch was arranged.

I usually take front seat near driver, since I would love to watch driving (back then). Likewise, I was sitting at the front seat while most were asleep. There was a right curve and I could see a car coming from opposite direction but the sad part was our driver didn't see it! In a fraction of second of thinking why our driver is driving dangerously on the right lane, a loud noise, "Dhab", is heard. I could see our vehicle hitting a local car. An accident. Soon we got down from our vehicle and people started gathering. Luckily only the car was damaged but the family inside were safe.

We were 30 boys, all aged between 18-21, most were only in shorts, not expected to be treated well in a situation like that. We waited by road side for about 3 hrs and finally, after our vehicle owner agreed to come down to Gokarna, we were allowed to move but the vehicle had to be in police station until the owner arrives from Shimoga. It was 6 pm by the time we sat for lunch! We roamed Gokarna main streets and called the day off to settle at a place for the night, 10 each in 3 rooms.

Next day, visit to Mahabaleshwara temple was followed by playing in Om beach till evening. By then our vehicle owner and the car owner had compromised, so we could start our return journey. It was 10 30 PM or so when we started from Honnavar towards Shimoga after supper. Reached Shimoga around 3 AM. Thus, our one day trip was extended to 2 days with one day vehicle rent!

Bluff or Shimsa and Talakadu

After our graduation, we, classmates, had never been to any place together. So somebody suggested and everybody else agreed to visit Shivanasamudra and we went there on Jan 31st, 2009.

Actual name of Bluff or Shimsa is Shivanasamudra, which has two waterfalls namely Gaganachukki and Bharachukki. At Shivanasamudra, river Kaveri branches off into two and drops over cliffs forming multiple waterfalls. We went to Bharachukki and left out Gaganachukki as we prioritized visiting Talakadu than Gaganachukki. The hydral power plant in Shivanasamudra is first in Asia! From Bengaluru, there are two ways to reach bluff. One via Maddur -> Malavalli from Bengaluru Mysuru road and the other one is via Kanakapura->Malavalli. Distance is almost same but first one is better as the road is good.


Having breakfast in Kamat hotel, Ramanagar, as usual, it was around 11 am when we reached Bharachukki. Unfortunately, our time of visit was not very good as the water at this time of the year would be less. But who goes only to see the beauty, we were to enjoy the trip after all! Coming back to the day, we climbed down the hillock and reached the bottom. To go below the falls and to play most in water we hired 'Teppa', (Raft or ferry, I don't know what it's exact counterpart in English). Getting soaked in water after sometime was giving us lot of cheerfulness in that heat. After playing in the waters for about an hour we were back to land and started for Talakadu.



Talakadu, full of sand, is a small town beside river Kaveri. It has great history and buried underneath in sand are 30 odd temples! It is also associated with the "curse of Talakadu" by Alamelamma. She cursed "Talakadu Maralagali" along with two more curses which include "Mysore Wadeyar may not have children for all time". Almost everybody in Karnataka know about these and I don't write anything more.


Talakadu is a very good place to hang on for some time with family and/or friends. We spent sometime along the river shore after taking a round to the other end in Teppa. This time instead of rowing, they were just pushing with the help of a long bamboo pole. When we asked the depth, the guy told it's just 4 feet! If we knew this earlier, we wouldn't have given him Rs 100 just for taking us otherside of the river once.


The most funny part followed this. One elderly lady volunteered herself as a guide even when we were refusing. Then she started addressing every one of us as "PuTtamma, Chinnupaapu, Ganesha, ... ", and so on and particulary one of our friends Seena, who got very close to her in that short period and was pity about her. She not even closed her mouth for a second and we were just making fun of her.


It was getting dark and we started from Talakadu at twilight hour towards Bangalore and had something in Kamat hotel, Ramanagar once again!

Sangama, Mekedatu and Chunchifalls

Let me go through our trip to Sangama and Mekedatu.

Sangama is the place where river Arkavathy, a tributary of Cauvery joins the main river. The river then flows towards Tamil Nadu.

We, myself and my friends, started from Bangalore around 7 30 am in a Qualis. We stopped in Kanakapura (around 60 km from Bangalore) for breakfast. I don't remember the name now but I guess it is Ratna or Geetha Upahara or something like that near Mysore road deviation.

After hot idly & vadas we started with new enthusiasm and reached Sangama around 10 am. By that time only one troop apart from us was there playing in the river waters. There we played in waters for an hour and crossed the river which was only upto knee high for 4 km trip to Mekedatu.

The bus journey from Sangama to Mekedatu is one that everybody has to experience. One can't find any place, rod, or whatever part inside the bus which is not rusted! Around 10-12 mins of way goes beside Cauvery river, a good one to watch. Occasionally spotted deers are seen here, which was once a hub of tigers, around 50 years ago.

In Mekedatu monkeys come and pull from your hands if you have any food stuffs or drinks. They don't have any fear of human race. Water dashes in between the rocks on which you can't stand firmly for longer time, for sunrays make it hot enough. We spent around 2 hrs there busily taking photographs in different angles possible.

While we were waiting for the return bus, a monkey was sitting like a yogi - doing meditation. I suppose he can understand English also, for when we scolded him, he backed off! We headed back to Sangama in the same unforgettable journey. It costs Rs 25/- for one sided journey or Rs 40/- if taken for return trip also between Sangama and Mekedatu.

There is nothing in Sangama to have proper food. We can get lussey, banana, and fish, thats it. There are a few hut like shops selling these. We ate grapes, orange, biscuits, drank maaza etc., that we had taken with us.

We started around 3 pm from Sangama to reach Chunchi falls on our way to Kanakapura, which is roughly 10 km from Sangama. I am from Malnad region of Karnataka and to be more specific, World famous Jogfalls is just 10 km for me and I have been there more than 50 times. For me Chunchi falls or the scenary in its vicinity was nothing enthusiastic. There one thatha would be sitting to collect parking fee of Rs 20/- to park under a tree. He takes us towards the bottom of the falls, and one can almost say he is a guide. We thanked him and paid Rs 20/- (he won't ask, we only paid looking at his enthu in 70 years of age).

We repeated our stop at the same hotel in Kanakapura where we had breakfast in the morning, this time to have Masala Dosa, which was good anyway. We reached Bangalore around 6 30, need not to mention that we played Antakshari game, memory game + so many others apart from pulling each other's leg for just any reason!

But A nice trip though.