Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Hogenakkal Falls

Hogenakkal Falls


Also known as the Niagara of India, the Hogenakkal Falls are not a single waterfalls but a series of falls. The whole spectacle is spread over a kilometre or so. A trip to Hogenakkal is usually a combination of boating, bathing/swimming, and massage.


I had read about Hogenakkal waterfalls long back as the Smoky Rocks. Ever since, it has been on my must-see list. And finally I could make up my trip to this wonderland with my friend, Rohit who is equally excited about the same.


We decided to take Karnataka tourism's conducted tour and woke up quite early in the morning to reach Badami House near Corporation. However, to our despair, we found out that Tourism Dept doesn’t conduct that tour as they can't make profit out of it!! Wonder why they have still kept it in their brochure!

However, Tourism Dept still couldn't dump our enthusiasm. We went to Majestic Bus Stand to find out local commute and finally got into a Tamil Nadu State Transport bus heading towards Dharmapuri, nearest town to the falls.


We didn't get time to have our breakfast, so on the way we kept munching on the snacks that we had packed for the journey. The road was indeed nice and we had a bump less ride. Also managed a small nap. It took about 2.5 hrs to reach Dharmapuri.


From there we boarded into a crowded bus that took us to Hogenakkal. It was around an hour’s journey. The bad thing was we didn’t manage to get seat, so had to stand all throughout the journey. But the road was nice and we didn’t had any trouble, thinking of the waterfalls that we were going to reach soon.


When we reached Hogenakkal, it was lunch time and we were hungry. We spotted a clean restaurant and ordered for meals (Rs 25/- per head for unlimited food on banana leaf)


When we came out of the restaurant, it was raining outside. But in no time we were spotted by a boatman (Coracle driver) who started nagging and finally we gave up to his demands (Rs. 400 for the full boat for two hours). To reach the waterfalls one needs to take a boat-ride (there is no land access).


We finally boarded the boat. Its called coracle ('Parisal' in local language). Perfectly circular in shape, coracle is made (woven together) of bamboo shoots/sticks. The base is some kind of cloth or hide, topped by ...actually bottomed by :) Tar (I think!). I am told Parisal is a totally-Indian, indigenous product, whose shape and features have not changed over hundreds of years! Wish I could have filed for a geographical indication before any western guy copies the same and patents it. (Intellectual Property of India after all!)


Enough about the coracle. Back to the trip discussion. Once in boat, we had to pay 10/- Rs. per person to the government guy sitting at the base of the big tree (banyan, I think) as the tax/fee to cross the river.


Anyhow, we crossed the river's width and got off the boat. There are small pathways to walk and river Cauvery seems to be all around you. And finally, we could hear the roar of the waterfalls and see the first one's head.


The whole spectacle is spread over a kilometre or so, with two sections, half-a-kilometre each, making maybe 110 degree angle to one another. The majority of waterfalls are on the first section and the second section is a gorge which forms the downstream of all the waterfalls. Apart from being one of the loveliest waterfalls of the country, it is also known for therapeutic properties of its waters. However, we decided not to get wet/take bath in the water as we were scared to get wet and fall ill.


The waterfalls were so much filled with mist. Standing near it, you get little droplets of water atomized by the falls on your hair and clothes. There is a Viewpoint Tower from where you can see the whole topography.


After some photo sessions, we moved to the stairs leading to the next phase of boating. At the bottom of the stairs, it was a corner cut out of the main flow. We got onto our coracle, and then began our ride into the heavy flow of the falls downstream. Once out of the corner from where be boarded the boat, and in the main river, the view was something which I can not describe really. On one side was the gushing, roaring waterfalls, and on the other side, there was relatively calm water flow.


We were not so keen to get wet at first.. but once the boat guy took us into the falls.. we couldn’t resist.. and shouted “once more.. once more...” By the time we realised that we are getting wet, we were fully drenched in water.. including our shoes, bags, money bags.. and ALAS! my camera!!!! it was all in water.. With all our wet cloths on, we headed towards the downstream.


We were actually in a gorge with famed Karnataka-granite rising high (15-20 meters) on both the sides. It reminded me of Bedaghat (marble rock formations) in Madhya Pradesh. The only difference being that at Bedaghat, its marble stones and not granite. And also, in Bedaghat, moonlight boating is pretty famous, but at Hogenakkal, I don’t think it would be fun in the night.


The different granite rocks had different looks to them. Some were white, others rather blackish ...and the depth of water maybe 50-60 deep, and we in between the water and rock, admiring them. My literary skill (or rather the abysmal lack of it!) miserably fails me to properly describe the beauty of the place.


After sometime, the river got much wider. Little ahead was an island dividing the river into two. On the right side of the river was a mud staircase leading to a small shop, sitting pretty on the way to the top. This is essentially the Karnataka side of Hogenakkal. The river Cauvery at Hogenakkal is the borderline between Karnataka and TamilNadu.


We went up to the island which is the last point after which the boat would return back. We stopped there to take bath. We were already wet anyway.. so didn’t mind to take bath...


We munched on a few of the snacks we had and we headed back upstream. The rest of the snacks were finished by our boatman who seemed to like them a lot.


On one of the high-rising rocks, we saw a small figure at the top waving to us. It turned out to be a guy in his half pants waiting to dive into the water. It was indeed a spectacle to see the dive.


Reaching the start point we paid off the boatman, but he kept asking for more. Rohit being very generous gave him 100 rupees more to bring back smile in his face...


We had to change out wet cloths, so we headed towards one of the small stores to buy few cloths. It was 4:30pm already; we rushed towards the bus-stand. Once here, the bus was almost ready to leave. Got onto it, managed seats too and reached Dharmapuri by 6pm. Soon we got a bus back to Bangalore. Heading towards our homes, we promised to comeback to the place again (this time with adequate preparations.. like, extra cloths and floaters). Finally for those who have not yet dared to venture here, trust me, you would be enchanted and enthralled.


The tour pics can be seen at this link: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/genius.gene/HogenakkalFalls


Account Book:

Route: Bangalore - (Hosur) - Dharmapuri - Hogenakkal (190 kms from Tamilnadu route)

Bus: Bangalore - Dharmapuri (150 kms, 90.00/- Rs.)

Bus: Dharmapuri - Hogenakkal (47 Kms, 15/- Rs.)

Government fee to cross river Cauvery: Rs 10.00/-

Asking price for full Boat ride (includes time for bathing): 500 Rs. Negotiable.

Massage: 50/- Rs. for semi-massage, full massage costs more

2 comments:

aninda said...

VERY VERY INFORMATIVE ...:)

i have loved this place the sheer nature in design n rawness made it a remarkable site .. dont kno why but when i went there was flooding didnt see the same in ur pics though i had gone the same time last yr ..anyways as loong as u have a good time who cares . tk care n am blogrolling u so kep up the updates

TravellersDiary said...

Lovely and informative post on Hogenakkal. I went there once and fell in love with the parisal ride. Your pic of the jumping kid is too good. It took a similar shot as well. link: www.travellersdiary.net

P.S. Your blog doesnt allow non-bloggers to post comments. So, had to give my link explicitly here.