Trip to Jog Falls, Sakrebailu and Kemmannu gundi

Recently I had been to Jog falls along with my family. This was my third visit to Jog falls. First two have been with friends. This was first time with my family. The trip was planned for two days. So plan was to see Jog falls, Sakrebailu, Mandagadde and other surrounding places of Shimoga.

So, we started early morning on Saturday, filled-up the car tank and started to Shimoga. The route we had planned was Bangalore -> Tumkur -> Tiptur -> Arasikere -> Kadur -> Birur -> Tarikere -> Bhadravati -> Shimoga.

One of my friend had suggested to have a breakfast at "Preeti Canteen" in Birur. He had informed that it is small canteen as you enter Birur. But we did not find it and hence moved on to have breakfast at Tarikere. It was pretty ordinary. Moved to Shimoga after having breakfast. I had already booked rooms for a day. The hotel was "Jewel Rock". I heard that it was good, hence I had just booked it. We checked-in hotel and rooms were okay. We took much needed rest.

Now, the plan was to visit "Tavarekoppa Lion and Tiger Safari" and then Jog Falls in the evening. The plan to visit Jog falls in the evening was prompted by the news about the newly introduced musical fountain. Hence, we started to "Tavarekoppa" after having lunch. At the entrance, the guard said the Safari would start only at 2:30 PM. We calculated that if we spend an hour in Zoo and Safari, it would be 3:30 PM and it would take approximately 1 hr : 30 mins to travel to Jog falls from there (the Jog falls is 90 KMs from Shimoga) and we would be there by 5:00 PM and we can enjoy at least 2 hours and see the musical fountain. It was good Safari, except that there are very few animals to see. We could see few tigers very closely. There are 3 lions in a cage. But there activities seems to be limited. And there are lots of Deers, Black bucks.

Tigers at Tavarekoppa Lion and Tiger Safari

As planned, we reached Jog falls around 5:00 PM. It was raining all the way. When we reached Jog, the falls was fully covered with fog not even single falls of the four was visible. After some time everything was clear and was able to see the falls.
We can climb down till the water falls and initially I did not had plan go down. As I had been till down and also at the top of Raja in my earlier visits. However, this was first time I had visited Jog after steps were made till down. So, climbed down few steps and I was fully wet. Slowly I was inspired (or tempted) by few people who were enjoying their trip down to Jog falls on top it was raining. So, I too decided get down. It was easy walk down and knew it would be difficult to get to the top again.

Jog falls

It was nice experience to get down in the rain and watching the jog falls and surroundings. I took some snaps at the down even though it was raining.
It was nice to see the whole of the water falling..., spent some time and returned to top. As we reached at top it was very satisfying.

 

Me at the down of Jog falls

 

Water falling at the down of Jog falls.

In the evening around 7:30 PM and the musical fountain started. It was nice, however, since it was still under construction, the area is not covered with sheets and there were no seating arrangements and on top of it, it was raining. Also, there were lots of mosquitoes and it was getting difficult to stand. So, we decided to return back to Shimoga.

Musical fountain at Jog falls

Musical fountain at Jog falls

We reached back to hotel around 9:30 PM and hotel restaurant was closed. Hence, we were forced to eat in Bar / Restaurant. He took hell of time to serve the simplest order you can order. So, advice is not eat at that place. We went to bed with lot of tiredness and with fulfillment of achieving what was planned. Next day plan was to getup early, fresh'n up and start to Sakrebailu Elephant Camp. I had read that there we can see the elephants bathing, eating and we too can try our hand. So, I was expecting some fun, particularly for my 4 year old daughter.

Got up early, checked-out hotel, settled the bill and we were out of the hotel by 8:00 AM.

Sakrebailu is around 14 KMs from Shimoga, hence we knew that this can be reached early. Hence, we decided to have breakfast. Visited a small hotel (if I am correct, its name is "Woodlands") and tiffin was good.
We asked localities for the route and they provided all the information. We drived soon to the Sakrebailu Elephant Camp. They charged around Rs. 30/- per adult and free for children. As I had read, already few of the elephants were getting bath. I too tried my hands at the elephant bathing.

Elephants at the Sakrebailu Elephant camp

Me washing an elephant

Then we visited a place called "Mandgadde", it is small bird sanctuary, which is another 10 KMs from Sakrebailu. When we went it was 10:00 AM and there very few birds and that too we have to see them from a quite distance. Hence, we did not spend much time and decided to drive back to Bangalore.
On the way back we spent some time at "Gajanur Dam", its small dam build across river "Tunga".

Birds at Mandagadde Bird Sanctuary

Later, on the way back we reached Tarikeri and we had enough time and we just checked if we can make the trip to Kemmannugundi. We wanted to check the route to Kemmannu Gundi, which is a nice hill station. In my previous visit, the road was bad and hence it was not in my list. But localities informed the road is good enough to drive. So, first we decided to visit "Kalhatti falls" (also known as Kallatha Giri falls). It is a small falls and there is a temple dedicated to lord Veerabhadreshwar. We took the blessings and headed towards Kemmadnnugundi. The road from this falls was bad and was getting worst. We could see some cement and sand. Expecting that they would be going to repair this road.

Veerbhadreshwar temple at Kallatha Giri

Kallatha Giri or Kallhatti falls

But once we reached at the top, it was really nice and very cold. There is a small garden and there are guest houses for the people who wants to make a stay. Also, there is falls called "Hebbe" falls. It is around 8 KMs from Kemmannu Gundi. One can trek to this place or there are local Jeeps available. However, we did not had plan to visit any of these, we decided to return to Bangalore.

 

Kemmanna Gundi

 

Scene from a view point

On the way back we stopped for a dinner and then reached our home around 10:00 PM and just wanted to sleep...
Overall, it was a very nice trip and enjoyed.