I had never planned on writing a travelogue, but after the last trip I think owe the place one. At the beginning of the year, I had made 5 resolution, one of them was Traveling. After almost 10months into the year, I can safely say that I can definitely strike off one of the resolutions as complete. Managed to visit most of the cities in the southern part of the country. Planning to cover the northern half in the remaining 2months. So why write a travelogue now? Well, like I said before firstly I owe it to the place, secondly I wanted to help out anybody who is planning a trip there. So, here we go..
The idea for the trip came, when I saw the pictures of a trip my colleague went to. The instant I saw it, I knew I have to check it out. The pictures looked amazing & it turned out that the place wasn't that far out : 8hours. So planning for the "Shimoga - Sagara - Jog Falls Trip" began. Now, Jog Falls is a part of Sagara but I kind off put it separately because the place deserves its due importance. With the power of Google & Wikipedia we made a list of places to cover. It wasn't much difficult to get a list thanks to hundreds of websites which pulled up in Google's search list. All boasted about the different scenic beauties in & around Shimoga, the sanctuaries, the dam & the rivers. Made a 2page long list for the 2days, took some cash, tickets & set off.
We were supposed to go to Sagara for a day, visit four places including Jog Falls, stay in Sagara for the night. Next day travel down to Shimoga, visit 2 wildlife sanctuaries & a sunset view atop Agumbe. Five of us reached Sagara 7 in the morning. The place seemed smaller than expected, little bit bigger than a village but smaller than a town. We hadn't booked accommodation so had to search for a place. After some bit of walking around we realized that the place has only 2 lodges & decided to find the nearest one. I can safely say that my room at home was much neater & less messy than the room we got in our lodge in Sagara. I wouldn't have been surprised if I found a dead animal in the room, really !! But, we didn't want to make any judgments yet about the place, so freshened up & set out to cover the places.
First up, we decided to go to "Sikhandooru". The place is an island which could be reached only by a ferry. We rented a van for the day and fixed the price at 1000. A l0km long path which was more potholes than road took us to the ferry. The ferry was one of the most beautiful that I had ever been to. Small islands dotted the entire lake/river ( I really don't know). Though the ride took an hour, including the long wait for the ferry, I would say that it was completely worth it. Though the journey was fun, our destination was a disappointment. It seems "Sikhandooru" is famous for a temple which is of no architectural significance except for its diety. So dissapointed we turned to our next 2 destinations.
Our next destinations were again holy places (Yeah I know, an Atheist in a holy place) one being Ikkeri & other Varadhahalli. The visit to Ikkeri was worth it. The place had excellent architecture & carvings of stone. The place was really scenic & peaceful. It has lush green grass around the temple where you could relax & statues of elephants. Varadhahalli on the other hand was the biggest disappointment of the day. Neither was the journey fun, nor was the place scenic. I wondered why this place made it into a tourist location. My driver told me that he believed it was because they give free lunch :)
Last place of the day, was the Jog Falls. A long drive but the bets part of the entire trip. The Jog Falls is majestic & it stands tall. Our timing was not all that great since there wasn't much water, yet the place was mind lowing. We trekked the 1400 steps down the side to see the beauty up close. The water as white as milk falls from a height of 830ft. Tired & exhausted from the day we head back to our suffocating hotel room for a good night sleep.
Ok, its not that fun to write a travelogue as I had thought it would be. So let me fast forward through our second & less eventful day of the trip. Shimoga is a much bigger Sagara & can be called as a bigger town. The cab chargers are high & chances of getting fooled are close to 80% & we fell into that 80%. So in Shimoga we visited the "Thavarekoppe" sanctuary which had 2 lions & 3 tigers, the Gajanur Dam which didn't have water (& didn't allow photography) & a bird sanctuary which had 6 crows. Dissapointed & cheated (by our new cab driver). We turned towards our final destination for the trip, Agumbe famous for its sunsets. The place is a 100km long drive from Shimoga & can be extremely tiring because of the bad roads. We reached the place well ahead of time to see an amazing sunset. Though it wasn't the typical sunset we were hoping for, it was a different & fun filled experienced. We turned back to Shimoga from where we would return home in the late night bus. Overall, another rocking trip !!!
The idea for the trip came, when I saw the pictures of a trip my colleague went to. The instant I saw it, I knew I have to check it out. The pictures looked amazing & it turned out that the place wasn't that far out : 8hours. So planning for the "Shimoga - Sagara - Jog Falls Trip" began. Now, Jog Falls is a part of Sagara but I kind off put it separately because the place deserves its due importance. With the power of Google & Wikipedia we made a list of places to cover. It wasn't much difficult to get a list thanks to hundreds of websites which pulled up in Google's search list. All boasted about the different scenic beauties in & around Shimoga, the sanctuaries, the dam & the rivers. Made a 2page long list for the 2days, took some cash, tickets & set off.
We were supposed to go to Sagara for a day, visit four places including Jog Falls, stay in Sagara for the night. Next day travel down to Shimoga, visit 2 wildlife sanctuaries & a sunset view atop Agumbe. Five of us reached Sagara 7 in the morning. The place seemed smaller than expected, little bit bigger than a village but smaller than a town. We hadn't booked accommodation so had to search for a place. After some bit of walking around we realized that the place has only 2 lodges & decided to find the nearest one. I can safely say that my room at home was much neater & less messy than the room we got in our lodge in Sagara. I wouldn't have been surprised if I found a dead animal in the room, really !! But, we didn't want to make any judgments yet about the place, so freshened up & set out to cover the places.
First up, we decided to go to "Sikhandooru". The place is an island which could be reached only by a ferry. We rented a van for the day and fixed the price at 1000. A l0km long path which was more potholes than road took us to the ferry. The ferry was one of the most beautiful that I had ever been to. Small islands dotted the entire lake/river ( I really don't know). Though the ride took an hour, including the long wait for the ferry, I would say that it was completely worth it. Though the journey was fun, our destination was a disappointment. It seems "Sikhandooru" is famous for a temple which is of no architectural significance except for its diety. So dissapointed we turned to our next 2 destinations.
Our next destinations were again holy places (Yeah I know, an Atheist in a holy place) one being Ikkeri & other Varadhahalli. The visit to Ikkeri was worth it. The place had excellent architecture & carvings of stone. The place was really scenic & peaceful. It has lush green grass around the temple where you could relax & statues of elephants. Varadhahalli on the other hand was the biggest disappointment of the day. Neither was the journey fun, nor was the place scenic. I wondered why this place made it into a tourist location. My driver told me that he believed it was because they give free lunch :)
Last place of the day, was the Jog Falls. A long drive but the bets part of the entire trip. The Jog Falls is majestic & it stands tall. Our timing was not all that great since there wasn't much water, yet the place was mind lowing. We trekked the 1400 steps down the side to see the beauty up close. The water as white as milk falls from a height of 830ft. Tired & exhausted from the day we head back to our suffocating hotel room for a good night sleep.
Ok, its not that fun to write a travelogue as I had thought it would be. So let me fast forward through our second & less eventful day of the trip. Shimoga is a much bigger Sagara & can be called as a bigger town. The cab chargers are high & chances of getting fooled are close to 80% & we fell into that 80%. So in Shimoga we visited the "Thavarekoppe" sanctuary which had 2 lions & 3 tigers, the Gajanur Dam which didn't have water (& didn't allow photography) & a bird sanctuary which had 6 crows. Dissapointed & cheated (by our new cab driver). We turned towards our final destination for the trip, Agumbe famous for its sunsets. The place is a 100km long drive from Shimoga & can be extremely tiring because of the bad roads. We reached the place well ahead of time to see an amazing sunset. Though it wasn't the typical sunset we were hoping for, it was a different & fun filled experienced. We turned back to Shimoga from where we would return home in the late night bus. Overall, another rocking trip !!!
