This trip was more special, because it made me to understand
the history of my surrounding better. I fine tuned the plan and came up with a
plan of 3 days which covered Uncholli falls,Yana, Gokarna, Murudeshwara, Apsarakonda, Sigandoor, Jog falls,Ikkeri.
After so many people backed out, there were
only 6. We took a train to Talguppa from Bangalore @ 11 pm Friday . We reached
talguppa @ 7 am, the next morning. Talguppa
is a place between Siddapur and Sagar. And it’s more famous because it’s very
near to world famous Jog falls. We took a bus from Talguppa to Siddapur.
Siddapur is a taluk region which belongs to Uttara kannada district. My family
moved to Siddapur from Sagar, when I was born.
Day 1
We all had breakfast in my home.
And we took our Omni car and started our journey @ 11 AM Saturday. We reached
Uncholli falls @ 1 PM. In between we stopped to see some small lakes. See the
picture Isn’t it beautiful?
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| On the way to Unchalli Falls |
Unchalli Falls : Calm and peaceful
Unchooli Falls is in Siddapur Taluk 35 km away from Siddapur.
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| Near Falls Vinay,Naseer and Barghavi madam's family |
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| Vinay, Naseer and Chintu |
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You can see rainbow on top of water fall.
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| Don't have words to express |
That's me listening to sound created by falls. That's why it is called Kepp Jog. Even in summer you find this falls full of water. That's the specialty of this falls. Thank God, it has not become famous. We enjoyed the Aghanashini's drop from such a height, even in the hot noon.
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Beautiful view from other side of falls .
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unchalli_Falls. Refer this link for more info.
Yana : A mild Trek
After watching a beautiful falls we had lunch on the way to Yana. Then we had some small stop near a view point where we clicked some photos and continued our journey.
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| On the way |
By the time we reached Yana it was dusk. Temple was about to close. We were in hurry. We rushed to the temple climbing the steps. There was no leaches on the way. If you visit Yana on rainy days you will have to worry about leaches.
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| Caves |
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| Water is always there |
It was pretty long distance. There are 2 ways you can visit the temple.
Route 1 : from Sirsi which goes to mattighatta, devanalli via hegadekatta.
Route 2 : From Sirsi take a deviation in Devimane Ghat. Here is Bus route.
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| Forest route |
Route: From Bangalore you come to Sirsi though Haveri where the major distance of the drive would be on NH4 else from Shimoga route, which is the Bangalore–Honnavar highway.
Route I: Take a bus from Sirsi which goes to mattighatta,devanalli via hegadekatta.Get down at a stop called "vaddi cross" and walk 6+kms from there.
Route II: Take a bus either from sirsi or kumta get down at a place called Anegundi near Kathagaal. This place is after the Devimane ghats if you are coming from Sirsi. From here it is around 16kms walk. Jeep is the best mode of transportation anywhere in North Kanara. You can hire a jeep either in sirsi or anywhere your base camp is and take convenient drives. (Source : TrekWiki)
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| Greenery every where |
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| Steps to reach temple |
We chose the route via Hegadekatta. Because our next destination Gokarna was possible only through Route 1. We crossed the forest and then climbed the step to finally reach the temple. The temple was about to close. We rushed inside the temple and got Darshan.
Yana is famous for these two rocks. Temple was in Bhairava Shikara. During Shivaratri there will be big pooja happens here in the temple. This was my first visit and we were in hurry, so I couldn't write down the story told by the priest.
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| Mohini Shikara |
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| Bhairava Shikara |
Mythology Story :
There is a story in Hindu Mythology according to which Yana has its own significance. Basamsura was killed by Lord Vishnu in this place and people also has believe that the left over black colored soil spread over this place is ashes of Basmasura. For information about Bhasmasura you can find wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhasmasur
Even there is story that Shiva chose the place between the rocks to hide himself from Bhasmasura.
It was already dark while coming back to the entrance. We used torch and our mobile to reach the parking area. By the time we left it was already 7:30 PM.
Gokarna : The Place to visit in your lifetime
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| Ashokavana Hotel Gokarna |
We reached Gokarna by 9:30 PM. We started searching for hotels since we didn't booked the hotels. Since a family of Bhargavi madam was with us, we wanted to stay in a good hotel. We have searched in net and got Ashoka Vana hotel suitable for stay. It is near to Gokarna temple.We took two rooms. Bhargavi madam family stayed in one room. Vinay, naseer and I stayed in another room. We had our dinner nearby hotel since in the hotel we stayed dinner was closed.
After having dinner, all went to room. But we three went to beach nearby Gokarnanatheshwara temple. We stayed till mid night 1 AM. We got into water and were completely wet. Vinay was excited seeing the sea. He swam for half an hour. Then we put a sand on his body and he took sand bath. I enjoyed the silence and the dark night in the beach. Then we went to our hotel and took bath before sleeping.
Day 2 :
Early morning we woke up and went to Om Beach at 6 AM. On the way we find some birds and we took pictures. We captured sun rise also.
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| Peacock on the way to Om Beach |
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| Sun rise |
Then we stopped in between, where we can see OM Beach . The picture
depicts the much beautiful view of the OM Beach . After taking some
pictures we left the place to reach OM Beach.
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| OM Beach in background |
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| OM Beach entrance |
We parked our vehicle and got down some steps to reach one of the most beautiful beach of Karnataka.
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| Near the steps, Om Beach |
OM beach is in OM shape. That's why it is named after the shape it is
in.Since we have come in the morning people were very less. We didn't
find any foreigner taking sun bath. That was one sad point of the visit.
Otherwise it turned into a one of the most memorable place I have
visited.
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| Om Shaped Beach |
I spent initial few minutes in taking photos. Vinay and Barghavi madam's husband and son were already jumped into water. After some time I also joined them. We were supposed to return after playing in water for nearly couple of hours. But we changed our mind and went for boating.
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| Steps you can see |
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| A kid busy with his nest |
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| @OM Beach |
They charged 100 Rs per person for boating. We were taken to surrounding
of OM beach and we were shown 2-3 beaches nearby. You don't have to go
to Maldives or Anadaman to enjoy the scenic beauties. Here in Gokarna
you feel like you are in some other country.
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| Sailor of life |
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| Did they get any fish ? |
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| Paradise Beach |
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| islands in Gokarna |
We captured lot of beautiful scenes. This became the highlight of our
Gokarna trip. After half an hour enjoying the boating experience we left
to our hotel.
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| Scenery in OM Beach |
We had breakfast in the hotel. After taking bath, we checked out from hotel and left to Gokarnanatheshwara temple. We waited for 2 hours to take darshana and after having Darshan we left to Apsarakonda. In between we had lunch in Honnavara. Except me every one had fish meal and fry.
Apsarakonda : The less known but the best place in the trip
Apsarakonda means Pond of angels. This is named after a pond near the
Beach. People say angels used to come and take bath in the Pond.
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| Way to falls |
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| Way to Park |
Then we took the back side route in search of beach entrance. There
is a small falls on the way and since we had little time we skipped this
one.We followed the people who were going to beach.
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| Tiger rider in the park |
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| Chimpanzee group |
A beautiful park was there on the way. We found many statues of animals. We took pictures with them. Park looked clean and green. It is a good place to visit to get solace to your mind and heart.
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| View from park |
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| Mahishasura mardhana :P |
After spending some time in the park we climbed down using steps to reach beach. Already local people were playing shuttle in front of beach. There were some tourist also.
Beach looked clean and wide. Since my camera battery was low I couldn't take further picture that day. We saw the pond nearby beach.
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| Pond of Angel |
Before coming here I didn't explored much. My brother-in-law told me to visit this place and gave me good feedback about the place. So I planned for this place in between our trip and it turned out be the best experience of all. You can find greenery,beach and also park to cool your mind. I suggest this place for all.
Murudeshwara : 2nd largest Shiva statue in World
Murudeshwara is famous for the 2nd largest shiva statue in the world. And it is very near to my grandmother's place.
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| Shiva statue |
I have been to Murudeshwara many times with my family and friends. These photos are taken in my previous visit to Murudeshwara with my Mindtree friends. Since my camera battery was low, I couldn't take any picture this time. There is two beaches.
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| From right Beach view |
One on the right side is clean and good for spending your time. The left side beach is dirty and not suitable for enjoying your time there.
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| From left Beach view |
Murudeshwara is name of Lord Shiva. There is mythology behind this place. Musuem here depicts the story of Ravana throwing a piece of atmarlinga to different places. Murudeshwara is one such place and the place from where he throws the atmalinga is known as Gokarna.
You can find more information in wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murudeshwara.
First we went to museum to know more about the mythology story. Museum charge is only 10 Rs. Then we went to temple. We had darshan of lord Murudeshwara. I didn't book any rooms for that day since we were not knowing what time we will complete activities in Murudeshwara. My plan was to book room in Varadashri because next morning we were supposed to visit Sigandoor to get Darshan. It was already late. I called Varadashri for a room and it was available. We left Murudeshwara and reached Sagar by night around 11:45 PM. Every one was tired and slept once we got the room. Varadashree is the best hotel in Sagar (my home town). So it was always my preference.
Day 3 :
Sigandooru : A spiritual and sceneic beauty
Sagar is always close to my heart. This is my birth place and this is where I spent my beautiful days. Surrounded by Jog Falls, Varada mula and historical places like Ikkeri, Keladi. HosaNagara. Karnataka's major power production happens in Linganamukki Dam constructed across river Sharavathi. Such is the significance of Sagar. Sigandooru is also one major attraction nearby Sagar.
I want to explain Jog falls in another post. Because such is the beauty of this place you can't express in few words. After spending some time in Jog falls we reached our hotel. We had dinner and then left to Sagar Railway station. Our driver dropped us to Railway station and he left to Siddapur. at 8 PM our train came and we said good bye to Sagar but not to beautiful memories.
Pictures taken : Nikon P500
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