Pages

Sunday 9 November 2014

Long drive to Delhi - 21 : Jog Falls, Shimoga, Karnataka

After overnight stay at Murudeshwara it was time to move towards Jog Falls. Google said distance is 88 km & time taken without traffic 1 hr 53 min. But Google does not know the Indian roads well as it took us over 4 hrs to reach there.

Up to Honnavar it was NH 17 & after that it was NH 206 which took us up the hills. Now this hill road gets narrow like a pencil as you go up, potholes appear when you least expect them & add to that occasional monsoon drizzle. Twists & turns in the hilly road are countless. Once in a while a loaded truck covers entire width of the road & you fume & fret. That said the view along the road made up for everything else - dense green forests & green trees all over the hills. Just magnificent!

Jog Falls or Joga Falls is located in Shimoga district in Karnataka. It is the second highest plunge waterfall in India(first being in Meghalaya). Jog Falls is in fact a cluster of four falls & is also called as Jogada Gundi or Gerosoppa Falls. Nearest railway stations are Sagar 30 km & Honnavar 68 km and nearest airports are Hubli 130 km & Bangalore 340 Km. Please note that except for BSNL signals of all mobile service providers fall like water in Jog Falls!

Jog Falls is created by river Shravathi flowing along a wide rocky bed & her sudden drop in segmented falls. Position of rocks in fact creates four separate falls - 1. Raja Falls 830 ft direct fall in a single column 2. Roarer Falls which shoots down at 45 degree & joins Raja Falls in the middle. 3. The Rocket Falls shoots down in broken jets & 4. Rani Fall trickles down slowly & quietly on the mountain side.

Five star treat for the nature lovers.

Jog Falls

Dense green jungle, lonely road, warning signs about wild life & not a soul in sight. At times we wondered whether any dinosaur was lurking around the greens!
Web of the giant spider seen from the window of the hotel room
Rural life
Jog Management Authority Chowk with KTDC Hotel in the back. Besides, private hotels & home-stay is also available. 
Terrain is such here that many water falls are formed during monsoon. One of such falls is MavniGundi Falls
This is it - from left to right: Raja Falls, Roarer Falls, Rocket Falls & Rani Falls. Rain water is regulated through a reservoir of Linganmakki Dam for generating electricity, else in a good monsoon all four Falls would have joined together
Hint of rainbow being formed but monsoon clouds cut it short. These four Falls have distinct water flows
Another one visible from King's Stone

As the sun rises, mist also rises from the valley 

Mist rising to a thousand feet in a few minutes

Mist merges in to clouds
King's stone. King of Mysore had this pillar installed with each face having a name of district of his kingdom like Kolar, Tumkur etc

A bottle of mineral water added to Rani Falls to enhance the flow!

Another bottle of mineral water added to Raja Falls to maintain parity between Raja & Rani!



2 comments:

Harsh Wardhan Jog said...

https://jogharshwardhan.blogspot.com/2014/11/long-drive-to-delhi-21-jog-falls.html

Anonymous said...

It's ultimate So beautiful You have explained nicely and photography is superb
Vijay Nishchal