Trip to Jog Falls, Sagara, Karnataka

A day before Ninasam Culture Workshop 2011, I visited Jog Falls. 1st October 2011 seemed to be the perfect day to visit as there was plenty of water and enough of water to allow us to get down to the bottom of the falls.

First Reaction : Coming from Bangalore, we got down at Sagara, which is 10 km from India's 2nd highest plunge falls. Without spending much time in Sagara, we boarded a local transport bus heading towards Jog. My first impression after reaching the Jog was 'hey, it does not look that high or as I saw in the photos!'.  And I was visiting the place after 15 years; last time on a school trip. This must have added to my bewilderment. Well, it does look like that when you are a bit far off the water falls. Having finished our break-fast at the hotel run by Karnataka Tourism department, we headed towards the natural beauty!

Photos, People and Monkeys : I think the first thing most of us do when we reach a tourist place is to capture in our camera the proof that we were there. Well, I insisted on that, though Manju and Guru were not in much enthusiasm to stand in front of the electronic gadget! But the enthusiasm for photographs was all over the place with people handing over their cameras to strangers to capture the perfect group photo in Jog. Apart from the humans, monkeys dotted the 1000 odd steps descending down to the bottom of the falls. It was a hot sunny day and so, we guessed it would take some effort getting down.

Walk, Rest, Walk : It seemed it would be easy getting down but it was not to be. Every now and then, we took rest to cross more stairs! Not to worry as we found people selling biscuits, cucumber slices, lemonades on the way to quench our thirst and silence our hunger!

Wow: As we were getting closer to the falls, it seemed it was revealing more of its ever charming beauty and I was uttering wow more than once. As a avid viewer of NGC and Discovery channels, I tried to capture that perfect shot imagining Amazon rain forest photographs. Well, it does help following these channels or the GEO magazine which I am subscribed which publishes some splendid pictures, as it provides you with new dimensions when you are trying to take some extraordinary photographs. 

Water everywhere: Once we reached the bottom of the falls, it was water all over and the slippery rocks. Roarer falls was making too much noise justifying its name. Visibility was low purely because droplets arising out of the water falling on the rocks. In this setting, there were photographers lined up who will take the photos and give the printed photo then and there and their assurance - we avoid the mistiness in the photos taken though it was unavoidable. Getting wet and sitting on a rock listening the sounds made by the water is an amazing feeling. I can sit listening to these soothing sounds for hours together.

Rainbow: Having spent enough time down the falls, we were once again on the stairs on our way up. Mission was more difficult this time. Not doing physical exercises daily and spending most of the time sitting in front of the computer - these were evident on our tired faces. Having finished our water bottles on our journey down, we were now looking for anything liquid. Soon we found lemonade on offer. We had it but it only increased our thirst further. Thank god, there were also people selling plain drinking water! One of the best sights on our way back was the rainbow formed in front of the falls and it was the time to say wow once again.

Lunch: There are no good hotels near Jog. But all the shops boost of having one. Though these guys don't have a menu-card, they know the names of dishes Bangalore guys would love. But what is served is entirely different. Well, we managed this and ordered Omlette, plain rice, sambar avoiding fried rice second time!

Rani Falls: After lunch, it was time to get adventurous once again and go to the top of the falls. You need to bargain with autowallahs everywhere and Jog was no different. The auto rickshaw guy we found insisted on Rs.200 for the entire visit - Rani falls, British Bungalow and Sharavati valley. We brought it down to Rs.180. Rani falls is the first stream of water you get to see falling from a height.

Rani Falls

Roarer and Rocket: After crossing British Bungalow, when we reached the spot where we can spot the other 3 falls, Roarer, Rocket and Raja - it was Roarer which caught my attention. Such speed, such loud sound - I felt a sense of fear and it was going to last longer as it was my nightmare for the next 2 days.

Rocket Falls

Roarer Falls

Raja Falls and Mungaaru Male Spot : Raja falls straight from the rocky top without any intervening rocks till it reaches ground. It is the same spot where Mugaaru Male was shot - Nandini(Pooja Gandhi aka Sanjana Gandhi then) expresses her love for Preetham(Ganesh) here and the song - Kunidu Kunidu Baare follows. It was quite dangerous to go near the place from where the Raja plunges down. We did not go there and there were plenty who were crazy enough to take a photograph lying down in the rock beside. One could also spot a monkey which was sitting over the edge of a rock without any fear!

Raja Falls

Sharavati Valley: Then we went to see the Sharavati Valley. Well, it was dusk and it was a great time to see sun rays falling on the hills and it was a wonderful day to end with.

Sharavati Valley