Location:
Shimoga District
Karnataka
Places seen in a day:
1. Koodlu Falls
2. Gajanur Dam
3. Sacred Heart Church
Best Time to Visit:
Sacred Heart Church - Any time during the year
Koodlu Falls - August to December
Gajanur Dam - October to March (Post Monsoon Season)
This is continuation to the previous post
"Exploring Nature's beauty in & around Agumbe". All of us woke up little early in the morning, had tomato rice bath, left the nature camp to "
Koodlu Falls". For distance, route, estimated travel time & other details visit the above previous post.
1. Koodlu Falls:
We traveled 19 Kms from Seetanadi Nature Camp to reach Koodlu Falls. There is an arch in the main road welcoming the visitors to Koodlu Falls situated deep in the forest.
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| Koodlu Falls Arch |
There is a small stall opposite to the arch selling sweet water tender coconuts and other snack items.
The route very bad and narrow. Our car tyre got punctured and we lost twenty minutes in changing the tyre. It took thirty minutes for the last thirteen kilometers due to bad condition of the road.
After changing the tyre we reached huge parking area. There is entrance fee of Rs. 10/- per person and parking fee of Rs.30/- per car. The timings are from 09:30 AM to 04:30 PM. There is a board specifying the instructions to the visitors in Kannada language.
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| Parking Area |
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| Instructions to the visitors |
This isolated nature's beauty can be reached only by trekking from this point. We saw a small snake after walking for a few meters from the entrance.
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| Snake |
The trek route passes through the forest before arriving the banks of river Sita. We have to cross the river over the bridge to reach the waterfall.
Though the trek is long and tiresome, the spectacular view of the beautiful water fall provides relief from the tiredness and also provides great energy to play in the water.
The Koodlu falls descends from a height of 300 feet and plunges directly in to a pond. It is believed that in olden days sages used to meditate in the place where pond is now in existence. Hence, people believe it as a holy pond. The peaceful atmosphere in this place is disturbed only by the roar of the falling water.
As the pond is not very deep, we walked in the pond and stood beneath the falling water to have a refreshing bath. We experienced immense force of the water falling from a great height. It was breathless beneath the waterfall and it is better not to stay for long time there.
During monsoon season, this place is filled with many leeches. As the waterfall is located deep in the forest without any food stalls, it is better to carry snacks & water bottles with you before trekking. After having a refreshing bath we trekked down in half an hour and moved to Gajanur Dam and on the way we stopped in Someshwara village for having lunch.
We reached Gajanur Dam by travelling 79 Kms from Agumbe. This is also called as "Gateway of Malanad". It is built across the Tunga River and is a scenic spot for many visitors. This dam is a feast to the eyes as it is surrounded by lush green forest and many birds.
The 'S' shaped dam is constructed in the year 1972 to provide additional irrigation facilities & control the flood activity. The timings are from 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM.
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| Entrance to the Dam |
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| Directions to reach the Dam |
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| Project Office |
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| Gajanur Dam |
This is a "broad crested & ogge weir" type of dam with a length of 532.25 meters covering 2240 Sq Km. of catchment area. This is constructed by "Mysore Construction Company" with 22 gates. As this dam is situated in the western ghats and will be subjected to high rainfall, it is constructed by using very high amounts of concrete. This dam has a yield of 117 TMC approximately.
The entry over the gates of the dam is restricted and a security person will be there to stop the people from entering the restricted area.
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| Restricted Area |
There are valves built to control the flow of water from dam to canals. The outflow of water from dam to the surrounding area for irrigation and other purposes is controlled from this point.
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| Control point for flow of water to canals |
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| Water Canal |
There are few stalls in the main road opposite to the Dam selling snacks & cool drinks. Besides the entrance to the Dam there is a KSRTC bus stop.
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| Stalls opposite the Dam in the main road |
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| KSRTC Bus Stop |
We further moved to our last tourist spot of the day "Sacred Heart Church" in Shimoga after spending twenty five minutes here.
It is the second largest church in India constructed in Roman Graphic Style with about 18,000 square feet of constructed area. It is situated at a distance of 3 Kms from Shimoga central Bus station. The initial construction of this church started in the year 1871 & got completed in 1875. Later the modification was done in the year 1998.
There is a grotto dedicated to Mother Marie on the right side of the Church who is the mother of Jesus Christ. Mother Mary is believed to be mother of all.
There is a tomb built in the memory of Fr. Jerome F Fernandes next to the Mother Mary's grotto.
There is a big prayer hall with capacity of 5,000 people and has an attractive statue of Jesus Christ. The mass timings are at 06:30 AM & 06:00 PM on Monday to Saturday and 06:30 AM, 09:00 AM & 05:30 PM on Sundays.
There is a St. Antony's grotto opposite to the Main Church where the devotees light candles and pray. There was a person selling candles here. We bought 10 small candles for ten rupees and lighted them.
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| St. Antony |
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| Candles for sale |
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| Candles lit by us |
There is even a Parish Hall on the left side of the Church for conducting marriages and other social events.
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| Parish Hall |
From here we went to Venkatesha Sweet Stall to have Mysorepak sweet. We concluded our trip by boarding the train in Shimoga Cental Railway Station at 11:00 PM.
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| Trip Members |
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