Sirimane Water Falls

A wonderful waterfalls made by river tunga, while she descends over the western ghats. It was a long time wish of mine to visit this falls, as I had missed to visit during my college days with friends. It isn't that far from my native, and in fact its on the way back from b'lore to my native via Sringeri. A 16kms road from Sringeri leads to this amazing water falls.

This time when I started to native, I had in mind to visit this water falls, all information I had was it's about 5-6kms from Sringeri, and a nice road is there to reach to the place, but when I took turn to the falls at Sringeri, I found that its not 5, instead 15+ kms. anyways, I had made up my mind to go there, so we started to drive in that direction. I took almost 30+ min on that road, and I found that, the road is under construction we cant go any further, bike would have gone till falls. So I parked my car near a tree shade, and walked about a kms on mud road to reach to the falls.

It was worth the risk taken, risk I mean is that, I read in news papers, that Sringeri area is all occupied by Naxalites, so I was bit scared about going there since it is deep inside forests. In fact may be that is the reason there were no tourists except us. A couple came in bike, and asked about the route with me, that made me feel better as at least we are not alone. After seeing the falls, I was so happy as it was so silent all around and beautiful, and no crowd.

I think tourism department is making new roads to reach the falls, which makes it more accessible, already the mud road is complete and they are in the process of taring the same. Soon it will be complete, and once done, it will be more like Abbey falls in Madikeri. There is a stair case leading down to the falls, and a view point to watch the falls in case you don't want to get into the water. We have not brought extra clothes, and car was a kilometer away.

But we still got into water, it was so cold, and rejuvenating. The water falls is not that big, but it is really beautiful one. I splashed water on my face and felt heavenly feeling. Spent some forty minutes there playing in water and taking photos. There were none other than us, the couples who had come before us had left long back. We were already tired after the long journey from Bangalore, and this really made us little relaxing, but then we were hungry as it was already 1.00 PM, so we left from there with the memories captured in binary format.

Kettekanu (ಕೆತ್ತೆಕಾನು)

Kettekanu is moola naga kshetra, located on the way to Hunsmakki from shiriyara, via Guddattu. Shiriyara is on the way from Brahmvara to Shankaranarayana. You have to take diversion to Guddattu at shiriyara, and then cross guddattu ganesh temple and go further for a Kms or so, you will see a side board in front of a big house, that's Kettekanu. Moola Stana of Naga.

You can ask the bramhin family settled there to offer a pooja to god Naga (Serpant). Many families believe in this god, and they always give a visit whenever possible. In my family the mother has to visit with her first kid to this temple after the child is born. Variety of pooja's offered to god, mostly Naga pratista, Tanu are main among them. When people face problems in life, or trouble in having a child then they give a "Harake" to Kettekanu, and its believed that their wishes are granted by the god.

This is a very old temple, and you can see a "Hutta" inside the temple, believed to be the place where Serpants live. Recently it's been renovated according to new architecture, with pauli etc. We appreciate any help from people.

Karkala Jain Basadi

Karkala is a wonderful place, and can be easily reached from Udupi or Hebri. You can either come from Agumbe via Hebri or from Udupi via Manipal. I had been to this place many times on the way from my native to Bangalore. In college once we had a dedicated trip to this place. Karkala is famous for its Jain temples; there are lot of temples built by Jain kings. This is one of the holy pilgrimage centres for Jains. Bahubali at Karkala is the second largest in the state and it’s about 42 ft height and is a monolithic statue installed in 1432 AD, on the instructions of the pontiff of Karkala, Lalitakeerti. The other statues of Bahubali in the state are at Shravanabelagola installed by Chamundaraya, which is 57 feet tall, at Venur installed by Timmaraja, which is 35 feet (11 m) tall, and at Dharmasthala installed by D. Veerendra Heggade, which is 39 feet (12 m) tall.

Mahamastakabisheka happen here every twelve years and the statue is bathed with milk and saffron paste, lot of Jain pilgrims come here at that time, next Mahamastakabhisheka to be held on year of 2014. This place is ruled by Jain kings in 14th century but even then they have treated all religions equally and they even have built Hindu temples such as Venkataramana temple. The first name of this town was Pandya Nagari during the Jain regime but afterwards it was changed to Karikallu because of black stones. Slowly as the time passed by it was called Karkal and then to Karkala.

The other important attraction of Karkala is the Chaturmukha Basadi, which has four identical entrances on all sides with three human size statues of three thirthankaras. There is another temple Padutirupathi Venkataramana temple, this temple's architecture being an ancient and one of the finest is built in a traditional style. Every year, a large number of devotees pay a visit to Lord Venkatramana temple in Karkala with the firm belief in the deity’s power to grant peoples wishes, it stands majestically in the heart of the city.

KREC beach, Surathkal

This is a very nice place to spend your evening. There is a Shiva temple too near the beach and a light house. You can take Darshan at the temple and then go to the top of the light house and have an aerial look around the place, which covers KREC campus and temple and surrounding places. You have to pay a little entry fee for this tower and they will allow you only before 5.00 PM, not sure if they have changed the timing these days.

The beach is very beautiful, but very risky one as it gets deeper soon and there is no much flat land where you can get into water and enjoy, so better not go much into water, rather just wet your legs and enjoy outside water. This is not much developed commercially as compared to Malpe, as you don’t find any wave runner or parasailing. This beach is actually the property of KREC and a kind of un-touched beach, where one can enjoy the natural beauty of the sea. Crowd is not that heavy.

There is a Ghost road, which was so scary in our college days, this road starts adjacent to the KREC STEP, and joins you to the beach, but now they have cut all the trees on the side of that road, and it no more scary, I have put a picture of the same for your reference here.

To reach here, you need to get down right in front of KREC, engineering college and walk some distance towards Mangalore until you find the fifth hostel block gate of KREC, and right in front of that is the road which leads to the Shiva temple and right beside the temple is the road leads to the light house and the beach. It won’t be that difficult to find the way, you can ask anyone there, people are so kind by heart and anybody would help you.

Agumbe Sunset point

This is an ideal place to enjoy your evening, but mostly crowded in the evening time, as everyone comes here especially during weekends. There is a view point from where you can see the sunset, this is considered to be the one of the most beautiful sunset in Karnataka. This place is also famous for the heavy rains, it’s called as the Cheerapunji of Karnataka. The one show in the above pic is a view from another view point a few meters above the normal view point where most of the crowds will be and many may be not aware of this view point. There is a staircase to climb up to this place. View from here is amazing.

I have visited agumbe many times mostly on the way back to my native from Bangalore. Mostly I visit here during day time in the morning, still the view is amazing. Once I had been here during college days in the evening after the Onake Abbe falls trekking which is few Kms from here, i.e Trekking starts from a place called Someshwara which is a small town you reach just after getting down from Agumbe Ghats.

Maravante, Kundapura

This is a beautiful beach to enjoy your evening with, it’s few Kms after Kundapur towards Kollur. You can reach this place may be after visiting the Kollur temple on the way back to Kundapur, so that an evening can be spent here. This place is special because of its geographical location where the national highway separates the river and the Arabian Sea. Amazing view, and a must visit place.

Arasina Gundi Falls, Kodachadri

This falls resides deep inside the forests close to Kodachadri hills, so needs to be covered whenever you visit Kodachadri. When I visited we went through one route which is in the opposite side of the Kollur route, where in you reach to the bottom of the Kodachadri hills, you find a empty play ground type of vacant area, where there is small hotel and some small temples around. You see some local kids playing in that area.

If you are have reached this place then you can ask anyone there where to go to Arasinagundi falls, they will guide you to the falls, the route runs inside the forest sometimes its highly possible that you may get lost. We were running in the forst in groups to reach the falls early as possible, some places were so dense that we use get scared if we encounter any wild animals. There is another way which is more safer and you have a guiding route when you come from Kollur-Nagara road.

This is one wonderful falls and a must visit place, untouched by humans, and possibly when you go there you will not find anyone else. You can enjoy the whole falls to you self. It’s believed that the under the water fall its very deep and high risk to swim and try to reach there. I strongly recommend not swimming in that area shown in picture, but to take bath in the small streams further downstream, and enjoy the beauty of the falls from there.

Kodachadri Hills

This is in the boarder of South Canara and Shimoga district. At the peak it is believed that 'Shankaracharya' did meditation. And to substantiate the same you will find a 'Sarvajna Peetha' at the top. En route to the peak you will also find a moderate sized water fall deep inside the evergreen forest of Kodachadri, which is called 'Agastya Teertha'. The peak presents a not to be missed life-time opportunity in the evening as the sun sets in the west. You can also have a golden glimpse of the Arabian Sea for a moment.

To get there first you need to reach Kollur, famous for its Mookambika temple in south canara. From Kollur catch a bus which goes towards Nagara (Shimoga Dist.), and get down at a place [a 45 minute journey].To your right you'll find a mud road where you can find a sign indicating the way towards kodachaadri. On the way you will find a small tea shop (kaka angadi) after one hour walk. There you will also find a small stream nearby for the early morning business. From here it is roughly 5 hours of trek to the peak. Just half-an-hour before the peak you will find a temple, which is an ideal place for camping.(for budget conscious trekkers like us). There is also a traveller’s bungalow nearby.

Seeta Falls, Hebri

This is another nice waterfall which is also located deep inside the forest, but not as far as the Onake Abbe falls, you need to trek about 2 kilometres in forest. There is a road till some point and later you need to walk inside forest. The route is quite visible and no guide is needed. This fall is not that deep and you can walk to the point where water drops and take bath there. Water will strike your head like nails with such a force, so be careful when you put your head under a thick water stream.

As applies with the above falls here too you don’t get anything to eat, as it’s inside the forest so better get something to eat. Best time to visit this is around August to December. There is a road leading to this place from Hebri, you can ask someone in hebri to get the route.

Onake Abbe Falls, Someshwara

This falls is deep inside the forest and you need to do some real trekking to reach here. If you start from Udupi you need to go via hebri and reach Someshwara, a small town on the foot of Agumbe ghat, if you are coming via Agumbe then once you get down from Agumbe Ghat is this small town Someshwara where you need to start trekking, ask anyone around they will be knowing from where to start the trekking. This is a place to enjoy on a weekend, go here with all the energy and take some food along as you won’t get anything inside forest.

I am not sure how deep it is in the centre but you can swim and reach to the place where you can take bath under the falls, you have enough space there to sit and relax on the rocks. I suggest you to take extra caution in reaching this point. You can get some guide in Hebri to take you to this falls. Sometimes it’s difficult to find the way inside the forest.

Saint Mary’s Island, Malpe

This is one of the wonderful places to see in Mangalore, a Natural Island, said to be visited by Vasko-di-gama when he visited India for the first time. There is plenty of sand covered area where you can enjoy your visit, they normally do not allow you to get into water, but then you can always get into water for some time when they are not around. But the place is not safe to go far in water. So be careful and stay close by.

There is a boat facility which takes you to this Island from Malpe beach, you may have to pay some 70/- for the same. You may not enjoy the travel as they play some crap music aloud, but when you land in the Island it’s worth tolerating that music for that while.

You get nice sea food cooked in front of you, when you visit never forget to taste few fishes, to have a feel of Mangalore. If you wish to have some more Mangalorean fishes don’t forget to visit a Restaurant “Fish Land” in Manipal, a city 3Kms from Udupi famous for its medical institute and hospital, the Restaurant is just on right side when you are about enter the city from karkala side. On the other way when you are about to leave the city to Karkala.

Malpe Beach, Udupi

A place very close to my house around 20-30 minutes drive from my home, a 10 minutes drive from Udupi, nearby city and district capital. On NH-17 near Karavali by-pass is the road which leads to this wonderful beach, which these days have been developed to attract tourists provide a class resort facility, wave runner, parasailing, beach side huts and restaurants. Evening time is the best time to visit this place, there will be moderate crowd on weekends. There is paid parking space near the beach.

Saint Mary’s Island can be reached from here, they have a boat facility, was costing some 70/- at the time I visited.