Part 2: Sight-Seeing Around Shimoga, Thirthahalli, Sringeri.
Day 2: September 4, 2018. Tuesday. Shimoga.
I went for an early morning walk around Bananki homestay at around 6.30 am. I walked along a small road besides the areca nut plantation which is fenced by electrically charged wires. It was a very pleasant walk in the dense forests of Malnad. |
| A Lake in the dense forest. |
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| Bananki Homestay |
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| Bananki Homestay |
We were served a hearty breakfast at 9 am. They gave us onion dosas and paddus with red chutney, watermelon, and gulab jamun followed by coffee.
We left for Shimoga around 10.30 am after getting the sight-seeing places from our hostess, Arpitha. She also gave us a packed lunch to carry with us. She recommended that we visit Sakrebailu Elephant Camp and Mandagadde Bird Sanctuary. Gajanur Dam was a place to stop on the way.
The road was bad in patches specially near Mandagadde. By the time we reached Sakrebailu at 12 noon, it was already closed. The timing is from 8.30 to 11.30 am. But we did see 3 elephants from the camp walking along the highway with their mahouts when we were near the Camp. I took some snaps. There is also a ‘Jungle Lodges & Resorts’ place to stay across the road from the Camp. It can be booked online. You can read more about the elephant camp in my TripAdvisor review: Have Fun With the Elephants.
Geeta had a hairline fracture in her right hand when we were in Bangalore, so we had to visit the Narayana Hrudalaya Hospital at Shimoga to change the plaster dressing. The hospital is located about 5 km before entering Shimoga. It looked to be a modern multispeciality hospital, with a glass and steel exterior and a large parking lot. We were there for about 2 hours, and the doctors did a good job of changing the cast on her hand.
On the way back to Devangi we stopped at the Gajanur Dam and had our picnic lunch. Arpitha had packed some delicious lemon-rice and curd-rice, with some homemade pickle.
You can read more about the dam in my TripAdvisor review: Gajanur Dam. Nice Picnic spot.
The road was bad in patches specially near Mandagadde. By the time we reached Sakrebailu at 12 noon, it was already closed. The timing is from 8.30 to 11.30 am. But we did see 3 elephants from the camp walking along the highway with their mahouts when we were near the Camp. I took some snaps. There is also a ‘Jungle Lodges & Resorts’ place to stay across the road from the Camp. It can be booked online. You can read more about the elephant camp in my TripAdvisor review: Have Fun With the Elephants.
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| Sakrebaile Elephant Camp |
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| Jungle Lodges and Resorts at Sakrebaile |
Geeta had a hairline fracture in her right hand when we were in Bangalore, so we had to visit the Narayana Hrudalaya Hospital at Shimoga to change the plaster dressing. The hospital is located about 5 km before entering Shimoga. It looked to be a modern multispeciality hospital, with a glass and steel exterior and a large parking lot. We were there for about 2 hours, and the doctors did a good job of changing the cast on her hand.
On the way back to Devangi we stopped at the Gajanur Dam and had our picnic lunch. Arpitha had packed some delicious lemon-rice and curd-rice, with some homemade pickle.
You can read more about the dam in my TripAdvisor review: Gajanur Dam. Nice Picnic spot.
Then we stopped at Mandagadde Bird Sanctuary, where I could see one tree in the middle of the Tunga River which was full of long necked birds, either storks or cranes nesting there. There must have been a hundred white birds in that one tree.
After that I drove along NH169 at an average speed of about 70 kmph except on the bad patches where I had to slow down to 20 kmph. We reached back to Bananki at 5.05 pm.
We went for dinner at 8.30 pm. There was fried fish, chicken in gravy, a veg gravy dish, appams, pappadams, iddiappams in coconut milk, puran polis, rice and curd. The gravy dishes were mildly spiced and very tasty with appams.
After dinner we retired to our room. There were some foreign guests who were enjoying sitting around a bonfire outside the cottages, chatting away into the night.
Some data from my trip-log:
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| Mandagadde Bird Sanctuary |
After that I drove along NH169 at an average speed of about 70 kmph except on the bad patches where I had to slow down to 20 kmph. We reached back to Bananki at 5.05 pm.
We went for dinner at 8.30 pm. There was fried fish, chicken in gravy, a veg gravy dish, appams, pappadams, iddiappams in coconut milk, puran polis, rice and curd. The gravy dishes were mildly spiced and very tasty with appams.
After dinner we retired to our room. There were some foreign guests who were enjoying sitting around a bonfire outside the cottages, chatting away into the night.
Some data from my trip-log:
- Bananki homestay, Devangi...0 km.....10.40 am
- Thirthahalli.......................9 km......10.55 am
- Mandagadde Bird sanctuary...41 km.....11.40 am
- Sakrebaile Elephant camp......57 km.....12.10 pm
- Narayana Hrudalaya hospital..68 km....12.30 pm
- Back to Bananki.....................137 km...5.10 pm
Day 3: September 5, 2018. Wednesday. Sringeri, Agumbe.
I went for my morning walk towards Devangi town which is about 1 km from Bananki homestay, along the Mangalore highway. I walked up to the town circle from where there are five roads branching out in different directions. All the boards were in Kannada language so I turned back to Bananki to avoid getting lost.
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| Big Banyan tree on my walk to Devangi |
After having our morning tea in the verandah, we went to the dining hall and had a sumptuous breakfast of omelet with puris, dosa, some sheera, papaya fruit and fresh watermelon juice.
Today we planned to visit Shringeri and Agumbe. Arpitha helped us chalk out the best route and again had a nice packed lunch ready for us by the time we left at 10.30 am.
We first visited Sringeri Mutt which is 44 km south of Bananki, in Chikmagalur district. It is a renowned pilgrimage centre for the Hindus and was established in the 8th century by the well known Indian philosopher, Adi Shankaracharya. It is a very nice group of temples nestled among the hills of the Western Ghats with the winding Tunga River flowing through it. The tapasya of the Jagadgurus of Sringeri make it vibrate with sanctity and spirituality. The drive to Sringeri through the lush greenery was also very scenic.
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| Entrance to Sringeri group of temples |
There are 4 main temples in Sringeri Mutt. You can read more about each of them in my TripAdvisor reviews.
- Sringeri Mutt. Abode of Divinity and Serenity
- Adi Shankara Temple.
- Vidyashankara Temple.
- Torana Ganpati Temple.
- Sharada Temple.
We had mahaprasad in the huge prasadalaya hall of Sringeri Mutt after doing darshan of all the temples. We also met the 2 elephants after we came out of the Torana Ganpti Temple. The mahaprasad consisted of sweet sheera, rice, sambar, rasam and buttermilk. The items were served to us from huge steel vessels. Everything was well organised and the food was tasty and nourishing.
Then we went to Kigga village, and onwards to Sirimane Waterfalls, which is about 15 km from Sringeri. Sirimane was a very nice place recommended to us by Arpitha. Though the falls are not as tall as the Jog Falls, but it is very accessible. If you go prepared with a change of clothes you can even have a nice pressurized power shower by standing at the base of the falls, as many visitors were doing. You have to descend some steps to reach the base of the falls. While descending I could feel the spray blowing towards us. Then we climbed up to the watchtower to take some snaps.
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| Sirimane Waterfalls, near Kigga |
At Kigga village we passed the Rishya Sringeshwara temple, from which the town of Sringeri derives its name. It is an ancient Shiva temple where the sage Rishyasinga is supposed to have performed penance. Again the drive from Sringeri to Sirimane was very scenic through narrow forested roads.
Read more about Sirimane waterfalls in my TripAdvisor review:
We then proceeded to Kundadari hills about 20 km away from Sringeri on the route to Agumbe. About 10 km before Agumbe we had to take a right turn to reach Kundadri Hill. This road also goes to Thirthahalli, but the hill is a 4 km uphill climb diverging from this road. The Kundadari Hill was very steep and I had to get into first gear very often. About 500 mtrs before reaching the top there was a huge pothole with large stones where we got stuck. I parked at the side of the road and walked up the rest of the way to the top.
The hilltop is at a height of about 800 mtrs above msl. The view and wind at the top was mind blowing. The low hanging monsoon clouds made the scene look mesmerizing. There is a 17th century Jain temple located on the hilltop, whose main deity is Parshwanatha, the 23rd tirthankar.
Warning: The narrow ghat road is not in good condition, and has many hairpin bends. A novice driver in a small car may find it very difficult to negotiate.
Read more about Kundadari Hill in my TripAdvisor review:
Hilltop near Agumbe. Kundadari.
After we got back to the car we had our packed lunch, at 5 pm. Arpitha had packed Puliogere rice, curd rice and some boiled eggs for us. This was our second lunch of the day. We had already had mahaprasad at Sringeri earlier in the day.
Warning: The narrow ghat road is not in good condition, and has many hairpin bends. A novice driver in a small car may find it very difficult to negotiate.
Read more about Kundadari Hill in my TripAdvisor review:
Hilltop near Agumbe. Kundadari.
After we got back to the car we had our packed lunch, at 5 pm. Arpitha had packed Puliogere rice, curd rice and some boiled eggs for us. This was our second lunch of the day. We had already had mahaprasad at Sringeri earlier in the day.
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| View from Kundadri Hill |
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| Road condition of Kundadari Hill |
We reached back to Thirthahalli by another route. Petrol was showing only 2 blips left so I filled at the HP Pump just before the bridge (Sahyadri Service Station). Petrol had gone up to ₹82.22 per litre and I filled 29.19 ltrs for ₹2400.
When we got back we had coffee with tapioca sticks. Then we rested till dinner.
We went for dinner at 9 pm. Today there was Malabari parotta, rice, roti, baingan bhaji with jaggery, a tomato bhaji and one other veggie dish, along with fish gravy (river fish from Tunga River which had lot of tiny bones), and a chicken gravy. I had a little of everything but avoided rice. Finished off the meal with a cup of dahi.
Some data from my trip-log:
When we got back we had coffee with tapioca sticks. Then we rested till dinner.
We went for dinner at 9 pm. Today there was Malabari parotta, rice, roti, baingan bhaji with jaggery, a tomato bhaji and one other veggie dish, along with fish gravy (river fish from Tunga River which had lot of tiny bones), and a chicken gravy. I had a little of everything but avoided rice. Finished off the meal with a cup of dahi.
Some data from my trip-log:
- Bananki...........................................0 km
- Kuppali...........................................7 km
- Koppa............................................17 km
- Hariharpura...................................25 km
- Sringeri.........................................44 km
- Kigga.............................................65 km
- Right turn to Kundadari ...............92 km
- Kundadari Hilltop........................103 km
- Thirthahalli by another route.......135 km
- Back to Bananki...........................145 km
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