After hectic schedules, weekend breaks gives you such a wonderful feeling. Isn’t it? Last weekend, we trekked to Hebbe falls Chikmaglur. It was a splendid trek path; a great stress buster indeed.
Trek path
Greenery everywhere and beautiful rivulets impending; to add to those were tender coconuts to quench our thirst made the trek even more exciting.
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Small Rivulets on the way
Living in the city, most of us feel the need to go out into the wide open and explore the beautiful countryside. Breathe some fresh air and maybe get a glimpse of life on the other side of the fence.
Well, here’s an attempt to connect folks like us to rural India and hopefully they can provide a platform to those who want to venture into unexplored parts outside of Bangalore city.
Called Rural Zing, their aim is to be “an Initiative to connect urban and rural economy”.
The day long trips are organised on Saturdays and Sundays and for details you can log on to:
Web: Rural Zing
Mobile: 9886201103
Email - reservation@ruralzing.com
The road less travelled
Hogenakkal is located in Tamil Nadu and a part of the river Cauvery and is about 250 metres above sea level. The main attraction of the falls is its vertical drop from a height of 20 metres with a thundering sound. Hogenakkal is also supposed to have healing powers so be prepared to see people dive in (though it would be safer not to). It’s about 2 hours from Bangalore if you take the short route. We decided to take the long route, merely because we missed the right turn on the way :)
We started a little late and reached at a time when the rest of Tamil Nadu (and Karnataka) also decided to pay a visit to this famous falls.
Sultanpet is on the Nandi Hills route and about 50-60 kms away towards the North. Instead of the left diversion to Nandi Hills, you need to take a right and continue along the road. There is also the Bhoga Nandeshwari temple there. And a little ahead is Sultanpet where there is a famous cemetery - all from the time of Tipu Sultan.
While on a drive to that area, we found a a few potters here hard at work early morning and spend some time around their work area and the adjacent building where they stored the pots. Apparently, their pots go to both Bangalore and places in Andhra Pradesh.
These are two seperate locations but it’s possible to cover both in a day as they’re about an hour or so away from each other by road.
Terahalli: This is on the way to Kolar, a diversion just before reaching the town. A road leads upto the hills from where you get a view of the plains of Kolar. The hill is dotted with rocks of different shapes, reminiscent of the general landscape of Hampi.
Honnemardu is supposed to be a village submerged under the Linganmakki reservoir in Shimoga district. On the way to Jog Falls one has to take deviation from a village by name Hiremane (2 km from Talguppa). A drive of 10 km from Hiremane will take to Honnemardu, where there is Indian Institute Adventure and Application (IIAA) run by S.L.N Swami.
Around a two hour drive from Bangalore, Sangam and Mekedatu are ideal for a day’s getaway. The heat right now might deter you, but if you’re upto braving the hot sun, go for it!
A view of the Sangam confluence point
Sangam is the confluence of the river Cauvery and Arkavathi and is accessible via Kanakpura Road. The river flows through a deep gorge at the point called Mekedatu. The gorge is deep and at some points the rocks bridges the river, so a goat can leap across. Therefore, the name Meke (goat) Datu (leap).
Looking for a relaxing weekend out from Bangalore?
A 4-5 drive away from the city is the coffee country of Sakleshpur. Nestled in a coffee plantation in Hosamane (about 23 kms from Sakleshpur town) is the Coffee Valley homestay, where you can head for a lazy and peaceful time.
After Sakleshpur, drive through some delightful curvy roads, shaded by tall trees with coffee plantations on both sides
Scenic drives through lush green estates,
Bathing elephants,
(more…)
“For Santosh, a tour guide in Bangalore, life is good. As a result of the IT boom, he has launched his own web-based travel firm, getoffurass.com, and is doing a booming business selling weekend getaway holidays to stressed-out IT workers.”
Bangalore based Santosh was featured in this BBC article and you can read the whole article here.
I’ve been a regular visitor to the website that Santosh runs - Get Off Ur Ass - and he often sends emails about the different travel programs he’s running.
If you’re interested in travel and adventure, it’s a good idea to get added to his mailing list. I also asked him to share with me how he got started off.
