After our last trip plan flopped miserably, we decided to keep this low profile and didn't bother much about making it with a bigger group. Luckily we found a perfect stay this time at Banana County Resort (http://www.bananacountyresort.com/) at Yellapur which was a center point to Yaana and Dandeli.
We decided to do night travel to save time. Sowmya, Dharanesh, Anil and me started from Bangalore around 7pm in our Chevy Aveo. I would have preferred starting after 11pm as it would be better if we reached Banana county in the morning, but Anil was keen on leaving as early as possible. As Sow had work that day, 7pm was the earliest we could start. We were told the best route is the Tumkur-Chitradurga-Daavanagere-Hubli-Yellapur (about 480Kms) stretch.
Never realised night driving could be so problematic, till we crossed Bangalore. Bumpy roads (at some stretches), lack of lighting on the roads coupled with Anil's reckless driving took a toll on the car tyre and boom went the air from one tyre, even before we had left Bangalore in a dusty spot. Ok, we understand its not so uncommon for vehicles to get punctured, but it was our first such experience and Sow n me found it as a amusing experience (may be coz we didnt have to do anything. Thanks to Dharani, we could fix it faster and started off in half an hour. But I had this question at the back of my mind, we had a spare tyre this time, but what if it happens again..?!!
The route was quite okay except for some rough unfinished parts. In the dark night, the tyres were screwed with the bumps / potholes. By the time we could see the potholes, it was too late to control the vehicle. And, God decided to answer my question and the second tyre ditched us at 4am between Ranibennur and Haveri, again at a super-dusty spot, aaaahh not again!! We had driven in worser roads in earlier trip but for whatever reason, this time it was too unreliable. Dharani went in search of some help and luckily spotted 2 people getting ready for their farming work so early in the morning.. They were sweet enough to take our tyre to a small cycle shop on their bike. As it was a very small shop, they couldnt fix tubeless tyres but managed to fill air for temporary use so that we could atleast reach Haveri.
Haveri was 20 kms from that point and when we were just 2 kms away, the tyre couldnt sustain further. Later we got to know that we had reached a village called Yellapur(thotada Yellapura), with not so helpful people! What an irony, we were actually headed to the Yellapur town in Karwar! it was just 5am then. At 6, Dharani n me decided to walk till Haveri town in search of the puncture shop. It was a day after Ayudh Pooja and we were not sure if the shops would be open. I was surprised Haveri is a district and I felt it ended by the time it started!! After seeing a series of closed shops, we almost lost hope and decided to look out for a cab company to take us till Yellapur. Luckily, we spotted a MRF tyre shop which was open early for Ayudh Pooja and they agreed to fix it if we bring the tyres there. Thankfully, there were autos in Haveri! We did not know we could fit tubes to tubelss tyres(another knowledge transfer from this trip!). By the time we got the tyres fixed it was around 930am. We have driven on worser roads (Kemmannugundi, Mysore-Mudhumalai stretch, etc) in other trips but all during the day. Though we learnt our lessons the tough way, I would advice one to refrain from long distance night-driving unless you are a patient and skilled driver!
Anil didn’t have the patience to stop for breakfast anywhere, so continued the Haveri-Hubli-Karwar way as the resort people warned us that if we take Haveri-Sirsi way another puncture is guaranteed! 90km stretch till Hubli was an amazing drive and we were happy we didnt listen to the auto drivers advice to take the shorter route via Sirsi! Hubli to Yellapur road is also in a good condition. Hence it took just 2 hours to cover next 150 kms. We called the resort guys to keep the breakfast ready so that we can attack food and crash into bed asap. My plans of covering Sathodi falls on the day we reach sounded impossible now!
Banana County had a refreshing effect on us and we almost forgot all the stress of the journey. We were welcomed with a very tasty soft drink called 'Cocum' and the breakfast was the simple idli (kadubu) chutney and sambar. I m not saying this just coz we were hungry, but the breakfast was one of the best I've eaten so far. We spent rest of the day catching up on all the lost sleep, exploring the resort and playing games(badminton with our bats, TT and carom). We ended our day making rafting plans for the next day. Hari, the resort manager booked for rafting through Emam(Call him on +919448331729 to book directly) from Dandeli which cost Rs. 1300 per person.
Rooms at the resort..
Day 1
Surprisingly we were up by 630 and ready by 8 (including Anil!!) for breakfast. Plan was to cover Syntheri rocks and reach Kali wilderness camp on time for our 230 slot. Unfortunately, we were informed that they wont be releasing any water from the dam and rafting will be closed today! So we switched our plan to visit Yaana and surrounding places. We started around 9am in the Bolero arranged by the resort (it was sensible to pay 2250 / day rather than risk with our Aveo!) and Gourish, our guide and driver suggested we visit the places in this order Sahasralingam - Sirsi - Yaana - Gokarna.
Sahasralinga between Yellapur and Sirsi is a beautiful rocky stretch of river Shalmala where 1000 lingams and Nandi statues are carved on the rocks amidst water. It's a place of worship basically but except for the very religious Dharani, we were more excited to play in water!
Next stop was at the famous and the very old Maarikaamba temple at Sirsi.
From Sirsi, Jog falls and Yaana were equidistant about 55 kms in different directions. As per our plan we proceeded towards Yaana as most of us have already seen Jog and we were really looking forward for Yaana. Unlike an year back where you had to trek for about 8kms, you can now take the vehicle almost till Yaana! This was the perfect season to visit Yaana with no leeches around and less scorchy sun unlike during summer. From the parking place to Yaana is just about half km walk amidst the forest and at the end of it we were so excited to get the first view of the marvelous rock formation. We find another gigantic rock formation few meters away with a temple below it. Guess what??!! Yaana had ended even before it had began! It was a huge let down for us thanks to the exaggerrated picturization in "Nammura Mandara Hoove" (a kannada movie)!! It was nothing like what we imagined a km stretch of rock formations with stream flowing alongside and waterfalls closeby and what not!! :-). But if you go with no fancy expectations, you will be amazed at the rock formation amidst the forest.
There are two gigantic peaks (shikaras) - Bhyraveshwara Shikhara (bigger one) and Mohini Shikhara. The story goes like, here is where Lord Vishnu tricked Bhasmasura assuming the shape of Mohini and burnt him to death. There is a temple at the foot of Bhyraveshwara Shikhara which is considered to be Lord Shiva's abode and footwear is not allowed inside the Bhyraveshwara Shikhara. With the uneven rock formation, had a tough time there getting pricked with rocks and stones, thankfully no leeches this time around! Though its a short trek inside the Bhyraveshwara Shikhara and weather not very hot, we were dripping by the time we were out. If you go down, you can refresh yourselves in the stream of flowing water. As Anil was very bored already, we decided to move on to Gokarna.
Mohini and Bhyraveshwara Shikhara
We were starving and didnt have patience to look out for a perfect restaurant in Gokarna. Had a normal meal in a small Kamat restaurant on the way to Gokarna. Reached Gokarna around 4pm, and the temple was closed till 5pm. As we had to head back to our resort in Yellapur, we decided to go to the Om beach instead of waiting for the temple to open.
Sowmya at Om Beach..
The water at Gokarna was a bit muddy and harshly salty and a little crowded as it was the early evening time (5pm).. A nice place to play, if you are a swimmer and can manage going a little inside. We wound up for the day around 6pm after a cup of tea n snacks in the only restuarant at the beach. The way back felt never ending taking 2 hours (for less than 100kms) to reach the resort!!
Day 2
We get a call at 730am from the reception informing us that the dam gates are open today and we are booked for 1030am slot. As its an hours drive to Dandeli from Yellapur, we got ready in a jiffy and started off in the Bolero around 9 and reached Kali Wilderness Camp by 1015am. The drive was through the Dandeli Wild Life Forest and the only wild animal we could spot was a fox! We had to wait for the pick up jeep to take us to the rafting point and we did some time-pass at Jungle Resorts.
The jeep arrived at last, there were 3 jeeps full of people for rafting. The start point for rafting was about 30 minutes of drive through the forest. 3 rafting boats arrived with the young and ardent instructors Mohammed, Rafi and Naved. Mohammed did the initial briefing about basic dos and donts. We were split into 3 groups of 12+12+7 people. We were asked to take cameras at our own risk, hence we handed it to the driver to click snaps till we are in sight.
Briefing about dos and donts, demonstration of how to wear the rafting gear by Mohammed.
Another group of 3 guys joined us to make the group of 7. Posing before jumping into the raft.
Kali river offers upto level(class) 3 rapids. Unfortunately, they had opened only one gate full of water on the day we went and we had to content ourselves with the basic level (level 1). It’s a 9 km stretch for over 2 hours on water with 7 rapids on the way. Anyone with no serious physical ailments above 12 years age, can raft, non-swimmers are also welcome.
Before getting on to the rapids, the guides teach the techniques of rafting. Naved, the guide encouraged every one to fall into water (even non-swimmers) and enjoy the experience of floating on water. He also taught how to pull someone (irrespective of the size) back into the raft. After playing around for about 20 minutes and learning the techniques, we were ready to hit the rapids. After few minutes we could hear the sound of the rapid, one on the left and another on the right. We were told the one on the left is a dangerous rapid known by the name “Death Trap” which is more like a water fall and some even have risked their lives trying to raft on it. The air between the water and the rocks sucks you inside and its almost impossible to escape that!
We move on to the right side towards the the first rapid called “Adi’s Beard” which is the most exciting one followed with smaller rapids “the Stitch” and other rapids with interesting names like “Smugglers Cove”, “Stanley’s Squeeze” etc. We didn’t realize how time flew and we had covered 9km stretch in 2.5 hrs! It was definitely one of the most thrilling experiences of our lives and we hated to get off the raft! If level-1 could be so thrilling then you can imagine the higher levels!! I totally recommend rafting to every one; it’s surely one of the must-do’s in life.
The pick up truck was waiting for the other end. We started back towards the camp around 1pm. As we had not done prior booking for lunch at Jungle lodges we had to find a restaurant in Dandeli city. The food was quite tasty in a small restaurant near the KSRTC bus stand. I was very keen to go to Sathodi falls but our driver discouraged saying it will be too late by the time we reach the falls with hardly any time to play in the water. As an alternative, we headed to Syntheri Rocks around 3.30pm. It was a pleasant 30km drive through Dandeli Wild Life Forest and this time we spotted a bison! We reached the parking place by 4-415pm, and it’s a short trek down to reach the water. We were disappointed to see the warning board saying 12 (or more) people have died in the water this year! As soon as the rocks and the water was in our vicinity, we could understand why. It’s a dangerous looking tall monolith, with cave like structure below with water flowing on the slippery rocks. We tried to wet our foot and realized one slip and we will be one with the flowing water..!!
There were hardly any leeches as it was post rainy season but somehow a leech managed to cling to Dharanis foot, which he realized quite late..! We reached the resort in 1-1.5 hours from Syntheri Rocks and ended our day 3 wondering if we can still make to Sathodi falls early next morning.
As Anil always needs sometime off to relax at home (before joining work) after a trip, we had to start directly to Bangalore and also got the car wheels aligned in a Maruti Service Center near Davanagere, which was just off the Highway. We had never entered any car service center earlier were impressed with the hitech software applications used! They did a good job at it and our car was ready in about 2 hours. We were expecting to see a big figures on the bill and were delighted to see just Rs. 396!! I remember paying about 1k for aligning one wheel in one of the wheel alignment centers in Bangalore!
Inspite of all the breaks for food n drinks and car repair, we reached Bangalore safe and sound by 9pm:-)
For more pictures, check http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=tl62s21.coc8bdop&x=0&y=-ut6o2j&localeid=en_US
