Jog FALLS during Monsoon

Prologue

We traveled 18 miles from Honavar (then in the British ruled Bombay Presidency) by boat and reached Gerusoppa. We decided to see the Jain Basadis scattered around Gerusoppa and started crossing a stream. The leaches welcomed us with a great joy and sucked our blood gleefully. The amazing part was that none of us felt any pain! These leaches can consume enough blood to last them for a year, and only then they let go. Only after they let go, one notices the damage. In the middle of fighting the leaches, we could not pay our respects to the Jain thirtankaras. As we returned to Gerusoppa, the boys discussed how we could profit from the leaches. One of us said that he had heard that Mumbai merchants put on so much weight that it is a problem for them. He suggested that we build a dark room infested with leaches and market it as a weight reduction therapy!

Courtsey travel accounts Krishnanand rest of the nail biting travelogue can be browsed here http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/letters/jogfalls.htm


I distinctly remember my first trip to the jog was in 1978 during my degree days. We were group of five youngsters. We reached Jog around noon time. We decided to trek to the base of the falls with hardly any people following us. The steps were pretty well laid but steep. We reached the bottom of the water falls and had a good bath and even drank the crystal clear water. We did not have any queer and capricious experience of our clothes being robbed by gals, which was faced by Krishnanand and his gang in 1946. ( my take is that incident seems to masala being added for dramatisation. It is akin to Krishna robbing clothes of gopikas ) The sound of the falls even though not very ferocious was music to ears. The greenery around the area was astounding. The ascent was tiring obviously since we were hungry. None of us owned a camera, so we could not capture the nature at its best. We had some snacks at the top and boarded a bus back to Bangalore.

Current Scenario : We cancelled the trip to Jog last month due swine flu like symptoms. In fact I had informed Nagaraj that we will be coming around but failed to make the trip. But this time I was determined to make the trip. After meeting with Nagaraj we drove towards the Tlyerikoppa Lion Safari. We got to see Lions, Tigers, which looked very healthy when compared to Banerghatta National Park. The deer and sambhars too were in large numbers moving around freely. After undertaking a good safari ride which is reasonably priced at Rs 35 per head and visit to the zoo was also quite an interesting experience. The zoo is very well maintained with concrete pathways. The special features are peacocks, sloth bear, jackal, phython, and deers. We proceeded towards Sagar for a night halt. In lieu of the holiday season almost all hotels were fully booked we managed to squeeze into a decent lodge in absence of rooms at Vardaraj Motel.





We traveled early to Jog after seeing Ikkeri aghrovareswar temple. Jog is approximately 35 kms from Sagar enroute to Honnavar there is a deviation toward left which leads to Jog Falls. The road is beautifully laid and if one clips he can reach Jog within 30 minutes. The rainy season has bought in plenty of rainfall, but we were surprised to see the river water levels on the Shravathy river flowing towards the Jog was very low. Naturally the Jog was not in its full blossom. Maybe the release of water is restricted at Lingnamakki dam area. Another surprise was that water was muddy unlike the last time around. This is a clear sign of sand mining and soil erosion which is taking place at the banks of the river. This was a little bit of downer for me. However the greenery around the falls is maintained giving a majestic look to the entire gorge. All the four falls were flowing in a medium trickle. The Raja and Roarer looked a decent fall. Rani and rocket too had water trickling down. The landscaping work around the bay area is still unfinished. Lot of work is under construction. The parking bay looks neat. The hanging rope bridge too has been well designed. Photographers with stock photo keep beckoning us for a shot. If one tries to click the jog falls with one’s own camera the effect is dull. On the hindsight it is worth getting a photo profile done by these professionals who mix and match our heads into the stock photo of Jog falls. Jog fall is recommended for visit only during the rainy season. It is better to check the weather reports and plan a trip to Jog otherwise one is bound to be disappointed.

JOG FACT FILE :

ELEVATION : 2600 Feet
FREE FALL : 829 Feet
WIDTH OF FALL: 1550 Feet
RIVER Sharavathi
Dam Linganmakki
Electricity Gen 227 Mega watt
Date of construction : 1964