JOG FALLS

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." -- Lao Tzu

When Sravan (brother-in-law) came to us on Saturday morning for the weekend we decided to for some adventures trip. As it is a monsoon and full of rains all over the India, we (Sravan, my wife Sravanthi & Me) decide to go to Jog Falls. On the same day we have started to Jogs, we are able to get advance reservation one way to Sagara, which is 30Km from Jog Falls, in KSRTC.

We reached Sagara around 6:30 am we have booked return ticket to Bangalore immediately, and then with some difficulty after roaming the streets of Sagara we were able to get not so good accommodation for refreshment. After we have finished our breakfast we have taken bus to Jog Falls.

Even though the distance to Jog Falls is 30 Km you will see more than 30 stops by the time you reach Jog Falls. It was raining on and off and many times the view of the fall would get completely blocked by fog. It was a good view to see so much water, primarily all the water is redirected to dams built for the power generation. Incessant rains this year have filled up the dams and hence there is plenty of water. It was fun watching the fall in the rains.

By the time we reached Jogs it was 10:00 am, we have enjoyed picturesque view of the Jog Falls from the top, we have taken enough picture from the top. Then we started walking to the base. As it was raining now and then and the way is slipper and too much of crowd is walking down, it took nearly 30 min for us to reach the base. One cannot express in words how great the feeling is, one has to visit the place to feel it. We have enjoyed there for more than an hour and climbed back to top.

After we reached top we have taken as auto to go the falls at the top where water falls down which is 3 KM. That place is too has great views of Water Falls we have filled all the beautiful location in our cameras and came back to Sagara to catch our bus to Bangalore. We have reached Bangalore on Monday morning with loads of happy moments.

Jog Information:
Jog is a well-known waterfall, the tallest in India where river Sharavati falls from an unbelievable 300 meters high. The Jog waterfall is approximately 400kms from Bangalore. It is an over night journey from Bangalore. You can take bus or train to nearest town - Sagara and travel on local buses to Jog. If you are driving, the entire stretch of road is national highway in good condition but you may encounter a few rough patches. It takes 7-8 hours to reach Jog. You need to take Tumkur road(NH 4) from Bangalore and turn left to NH 206 in Tumkur, drive via Shimoga and Sagar towns. Shimoga is a good place to break for some refreshments if you are driving daytime. Continue for another 30kms on the highway from Sagar town. The waterfall is a short 2kms deviation from the highway.

Places to See:
You can spend an entire day around the waterfall. If you are fit, climb down to the base of the fall. It takes around 20minutes to walk down, and may take an hour or two to come back depending on your fitness. You can take a dip in the water when you are in the gorge. Drive to the other side of the waterfall and you can get close to the falling water. In summer, you can even bend down from the fall to see it descending all the way down from up close. It is a great experience, but definitely not for the acrophobic.