Weekend trip to Sigandur and Jog Falls

Sometimes the last minute plan make wonders. This is what happened when Prashanth and I decided to go for a weekend family trip to Jog falls on Thursday. I got into itinerary and Prashanth started calling hotels for stay. Though my itinerary was ready, he had difficulty in getting two rooms in such a short notice.

Having tried all the options and when I was almost thinking of postponing this trip, Prashanth got hold of a home stay from a not-so-familiar website (I love Google, it never disappoints me!). To our surprise, there was no review or mention about this homestay in any of the popular tourist sites. He called the owner of this home stay and luckily, 2 rooms were available. With lots of apprehension about the quality of this home stay, we went ahead and booked it. And this was the best decision we made in this trip. Of course, I will talk about this home stay in length later. We got to know about a place "Sigandur" which is nearby to Jog and Goddess Shri Chowdeshwari is the main deity. We decided to visit this place as well.

Day 1:

We started from Bangalore at 6.15AM, filled up my car in Shell petrol bunk. First day's plan was to drive to Sigandur, and then go to Homestay for rest. The route we took is shown below.


Onward Journey

Till Tumakuru, the traffic was bit more due to trucks and once we got off to NH206 it was pretty much smooth ride. Road is pretty good except a few patches in between. This route is 2 way and there is no toll booth. We had breakfast at Hotel Matha Sagar at Kibbanahalli Cross (KB Cross). This hotel is decent and food taste was good.

As we crossed Shimoga, we could see many vendors on road side selling Pineapple and Jackfruit. We bought both these fruits and it was yummy.



NH 206

It was 1.15PM when we reached Sagara. We were all hungry, so had to first settle for food. We found a hotel Pavitra Residency and it is a pure veg hotel. This hotel was decent and we had both south and north Indian dishes for lunch. We left the hotel at 2.10PM and took the road to Sigandur. From Sagara to Sigandur, it was 50mins drive. It is not a wide road and hence we had to go slowly around 60-70KMPH.

Sigandur:

Sigandur is a village which is famous for Goddess Chowdeshwari temple. If we are going from Sagara, one has to cross river Sharavathi to reach Sigandur. Here is the interesting part! Launch services are available to cross the river and you can take your own vehicle (even if it is a big bus) on the launch. We did not take the car as it was raining in this season and we heard that road is not good while reaching the temple. So we parked our vehicle on the river shore and get onto the launch.


Boarding Launch



Another Launch

Surprisingly, they charge very nominal amount to cross the river which is Rupee 1 per head. I don't know how much they charge for vehicle.



Crossing River Sharavathi

Once we cross the river, you will get jeeps to take you to the temple. They charged Rupees 20 per head.

Shri Chowdeshwari Temple:

This is around 300 years old temple and it is believed that this Goddess is very powerful and many people visit the temple with their problems and seek her blessings. Temple is surrounded by greenery and it is in a very remote place. Luckily, the crowd was less and we had a smooth darshan. You don't have hotel near temple, so it is better to pack your food when you are coming here.



Shri Chowdeshwari Temple

We returned back to the other side of river where we had parked our car. The moment we reached our car, rain started. We had a quick snacks in the car and started our journey back to Sagara. After a quick stop at Sagara for coffee, we started heading towards Nammane Home Stay.

Nammane Home Stay:
This home stay is run by Mr. JayKrishna. To reach this place, you have to drive towards Jog from Sagara. You will get a place called Talavata. At this junction, you have to take right and drive approximately 2kms to reach home stay.

This home stay is a typical malnad home amidst farm. We got an entire house with 2 bedrooms and 2 toilets (one Western and one Indian). The rooms were clean and decent and the home also has kitchen and veranda.



Home stay



View from home stay



Only Vegetarian food is served and it is prepared at Owner's home and he'll bring it to home stay. Non-vegetarian food and alcohol are not allowed.

This home stay is located in a remote place (yet 2kms from National Highway) and it is very peaceful and has serene atmosphere. If you are interested to visit here, you can reach him at +91 9591049885.

We were tired driving all the way and we took rest at Veranda.

It was already dark and all we could hear was chirping sound of some insects. It was drizzling outside and the cool breeze literally brought smiles on our faces which almost made us forget all the tiredness we had till now.

We were waiting for Mr. JayKrishna to bring dinner for us with the apprehension on the taste and quality of the food. When he returned, we all went back to the dining hall and he started opening the containers one by one. 

And we started murmuring - "Chapathi", "Curry", "Rice", "Sambar", "Rasam", "Chutney", "Jackfruit Papad", "Pickle", "Chutney Powder", and "Curd".

We started gulping, man! it was the authentic home food with no artificial flavor and colors! Gosh! This is it - all we ever wanted from any hotel! With such a tasty food and more than expected quality and quantity, we were just all set for a sleep. The owner left the place saying Good Night and it was time to end the day with satisfaction and hoping for the best in the day to come!

Day 2:

We woke up at 6AM just to feel the serenity of the place. Rain had stopped and the drops were still intact on the trees and leaves. We could easily feel the fresh air (oh Bengaluru, you don't have this! Do you?!) and alas! we could hear Peacock's sound!, though we could not see the peacock.

Mr. JayKrishna brought breakfast exactly at 8.30 as promised. This time it was Idly, Vada, and Chutney.

The owner invited us to his home to showcase his antique collections (He proudly calls it little museum). His house is around 4kms from home stay. His house is a typical malnad old house. In one of the rooms, he has kept his collections which includes old transistors, utensils, a few music instruments, coins, household items etc.



Owner's Museum

His wife offered Jackfruit chips and coffee. After saying thanks and good bye to his family, we started our Day 2 journey to Jog Falls. From Talavata, it is around 8kms journey.


On the way to Jog

As we approached Jog Falls, we stopped at a bridge to glance through the scenic view and a couple of photo shoots.




Bridge

Jog Falls:
People had started coming to Jog. After paying entrance and parking fees, we parked our car and headed towards the falls. People were not allowed to go near falls during monsoon season. When we stood at a designated place to see falls, it was full of mist and we couldn't see anything and we could only hear the sound of water fall!


Mist at Jog

As the time progressed, the view became clear and we witnessed the majestic water fall, Jog! There are four water falls - Raja, Roarer, Rocket, and Rani.

Jog Falls is the second highest plunge waterfall in India.

Jog Falls

As the day progressed, the crowd was increasing. After sufficient photo clicks - single, mingle, with cooling glass, without, and what not, we said good bye to Jog. Mr. JayKrishna had a surprise to us. He had asked us to call him once we finish Jog so that he will meet us at one point and he wanted to take us to another water stream. We called him and he asked us to meet at a place called Adukatta on NH206.

He had reached this place in his bike and as we reached Adukatta, he signaled us to take left and follow him. It was a small road and full of greenery on both the sides. After we drove 8kms and reached a place called Nipli, we took a left turn and drove for 200mts. Alas! a stream of water was flowing and it had formed a small waterfall. The beauty of this place is it is not a popular place so no crowd was there and everyone from kids to elders can enjoy in this water stream. This was indeed a big and pleasant surprise as we spent good 1 to 2 hrs.

This place is called Nipli falls and July-Sep is the best time to visit this place as water flow will be enough to enjoy. In other seasons, water flow will be very minimal. So do plan accordingly.



Entrance to Nipli Falls

Nipli Falls



Nipli Falls

After an eventful day at Jog and Nipli falls, we headed back to home stay. Lunch was waiting for us. Another set of tasty dishes and we had it full. After saying big thanks to Mr. JayKrishna for his wonderful hospitality, we started our return journey to namma Bengaluru.

We came on NH206 till Arisikere and then went towards Channarayapatna. From CR Pattana, we got onto NH48 and came via Nelamangala. We had dinner at Hotel Mayura near Bellur Cross on NH48.

Return Journey

When we reached Bengaluru, it was 12 midnight and it was a satisfying and refreshing weekend trip.

Best time to visit:
To Jog, the best time is between June and September (monsoon). You can visit Sigandur anytime.

Some Statistics:

Total distance covered	900kms
Bangalore to Sigandur (Launch Pickup)	400kms
Sagara to Sigandur (Launch Pickup)	33kms
Approx time to cross river on Launch	15mins
Approx time from Launch drop to Sigandur temple	10mins