Hogenakkal/hokenhal

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A One day trip to Hogenakkal

This one day trip started with us waking up around 6. We used the public transport to get here from Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Tamil Nadu is a neighboring state and it takes about 5 hours to get to hogenakkal by Bus. We caught a bus from silk board to Dharmapuri. They give a 10 minute break at Hosur where you can have breakfast (From one of the stalls)..From Dharmapuri we had to catch a second bus to Hogenakkal. After you pass Pennagram on the way to Hogenakkal, you will find picturesque valleys on your left. if you want pictures, try to get a seat on the left side of the bus(I wish we had) ...

As it was almost lunch time, we decided to have lunch before we started the tour of the place. we had a decent lunch (what is called as Sapat) and asked for a chicken masala on the side. Once you enter the place by paying 2 Rs, you will see a lot of round boats and people settle a price before you start. i think we over paid as we paid Rs 600 for 3 of us. If you take the boat just for yourself, you can make him wait as long as you want and wont have to worry about other people getting late. If you want to make it cheaper, you can share it with others as it will carry about 10 people.

First he crossed the stream and made us get off at another spot where we could climb onto a watch tower and get the view of the entire place. this is a wonderful spot for photography. look to the left and you will get the valleys in the background as well. After this we got down to a place where some young boys ask for money to jump off a cliff into the water 30 feet below. it seems the water at this point is 80 feet deep. Our conscience pricked up to make them jump so we just clicked pictures of their silhouttes and got into the boat and moved along the strem. As we reach half way along the stream, the boats man spins us around real fast .. i think he was dizzy after that too..


After a long slow boat ride we reach a second spot wher we have to walk about a kilometer to reach a place where we again ride on the boat to get to the main fall. You will see still water and smoke/ water vapor coming up at the center. You can hear the fall at this point but can see nothing. it is only when you reach the waterfall you see the actual beauty of the whole place. The fall is beautiful but nobody can get under it though. After this, we crossed to reach the place where the boatsman was waiting and had one of the popular fried fish. It was well cooked and tasty.

It took us about 2 and a half hours as we had taken a private boat. It will take longer if you take boats from one spot to another and dont make them wait. It seems there is a hanging bridge .. we saw it from a distance but didnt feel it was really a hanging bridge so we started back around 430. Reached dharmapuri by 6 and reached back bangalore around 10.

It was a day well spent.

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