Monday, September 21, 2009

One day picnic to Mekedatu and Chunchi falls


We have planned to visit Mekedatu and Chunchi falls on this weekend. So planned to start early morning at 5:00am,but unfortunately it started drizzling at 4:30. So had to wait for 30mins more to rain to stop. So we all gathered at METRO, kanakapura road. We 7 on four bikes headed towards Kanakapura...We decided to go to Chunchi falls first.The falls is settled 90 km away from Bangalore city. It is 16 km before the Sangama and is located in the Kanakapura taluk. The waterfall is about 6km away from the deviation. The waterfall is nestled among the amazing ranges of rocks on the banks of the River Arkavati. It is located on the way to Yelehalli from Sangam. One can reach to Chunchi falls from Kanakapura. The waterfall is in the backdrop of scenic settings and it offers eye catching panoramic views of the surroundings. It is surrounded by dense and green forests. The falls is a popular picnic spots. Even though it is a small waterfall, the beauty of its rushing cascades of water in a green setting enchants tourists.

Mekedatu
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Mekedatu means Goat's Leap in Kannada. ‘Mekedatu’ is the place where the Kaveri (Cauvery) River flows through a narrow ravine. Legend has it that the channel was so narrow that sheep would jump across, and hence the name Mekedatu (Meke = sheep/goat, datu = cross in Kannada) Here the Cauvery river jumps in to deep narrow gorge over which even a goat can leap. One can drive only up to Cauvery Akravati Sangama. After this you can cross the river in coracle ( circular boats ) or by walking if the water level is low. From here Mekedatu is 4km downstream. There is two buses available at the other end which can take you till Mekedatu, but the buses are in horrible condition. We had to pay 40Rs each for round trip. The journey was jumpy ;) The rocks at Mekedatu get slippery during monsoon. Once we back from Mekedatu we decided to go to Shivanasamudra and Talakadu but we couldn't make it Shivanasamudra. When we reached Talakadu it was almost 6:00pm so few of our mates took bath in river and we had chicken and fish and started back to B'lore.

Mekedatu is about 93Kms from Bangalore. The first 89Kms till Sangam can be undertaken in a vehicle, but for the last 4Kms we need to cross a river and either take a different transport bus or
go walking.








How to reach
B'lore-->Kanakapura-->Sangama

Distance
90kms to Chunchi falls