Hi All,
This is the first of my "Quick Weekend Getaways" series. For a person living n working in Bangalore, a weekend getaway is always welcome. Kemmannugundi is an ideal weekend getaway. It is about 6-7 hours drive from Bangalore through this route (depends on driver): Bangalore -> Nelamangala -> Kunigal -> Channarayapattana -> Hassan -> Chikmagalur -> Lingadahalli -> Kemmannugundi. There are two routtes to Kemmannugundi from Chikmagalur. One via Lingadahalli and another a scenic drive through Mullayanagiri. While going we took the Mullayanagiri route. The drive was amazing. We were lucky to taste and smell the first monsoon rains right from the cloud. It was about sunset by the time we reached the guest house. JIT for the sunset. The next day we got up early and walked upto the Z point. It was an awsome sight.We were above the milky clouds. Later in the day we visited Kalhatti falls and hebbe falls.
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| Sunrise |
Kalhatti falls is quite sacred among the local people. According to the legends, sage Agastya did penance here. The Veerabhadra temple is supposed to be built in the Vijayanagar times. The temple is with three stone carvings of three elephants at the entrance. Water cascade water over these elephants and devotees believes that these waters have the power to cure diseases. The government has made an effort to beautify this temple and made it more artificial. People bring shampoo sachets , soaps to wash themselves and their clothes and have dirtied it very badly. We had been at the end of March. There was some festival going on and there was a heavy crowd.
We need to take a jeep to Hebbe falls. It goes until a certain point and from there it is 20-30 minutes walk depending on your speed. Thankfully no temples here :-).
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| Good Morning Glory |
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| Glorious Gladi |
The flower garden at the Raj Bhavan guest house is very pleasing to the eye. Overall good place for a day and half getaway from Bangalore.
