Hogenakkal Falls

Karnataka Side of the Falls

After planning with my friends for more than a month, I got a chance to go to Hogenakkal falls on the 14^th of August. This place is around 160kilometers away from Bangalore. We left Bangalore at 10 in the morning; drove down to Hosur, stopped at a highway Kamat Hotel for breakfast, then continued to Dharmapuri; and Hogenakkal was a half-hour drive from there. We were ten of us in two cars. As we had gone on a Sunday, there were a lot of visitors and consequently we had to park our cars nearly a kilometer away. Our three and a half hour journey was spent head-banging to the silliest of songs, discussing college issues, racing with the other car, munching on junk food etc...and we reached the place at 2.30 in the afternoon!

The foreigner holding the pink bag
 referred to this as "Human Trafficking"

The Hogenakkal falls is also known as the Indian Niagara. These falls mark the exit of the river Kavery from Karnataka State and its entrance into Tamil Nadu State. Just like the Niagara Falls, it has a horseshoe bend and it lies on the border of these two states. And hence, we can see the falls from either side of the border.

We hired coracles for 250 bucks per person. The boatmen takes you a kilometer upstream, on road, in a pickup truck. These pickup trucks are overloaded with many people in them along with the coracles which they stack up on top of the truck. One foreigner who was coming with us in our truck correctly said…”This looks like human trafficking”. Nevertheless, you must hire these coracles in order to see the waterfalls from the Karnataka side.

The truck ride was bumpy and slow owing to the innumerable number of tourists walking on the roads in all directions. The truck dropped us off at a point very close to the river and we put our coracles into the river and hopped onto them. These coracles can accommodate 7 people at a time. The boatman we hired was very worried that we wouldn’t pay him properly and therefore wouldn’t talk about anything else apart from money throughout the boat ride.

The boat ride was fun otherwise! Our boatman spun the coracle making us all feel dizzy. We were dropped at a point and from there we had to wade across flowing water to reach the tip of the falls. This is as close as anyone can get to the falls. The sound of the flowing water is thunderous at this point. The gush of water falling down causes so much mist and foam, giving the name “Hogenakkal”.

While standing here in the water, tiny fishes gather around your feet, poking, giving a very funny sensation. Be very careful when you are standing here. If you slip and fall, you’re sure to get washed down the falls.

We spent some time here at the top of the waterfalls taking photographs and enjoying the constant spray of mist on our faces.  And then we had to get back to our boatman who was waiting for us where he’d dropped us. Next, our boatman struggled rowing the coracle away from the main current of the river, and took us around the waterfalls to another point where we could see the falls from the Tamil Nadu side. You will also find a lot of vendors selling fresh-water fish cooked and garnished with some spices. I was chiefly put off by the fish bones strewn all over the place.

Tamil Nadu Side of the Falls

The Tamil Nadu side of the waterfalls is a lot less adventurous. We can see the falls at a distance, downstream. We couldn’t get into the water at this place. The width of the river Kavery forms many small channels where people can get into the water for their amusement.

Although none of us had carried with us a spare set of clothes, we all got into the water and played for a while. By 6.30 in the evening, the water current had increased and it was getting difficult for us to resist the force of the water and so we decided to get out of water and head back to our cars.

It was 7.30pm by the time we reached our cars and we started our journey back to Bangalore. We stopped at a highway McDonalds on our way for a quick bite. It was 10.45 when we reached Bangalore.

One must visit Hogenakkal falls during the monsoon season when the river Kavery flows in full force. But try to avoid going there on weekends as it will be jam packed. The road is excellent throughout the journey. Makes driving very pleasurable!