Shivasamudra Falls

Shivasamudra Waterfalls are one of the most beautiful attractions around Bangalore. It is ~140 kms from the city and is the second biggest waterfall in the country. River Kaveri divides into two branches and each branch cascades down rocky cliffs as the Gaganachukki and the Bharachukki, both are one km away from each other. These spectacular waterfalls are surrounded by hill forests of the Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary.


How to Go : You can travel  by your own vehicle  or by public transport. We prefer to travel by our own car, but public transport to the fall is not bad either. The frequency is quite good and they stop near the falls. The karnataka toursim buses also have few tours c
ombining these falls and other nearby spots.

Route : Ideally if you are driving, you should leave early by ~4 or 5 am to avoid the city traffic. But, as usual we were too lazy to wake up for this trip so early, so we left at 6.00 am, and hence the city traffic delayed us a bit. We chose to travel by the route via kanakpura toll road.

Bangalore -> Ramanagaram -> Maddur (turn left, direction given) -> Malavalli -> Shivasamudram

The route is very scenic and very smooth too. We drove at a medium pace and did stop at couple of locations to take pictures and for refreshments. We reached our destination by 10.00am .

Time to go - Post rainy season is the best time to go probably in August/September. The water was swollen due to good rains this year and the falls were in full glory.
There is a viewing deck from where the twin falls are nicely visible, this is the place to click photographs. There are signboards everywhere not to cross the railings are it has led to fatal accidents in the past.

There is another route from where you could be closer to the falls and even get drenched in the water. However, it is not advisable in the rainy seasons or post rainy season as the water is dangerous.

The hydro power plant can be seen clearly and there is a solar power plant as well in the same vicinity.
There is a cafe on near the viewing deck where you can sit and enjoy food/coffee. It is not that great, serves mostly south indian menu (idly/vada etc).
We were done by watching/clicking/enjoying/eating around the falls in 2 hours or so.
Though beautiful, slightly dissapointing to see that we drove almost 4 hours for this attraction.

What Next??
Some more attractions while returning back can be planned around this trip. You could travel to Ranganathittu bird sanctuary in Srirangapatna (few extra kms, but worth a go) or Srirangapatnam temple (known for its architecture) or Bhimeshwari fishing camp (it is on the same road on your way back to Bangalore) or Talakad (sandy shore of the kaveri river)

I would cover them in my next blogs..

Shivasamudram : Definately one time go....

Some more pics :




P. S - All photos are taken from my Sony Cybershot camera.