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Date of journey: 20/09/2008

Starting from: Bangalore

Destination: Hogenakkal

Crew: Maneesh, Lucky, Sailaja, Payel, Sasmita, Arunava, Madhu and Varun.

This was an official trip. Unfortunately, Bharani was having some work so he could not come. At the final moment Lucky and Madhu joined the trip. We started at 7.30 am in the morning on a cab. There are actually two routes from Bangalore to Hogenakkal:

Route 1: Bangalore-40-> Hosur-50-> Krishnagiri-10-> Kaveripattinam-50-> Dharmapuri-30-> Pennagaram-16-> Hogenakkal

Route 2: Bangalore–40–> Hosur–35–> Rayakottai–62–> Palacode-27-> Pennagaram-16-> Hogenakkal

If you take the first route the distance will be 196 kms. and for the second route the total distance will be around 180 kms. I knew only one route i.e. via Dharmapuri. The driver suggested this second route via Rayakottai. As the second route was a shortcut we took that one. We arrived at Hosur check post at around 8.30 am and the driver took all the documents for verification and all. It took about half an hour over there, as there was a long queue. Then, we continued our journey and stopped for breakfast at Rayakottai. It was a small roadside restaurant and we had nice dosas and idlis. I don’t understand why food in these roadside restaurants is so tasty and its one and the same taste in most of the restaurants in the cities. Maybe in cities they are using the same packet of spices etc. After a nice breakfast we moved again and on the way I took some nice shots:

Just near Pennagaram, we saw sunflower plantation and we stopped to take some shots.

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae and native to the Americas, with a large flowering head (inflorescence). The stem can grow as high as 3 meters, and the flower head can reach 30 cm in diameter with the large seeds. The term sunflower is also used to refer to all plants of the genus Helianthus, many of which are perennial plants.

Then, we moved on and after half an hour reached Hogenakkal. Hogenakkal or Hogenakal Falls (aka Niagara Falls of India) is beautiful water falls in the state of Tamilnadu on the Kaveri (or Cauvery) River. It is located at the borders of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is 46 km from Dharmapuri and 180 km from Bangalore towards Salem. Here the Cauvery River enters the plains and the river dashing against the rocks is a great sight. Situated in the forested Melagiri hills, it is also a riverside spa with the waters having curative properties. Waterfalls here fall from a height of 60 to 1000 ft. Carbonatite rocks in this site are considered to be the oldest of its kind in South Asia and one of the oldest in the world. When the water falls on the rocks it appears as if hoge (smoke in Kannada) is emanating from the top of the kal (rock in Tamil and Kannada) because of the force of the water, hence Hogenakkal (smoking rocks). It is also called as Marikottayam by the people of Tamil Nadu. Just near the entrance I took a video:

Then, we saw a hanging bridge. To cross the bridge there was an entry ticket for Rs. 10 per head.

From the bridge I took a nice shot of the hills:

After crossing the bridge what we saw was simply amazing:

The sight was so beautiful. It was like there is a huge tank and someone has made holes in that. At that place people were taking bath:

Check out this video in which you can see why this place is known as Hogenakkal(smoking rocks). You can see the how the water droplets just like smoke disperse everywhere, when the water hits the rocks at a great speed.

Then, I went at that spot where the water was coming out as smoke. The camera was getting wet but still I was taking the video. It was like a shower and a person who will stand at that point for an hour or so would be drenched completely. You can see the water droplets on Payel and Madhu’s face in this video:

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