From our college it was around seven hours drive to Hogenakkal, so we decided to hire a bus. In between the journey, we had a short nap of 4 hours and the enthusiasm and expectation kept us awake.The name: The main attraction of the Hogenakal is the falls and the name also came from this falls. Hoge in Kannada means smoke/fog and kal means stone/rock. In hogenakkal falls, when the water falls on the rock it looks exactly like fumes coming out of rock and hence the name Hogenakal.
The Place: After refreshing ourselves for some time we set our foot in Hogenakkal and as preplanned, the boat men greeted us, to take us for a ride in the boat. the rate is surely bargain-able as we were able to bring down the rate from Rs.250 to Rs.80 per head.
We were astonished to see that it wasn't the usual boat but the kuttavanchi or the coracles that is going to take us for the trip. "An exiting and nail biting experience", if we say that in a sentence. the coracles were steered by a single Oar/paddle. The oarsman took us near the water falls and came back. My heart was pounding hard when he twisted and maneuvered the coracles through small hurdles. A feeling like we are in a roller coaster ride above the water. This natural falls made the place serene and panoramic where we stayed for a couple of hours and took snaps.Reaching the other shore, we had food cooked out of the fresh fish, just cought, fried by the local women. The current was something to watch for in hogenakkal, and even the water was shallow, it took my whole effort to get in to the shores. In some area, the water was only below my waist level.
On our way back from the other bank, we became friendly with the boat men and we sung some songs in Malayalam, known popularly as the "Malayalam nadan pattukal",
and the boat men also started enjoying that. From them, we got information about the Hogenakkal Natural Habitat and about the integrated drinking water project and a lot more. This was the dream location that was shot in many films, and some of the famous films and songs were, "Chinna Chinna Asai" in the Tamil film "Roja", various scenes of the Malayalam film "Naran" , And was the location for the song "Raath ka Nashaa Abhi" in the hindi movie "Ashoka"(many of these information were new to me). The boat man took us near the falls and we had a fabulous view from bottom. Every one was wonder stuck to see the beauty of the falls and we left the place with half mind, reassuring ourselves that we will be back, to see this beauty of "The Niagra of India" again.Dharmapuri is 180 Kms from Bangalore and is around 420 Kms from Kochi.
Route:
- Bangalore (NH 7)- Hosur- krishnagiri - Dharmapuri
- If its from kochi then : Cochin > Thrissur> Palaghat > Kovai > Avanashi > Ellapalayam > Bhavani (NH 47) > Thoppur (SH 20) > Dharmapuri.
Stay / Hotels in Dharmapuri
- KSTDC (Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation) owned tourist Bungalow
- Hotel Tamilnadu
Tips: Make sure that you are visiting Hogenakkal on those dry days (when its not rainy). Boating in Hogenakkal is not allowed when the water level is high. Try to make necessary arrangements first and get in touch with a travel or tour agent for a combined package to Hogenakkal
Compiled by: Mr. Mithun Antony
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