Ranganathittu bird sanctuary, Tipu Sultan's summer palace and Sangam

Ranganathittu bird sanctuary:

Ranganathittu is a beautiful bird sanctuary just 130 Kms away from Bangalore near the historical town of Srirangapatna. It is a small bird sanctuary (0.67 sq. Kms) with a large concentration of birds. The sanctuary basically consists of small islets on the river Cauvery. The trees on this river serve as nesting sites for a variety of migratory birds.

Once you reach the sanctuary, you have to take a boat which will take you close to the birds. The boatman will give you information on the different species of birds.

Birds of Ranganathittu:

The most common birds during the winter season are the black headed ibis. We saw several of these birds nesting in the trees and feeding their young.

Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)

Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), also called the Snake Bird

Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)

River Tern (Sterna aurantia)

Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)

Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Indian Pond Heron or Paddybird (Ardeola grayii)

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Best time to visit:

The best time to visit the sanctuary, according to the local bird guide is late February to early May. That's when you can see a large variety of birds. However, you will not be disappointed anytime of the year you visit here.

Getting there: (Bangalore to Ranganathittu)

From Bangalore, take the 4-lane Mysore Highway. After about 125Kms, you will reach the historical town of Srirangapatna. Drive further beyond the exit arch of Srirangapatna. Just a kilometre after leaving the town and just after you cross a bridge across the river Cauvery, you have to take a road to your right. You can see Karnataka tourism signpost pointing towards Ranganthittu. Just a couple of Kilometres down this road is the sanctuary.

Timings and Fee:

The park is open from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. The charges are Rs. 25 per adult, Rs. 35 for four-wheeler parking and Rs. 25 for a still camera. You will have to hire a boat to see the birds and it will cost you Rs. 50 per head or Rs. 250 for an exclusive boat. The boat ride lasts for 20-30 minutes.

When you are boating in Ranganathittu, be careful not to put your hand inside the water, as they are infested with marsh crocodiles also known as the mugger.

Marsh or Mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)

Nearby places:

You are not likely to spend more than a couple of hourse in Raganathittu. So, you can spend the rest of your day visiting the nearby places. Here is a tourist map of Srirangapatna and Ranganathittu:


Nature lovers and historians alike will love Dariah Daulat Bagh or Tipu Sultan's Summer palace. It has beautiful landscaped gardens. From Ranganathittu, you have to come back a kilometre towards Bangalore and then take a right turn to reach this place. Here's a panoramic view of the place:

As you can see it has well maintained gardens with beautiful flowers. Where there are flowers, there are honey-bees:


Just a few kilometres down the same road is Sangam - where two branches of Cauvery meet. If you like boats, you can take a coracle ride here.

Kalavarahalli Betta (Skandagiri)

Also read: Goa Travellogue and Trip to Shivanasamudra waterfalls

Kalavarahalli Betta (Skandagiri) is a hill which is part of the Nandi Hill ranges, North of Bangalore. It offers trekking and moderate-to-easy climbing options close to the city of Bangalore, India. It is situated in the district of Chickballapur, about 56 Kms from Bangalore city.

How to reach

To reach the place, take the National Highway 7 to Hyderabad via the new Bangalore International Airport. There are two routes to the place:

1) Hebbal flyover - Devanahalli - Nandi Hills - Muddenahalli - Kalavarahalli - Skandagiri

2) Hebbal flyover - Devanahalli - Chikkaballapur - Kalavarahalli - Skandagiri

Things to take

Please carry lots of water, adequate food and first-aid as there is virtually nothing available here.

Can I see clouds below the peak?

Yes you can, provided you are extremely lucky. The cool weather season of end November - early February is the best time to visit. You should be on top of the hill early in the morning in order to be able to admire the cloud formations under the peak.

Avoid rainy season as the climbing can get very dangerous.

Planning the trek

It will take you 2-3 hours to reach the peak of the hill (including breaks). You can plan to have lunch on the peak. It is best to be back on the ground before dark. The entire expedition will take you 6-7 hours.

Pictures:

View of Kalavarahalli Betta from the foot of the mountain:


Ruined fortification on top of the hill:

Temple on top of the hill:

View of Nandi Hill from the top of Kalavarahalli Betta:
Panoramic view from the top of the hill:

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Also read: Goa Travellogue and Trip to Shivanasamudra waterfalls

Shivanasamudra Falls

You might also be interested in my Goa Travellogue.

Shivanasamudra Falls is situated off Kanakapura road (NH-209) on the border of Mandya and Chamrajnagar districts of South Karnataka. It consists of two falls Gaganachukki (in Mandya district) and Bharachukki (in Chamrajnagar district). Both these falls are seperated by a distance of 2-3 Kms by road and it is impossible to see both the falls from a single view-point. Each of these falls look similar.

Shivanasamudram is actually an island town. The Cauvery river, bifurcates around this town and creates the two waterfalls Gaganachukki and Bharachukki. The monsoon season of July to October is the best time to visit the waterfalls.

The plan

It was the month of August. The plan was to leave early in the morning, packing lunch and water. We planned to have breakfast en route on Mysore highway. We wanted to be back in Bangalore before dusk.

The transport

Our new Wagon-R Vxi. We filled 25 litres of petrol the previous day and checked the tyre pressure. Kept the first-aid kit, tool-kit and manual handy handy just in case there is a break-down. The car performed well throughout the journey. It handled the bad stretches of road between Maddur and Malavalli pretty well.

The essentials

We packed lunch, drinking water, camera, binoculours, Karnataka map and lots of snacks :-)

The Journey

We left our place in Bangalore at 6:30 AM on a Sunday. In 20 minutes we reached mysore road on the outskirts of bangalore. We stopped for breakfast on Mysore road at Kamat Lokaruchi, a popular dhaba.

Bangalore-Mysore road is a scenic a 4-lane highway. There are several restaurants and eateries along this route. You can find Coffee Day, Barista and the popular dhabha Kamat Lokaruchi on this route. Kamat is located about 70Kms from Bangalore after the town of Ramanagaram in a place called Janapada Loka.

For Shivanasamudra falls, if you are taking the mysore road, after Maddur, about 80 Kms from Bangalore, you have to take a left turn towards Malavalli. The road between Maddur and Malavalli is in pretty bad shape with some pot-holes as deep as 1-foot. Beware! A bad stretch of road:

The army can use this as a good testing ground for their battletanks :-)

After crossing Malavalli town, you have to go further to reach the falls. You will first come across a prominent arch on the left which will take you to the Gaganachukki falls and the hydro-project. We reached Gaganchukki at 10:30 AM. Approximate travel time was 3.5 hours.

Gaganachukki falls (Mandya district)

These falls are have good facilities like a guest-house overlooking the falls and a restaurant. There are steps and view-points which are easily accessible. However, you cannot go down to the waterfalls as it is completely fenced. You have to enjoy the view from a distance. We took some snaps of Gaganachukki:

Gaganachukki falls is the location of the first Hydro-electric Power station in Asia, which was set up in the year 1902. A view of the project:

These falls are infested with monkeys. So, if you need a picnic, choose Bharachukki instead.

Bharachukki falls (Chamrajnagar district)

After Gaganachukki, you have to travel some 2-3 Kms and cross the Cauvery via a bridge, to reach Bharachukki:

The Bharachukki waterfalls have a set of steep stone steps leading you to the base of the waterfalls:

You will be swamped by the mist at the base of the falls:

Here you can enjoy a coracle (a round boat) ride which takes you close to the falls, although it is dangerous to get into the water as the currents are strong. In the picture below, you can spot 7 coracles in Bharachukki:

Here's a picture of a coracle man, testing the waters at Bharachukki falls:

The Bharachukki falls are much more accessible than Gaganachukki. You can reach upto the water. You can find plenty of picnic spots here:

We headed back towards Bangalore at 3 PM and reached its outskirts at 6:30. All in all, it was a good outing for a day, however, there was not as much forest cover as we had seen during our trip to the Doudhsagar waterfall area in Goa.

Goa Travellogue

You might also be interested in my Shivanasamudra waterfall travellogue

Planning
We had 4 days to spare for our holiday and a plethora of potential destinations in India to choose from. We had to rule out Andamans and Lakshadweep as the hotels were completely booked. So we had to settle for Goa and in the end it turned out to be a great decision.

I am a nature lover and wanted to cover places of natural beauty in Goa. We were not really interested in seeing the old town or Goa's churches. As we had only 4 days and Goa being a large territory, we decided to restrict ourselves to the beaches of North Goa. However, we decided to cover Doudhsagar waterfalls if time permitted.

Things to take
Don't forget to carry your driving licence as the best way to see Goa is by renting a bike. Sun gear like Hat, goggles and sun-screen lotion are a must. Throw in a map to chart your itinerary.

Where to stay
Accommodation in Goa is expensive and there is a lot of demand in the peak season. Remember, Goa is a large territory. If you decide to explore North Goa, look for a hotel there.

Bangalore to Goa
Goa is connected to Bangalore via road, rail and air. If you have time, you can explore the snail paced Indian Railways as the train passes through the scenic Western Ghats. All flights starting from Bangalore reach Goa only in the afternoon. This meant that instead of 4 days, we now had only 3 and a half days!

It was a clear day and the view outside the plane was brilliant


Goa

Day1: Baga Beach

As it was around 3PM by the time we checked into the hotel, we wanted to head to the nearest beach to catch the sunset. Its called Baga beach. I would call Baga a complete beach sans the crowd. It has all water sports facilities and beach restaurants that Goa is famous for. Yet its not crowded and is quite clean. We could catch the setting sun on the Arabian Sea at Baga Beach:


After the sunset, we played Frisbee on the beach for sometime

Day 2: Vagator Beach and Chapora Fort

North of Baga Beach is Vagator Beach. We hired a bike (Rs.300 per day) and reached the cliff overlooking the Vagator beach:


Here are some more pictures of the Vagator beach:



On the northern end of the Vagator beach is the Chapora Fort (of Dil Chahta Hai fame) atop a hill. You can see the Vagator beach and Chapora fort on top of the hill in the distance:


We then made our way to the fort. It was a steep climb up the hill to reach the fort:


Once we reached the fort, we looked back at the lush greenery:


We then made our way to the sea-end of the fort for some breadth-taking scenery:


Day 3: Doudhsagar waterfalls

Doudhsagar waterfalls are located in the Western Ghats, 80 Kms away from Goa's coast. The best way to get there is to hire a cab. Once you reach the forest department checkpost, you will have to leave your car behind and take a government 4x4 (Rs.300 per person) for the last 10 Kms as the road through the forest is pretty bad. Here you can see our jeep crossing a stream:


The jeep will leave you 1 Km away from the falls. You have to trek from there. You will pass through the beautiful forest:

Here are some breadthtaking views of the falls. Notice that the waterfalls has a railway bridge running across it:



Day 4: Morjim, Ashwem and Arambol beaches

This was our last day in Goa and wanting to make the most of it, we decided to visit the beautiful beaches of Pernem, Goa's northern-most district. This district is separated from the rest of Goa by the Chapora river. While crossing the Chapora river via the road bridge, we spotted the beautiful house-boat of Tourism department:



We made our way across the river and reached the Morjim beach. This beach is near the mouth of the Chapora river and is mostly devoid of beach-restaurants. Here's a veiw of Morjim beach:


Morjim beach is famous for turtles. You can spot migratory birds on the Morjim beach:


Next, we made our way to Ashwem, the beach to the north of Morjim. Ashwem has quite a few restaurants and lodges right on the beach. You could also rent a beach chair and an umbrella and lie down on the beach and have food served. We spotted some crabs on this beach. Here's a view of Ashwem beach:


Finally our dream destination, Arambol beach. This is by-far the best beach in North Goa, it is simply incredible. It is vast like a playground. We took some snaps of this beautiful beach:



Arambol is famous for parasurfing:


Epilogue
Goa is not just about beaches and sea food. There is lots more to experience: from forests and waterfalls to Forts and hills. Goa has something for everybody: the young, the old, the vegans, the honeymooners and the adventurers.

Must do in Goa
1. Candle light dinner on the Baga beach. There are numerous restaurants right on the beach which serve food for all taste buds.

2. Parasailing: Parasailing is available at Baga and Calangute beaches. It costs Rs.500 per head and Rs.800 per couple. Life jackets are provided.

3. Driving: Goa is one of those places which behooves you to have your own vehicle to explore it. Honda Activa (Rs.200 per day) and Bajaj Pulsar (Rs.300 per day) are available for rent. The roads in Goa are in good condition but are narrow. The roads pass through beautiful landscapes and its a pleasure driving in Goa.

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