The first half of the day was spent in leisure at Nirvana beach while the second half was spent driving through ghats to reach the tallest falls in India, Jog falls.
We were treated like royalty in our spartan tree houses. Without having to move an inch we were served coffee and then a sumptuous breakfast of puri bhaji and omelette in bed. Following the breakfast, we asked to have fish for lunch, which the owner of the resort promptly went out to get for us.
We then went to have our first daylight look at Nirvana beach. This beach was just teeming with sea life. I had my first look at live starfishes on the beach. It was a delightful sight to see the five armed invertebrates move about slowly and disappear into the sand. Towards one end of the beach, you could find these starfish every few feet. Apart from the starfish and the crabs scurrying about, the beach had more than its fair share of live oysters. One area was literally littered with baby shells which moved whenever a wave swept over them. It gave an illusion of the whole ground moving. A bit further from the beach was a rocky area which harboured pools of water with all sorts of critters in them. There were many small fish, multicoloured crabs, some insects and shells of various colours in their relatively calm and crystal clear waters.
While returning back to the resort, we met a couple of navy dudes with their hovercraft. They were relaxing under a hut on the beach and we had a nice long conversation with them. They were divers, the most elite people of the Indian navy. They described their various exploits, the arduous training they had to go through, their exciting mission and a bit more about their personal life. it was great fun talking to them.
Finally it was lunch time and we returned to the resort for lunch. here we had a nice lunch of two species of fish we had never tasted before which were quite tender and tasty. The regular fishes had been exported to Goa and so we had the pleasure of feasting on these uncommon fish. After lunch, we packed up, paid our dues and bid a longing farewell to Nirvana beach.
Our trip for the day was around a 110 kms a lot of which involved winding roads climbing up and down the valley of the mighty river Sharavati. The road occasionally presented us with spectacular views of a lush green valley with a deep blue river gently flowing through it as pictured above.The roads were winding and sloped and offered very limited visibility of oncoming traffic. However, we still made good speed on these roads and reached the top of the falls around 5:30pm.
Jog Falls is the tallest free falling waterfall in India at 830 feet. During the rainy season, the whole force of the river falls down these falls. When we visited the falls four distinct streams could be seen. Two of these are direct 830 feet free falls and the water from these disperses into vapour before they can hit the ground. One other stream had limited water, but the biggest stream was a sight to see. There were two huge pools( nearly lakes) of water at the bottom of the falls.
The government has constructed a nice staircase to the bottom of the falls to make it accessible to the many tourists visiting the place. It was not so when I had visited the place four year ago. The staircase is well maintained with nice railings on both sides. But its a long climb down and we were a bit out of breath by the time we reached the bottom. Another point to note was that due to the late commencement of our descent, we only met people returning from the falls and no one going in our direction.
The view from the bottom was spectacular. The water falling from such a large height and disintegrating into mist was a sight to see. Somehow, we made our way through the large moss covered boulders lining the way to the edge of both the lakes of water at the bottom of the falls. We fumbled many times along the way and finally had to ditch our slippers halfway there to get a better grip. But the effort was worth it and it felt real great to dive into the cold refreshing water in the lake. After sitting for some time here we saw that the sun had set a long time ago and it was getting dark and we decided to head on our way back. The journey back to the base of the stairs was completed in half darkness with us jumping over huge slippery boulders hoping we would land safely. We were the only ones here at the bottom and all we had with us was one cell phone with a small amount of charge left on it, one wallet with some petty cash in it, no torch and one camera. We finally made it to the base of the stairs and by this time the moon had risen from behind the falls giving us some much needed life. We began our climb up the long long flight of stairs telling ghost stories on the way and trying to scare each other at the random sounds which sometimes disturbed the stillness of the night around us.
When we finally reached the top, it was very dark and we were very tired. We hurried to a restaurant there where no one could speak English or Hindi. We somehow managed to order some south indian food and drink which tasted delicious given the very thirsty and hungry state we were in. After the light dinner, at the insistence of a waiter we went to a 'laser show' located there. There was a huge crowd of excited and screaming school children in the ampitheatre there. The show as such was not that great but the sheer excitement around us of the school children with their constant screams, cat calls and clapping lifted our spirits and rejuvenated us.
We finally ended up finding real cheap acco at a youth hostel located just 0.6 km away(pictured above). We were provided a simple room with three beds till 7am(as there was a busload of school children coming the next morning) for a mere 200 Rs. setting our alarms for an early start the next day, we chatted away and played card games here till we finally fell asleep .
We were treated like royalty in our spartan tree houses. Without having to move an inch we were served coffee and then a sumptuous breakfast of puri bhaji and omelette in bed. Following the breakfast, we asked to have fish for lunch, which the owner of the resort promptly went out to get for us.
We then went to have our first daylight look at Nirvana beach. This beach was just teeming with sea life. I had my first look at live starfishes on the beach. It was a delightful sight to see the five armed invertebrates move about slowly and disappear into the sand. Towards one end of the beach, you could find these starfish every few feet. Apart from the starfish and the crabs scurrying about, the beach had more than its fair share of live oysters. One area was literally littered with baby shells which moved whenever a wave swept over them. It gave an illusion of the whole ground moving. A bit further from the beach was a rocky area which harboured pools of water with all sorts of critters in them. There were many small fish, multicoloured crabs, some insects and shells of various colours in their relatively calm and crystal clear waters.
While returning back to the resort, we met a couple of navy dudes with their hovercraft. They were relaxing under a hut on the beach and we had a nice long conversation with them. They were divers, the most elite people of the Indian navy. They described their various exploits, the arduous training they had to go through, their exciting mission and a bit more about their personal life. it was great fun talking to them.
Finally it was lunch time and we returned to the resort for lunch. here we had a nice lunch of two species of fish we had never tasted before which were quite tender and tasty. The regular fishes had been exported to Goa and so we had the pleasure of feasting on these uncommon fish. After lunch, we packed up, paid our dues and bid a longing farewell to Nirvana beach.
Jog Falls is the tallest free falling waterfall in India at 830 feet. During the rainy season, the whole force of the river falls down these falls. When we visited the falls four distinct streams could be seen. Two of these are direct 830 feet free falls and the water from these disperses into vapour before they can hit the ground. One other stream had limited water, but the biggest stream was a sight to see. There were two huge pools( nearly lakes) of water at the bottom of the falls.
The government has constructed a nice staircase to the bottom of the falls to make it accessible to the many tourists visiting the place. It was not so when I had visited the place four year ago. The staircase is well maintained with nice railings on both sides. But its a long climb down and we were a bit out of breath by the time we reached the bottom. Another point to note was that due to the late commencement of our descent, we only met people returning from the falls and no one going in our direction.
When we finally reached the top, it was very dark and we were very tired. We hurried to a restaurant there where no one could speak English or Hindi. We somehow managed to order some south indian food and drink which tasted delicious given the very thirsty and hungry state we were in. After the light dinner, at the insistence of a waiter we went to a 'laser show' located there. There was a huge crowd of excited and screaming school children in the ampitheatre there. The show as such was not that great but the sheer excitement around us of the school children with their constant screams, cat calls and clapping lifted our spirits and rejuvenated us.
We finally ended up finding real cheap acco at a youth hostel located just 0.6 km away(pictured above). We were provided a simple room with three beds till 7am(as there was a busload of school children coming the next morning) for a mere 200 Rs. setting our alarms for an early start the next day, we chatted away and played card games here till we finally fell asleep .
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