A Lazy Ride To Manchanballe Dam….
On a Lazy Saturday Instead of watching the same old movies on TV, I got ready and set off ... where to? lets see ... Doddaballapur road, Bellary road, Mysore Road, Tumkur road ... all are pretty much seen…. Nothing seemed interesting for a short ride, later I dug out from the archives of my grey area and pulled out Manchinbele dam(One my favorite get away places around Bangalore).
At 1.00 pm after few Phone calls I was out on my ever-faithful bike with camera behind me, along with Vijay and three of his friends(Bunty, Kesahv, and Darshan) who joined me for this short ride, as they had never been to this place and a superb weather played host for wonderful afternoon everything was falling in place for a half day ride across the beautiful country side, and out of noisy & dusty Bangalore to spend a perfect evening with Arkavathy River.
Folks, before I start on what you can see there, let me tell u some thing … Bangalore to Manchanbele Dam is a beautiful country side drive (Just an hour drive). Manchinbele dam is Its about 30 Kms from Bangalore. Very peaceful place but don’t expect the place to have a 4inch cement road, Take Bangalore - Mysore State Highway or Take kengeri road from Banashankari Bus stop. Take a deviation after Kengeri towards Right, just after Amruth Distillery and Rajajaeshwari Dental College (Check out for a white building on right hand side of road). After taking right, you find Railway Crossing, followed by Deccan Herald Printing Press, follow the same route, you will find a A small Ramohali Village little away from the city, once you reach here, suddenly everything slows down, well even our heart beat, a silent sweet smell of village atmosphere catches our senses, particularly when you come down from annoying fast pace Bangalore life... the hunting high decibel noise of vehicles and Traffic, are replaced by the enchanting songs of birds all around; lavishing sky scrapers are replaced
by the lush green fields, Ramohalli has picturesque picnic spot; this serene picnic spot has a sprawling 400-year-old Banyan Tree, which spreads over an area of 5 acres! Here it is famously known as 'Dodda Alada Mara' in Kannada meaning Big Banyan Tree. The tree with its vertical root system is said to be the biggest tree in Karnataka (Second Biggest tree that I have seen and the 4th largest in the world). Entire area covered by the gigantic tree has a well mentioned park.... The rustic settings and an enchanting view of the nearby Savandurga hills makes this an ideal picnic spot. A familiar setting for many a romantic Kannada movie sequence.
After a short visit to Big Banyan Tree. We headed further to reach Manchanbele village, after 4 kms you find a junction; take the left to reach Manchanbele Dam. From Banyan Tree onwards, the road is bumpy, with lot of potholes and road is still under construction and has a series of twists and turns putting us into a dizzy spell, and after a hair rising ride at a sudden turn you will be welcomed by a quite breathtaking view of a de
lightful water body of Arkavathy
River (A tributary of Cauvery river) surround by lush green hills and Gigantic Savanduraga hills at the backdrop....
Lots of greenery surrounds the hills in every direction. It is a perfect picnic spot, secluded from the din of the Bangalore city. There are places with plenty of shade to pitch your tent and spend a quiet afternoon with almost nobody around. Stroll around the place to see the backwaters, and a dam built against river Arkavathi.
Here after driving alongside the back waters, and You can drive straight down to the edge of the water.There is not much of the usual holidaying tourist crowd but its calm
and quiet. After reaching there I was Strolling around the place hoping to see small stream flowing to the dam (you can see only during rainy season) and some migratory birds, I was amazed!!! That I could Spot so many birds this time then my earlier visits!!!! Though I couldn’t take many pictures; and if you are lucky you can find a fisherman for a coracle ride if not more atlest once across the backwaters .
Looking at the Backwater I was always quite tempted to take a plunge into th
e icy cold water, after a serious thought; a much needed headlong plunge into the water (with a life jacket on) was refreshing experience, since from my last two trips I didn’t dare to venture into the water. Simply because the water is quite deep (around 50-70 feet) and there are many swirls inside the backwaters. But this time I could find two life jackets inside boat on the shore and no body was around... so made most of the opportunity……
Exercise caution! Many people of all age groups have been drowned in the water; you can see a lot of caution boards and please do not venture into the backwaters as there has been lot of mishaps and people loosing their lives.
On a brighter note; Over Here there is only one food joint (Dhaba) and, if you have a sensitive stomach I would recommend that you stay off this place. After having a spent a quality time almost 3 hrs across the backwaters later moved to check out Manchinbele dam bu
ilt across the river. But it was closed for the public because of series of bomb blast in Bangalore and I cannot make it over the dam this time, but I did trek across the mountain to get as near as possible to the dam so that I can get a good pick of the dam, the Dam has 3 gates to let the water (or dam it) to the channels on the other side. The water stored in the dam is primarily used for irrigation...
The road beyond Manchanballe dam leads to Savandurga (25 Km). There is an excellent monolith and a fort upon it at Savandurga, but since it was quite late, I thought we will pay another visit to it some other day. We started back by 18:05, and reached room in a little more than an hour. All in all a half day that was saved!
Well what I like most about this place is the calm. Serenity and the beautiful lanscape of the place with some wonderful views all around this place and also make it an ideal place to some scenic mountaineering. Some pictures take during the drive are posted below(Click on pictures to see in original dimension).
At 1.00 pm after few Phone calls I was out on my ever-faithful bike with camera behind me, along with Vijay and three of his friends(Bunty, Kesahv, and Darshan) who joined me for this short ride, as they had never been to this place and a superb weather played host for wonderful afternoon everything was falling in place for a half day ride across the beautiful country side, and out of noisy & dusty Bangalore to spend a perfect evening with Arkavathy River.
Folks, before I start on what you can see there, let me tell u some thing … Bangalore to Manchanbele Dam is a beautiful country side drive (Just an hour drive). Manchinbele dam is Its about 30 Kms from Bangalore. Very peaceful place but don’t expect the place to have a 4inch cement road, Take Bangalore - Mysore State Highway or Take kengeri road from Banashankari Bus stop. Take a deviation after Kengeri towards Right, just after Amruth Distillery and Rajajaeshwari Dental College (Check out for a white building on right hand side of road). After taking right, you find Railway Crossing, followed by Deccan Herald Printing Press, follow the same route, you will find a A small Ramohali Village little away from the city, once you reach here, suddenly everything slows down, well even our heart beat, a silent sweet smell of village atmosphere catches our senses, particularly when you come down from annoying fast pace Bangalore life... the hunting high decibel noise of vehicles and Traffic, are replaced by the enchanting songs of birds all around; lavishing sky scrapers are replaced
by the lush green fields, Ramohalli has picturesque picnic spot; this serene picnic spot has a sprawling 400-year-old Banyan Tree, which spreads over an area of 5 acres! Here it is famously known as 'Dodda Alada Mara' in Kannada meaning Big Banyan Tree. The tree with its vertical root system is said to be the biggest tree in Karnataka (Second Biggest tree that I have seen and the 4th largest in the world). Entire area covered by the gigantic tree has a well mentioned park.... The rustic settings and an enchanting view of the nearby Savandurga hills makes this an ideal picnic spot. A familiar setting for many a romantic Kannada movie sequence.After a short visit to Big Banyan Tree. We headed further to reach Manchanbele village, after 4 kms you find a junction; take the left to reach Manchanbele Dam. From Banyan Tree onwards, the road is bumpy, with lot of potholes and road is still under construction and has a series of twists and turns putting us into a dizzy spell, and after a hair rising ride at a sudden turn you will be welcomed by a quite breathtaking view of a de
lightful water body of Arkavathy
River (A tributary of Cauvery river) surround by lush green hills and Gigantic Savanduraga hills at the backdrop....Lots of greenery surrounds the hills in every direction. It is a perfect picnic spot, secluded from the din of the Bangalore city. There are places with plenty of shade to pitch your tent and spend a quiet afternoon with almost nobody around. Stroll around the place to see the backwaters, and a dam built against river Arkavathi.
Here after driving alongside the back waters, and You can drive straight down to the edge of the water.There is not much of the usual holidaying tourist crowd but its calm
and quiet. After reaching there I was Strolling around the place hoping to see small stream flowing to the dam (you can see only during rainy season) and some migratory birds, I was amazed!!! That I could Spot so many birds this time then my earlier visits!!!! Though I couldn’t take many pictures; and if you are lucky you can find a fisherman for a coracle ride if not more atlest once across the backwaters .Looking at the Backwater I was always quite tempted to take a plunge into th
e icy cold water, after a serious thought; a much needed headlong plunge into the water (with a life jacket on) was refreshing experience, since from my last two trips I didn’t dare to venture into the water. Simply because the water is quite deep (around 50-70 feet) and there are many swirls inside the backwaters. But this time I could find two life jackets inside boat on the shore and no body was around... so made most of the opportunity……Exercise caution! Many people of all age groups have been drowned in the water; you can see a lot of caution boards and please do not venture into the backwaters as there has been lot of mishaps and people loosing their lives.
On a brighter note; Over Here there is only one food joint (Dhaba) and, if you have a sensitive stomach I would recommend that you stay off this place. After having a spent a quality time almost 3 hrs across the backwaters later moved to check out Manchinbele dam bu
ilt across the river. But it was closed for the public because of series of bomb blast in Bangalore and I cannot make it over the dam this time, but I did trek across the mountain to get as near as possible to the dam so that I can get a good pick of the dam, the Dam has 3 gates to let the water (or dam it) to the channels on the other side. The water stored in the dam is primarily used for irrigation...The road beyond Manchanballe dam leads to Savandurga (25 Km). There is an excellent monolith and a fort upon it at Savandurga, but since it was quite late, I thought we will pay another visit to it some other day. We started back by 18:05, and reached room in a little more than an hour. All in all a half day that was saved!
Well what I like most about this place is the calm. Serenity and the beautiful lanscape of the place with some wonderful views all around this place and also make it an ideal place to some scenic mountaineering. Some pictures take during the drive are posted below(Click on pictures to see in original dimension).
Comments
good place, keep posting..
Yen le eedu, blog baryak yawalga kalth bitti le... hubli ge bangda male call mada maga...
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