Gajanur Dam and Sakrebayalu, Shimoga

Gajanur has a Dam for River Tunga and its 12 km from Shimoga on the way to Thirthahalli. Gajanur is an ideal picnic spot for the people around.

Few kms from Gajanur dam on the way to Thirthahalli one can visit Sakrebayalu. Sakrebayalu has elephant camp. Every day morning there are around 12 elephants are brought here for bathing, breakfast, oiling etc. from their mahouts from inside the forest. As of Jan 2010 we could see 12 elephants including 2 of age 4 and 6 and one of 40 years how lived with her daughter and granddaughter of 6 years. Every day evening they are again brought here back from forest for some rest and few days they are left free in forest. There is an entry fee of 20 per person at Sakrebayalu. The best part is the elephants and mahouts are visitor and camera friendly. And these elephants pose very well for cameras. It’s fun to play with those baby elephants. I had also learnt that there was one tiny tot of 6 months and she was uncontrollable by more than 4 mahouts and hence she was not brought to the camp regularly as she was naughty, loved water and never came out of water most of the time.

Koodali, Shimoga

Koodali is the meeting point of two main rivers Tunga and Bhadra. In earlier days people have seen a white river and a black river meeting at this point. It was nothing but Tunga in white color and Bhadra and hence the name Koodali. It’s a distance of 16 km from Shimoga. Two important rivers Tunga and Bhadra mingle here, hence the name Koodali. Koodali is famous for its cultural heritage and temples. Along with few temples there is 600 years old mutt of shankaracharya.

Shivappa Nayaka Palace , Shimoga

Shivappa Nayaka Palace is located center of Shimoga city. The entire palace has been built in rose wood in 16th century by Shivappa Nayaka. The palace is entirely built of rose wood. This palace is under ASI and being used as museum. As seen in most of the ASI museum one can see various stone carved structures, status, idols of Keladi period and many other periods. Also found is the manuscripts (written in “thalegari”) of Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gaythri Mantra etc.

Varadamoola

Varadamoola as the name suggests it the birth place of river Varada. This is about 6 km from Sagara, on the same road which leads to Ikkeri and Sigandur. River Varada joins Tungabhadra. This place has a temple in which a lady performs the pooja. I felt the silence of nature at Varadamoola to be a little strange. Though this place is covered by Areca nut farm and lots of fresh greens some who its silence did not attract me rather it was slightly on scary side am yet to figure out why so. Apart from there is a resident vaidya who treats people for bone related problems.

Keladi Temple

Keladi is approx of 6-7 km from Sagara. On Soraba road one need to take a diversion to reach Keladi. Am not sure of bus frequency as I went by an auto which cost around 100 for a round trip. Also I did not see any bus on my either way. Keladi was capital of Keladi Nayakas. Here one can find temples of Veerabhadra, Rameshwara and Parvathi. These are built in combination of Hoysala and Dravidian style. There is also a well maintained Keladi Museum, which has a collection of copper inscriptions, palm leaves and coins from Nayaka's period. When I had been to this place in Jan 2010 the museum was closed for renovation. Apart from this it also has a very old chariot in a very fragile condition.

Tyavarekoppa Lion and Tiger Safar

Tyavarekoppa is located 10 km away from Shimoga and approx of45- 50 kms from Sagara. I had been to this place from Sagara, my usual destination. Buses are frequent on this route and one needs to ask for Tyavarekoppa stop else they do not stop. The safari is stretch around an area of 200 Hectares of forest. Had been to lion safari a half an hr to 45 mins rides inside the forest by forest dept bus (Swaraj Mazda). Drivers are very well versed with routes and they drive in the same route where Lions and other animals will be resting. Tigers, cheetahs, bears and other wild life animals roam around in the forests freely. For me it looked like more a reserve forest as against deep dense forest claimed by many people. Disappointing fact for me was that none of the animals had the usual glow, roaring in their body language which is found in most of the animals in forest. They more or less looked like animals in zoo. Though Shimoga is well known for surrounding somehow the feel of forest, fresh green was missing. This safari will be open from 9 AM to 5 PM every day except Tuesday (weekly holiday).Everyone needs to buy tickets at the entrance. For camera it’s optional if you are taking a safari then you need to compulsorily pick up the ticket or else if you plan just to go around the cages then no need to. Also there is a small place for refreshments, I could decent tea, some snacks etc. Apart from this there is a play area for children.

Nadakalsi Kalasi

The purohit at Ikkeri had mentioned about Nadakalsi a temple dedicate to Lord Shiva. Nadakalsi, Ikkeri and Keladi played an important role during Keladi Nayaka’s dynasty. As each time they had a won a war or before going to any war they used visit these temple. It is also considered as good practice to visit all the three temples in one stretch as one would do in case of panchalinga darshana. One need to travel on Soraba road and take a diversion to right hand side after traveling around 6 kms and from this diversion another 2 kms is the temple. Nadakalsi also has many idols/ statues of “Nagaraja”. And couple of huge black stoned with “lipi” (olden day script).Though I could not see any visitors or purohit at the temple it looked like pooja was offered to god that day morning. And the garbagudi has no doors, so any time god can be seen. There is a small pond adjacent to the temple and there was no one available so that I could check on the importance of the pond in the premises. Also this place is under ASI, except for ASI standard board there is no history/ importance of this place mentioned.

Chandragutti (Soraba Taluk, Shimoga District)

Chandragutti is situated at a distance of 16 kms from Soraba (main bus stand). Soraba is one of the beautiful villages in Sahyadri ranges. Chandragutti is a religious center for goddess Renukamba wife of Jamadagni and mother Parusharam. The temple is situated on top of a hill which is completely covered with greenery. In short it’s very scenic. As soon as we reached the entrance of the temple we were welcomed by a small pond which is known as “Tottila baavi” and also there is small rock on which foot prints of main deity is carved. Once we crossed few steps, on to the right hand side there is a small temple of “Kalabairaveshwara”. In this temple lord is in both human and in “lingam” form. Few steps from this temple towards hill top will lead to Renukamba Temple. By the time we had reached this place temple was closed. We got to know by a villager that this temple will be open for full day only on Tuesday and Friday and rest of the week temple is opened for few hours in morning. Since the temple was closed we could not see main deity, we could see “Matangi” seated along with her company in between two huge rocks. The main deity is inside a cave with golden coverings or golden statue as people say. Along with this goddess there are 2 more temple, one of sacred seven headed “Nagaraja” (snake god) and “Parusharam” right in front of the Goddess Renukamba and the other one is of “Shoolada Beerappa”, there is a stair way which leads towards down the hill here is the temple of Shoolada Beerappa. This Shoolada Beerappa has hundreds of tridents (thrisuhla in Kannada) emerged from earth. Behind this is a small pond known as “Ammanavara Honda”. In south India “Ammnavaru” means goddess. Water for this pond comes from a bigger pond from top of the hill known as “tavarakere” (tavare means lotus in Kannada). The same water continues further ahead and reaches Tottila baavi

How to reach
We took a bus from Sagara (our main point) to Soraba and then from there another bus to Chandragutti, it was the same for return also. There are many (private) buses to Chandragutti from Soraba, Shimoga and very less direct bus from Sagara. Chandragutti is 106 kms from Shimoga. It can be reached from Soraba (approx 16kms), Siddapur (approx 18kms) and from Sirsi (approx 40kms) Sagara(approx 45 kms).
See also
As Chandragutti and Gudavi Bird Sanctuary or on the same road, one can visit these two together. They both a have difference of approx 10-12 kms from each other. From Soraba first comes Gudavi, at one point we need to take a right turn and continue approx of 6 kms from this Turing point. We could not make it up to Gudavi for one reason was that it was raining heavily. Though June to September is believed as good time for bird watching at Gudavi it is at the same time of heavy rains in that region so I don’t understand the point of calling it a good season for migrated birds. Also it’s reported that since last couple of years it’s been raining heavy which results in flood and these migrated birds lose their lives along with/out their eggs. I know it’s sad, but that’s the truth.
I thank articles on net, my friends and villagers for helping me with the info.