We reached Kalasa at 1:15 in the afternoon and checked into hotel Chandan, a decent hotel in this area. Kalasa is a very small town with 2 main roads. Five minutes walk, you will be out of town. We reached Kalasa at 1:15 in the afternoon and checked into hotel Chandan, a decent hotel in this area. Kalasa is a very small town with 2 main roads. Five minutes walk, you will be out of town. 
On the way back, we saw the KIOCL (Kudremukh Iron Ore Company), the mining company. Supreme Court has banned the mining activities of KIOCL from 1st Jan of this year saving this ecologically sensitive environment. It does not make any sense in destroying our own environment to earn few crores of dollars. But KIOCL is far better mining Company when compared to the miners of Bellary who are only interested in making quick money with least regards for environment and the employees. At least KIOCL has taken some steps to preserve the environment and has given good facilities to its employees.
We then entered the Kudremukh Township, a neat town built by KIOCL for its employees inside the Kudremukh National forest. The town has a good park against the backdrop of the mountains. We enjoyed some time at this place.
We returned back to Kalasa and then went to Kalasheshwara temple dedicated to Ishwara. The temple is very calm with pleasant surroundings.Next day started with the visit to Horanadu. It has an ancient temple of Annapurneshwari. The Kalasa to Horanadu is just 10 kms with new roads constructed. The temple itself has been renovated. I had visited this place during my childhood days and the journey from Kalasa to Horanadu had taken nearly 1.5 hours. Lot has changed since then and also the number of devotees visiting this place has also increased.
After Horanadu, we came back to Kalasa and started towards Sringeri. There are two roads from Kalasa to Sringeri. One road is through Magundi and Balehonnur and the other through Kudremukh Township and the National forest. We took the later as it was more scenic.
On the way was the Bhagavathi nature camp, run by forest department which offers tented accommodation and the treks to the park.
We passed though Varaha Theertha, one of the Pancha theerthas and Gangamoola. Gangamoola is the place where the rivers Tunga, Bhadra and Netravathi originate. Next stop was at Hanuman Gundi falls (Suthanabbi falls). The forest department has built some nice steps to get down the falls. A fee of Rs 30/- per head is collected. We were the only people at the falls and we fully enjoyed the isolation.
We then proceeded and reached Dakshina Kannada border and then took NH 13 towards Sringeri. This road also passes through the forest and is narrow. We took some snaps at the hanging bridge across Tunga River on the way.
We reached Sringeri at 1:30PM and directly entered the mutt for lunch. Then we went inside the temple and the river.
The next visit was to Agumbe for sunset. My cousin’s family who are staying in Sringeri joined us. There is a view point at the start of the ghat. It was a cloudy day and we could get a nice view of the sunset. But we enjoyed the views of the Agmube ghat. We could also see Arabian Sea from the view point.
Back to Sringeri and that was a special day at the Temple, the Laksha Deepotsava was being celebrated.Labels: backwaters, lake, Temples, travel, Waterfalls