Monsoon boosts waterfall tourism in Karnataka

Thanks to bountiful rains, all waterfalls of Karnataka are in full flow, with Bharachukki in Chamarajanagar district, Abby falls in Kodagu  and Jog in Shimoga district starting to attract enthusiasts in their thousands, with the cash registers ringing sweetly.

Jog development authority, which has created basic infrastructure for the viewing the magnificent falls, plans to take a quantum jump in making it Karnataka’s world class waterfall tourism in both dry and wet seasons.

“Foremost on our minds was creating accommodation for visitors from far-flung areas. As adequate numbers of rooms are not available, they find it difficult to stay back or spend more time at the site and rush to Sagar or Honnavar or Talaguppa,” says Uday Kumar Shetty, assistant commissioner of Sagar sub-division.

There are two guest houses run by PWD and by the Karnataka Power Corporation, but they are not available for public, even though they are vacant most of the time. The district administration is keen on taking them over to make them available for public whenever possible, said Shetty.

But that is only a small part of the plans chalked out by Jog Development Authority, which include construction of eco-friendly cottages for high value tourists, budget travelers and stop-over tourists. The master plan for Jog development has also plans for holding Jog Jalapata Utsav annually at the peak season.

“But that will take off only from next year, as we want to develop Jog on the lines of the fabled Niagara falls with special security platforms to view the beauty of the falls. A rope way across the valley overlooking the falls and series of tourist facilities including the parking, recreational facilities are also planned,” Shetty said.

The Jog development master plan has also laid out a  heli-tourism circuit connecting Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore airports. There is large scope for tourists coming to Mysore Dasara to visit Jog too, as at that time, the falls are in their full flow and can attract high value tourists coming to Mysore.

Off season, there are plans to turn Jog into an adventure sport centre for hang-gliding, rock-climbing, trekking and wildlife tracking. The activities will take shape in the next one year along with whitewater rafting when the river is in full flow.

In Chamarajanagar district, the Bharachukki falls that went into utsav mode in June, did not make an impact following unseasonal execution and lack of facilities to the tourists, but the tourists keep flocking in big numbers. The district administration has sounded the tourism department about facilities that can be created, but a master plan is yet to be finalised.

Abby falls in Kodagu district dries out faster than other falls in the state and all tourist activity here ends by December or latest by January second week.  But the most natural and almost perennial waterfalls were still found in Shirady, Sampaje, Agumbe and Charmady, Hulikal and Bisile ghats along the western ghats. City dwellers from Bangalore and adventure tourists from Mysore and Mangalore frequent the falls.