A few phone calls, a quick but supposedly an organized plan made on Friday night. We were set for Bheemeshwari. I had read that Bheemeshwari is located between Mekedatu and Shivanasamudram. So the plan was to go to Bheemeshwari and then Shivanasamudram. Davu on his Bajaj Caliber and Jalan and me on my Unicorn. We started off at 7 in the morning, b
reakfast at Adigas on Bannerghatta Road we set off at about 8.15 am.
A dream drive on NICE road which is no less than the Mumbai Pune Express
highway lest the mountains through which the Mumbai Pune highway runs. A left on the NICE Road towards Kanakapura on NH209 and you are moving towards Bheemeshwari. We saw sign boards of Karnataka Tourism pointing to Mekedatu which seemed to be the closest point and took a decision to visit Mekedatu. At Kanakapura you get a small diversion to left. This is what you need to take to reach Mekedatu.
This was a thoroughly rustic drive, deep down the villages, narrow roads, mud houses with not so strong roofs, the smells of dung used for mopping the veranda floors in the villages, the villagers going around adorned in their traditional attires and the children waving to the by passers. The smiles on their faces are so animated that you cant but resist waving your hand back at them. Everything looks so adorable and I it simply feels good.
After about two and half hours drive we reached Mekedatu. 'Meke' in Telugu means Goat and 'Datu' means Cross. Literally this is a place where the river becomes so narrow that even a goat can cross over. This place you reach first is called Sangam. 'Sangam' means
a join of two or more rivers. At Sangam, Cauvery and Bhadravati are the two rivers that join to form just a single river, Cau
very. We need to cross this river at the Sangam in a 'coracle' to reach the other side. Once you reach the other side of the river, there is a bus awaiting you to take you to Mekedatu. This bus seems to be like the most antique collections of Karnataka
Tourism and I bet no other bus would be better suited for the kind of terrain it is from the river to Mekedatu. Its sturdy and easily driven on terrain. We missed on clicking the pic of this bus, but surely one of the best pieces to be produced by Tatas. Once you reach the spot, you need to go down the stairs and there is a pleasent surprise awaiting your senses. The very sight of watching water gushing at speeds through this narrow gorge makes leaves one stupefied. At this spot alone the water is gushes at a jet speed and then after about 200 metres it enters a slightly wider area where the speed reduces. We took a detour on the rocks to reach the area where the speed of water had slightly reduced. The rocks here were so different. Very smooth and I wonder how they were like that. It would be probably because of the erosion of the river water. Though they were smooth, they did not seem to be slippery. We spent some time around and then decided to push off. This was surely a wonderful place to be in.
Then we paced our vehicles towards Bheemeshwari which was about 25 km from this place. We had to reach a place
called Muthaati. We reached this place and wanted to have lunch and were told by the villagers that we would get it at a resort which was about 6 km from this place. We went about in search
of this resort. This was Jungle Resort which I had read about. However, you need to reserve a room in advance here without which there is no entry here. Moreover, this is the main attraction in Bheemeshwari as Jungle Resorts have a package which includes various activities like rafting, trekking, fishing etc. We had to resort to a roadside hotel for some food. It was rice and sambhar cooked on firewood. The taste was good and the waiter chacha more than happy to serve this delicacy. He asked me atleast thrice if I liked the food and I nodded a big 'Yesss'. That was the it. We started back on our way back to Bangalore. Bheemeshwari was kind of disappointing as we did not have much to see here. I would suggest one should do an advance booking and come to this place.
All in all this was another great trip I had. Mekedatu and Bheemeshwari are 2 destinations very close to Bangalore and make up for a good one day outing. Another one to add to my list of destinations and kudos to my friends who made this happen !!!
