Gokak Falls

November 19, 2000

We were at Gokak for a day for a cousin's wedding. On the wedding morning we planned to see the famous waterfall. The town's KSRTC bus-stand was almost opposite to our lodge. We took a bus to the waterfall. Even though its such a famous tourist destination, the place wasn't tourist friendly. We moved around a bit and found a good view point. That's Deepak pointing out birds to Appaji.

This is the hanging bridge; it was a different experience to walk across it, swinging lightly as we walked along with local people. I feel it's a great combination of nature's wonder and man's creation; a lovely water fall and a beautiful bridge.

People say that Gokak Falls is Niagara Falls of India. While Niagara Falls is U-shaped, Gokak Falls is almost straight. Sizes are incomparable. The only common feature is both waterfalls are sheer drops.

We got off from the bridge and went down to the riverbed which is a massive bed of rocks. It was scary to stand on the smooth rocks and look over the edge.

There are plenty of cotton gins on this hill and cricketer Sunil Gavaskar’s father used to be an employee of one of the mills here.

The visit was a short and sweet one. I think that was the only time Appaji and Deepak visited this place.

PS: I revisited this in Sept 2010 with a colleague. The places we saw that day were Belavadi, Sogal Kshetra, Gokak Waterfall and Sirsangi.

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