Appaji's photography at Mekedatu

This place called Mekedatu is a part of river Kaveri's path, near a village called Muttatti in southern Karnataka. My first visit to this place was in 1985 or 1986 when I was in PUC-1. One of my classmates had suggested this place and my father agreed to take our group there. Mother and brother too joined us, we had traveled in our goods carrier Alwyn Nissan Cabstar. We reached Kaveri-Arkavati Sangam around 10 AM, parked the truck and trekked 4 km to Mekedatu. The dirt path runs parallel to Kaveri, wooded hills on one side and river on the other side. Mekedatu means "goat's leap."

The mighty Kaveri squeezes through a gorge which is barely 20' wide at one point. Apparently at this point, a goat chased by a jungle cat leapt across the gorge to save itself. Hence this gorge is known as Mekedatu. The water sculpted rocks are a mesmerizing sight.

Water has sculpted wave patterns, bored huge holes and polished rocks to slippery finishes. This place is a photographer's dream. The group on the right is ours. Trying to recall the group members' names... Babu Prasad, Rajesh.. I think Bharath was there. I've forgotten who the remaining five or six were.

These pictures were shot in Appaji's Canon SLR camera. The first picture was shot by Deepak when Appaji was resting.

Kaveri flowing in a deathly silence through gorge. At the first glance, it seems peaceful. No, water flow is rapid with unseen whorls. The deep green shade indicated water is deep, really deep.

This is the mouth of the narrowest point. The glassy water surface suddenly loses its composure as it gets squeezed downwards.

This is the narrowest point in the gorge. Kaveri is a thousand feet wide at Sangam, when huge amounts of water squeeze through a narrow passage, it is under tremendous pressure and speed too. It is said that the surface speed of water is 70 kmph. Of course the speed could be more at a higher flow rate.

The rock projecting over the gorge. This is where the goat jumped to the other side. On the rock are four of us- I'm sitting, babu's waving at Appaji, Rajesh is taking a long stride not to miss the shot and the I'm not sure who the fourth guy is.

Milky white churning waters have sculpted these granite rocks over thousands of years.

The rock formations are intricate. Someone in the group was familiar with the place who led us down close the waters. There are painted signs not to enter water. However careless or overconfident people have been washed in the waters only to end up floating dead a few kilometers away. Thankfully, everyone in our group was responsible enough, Appaji didn't have to worry about our safety.

After this trip, I revisited this place three times with college friends. A decade later Appaji, Deepak & I, along with a few close relatives and colleagues visited another spectacular place- Savandurga the second largest monolithic hill of Asia. We had a great evening on the hill, slept inside a historical structure and woke up to wonderful morning sights. 

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