| First
descent of Hogenakkal falls, South India |
| After
guiding trips and leading expeditions in the Himalayas for the
autumn season, a team of Nepali and Indian expedition paddelers
needed a bit of relaxation, sun and fun and went off to south
India. After a nice Christmas and New Years celebration at the
beaches of Goa we where ready to go out on the wild side in
search of some of southern Indias waterfalls. Information is
scarce and the way to find out about the falls is to ask the
local people for directions and go driving to try to find them
and if you do check them out and if possible run them. |
| The
Hogenakkal falls are well-known though. They are about 130 km
south east of Bangalore in Tamil Nadu state. The falls are part
of the river Cauvery at about 250 meters above sea level. The
name means "the smoke that thunders" and a sacred
bathing place, Hogenakkal is well known for its power of healing
- good to know when you go over the edge. The falls does a 20
meter vertical drop into a beautiful pool. The falls is a tourist
attraction, but had up to the moment we arrived never been runned
by kayakers. We collected information from the locals and scouted
the falls carefully, looked on by tourists in saucer-like vessels,
called Coracles - round bamboo frames covered by plastic or
buffalo hide, looking like huge mushrooms floating on the water. |
| The
falls has about 14 channels with drops between 5-20 meters,
some rapids and warm waters. We had time to run two different
channels, and we did them twice. The falls where both approx.
8-10 meters. The falls are no childs play, the nearest hospital
is about 130 km away, and serious saftey measures has to be
taken to run them. We took turns and had one person with river
experience on the shore with a throw line and one kayaker at
the bottom of the falls. We all made a good run of the falls
and only had one novice waterfall-runner swimming. |
| After
a nice few weeks in southern India we headed back overland to
Kathmandu, Nepal with new energy. Join us for an expedition!
Read more about trips, kayakingschool and camp on: www.ramsilwal.com |
|
See
you on the water!
Ram Silwal
ram@ramsilwal.com
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