Chunchi Falls

Place: Chunchi Falls, Kanakpura, Karnataka

Distance from Bangalore: 90 Km

Type: Biking, Hiking, Trekking, Waterfall

It was after a long time that I was riding with ‘The Bikerni’ as I was on a work trip to US for a while before this ride was planned. The destination decided was Chunchi falls which is roughly 90 kms from Bangalore. I wasn’t as enticed by the location at first but I was proven wrong, albeit delightfully. 

    

Chunchi falls is fed by the river Arkavati and is enroute Mekedatu and Sangama. This destination isn’t very popular with the locals in Bangalore as it’s dry for most part of the year. The time of visit is the key. June and July also happen to be the best time of visit for most waterfalls near Bangalore. The route from Bangalore to these falls is lush green.  A few patches of roads that we rode past on the way had roads were fully covered with orange colored flowers and overcast by trees on both ends. 

  

The route was confusing as there is hardly any signage that lead visitors to the waterfalls. There were a lot of signboards to Mekedatu and Sangama but no mention of Chunchi falls. As always to my rescue when it comes to conversing in Kannada, my group mates spoke to locals from the village multiple times to find the route. As we were finding our way, many villagers and kids signaled us to turn off headlights, not realizing that the entire group had their headlights on to easily recognize other bikes belonging to our group. I smiled at them every time and rode by and we finally reached the falls. The entrance has a few sign boards warning people to not wander near the falls and also displays stories of how people have been killed by drowning in the waterfall. 

It was thrilling to crawl and climb our way through the rocks and is an easy climb up for regular trekkers as the ascent was not extremely high and many rocks are cut out at a uniform distance. There is just one small tea stall and no other eateries in this premise. It is raw, hidden and deserted (No, I do not imply unsafe) at best. So in my mind, this isn’t a typical tourist place with options for stay, food and snacks but is a perfect spot for a dawn to dusk outing. It also makes for a perfect place for wanderers and photo fanatics. Most of our group went down till the foot of the waterfall. I and a friend chose to stay back at a certain distance as I was still Jet lagged and tired from my trip before the ride.      

The waterfalls are beautifully cascading and a sight to watch even from a distance. Down at the falls, we saw a lot of people bathing in the water. I have somehow never understood the ‘Play in water’ that even adults like to do at natural waterfalls and sites in India, but I will reserve my opinion on it for now. The number of visitors starts to increase early noon. Some of them were also accompanied by the locals as guides to the falls. On the ride back, we were hit by the weekend traffic and lost track of the group multiple times, but every time this happened, there were a few group members waiting for us after a distance. All in all, this was a great ride with a fair bit of on and off road riding; and a beautifully surprising place.