Nov 26th, 2000
Mekadatu (Goat's Leap)

(Photos/pics for this travelogue might be available on My Tourism Photo Album)



The four of us (fab-four: Me, Hari, Jai, and Ranger on special deputation from Bristlecone, Germany) went to Mekedatu (Also known as Goat's Leap), a gorgeous place 97 km from Bangalore.  The fab-four were on 2 2-wheelers.  Started at 730 am.  Had tea on the way and snacks in Kanakpura.  Just after Kanakpura, there's a diversion to go to Mekedatu.  The road sucks.  There are trenches in roads made out of the tyre-prints of trucks etc.  If u cant afford to goto Mariana Trench, do experience this.  I am sure there's not much difference.  And then there's dust also.  But this stretch continues only for 6-7 kms.

After this bad patch, we were in for a surprise.  As the Ghat section started, the road became smooth and the views around us changed dramatically. The drive upto Mekadatu was very beautiful.  Its like those magnificient Swiss countryside rides.  We did meet an accident when Ashish let go of the bike's control after hitting a boulder on a sharp turn. After first-aid (tying handkerchief around the wound), we resumed our journey.

At Mekadatu, the road ends.  There's the confluence of two rivers: Arkavathy and Cauvery.  The view was pretty good with 2 rivers coming together in the backdrop of hills. I would love to see the ariel view sometime, though :) You have to cross the river Arkavathy to get to Mekadatu.  The water is just 3 ft or so.  But be careful in rainy season as u might encounter some crocodiles and maybe whirlpools sometime.  In normal seasons, it is quite safe to cross the river on foot.  Don't attempt to swim through it as it is shallow at some places (1ft).

Once you are on the other side, u'll have an opportunity to wreck your brains after seeing a bus (yes a Bus) shuttling between the banks and Mekadatu (4km).  How the hell did that bus reach on that side of the river is a mystery which I couldn't solve while my friends (fab three) were just not interested in the issue.  Even after my saying NO so much, my friends made me board the bus and we started the 4 Km. journey by bus which was supposed to be trekked!  We were standing in the bus and I am not sure how many time God saved us (me in particular) when I was certain the bus would topple on its side because of the rough route it was trying to negotiate.  I wanted to the meet the savvy entrepreneur who has managed to 'fly' the bus across the river and give him/her a piece of my mind.

Anyway, we reached the spot finally.  And it was simply breathtaking.  You have to go down from the point u disembark from the bus.  Once down u have to climb up the rocks a little and there you are, having a tete-a-tete with one of the nature's finest creations.  You can see the whole upstream flowing through a gorge with immense force.  And then you see the famous 5 meter wide Goat's Leap point.  Hari actually went ahead and laid himself down on the tip of the rock!  But keep in the mind with beauty of the place, comes danger.  Be careful, while negotationg your way through those rocks. You can also go to a big slab of rock behind and below the main point (Goat's Leap).  U have to climb down a few rocks, once down, u can enjoy sitting in a cave-like place.  There are occasional bats-screams as well.  But its worth being on that slab of rock.  Because from there u have the vantage-view of the whole Cauvery river folding itself so as to accommodate in the Goat's Leap.  The momentum is immense, just like a dam sluice gates.

Once you are done with capturing those out-of-world images in your memory, you can come back up and enjoy some butter milk, which is really delicious considering the thirst you'd be having by that time. After coming up we trekked a bit on the tyre-prints route and then we took a detour to go close to the river.  And then we trekked the whole distance upto the confluence point along the river.  It was quite some fun.  On the way, we noticed an 'imli' tree which we exploited to quench our dry throats.  Once u come back across the river and the side where your vehicles are parked, there are quite a few tea-shops where u can get snacks, omlette etc..

All in all, a not-to-be-missed place.

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 Last updated: Nov 21, 2005