[Dr.AD]

Prologue

When I read my last travelogue again, a few days after it was posted, it became apparent to me that unfortunately it had become too long and unwieldy. Further, all pictures in that travelogue were taken with my mobile phone (I was too lazy to carry my DLSR along in that trip), and those photos were of "documentation" type at best.

Therefore, this time when we (I and my better half) decided to spend a weekend in a jungle lodge, I made it a point to take my DSLR along and do some purposeful photography (something that I really missed in my previous trip). Also, to compensate for that long and unwieldy travelogue, I will try my best to keep this short and crisp. And instead of the documentation type photos, I will try my amateurish best to take purposeful photos with a proper camera.

The Place

We stayed at JLR Sharavathi Adventure Camp (https://goo.gl/maps/J1pJkTh4NfJddSi87) near Jog Falls. As with any other JLR property, the location of this place is fantastic! JLR is not known for any luxury facilities and amenities (although their rates are at par or higher than many luxury resorts), but they make up for all that by offering a location that is unbeatable. This particular property was no exception. The location, the setting, the views, and the surroundings were heavenly; something I would rate higher than 5 stars. But everything else was of typical JLR standards; nothing extraordinary to mention.

A Jungle Lodge at a Breathtaking Location:



Room with a View:



Office with a View (my wife set up a temporary office here while I walked around taking photos):

My Attempts at Photography

There were times in my previous trip where I sorely missed my DSLR. Leaving aside the quality of the output (for someone like me, my skills are the limitations and not the gear), just the joy of taking a photograph with a proper camera is unparalleled. The process of thinking about the scene, the composition, the lighting and the shadows, and consciously choosing the camera settings is something I love. I used this weekend as an opportunity to use my camera, and kept my mobile phone away (as much as possible)!

What is a jungle lodge without a bridge to walk on?:



Cottages bathing in the evening sun:







Sunset over the reservoir:







A jet-skier against the evening sun:



Evening views from the balcony:







Colors of the Evening:



Colors of the Night:



And the Morning Colors:



Next morning we visited the famous Jog Falls. The bridge over Sharavathi river, right next to Jog Falls, is one of my favorite spots to try photography (from the bridge as well as of the bridge).

Sharavathi River Bridge in the Morning Light:


The flow of water was minimal at this time of the year, and honestly, the Jog Falls were were not even close to their usual beauty when the water flow is at its peak. While it was still nice to stand there and admire the falls in person (mainly because in person you can still appreciate the huge height of the falls and listen to the magical sounds), the wide-angle pictures of the falls look quite ordinary. All you can see in the pictures is thin lines of water dropping down from the hills. Now this is exactly the kind of situation where a DSLR is more useful than a smartphone camera. With a DSLR, using a telephoto lens, it is possible to focus on certain details of the scene which are still interesting enough when the entire wide scene is not that great. I tried to find a couple of such isolated details, and managed below two pictures of Jog Falls.

The "Roarer" at Jog Falls:



Falls hitting the rock in the bottom:



Well, that is all folks! I will keep this short and hopefully sweet. In summary, we had a great time there and we thoroughly enjoyed one more weekend in the middle of the nature.

Thank you very much for reading!

[ampere]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Amazing place, amazing views and amazing sun! We usually see this place in rain and water!

[vb-saan]

Brilliant Photolog Dr. AD.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

The process of thinking about the scene, the composition, the lighting, and the shadows, and consciously choosing the camera settings is something I love.

And that effort, thought process, and eye for the moment – all of those are well-showcased. One can really get a feel of the place with these pictures. Thank you for sharing!

[shankar.balan]

Lovely photos Doc. You understand the intricacies of light and shadow very well indeed.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by ampere

Amazing place, amazing views and amazing sun! We usually see this place in rain and water!

Thanks Ampere. Yes, I have also always been to Jog Falls and the surrounding areas in the monsoon times. I have always seen that landscape in wet and green state. For a change, it was nice to see that area in sunny conditions, and I enjoyed watching the sunlight and the sunset.

Originally Posted by vb-san

Brilliant Photolog Dr. AD.

And that effort, thought process, and eye for the moment – all of those are well-showcased. One can really get a feel of the place with these pictures. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you very muh vb-san. The thought process of taking pictures is enjoyable in itself. I am glad you liked the pictures.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Lovely photos Doc. You understand the intricacies of light and shadow very well indeed.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I got lucky with the light there. If it had been cloudy and raining (like I believe it was just the next day after I came back), I would not have got any of these colorful pictures.

[ramnath_77]

Brilliant photolog Dr. AD. The place seems to be amazing with fantastic views from the JLR property.

[jkrishnakj]

Sharavathi property is such a beautiful One from JLR. I am hoping you found time to kayak there.

The best part is that JLR takes you to Jog early morning, and it’s a hassle free one.

Lovely pictures as well AD. Enjoyed the pics and the read.

This is perhaps one such log of yours where the car is missing. Did you take the 3 or your SX4?

[SoumenD]

All JLR properties indeed are visual treats and agreed they cost pretty high. But since that’s a luxury (view) for folks like us who belong to the concrete jungle, its priced high like everything else these days.

Very nice photologue doc. Thanks for sharing

[NPV]

Awesome log with great pictures, thanks for sharing doc

What route did you take for onward and return ? Did you visit any other places en route ?

[ajayc123]

Amazing pictures, very well composed and exposed. Nature at its untouched glory.

It's quite funny, when I was looking at the pictures last evening, they were looking a bit surreal and slightly scary, but in the morning looking so great.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

My Attempts at Photography

You Sir, are an artist. In real life, you should be a surgeon, that too a plastic surgeon (in case you already are not). Countless people would benefit from going under your knife.

I always love reading your travelogues. Crisp narration with awesome pics. This one is no different.
Thanks for sharing.

Office with a View (my wife set up a temporary office here while I walked around taking photos):

Does this place have WiFi or cellular connectivity?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by ramnath_77

Brilliant photolog Dr. AD. The place seems to be amazing with fantastic views from the JLR property.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Lovely pictures as well AD. Enjoyed the pics and the read.

Thank you very much, KJ.

This is perhaps one such log of yours where the car is missing. Did you take the 3 or your SX4?

Yes you are right that this is a rather unusual travelogue for me where I did not include car pictures. But honestly, I felt I am overdoing it with my car pictures and the "roadside photoshoots", and hence, as a purposeful experiment, I decided not to take any roadside pictures and any car pictures this time. Instead, decided to keep it limited to only a few photos of the nature and landscapes. Also, this is my shortest travelogue ever with "only" 17 pictures. Tried to take an attempt at "Quality over Quantity".

I took my SX4 again this trip. The last 2.5km or so near the JLR (the approach road to JLR once we exit the main road) is really terrible. The tarmac is all gone and the road is full of massive potholes, huge side walls that drop down with very narrow patch in the middle, and lot of loose gravel and dirt. If it rains, this road can be a nightmare to manage in the 3 series. Therefore, decided to stick to SX4 this time and I was glad I did that. The last 2.5km were indeed quite bad.

Anyways, have a few long drives coming up now and those are definitely with the 3 series. It is fun to drive the 3 series after doing a weekend drive in SX4. It sort of resets the benchmarks and makes me happy with the 3 series again.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

All JLR properties indeed are visual treats and agreed they cost pretty high. But since that’s a luxury (view) for folks like us who belong to the concrete jungle, its priced high like everything else these days.

Well said. Agree totally. We love JLR properties just for the views and the locations, and in spite of their high rates and other basic amenities, we keep going back to JLR again and again and keep exploring newer JLR properties.

Very nice photologue doc. Thanks for sharing

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by NPV

Awesome log with great pictures, thanks for sharing doc

Thank you very much, NPV!

What route did you take for onward and return ? Did you visit any other places en route ?

I drove till Ranebennur on the main highway (NH48). From Ranebennur, I turned left and drove via Shiralakoppa towards Jog (see Map 1 below). This route was OK last time I drove a few months back, but this time there were some bad sections and lot of potholes and broken roads. Therefore, while returning, came back to Sagara first and then took Sagar to Ranebennur road (see Map 2 below). This was better than the onward route in terms of road quality. This also had about 10km of bad roads, but other than those 10km, the rest of the 440km or so was all smooth and nice!

Map 1: Onward route from Ranebennur:


Map 2: Return route via Sagara to Ranebennur:

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Amazing pictures, very well composed and exposed. Nature at its untouched glory.

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

You Sir, are an artist.

I always love reading your travelogues. Crisp narration with awesome pics. This one is no different.

Thank you very much, RedTerrano. I am glad you liked the travelogue.

I love reading your travelogues as well, and thus, the feeling is mutual.

Does this place have WiFi or cellular connectivity?

Yes, there was a good WiFi connection there. There was no cellular connectivity (both Airtel and Jio that we use did not have any signals), but thankfully JLR has provided free WiFi facility and that worked well from the room with reasonable speeds.

[jkrishnakj]

You can try the Arsikere/Tumkur roads instead of the Ajjampur stretch. The 4 Laning in progress and you actually save time as well. Ofcourse, from Tumkur to Nelamangala is anybody’s guess these days.

[PearlJam]

Excellent, your travelogues are always a treat to read, AD! But given a choice, I'll prefer your long and unwieldy travelogues. You've spoilt us with those . Thanks for sharing!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

You can try the Arsikere/Tumkur roads instead of the Ajjampur stretch. The 4 Laning in progress and you actually save time as well. Ofcourse, from Tumkur to Nelamangala is anybody’s guess these days.

Thanks for the updates. I read your comments about this route in another thread. Will give this a try sometime soon. This sounds like a great alternative to reach Shimoga.

However, Google Maps still shows this route as about 30 minutes slower than the Hiriyur-Hosadurga-Tarikere route to Shimoga. Not sure why.

But of course, if one wants to directly go to Jog Falls (and bypass Shimoga altogether), then the Ranebennur route (the one I took now, and the same one we took when we drove to Kumta in June) is still the fastest route.

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Excellent, your travelogues are always a treat to read, AD! But given a choice, I'll prefer your long and unwieldy travelogues. You've spoilt us with those . Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much for your kind words, PearlJam! OK, sure, I will be back with a long travelogue when I drive the 3 series for some interesting drives (hopefully soon).