Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Kodiveri Dam and Waterfalls

I always prefer for leisure travel but we can’t anticipate it to be same when covering a long distance within a timeline. Either Ooty or Kodaikanal, it takes almost a day to reach with the destinations more than 500 kms we can’t spare much time on places en route, so I always look for a chance to stay close to the destination or less than half-a-way away experiencing the places I want.

My last month’s travel to Nilgiris happened to be one and we didn’t drove to Ooty directly but rather decided to stay at Sathyamangalam which got me chance to check couple of places that’s close to the destination. We had our lunch somewhere between Salem and Bhavani while going from Chennai and the weather was too hot and before we head to Kodiveri, halted on way for about an hour to have a cup of tea at my dad’s friend house in Kavindapadi.

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Kodiveri is about 16 km from Gobichettipalayam on the way to Sathyamangalam, which is about 14 km away from Kodiveri... a popular tourist part of this region, in Erode district. An arch on SH 15 (state highway) welcomes us to Kodiveri dam and in about 2km we reached the parking lot and the weather was continued to be hot. Though it was about 5.pm the sun doesn’t show mercy but it wasn’t matter when got close to water…

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I was unsure about the water flow at the dam come falls, as our entire state is facing drought, I was so glad to see enough water at the dam leading great flow in the waterfalls. A minimum amount is collected as fee to enter the dam area but I couldn’t get really close to the water because of the unfinished pathway that make its way through small park area. I was content with the views on the waterfalls from either above or the pathway.

Kodiveri is a kind of check dam built across the Bhavani River and the downstream of the dam forms the waterfalls. The name “Kodiveri” is originated from the Tamil word meaning Tiger, which represents the large number of tigers lived in the forest area around the Dam. Not to forget the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve isn’t far away. The falls being not heavy, people are allowed to bath and swim in the pool of water as well as the falls, and reaching is also not difficult.


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Picture shot from few meters above the dam... and you could see the upcoming bridge to connect both banks of river
Entering of Kodiveri dam can be done from both sides of the Bhavani River, but the main entrance lies on the south through which we entered and to reach the other side there’s a separate route from Sathyamangalam. Right now an over bridge is under construction to connect the north and south side of the dam… but people also walk above the check dam on their own risk.  Similar to Hogenakkal, coracle ride is also available at the dam for fun and transport.

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Coming to the important aspect of them dam was it was built 865 years ago! Constructed by the Kongalvan in the year 1125 AD, the dam was consisted of carving a 20-ft wall of rock. The stones were then interlocked with iron bars and lead in place of mortar.  There’s also two channels arise from the dam (Arakkan Kottai and Thadapalli channels) respectively, turning the land of Gobichettipalayam fertile due to the flow of channels.

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The southern  side Arakkan Kottai Channel
Bhavani River seems to have different ups and downs and to meet the need of the farmers surrounding and to manage the water crises the dam was decided to build. Since then, the irrigation level increased in the surrounding area and the dam provides water for over 25000 hectares of land.

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We spent about an hour at the dam site watching the waterfalls and the setting sun truly created an impact across the falls and I was delight to shoot utilizing the shimmering light effect. Glad they have laid some pathway at least to take photos from certain point of views… being Monday, the crowd was less at the dam site and mostly men were showing and swimming at falls and dam.

Kodivere is at a distance of 75-80km from Coimbatore and and it is well connected by road from any nearby towns and cities

12 comments:

Twilight Man said...

When I heard you travel more than 500km, I just remembered that India is a huge country. For that same distance,.one could be reaching Thailand from Singapore!
The photos of the dam and waterfalls are very awesome and beautiful. I could sit there for days to admire the whole scenery.

Devilish Angel said...

Awesome photos Jeevan. Just loved it :)

George said...

I'm glad you had the opportunity to visit this waterfall and dam. I very much enjoyed your photos, and the one you took as the sun was setting is absolutely magical. It's gorgeous.

Nancy Chan said...

I am also one who don't like to travel long distance. I prefer short distance leisure trips. Beautiful photos of the dam and waterfalls. My favourite is the last photo with the setting sun. Have a great weekend!

ashok said...

Lovely place...nice photography jeevan

Breathtaking said...

Hello Jeevan!:) I think it was well worth the long journey to see these beautiful water falls. I LOVE these photos, and the atmosphere of this place, seeing people enjoying the water, cooling off from the heat of the day. I tried to pronounce the VERY long names of the other places you mentioned 14 and 16 kilometros from Kodiveri, but they are really difficult to say!!:=)

eileeninmd said...

Hello, looks like a lovely place to visit. The waterfalls are beautiful. Happy weekend to you!

Teamgsquare said...

Lovely place, thanks for introducing this places to us.

carol l mckenna said...

Wonderful drive you and us ~ waterfall photos are gorgeous ~ thanks for visiting my blog ~

Happy Week ahead to you ~ ^_^

Lady Fi said...

Such wonderful shots. I love the falls in the light of the setting sun - very pretty!

Pauline said...

Hello Jeevan, Your forefathers were very clever people to build that dam so long ago. Wonderful to think that it is still doing its job after all the water that has flowed over it. Love the waterfalls. It's a shame you couldn't get any closer but you were definitely close enough to get some terrific photos. The last one with the setting sun sparkling on the water is lovely.

Rajesh said...

Very beautiful waterfalls. Nice place to tour.