Basava Sagara (Narayanpur) Dam – 14/08/2016

Place: Basava Sagara Dam a.k.a Narayanpura dam, temple

Distance: 110 round trip (from Ilkal)
Type: Sightseeing, waterbody
Ideal for: Friends and family
Transportation: Bike
Crew: Me and Vijay

Off on a long vacation to my native (Ilkal) to screen away from work schedule. A perfect time to get fresh air and explore some places nearby. Basically, North Karnataka is little dry land area due to less rainfall. However, It was an exception this time as we had a good amount of rain due to cyclones.

My friend Vijay had noted “Basava Sagar Dam” also known as Narayanpura dam which had a good water inflow this year. I had heard about it in my school days but never got a chance to visit it. What makes it special from rest of the reservoirs across Karnataka is that we are allowed to go near the dam gates. We called for a short ride, Vijay and I decided to explore this place.

Best of the Beast: Majestic Basava Sagara Reservoir

Sunday Morning: Trips call on for an early day. I hardly get up before 9 am when I am home, but I had to get up at 6 am this time. I took shower and got ready within half an hour, Vijay picked me up from my home.

The Ride: After a decent breakfast we hit the road, the stretch passes through many villages, roads were narrow yet were in good condition. Unlike my usual rides, we were riding slow and pleasant with no hurry. Halfway through, it started drizzling. We had no jacket, no helmet (sorry for that), no other protective gears. There was no shelter so we had to continue riding, we got drenched a little, pulled over at a tea stall. A hot cup of tea is all that we needed to keep our body warm. The feeling was awesome – Rain and a hot tea have the perfect love story. Vijay knew the route so we didn’t have to depend on the GPS guru this time. It took nearly an hour and a half to cover 50 km with a couple of breaks.

“Does it lead to heaven?” she asked, “Yes, to my home?” I said

Basava Sagara Dam / Narayanpur Dam: Finally, we reached the bridge from where we could see the reservoir gates. The water was flowing in all its glory, the roaring rush of the water was audible from almost a kilometer. As we neared the reservoir, we felt great to watch the nice view of the entire reservoir.

Water is flowing in all its glory

Narayanpur Dam has been officially renamed to Basava Sagara Dam

As I already mentioned its allowed to go near the dam gates so we proceeded towards the entrance. It was surprising to see so many people who had come with their family and kids, no doubt its an ideal place for a picnic. We parked the vehicle and walked for the next one and a half km to reach to the dam gates. The roaring of the water was getting louder with every step closer to the dam. I mean the nature force gives you immense feelings. There is a good place to stand beside the gates and watch the water flowing out of the gates. We were standing hardly 10 meters away from the gates, police personnel was watching the public as a means of public safety. I could literally sense the energy with which water was flowing, half of the gates of the dam were open, the water flows from the gates, hits the wall at the base and bounces up to 20 feet high in the sky. Great!! Isn’t it? The potential energy of the water was out of my imagination, there are no bounds to the energy possessed by the nature. It was one of the best experience of my life, we spent nearly 15 minutes standing there and continuously staring at the water waves. We filled our sights with this beauty!!

The condition of the Roads are good, the perfect climate made the ride peaceful

Water rushing through the gates, it was a splendid view to stand so close and watch it

Water waves making a beautiful pattern after bouncing off the wall at the base

Walked back to the main gate, we left the place after having a glass of sugarcane juice. We wanted to see the backwater of the reservoir, we tried to explore all the roads which were going around the reservoir, and we ended up at one of the canal gates there were none around. We crashed for a short break and photo session. 

Canals supplying water for the irrigation to the surrounding farms

One of the many canal gates surrounded to the reservoir

Just exploring around

Hero on Honda Shine 😉

Canal gates

Vijay had one more destination for the day – “””” temple. We drove by the side of the canal which was one of the best trail I ever crossed.

Riding beside the canal. one of the best trail I ever cross.

On the way to the temple. narrow road yet in good condition

Temple: It was almost 12 in the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky we pulled over for cold drinks to quench our thirst. Half an hour drive took us to the temple. We parked the bike and had to climb down the stairs to reach the temple. Since its a holy place there were so many devotees all around, a lot of people had come from Maharastra and other places. This place is good to take a dip in the river but we had no extra clothes so we had to skip it. The panoramic view of the temple was mindblowing. Krishna river flowing from the reservoir passes through this point.

Parking near the temple. There will be a lot of tourists around here.

The temple is situated by the krishna river side, mostly you will find locals and some visitors from maharastra

That’s the temple, photography wasn’t allowed inside so I took only from outside

Rivers is flowing in full swing, usually in summer it will be dried up 🙁

You can also take a dip in the water, there’s no safe place to take bath, little caution is needed.

After visiting the temple we left the place. There’s another view point of the river where we stopped and had a great view.

That’s me and Vijay posing for a photo. Thanks Vijay for helping me explore this place 🙂

I could just look at the flowing water for the entire day

This view point is between the dam and the temple, don’t know the exact name for this

Fish eye view of the view point.

It was late in the afternoon, we were feeling hungry. We stopped at Narayanpura village for the lunch, there are no good hotels as such at this place. The hotel was a typical north karnataka khanavali which served us Javari rotti and sabji. We had this sumptuous food and resumed to Ilkal.

Ride Back: Part of the trail was surrounded by sunflower field, I couldn’t resist myself from stopping and clicking beautiful pictures. I got so many good pics, below are the best ones. We reached home by 5 in the evening. It was wonderful to find a new place close to the home where you were born and brought up.

Sunflower field on the way back, dark clouds and vibrant flowers was perfect for a landscape photography

The best pic I captured so far on my new SLR 😉

Important Note:
1. The gates of the reservoir will be opened only when there’s plenty of water, so you may not see this view on a normal day. Enquire with locals before visiting.
2. It might not be allowed to go near the dam gates, unless the dam gates are opened officially. Also, that is when public will be allowed inside the reservoir premises. Again please enquire before visiting. Localities are happy to help.