Anekere and Ramasamudra Lake - Karkala

02 January 2021

Just before my 2020 vacation could conclude, we thought of visiting some lakes of Karkala which are bounded by beautiful landscape. Karkala being just 35kms from our native village was not unknown destination. However, most of journey were along bypass than being within town. The planned visit to lakes would give us an opportunity to explore the town apparently. Karkala town has plenty of lakes of which I have written about Matadha Kere here located near bypass. Here are two more.

The visit was planned in morning and was executed in evening :-). Yes, there were no confusions. Taking into consideration early sunset, we departed early around 4 and reached comfortably in an hour. Our first visit was Anekere lake.

The Anekere lake is situated at the heart of Karkala town. The lake does not have official parking area as per our initial glance. A small area in front of lake gate served as parking area for car. I had plenty of expectations from this lake which unfortunately turned futile. The lake is not well-maintained and has weeds cover most of the lake and its surrounding. The lake barely had any water thanks to weeds. This lake has Jain temple in middle (basadi) which means the lake is of importance to Jain pilgrims. The temple is also not well maintained. The plaques are erected which warns people who take photographs/videography around the sacred area. There was no one to monitor though. Even the people presence was rare. There were few walkers and handful of visitors. It was the most disappointing visit during december 2020 vacation apart from Jomlu falls. The area was ill-maintained and not worth the visit. The landscape surrounding though is fabulous which is the only positive part of our visit. It looks like the place belongs to Jain committee and there is no serious effort to rejuvenate the lake. It may also be that committee is expecting funds from government authorities. Anyways here are pictures of visit.

We wanted to visit the Gomateshwara hill at Karkala but unfortunately the gatekeeper was ill and said, he cant let anymore vehicles. It was just 5:00PM which was not even near to closing time. We had no  option other than to turn back. 

Meanwhile, wife searched in google for other places nearby since we had ample time. The place we picked was Ramasamudra lake. The expectations were low since we were already had disappointing visit to Anekere lake. This lake was not easy to spot but were able to successfully located after brief struggle. Aha! This lake was worth the visit. The water was still with zero weeds. The landscape was marvellous. The atmosphere was calm. The lake was bounded by hills and plantations. The place was idyllic. Looks like, this lake is source for Karkala town water-supply. We had short fun in water before leaving. While preparing for return, we saw people climbing the rock hill nearby. Our assumption was that it leads to lake viewpoint which turned out to be true. The summit of rock-hill hosts some of mesmerizing views of nature which will be rewarding during sunrise. That was majestic nature to conclude the short picnic. All our grief at Anekere was offset by this lake. We had short nature shoot atop the hill before concluding journey. There was pinch of mourning too for not visiting this place prior to Anekere. Here are pictures. Hope to shoot some glorious pictures during sunrise and monsoon season

Conclusively, I would say it is worth visiting Ramasamudra first and then Anekere. Ramasamudra is well maintained and away from urban vibe. Anekere is worth visiting only if authorities consider to rejuvenate it sooner. Anekere has so much of plant dirt that it would take at least a year to clean it up and restore the water resource. Anekre is restored, can be one of the primary tourist attractions because it has majestic landscape & expansive area. Monsoon is best time to visit both the lakes. I wish to visit during monsoon season if situation permits.

Here is short video from our visit