Coorg Itinerary - The unique Chiklihole Reservoir

Our next stop was Chiklihole reservoir. We were already elated after enjoying Harangi backwaters, now ready to explore yet another beauty of Coorg. The only skepticism we have with respect to reservoir is most of them are closed for dam-top visit. However, chiklihole reservoir turned out to be open reservoir with minor gates.

It was nice drive cutting through forests for 30 mins from Harangi dam. We comfortably reached the location. Only drawback driving in hill station is that short distances need considerable time. The hilly and narrow roads slows down vehicle. Moreover, the heavy rains grow plenty of potholes in roadway. Fortunately, most of them are still in good conditions.

We reached the spot where crowd was considerable. The large pathway over the reservoir leads us to the spillway which is specially designed here. Enroute to spillway, one can enjoy the majestic western ghats backdropping the lake.

We walked towards the spillway over lake promenade which is around 200mts long. As we reached, our excitement turned two folded. The excess water circles over the semi spherical spillway before joining the channel. My wife was super excited to watch this setup including kids. A special provision has been made over spillway to enjoy multiple glimpses of spillway and photograph as well.

The primary attraction of Chiklihole reservoir is the spillway which circles around the semi spherical structure and flows along the channel. I am not sure about the science behind the design. It should be some solid technique I firmly believe. Chiklihole looks like sourced from rainwater streaming down the mountains. The excess water discharge would reach some river hopefully Kaveri.

The view from road adjacent to reservoir is as well eye catching. We need to climb down around 30 steps to reach the bridge connecting road. I took some photographs as well. 

No public transport to this destination apparently. The closest is the main road connecting the reservoir which is approximately 5kms from here. Better commute via private vehicle. Here is time schedule of visit. Not sure if this has relevance since its open reservoir without any fencing. Just for your note

A happy visit again, we headed towards madikeri since it was already lunch time. Kids were and hungry and we too! We descended near the lodge and rested for a while. The hotel attendant guided us towards Paakashala restaurant since we were vegetarians. Parcel facility is available from nearby restaurant if you want to eat in house. We preferred Paakashala throughout our stay. Being near to KSRTC bus stand, the lodge has advantage of exploring multiple eateries nearby. The strategic location helps the business a lot!

Our next stop was divine destinations of Madikeri as planned. Here is short video from Chiklihole