Chiklihole Reservoir dam near Dubare, Coorg

-2020 update: Had to remove photos due to technical issue (site where I had uploaded them went down)- will try to restore -

Last time I visited Coorg (Kodagu) was in November 2007, as a part of Club Mahindra’s coorg trip for travel bloggers. We toured Kodagu last weekend, revisited some of the places and explored a few new ones. This post offers few pics and write up about a lesser known place in Coorg, called Chikli Hole Dam, near Dubare.

Some one had wrongly told me that its advisable to reach Dubare as early as possible, that elephants will start arriving for their bath from very early morning and visiting Dubare later in the day won’t get you much action as elephants would return back to forest after their bath and meals. Counting on this information, I’d planned the itinerary such that Dubare was our first destination in Coorg and we reached there very early, as early as 5AM. Elephants were nowhere to be seen, water in the river was fairly high and crossing it on foot upstream was ruled out, boat services, elephant arrivals will all start after 9 AM, was the information given to us. Our options were limited-wait till 9 AM, drive out, visit some other destination and come (most of them wouldn’t open before 9AM anyway) or try rafting. We almost decided on rafting (extremely simple and non challenging one, nothing comparable  to Sita river or Kali or Hrishikesh), at an exorbitant rate of Rs 600 per person, but the person in charge made an attempt to extract even more from us, saying “its too early in the morning, unless you pay him more he is not ready to come”. Thus we ditched rafting plans and ventured out to explore a place called Chikli hole reservoir, about 10kms from Dubare.


Where is Chiklihole Reservoir?
To reach Chicklihole, you should drive towards Dubare elephant camp, from Kushalnagar side. About 6-7kms before Dubare, a road turns right, where you’ll see the sign board as above.

Going straight will take you to Dubare and driving 3kms right will take you to Chicklihole. Chiklihole reservoir is a small dam, but very scenic. Add to it the early morning fog, the photogenic rating would increase 100x. What’s unique about this dam is the scenic way in which water is allowed out of the reservoir (refer the first photo) Had the water been more, the photo would have been even more scenic.

Compared to Dubare chikklihole is less visited by tourists (no one recognized this place when I uploaded the photo to facebook) and is worth a diversion from Dubare. Roads are decent, but not wide enough for buses.
 
This unplanned visit to Chiklihole dam turned out to be one of the best places of Day One. Another major dam in Coorg, Harangi Dam, is closed for tourists. Harangi dam is a treat for eyes when gates are open.

Nearby places: Omkareshwara temple, Madikeri * Golden Temple, Bylukuppe * Dubare Elephant camp * Kings Cottage Kakkabbe * Cheluvayya falls * Talakaveri *