Gaganachukki & Barachukki Twin Falls

At Shivanasamudra the Kaveri splits around a river island and drops in two separate falls — Gaganachukki on the western branch and Barachukki on the eastern — each plunging roughly 100 metres over rock terraces in a roar that is loudest during the monsoon months.

The site’s significance goes beyond scenery: in 1902, the Cauvery (Shivanasamudra) Hydro-Electric Power station built here became one of Asia’s earliest hydroelectric plants, transmitting power over the then staggering distance of nearly 150 km to the Kolar Gold Fields, and later to Bengaluru and Mysuru — an early landmark in Indian industrial infrastructure that predates most of the country’s rural electrification by half a century.

Getting there: Shivanasamudra is roughly 80 km from Mysuru and Bengaluru, reached via Malavalli; the two falls sit on opposite banks and are usually viewed from separate roadside points.