This trip was a picnic, that we had dreamt of having from a long time. We had welcome additions to our group – akka, and my sweet little nephew, Giri! The plan was to visit Dodda Aalada Mara first and then proceed to Manchanabele dam.
As usual, we left late, by 10am. Went to Malleshwaram, picked up akka and Giri and started on Magadi road. Magadi road?? you must be surprised, as the big banyan tree is located off Mysore road. Yes, of course, it was my idea … I, Columbus the great, wanted to explore the connecting road from Magadi road to Mysore road, via the big banyan tree. This venture costed us about 10+ kms, and about half an hour’s precious time. We reached dodda aalada mara by about 11:30. It is really nice to see a 400 year old banyan tree of that size. Giri was fascinated and it was nice to look at his curious and inquisitive eyes, as if he was seriously studying the branches of the banyan tree!
The only hope of food at this spot, the Mayura Yatri Nivas, alas, is no more. Apart from having bun-tea-aur-bubbly at the local shacks, you have no other choice! 
We had plans of having lunch at Manchanabele, so we headed towards the reservoir, about 10+ km from the big banyan tree. Manchanabele is a very small dam, built at the confluence of the Arkavati and the Kumudvati rivers. At the spot where you start seeing the reservoir, the road forks. Unknowingly, we took a right turn, and went towards the catchment area of the dam. If we had gone straight, we would have gone over the dam, to the other side. The view was exhilarating, with a winding road of rubble taking us down the hill. It is really strange that such a beautiful spot is not popular.
The reservoir.
Where eagles dare!
Indiana Jones?
The dam …
The speciality of this picnic was that we pitched a tent next to the shore. This tent, a gift from Canada by one of my cousins, had not been used since it was new (from almost a decade!), and on this day, the 14th of October, 2006, it was officially inaugurated by the great Giridhar the Prince! Giri really had a very nice time playing, since it was the first time he had ever seen a tent.
We had the usual menu of parathas, cheese spread, jam, and to add to the spirit of a picnic, we also had some junk food – kurkure, moong dal, etc., which is usually forbidden on a trek. Post lunch, we relaxed for a while in the cool breeze, which was blowing off the expanse of water, making us forget the warmth of the sun above our heads. By about 16:00, we bid adieu to Manchanabele, hoping to return some day, to see the other side of the dam. On the way back, we joined Mysore road, stopped at Kadu Mane for coffee, and reached home by evening.
Nice. But did you set up a tent and not stay there? Or am I reading this wrong?
you read it right … I did not stay in the tent … it was pitched only for my nephew to play
hi.. Am Abhi.. can you plz tel me how many KM from Bangalore to tha place and trough which road we need to pass?? plz..
@Abhi,
Take the mysore road, and turn right at the cross near rajarajeshwari medical college. That is quite a prominent cross, as it leads to the big banyan tree as well as the country club. From this point the big banyan tree is abt 10km, and manchanabele dam is another 10-12.
Cheers,
Ajay
nice blog!!
we were inspired into going there. we wanted some info on the directions, but wiki etc dont have the exact details yet..
alemaari, thanks for the directions..
we found the place..
but the road is pretty much annihilated. big change getting off mysore road into the cross..
anyway, have fun!!
regards,
kudva
Hi, I too visited the dam on October 9th, 2008 with my cousin. We went there on my bullet. The road upto the Big Banyan tree is excellent. After the B.B tree you need to go through a village and take a left at Chandrappa circle to go to the dam. From Chandrappa circle the road is good for about half a KM. After that the road is bad until the village that has the dam. Overall you will have to bare with the bad road for about 3 to 4 kms. But the whole journey is quite comfortable.
The dam location is really good especially the first view of the dam when you go from the BB tree side. But it would be good to go there on a cloudy day or not a very sunny day as it can get very hot there and not many big trees by the side of the reservoir or catchment area.
While coming back you can eat at the Ruppi’s resort (this is owned by the popular Kannada star Upendra and it is also recognized by the Karnataka Tourism department. While going from BB tree to the dam, you would go through a small village and you need to take a left. There are sign boards all the way till the resort.). This resort is very good and I enjoyed the food. The cost is little towards a higher side though (for a resturant which is so far away from the city, any chicken dish would cost you about 100 Rs), but the food was really good, especially the Chicken Tikka Kabab.
i heard there is another route from ramnagram. anybody no about the route
ye hi … Can i know whether we can play in that water ….
Can we play in water there…………..
@ Srinidhi, thanks for the encouragement!
@ Priya, The water did neither seem clean nor safe to play. Its a reservoir’s catchment area after all!
Nice post. I visited there today. Check my post at — http://www.travelingbeats.com/blog/trip-manchanabele-dam-backwaters
Might visit this place this weekend. let me see if things work out.
Hi, i heard that we need permission to visit the dam, is it true?
But thank you for the tons of information…
@Veena,
Yes. Permission is required for visiting the dam. No idea where to get it though.
Thanks for the nice words!
- Alemaari
We had been to Manchina Bele Dam this weekend and We had the most horrid experience there!
Short answer – We got robbed! Best of all, people who claim to be security guards did that.
All we were doing is just taking some pictures of the scenic view and just walked nearer to the Dam.
We felt that scene was nice and took some more snaps. 2 more guys came and taking some random pictures.
Then suddenly 2 localites with sticks (claimed to be security) came to us and started abusing in very bad language. They snatched our expensive cameras and started to push us around. We were four and they started threatening to beat us and said no one should come to that area.
We saw, there was no board that said so and we offered to delete photos if we were not supposed to take. They didn’t listen to us and Started abusing badly and they held our hands. We didn’t know what to do and later they asked money. They took 500Rs and quickly went away giving us some gyan saying you should take permission etc etc.
All said done is, Manchina Bele is not safe and Dam employees themselves are robbers. When you enter Manchina Bele Dam area, there is a board that warns you of robbers. No wonder, Dam security and may be some localites are robbers and they are on the prowl to extort money. We had to pay 500Rs to get our Cameras back. Worst place!
Adding this comment for others to be careful!