About the Sharavathi
The Sharavathi is perhaps India's most spectacular short river — in just 128 kilometres from its source at Ambuthirtha to the Arabian Sea, it creates Jog Falls (India's highest plunge waterfall at 253 metres) and flows through the Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Karnataka's most ecologically intact Western Ghats river valleys. The river's extraordinary waterfall at Jog is the result of its dramatic drop off the Western Ghats escarpment, where the plateau terminates abruptly and the river plunges straight down 253 metres into the coastal lowlands.
The Sharavathi Valley below Jog Falls is one of the last intact patches of lowland West Coast tropical evergreen forest in Karnataka, a forest type that has been almost entirely converted to coconut and arecanut plantations along the Konkan coast. The valley's endemic biodiversity is exceptional — lion-tailed macaques swing through the canopy above the river, and the cold, clear water hosts exceptional populations of Malabar mahseer, the largest and most prized freshwater fish in India. The Linganmakki Dam above Jog Falls has altered the waterfall's natural volume, but during monsoon the river reclaims its full glory.
Savehaklu · Hurlihole