Kargal is 6-7 kilometeres away from ‘world Famous Jogfalls’. So who ever want to have trip to Jogfalls should buy something here as rates in Jogfalls is little high. The famous Linganamakki dam is 7 km from Kargal.

According to folk, Kargal name came from two words, ‘Kaarina’, ‘kallu’. It is a ‘Visheshana poorvapada karmadharaya samasa’, according to Kannada grammer. Kargal is surrounded by mountains and a Sharavathi canal and in rainy season with mists and clouds.

Forest area of Kargal is a part of ‘Sharavathi Valley Wildlife Sanctuary’. In the northern and eastern part of the sanctuary, huge reservoirs like Linganamakki and Talakalale are situated with a continuous valley of Sharavathi river running from east to west. The region receives South-west monsoon during June to October with an average annual rainfall of 4500 mm. The average minimum and maximum temperatures are 15 ° C and 38 ° C respectively. The copious waters received during the intense monsoon rainfall are drained by numerous streams, which ultimately join the river Sharavathi. The catchments are particularly covered with tropical evergreen forests, are perennial in nature.

During early 20th century, this region was under the control of the princely State of Mysore. It declared all the forest areas as ‘protected forests’ and as ‘state forests’ during 1905-1920. The construction in 1932 of the Hirebhaskar dam across the river Sharavathi, for generating hydel power, was a major developmental activity of the region. Later, Linganamakki dam in 1964-65, and subsequently the Talakalale dam (Nearly 3km from Kargal, reservoir for Aane bilu site (AB site) power project which runs 10 generators) were constructed across the same river, which led to a series of impacts on flora and fauna of the region. It has resulted in submersion of many villages affecting local people and they were shifted to the surrounding areas.

For more information of ‘Kargal forest and Geography’, http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/envis/sdev/sus_enews/chap4_index.htm