Trek to the Asia's largest monolithic hill - Savandurga

Savandurga Hill

Location:
Ramanagar District
Karnataka

Distance:
Bangalore to Savandurga - 60Kms

Route:
Bangalore (Kalasipalya Bus-stand) - Binny Mill Road - Magadi Road - Savandurga

Estimated Travel Time:
Two Hours Fifteen Minutes by Private Travels Bus

Best time to Visit:
Winter Months - October, November, December & January
Not advisable to go during monsoons as it will be very slippery due to rains

Stay:

The best place to stay is Bangalore. However, few hotels are available in the town Magadi which is 21 Kms from Savandurga 

Me and my friend Rajasekhar were planning for an outing on a sunday within 100 kms from bangalore and we found a perfect spot (savandurga) in internet for trekking. We started in Kalasipalya Bus-stand near K.R. Market in Bangalore in a private travels bus at 7:18 AM and it took about one Hour Forty Five Minutes and we got down on the Magadi Road near an arch displaying Tirumala Gate on the right side of the Main Road. We have to go another hundred meters further in the main road towards a road junction.

From the road junction, seven-seater autos are available on the left side of main road that takes us to Savandurga. It takes around 15 minutes and twenty rupees to reach Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple.Opposite to the temple is the way to Savandurga Hill.

We decided that the day will be tiresome from the view of the hill from the starting point. It is better to carry water bottle and other food stuff  with you while trekking to avoid dehydration and gain energy as food stalls are not available while trekking.

It is difficult to trek this hill and arrow marks painted in yellow gives the direction in which one has to go to reach the top of the hill.

Directions shown in yellow Arrows

Plants with full of thorns like these can be seen here

Some portions of the hill looks to be too much slopy which makes it dangerous to trek at those places like in the pic below.

Thick greenery around the hill

View from the middle of the hill

The Maaza Fruit juice bottle saved us from getting dehydration due to excess sweating. We took pauses for 6 to 7 times before reaching the top. I have to thank my friend Rajsekhar for not allowing me to go down from the middle of the hill and for helping me in reaching to the top most point of the Asia's largest monolithic hill. The trekking and nature lovers definitely love this awesome place. On the way to the top of the hill, there are many spots where nice pics can be taken. 

My friend lifting a huge rock with his back

It took around three hours for us to reach Nandi (Top most point of the hill). Hats off to the people who made Nandi at the top of the hill. There was a very nice breeze of wind at this point and one can sleep happily here and great amount of relaxation can be felt by staying at this place for some time.

Reaching this place is result of the trekking 

Closer look of Nandi

A beautiful message at the Nandi for saving water

Few Pics taken from the top of the hill

We have spent about twenty minutes here, enjoyed the cool breeze and started back to the pavilion. On the way back, we found few people who took the pics of myself and my friend together.

Small pond filled with rain water

From Savanduga we went to Manchanbele dam and came back to Bangalore. In my next post ("Places to be seen in and around Savandurga - 1") I will write about Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple, Laksmi Narasimha Swamy Temple and Manchanbele dam which we saw on the same day on which we went for trekking.  

At the end, trekking was the best part of the day.