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. 

A Day Trip To Kaiwara & Kailasagiri

Location:

Chikkaballapura District

Karnataka State

Distance:

Bangalore to Kaiwara - 71Kms

Route:

Bangalore (Majestic) - MG Road - Ulsoor - KR Puram - Hoskote - After Hoskote take left towards Chintamani - Kaiwara (to the left on SH-96 before Chintamani)

Estimated Travel Time:

Two Hours by Bike

Best Time to Visit:

Any time during the Year

Stay:

There are no good hotels to stay in kaiwara. However, the nearest place to stay is Chintamani which is about 13 kms from kaiwara

Places to be seen in and around Kaiwara

1. Kaiwara Thatha Temple
2. Chamundi Betta
3. Amaranarayana Swamy Temple
4. Kaiwara Tapovana
5. Kailasagiri
6. Bheemalingeshwara Temple

The day started at 10AM in the morning from Banashankari, Cauvery Nagar in Bangalore when me and my three friends started to have a devotional Trip and it took about 2 hours for us to reach a small town in Chikkaballapura District called Kaiwara. The Arch to Kaiwara can be seen on the Main Road where we have to take left from the main road to reach Kaiwara. Small shops can be seen on either sides of the road while entering the town. At around 100 meters after entering the town, to the left side there is Kaiwara Thatha Ashram.

1. Kaiwara Thatha Temple

This is the place dedicated to  a famous saint "Narayanappa" popularly known as Kaiwaram Thathaiyya. He has composed beautiful keerthanas on Amara Narayana Swamy (Vishnu) in Kannada and Telugu Languages. The Yoga has been explained in detail by him in one of his writings "Bramhandapura Shatakka". The ashram also has "Nitya Annadana Program" where hundreds of people are served in a day and it is worth eating here rather than eating in small private hotels in Kaiwara.

The main entrance of the kaiwara thatha temple

This is the mantap where lot of "Bhajan Programs" takes place every day

Idol of Kaiwara Thatha

A side view of the Kaiwaram Thatha Temple

2. Chamundi Betta

On the main road in Kaiwara to the right an arch can be seen and path through it leads to a small hill called Chamundi Betta. On the way to the top of the hill there is a small Krishna temple. It takes about 40 mins for trekking this place and lot of energy. Its better to carry water and other food supplies with you as nothing will be available on the hill. On the middle of the hill, there is a place where some water is stored in between big rocks by the name of "Lakshmana Theertha". People interested in trekking are only advised to go for trekking as there is nothing to see on the top of the hill except the view of the Kaiwaram town and the surrounding area.

Arch in the main road that leads to Chamundi Betta

An aerial View from Chamundi Betta

Lakshmana Theertha

Small Krishna Temple

3. Amaranarayana Swamy Temple

This is around 1.5 kms from Kaiwara Thatha Temple and its a very beautiful temple on a very small hill. It requires to climb about 60 to 70 steps to reach the magnificent Sri Venkateshwara Temple. People believe that this idol is installed by Lord Indra. Even the idols of Rama, Sitha & Lakshmana can be found in this temple. It is best to visit this temple at sunset time as the scenery opposite to the temple filled with many small hills and greenery looks awesome. At the bottom of the temple, there are big idols of saints like Madhvachari, Vedavyas, Ramanuchar etc. It is believed that Lord Rama stayed at this place during his exile.

Huge Cooking Vessel much bigger than a bike

Statue of Sri Madhvacharya

View from top of the Temple 

Pic with my friends

4. Kaiwara Tapovana

Just before going to the Amaranarayana Temple, on the right side we found a small park made by the Government of Karnataka. This place has become dried and very few animals like rabbits, peacocks are kept here. It is pleasant with huge area and free of pollution. The cages with small gunie pigs and ducks are worth looking. There ia a entrance fee of rupees 5 per person. It took around 25 minutes for us to have a walk around the park and take few pics.

5. Kailasagiri

From Kaiwara Tapovana, we travelled about 20 minutes to reach Kailasagiri - Cave Temple which is about 7 Kms from Kaiwara. Inside a hill, caves are being made artificially by humans and idols of various gods are installed. Still the process of making caves is in progress. However, we can go inside and have a look into the caves and the installed idols. The temperature outside the caves is too hot but it is exactly opposite inside the caves. It is very cold and pleasant inside. The people behind this project are great as it will definitely turn out in to an architectural masterpiece once the entire project is done.

Far view of Kailasagiri in which Caves are being made

Blue color Gates are the entrance to the caves

Stage inside cave for conducting poojas - prayers

Paths made inside the hill

Lord Ganesha Statue

6. Bheemalingeshwara Temple

After spending about an hour in Kailasagiri, we returned back to Bangalore. It was evening and on the way we saw a small board near to Kaiwara of Bheemalingeshwara Temple. We took a turn towards the temple and the priest in the temple explained us that during Mahabharatha Period Bheema has killed a demon Bakasura in this place. As Bakasura is great follower of Lord Shiva, for preventing Lord Shiva from getting angry Bheema has installed Lord Shiva Statue here and from then its called as Bheemalingeshwara Temple. A board can be seen in the temple that this is an ancient protected monument. 

It was very late in the evening when we left this place to go back to Bangalore. On the way we were caught in heavy rain and got completely drenched in rain. We stopped in three places due to heavy rain. However having hot tea in the cold atmosphere with full of rain is a thrilling experience. With this nice experience, we reached our home safely in the night.