8 September 2013
Hills near Bengaluru are mostly dry and rocky. Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta is an exception where the ‘feel’ of forest can be felt. Two paths that lead to the top of the hill are quite different in nature both in terms of route conditions and quality of people (More on it in the last section) using it. The first path is a Jeep track that starts from Kanakapura and does not excite trekkers. The other route is a proper trekking trail.
I, Subbu, Krishna and Girish started from Bengaluru one morning. Bengaluru-Kanakapura stretch has dearth of good restaurants and hence we had our breakfast at Adiga’s hotel before NICE road intersection. The diversion to the trekking trail is at the village of Harohalli. A left turn here took us to the village of Dodda Maralawadi and little further was the village where the trail to the hill starts.
Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta is clearly visible from the village. Pachyderms visit the area sometimes and it is better to check with locals about their movement before proceeding further. Luckily for us the coast was clear and we wasted no time to start walking. Only sore point being the village kids who were pestering us for money. It is a nuisance in the villages near Bengaluru. We did not yield to their pressures but hoped that they would not puncture the car tyres in revenge!!
A forest department board warning people on entering the forest welcomed us. Their wording was not very clear and no forest officials were there to help us!! We continued our trek.
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| Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta from the village |
In spite of rains resulting in lot of undergrowth and green cover, the path was clear. The overcast conditions made the walk easier though the route continuously climbed up. A village dog had decided to join us and always leapt forward. The behaviour of the dogs is strange to understand. In many treks, I have seen the dogs following or leading us. May be it is in their genes to wander in the wild and wait for an opportunity!! My two cents to dog theory!!
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| Dog that accompanied us during the trek |
We stopped at two places. The first time was to enjoy the scenery of the surroundings. At one point we found that Girish was lagging behind. So, we waited for him to join.
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| The first pit stop |
The forests had signs of some wild life. The elephant dung was old but faeces of some animals were found at many places. A wild boar or some animal had slept flattening the grasses in the process.
After about 1.5 hours of walk, we reached the top where the trekking path joined the main road from Kanakapura. A small pond situated adjacent to the cliff. The place provided some good views with clouds playing hide and seek.
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| View from the top |
In the beginning of this post I mentioned about quality of people coming to the place. The Jeep track enables less adventurous people to venture into this area. They come in bikes with huge number of ‘bottles’ to create ruckus. None of them look cultured or decent. It was a pain to see such lousy people during treks.
Fortunately, the area was wide and we could venture far away from the unruly people. We spent a long time just gazing at the scenery, talking about lot of stuff and sleeping!! In the meantime, Girish went to a Temple on the other side of the hill. He did not seem to be happy.
It was time to return and we wanted to have a look at the Temple on the other side. Girish refused to come and little later the reason was known. The drunkards had occupied the Temple. Bone pieces and bottles were lying everywhere. The people seemed to be in a different world. We fled the place before they started harassing us. They are more dangerous than hundred wild elephants!! Last time I found such creepy people was in Anashi when a relative of a forest official got drunk and puked all over the guest house. He had made sound of a jackal entire night!!
Getting down was a simple affair. And a little surprise awaited us when we returned back. We had parked our car in front of a house (with their permission) in the village. Now they demanded us to pay 200 rupees as parking charge!! It seemed to be more expensive than opulent Mallya’s mall!! Finally, we settled for 50 rupees which anyway we were planning to give as courtesy.
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| Temple on the top |
Strange people!!
Sana
Its such a wonderful place right next to us. But thanks to those inhumane creatures who dominate such easily accessible place n leave them any better for others. Its quite stilthy and scary growth to see these places loosing its worth due to such so called humans.
shantharaju
Nice photos
ಸಿಂಧು sindhu
🙁 mankind is an ungrateful species. and unkind too.
thanks for your post and photos.
Siddhartha Joshi
The shots are wonderful! Its already so green there…
ರಾಜೇಶ್ ನಾಯ್ಕ
Jeep tracks are nothing but death warrant to scenic and lovely places.
Kevin Collins
Hi. I really enjoyed my brief visit on your site and I’ll be sure to be back for more.
Can I contact you through email address?
Please email me back.
Thanks!
Kevin
kevincollins1011 gmail.com
mygreatstay.com
Nice photos and nice write-up…… As you love to travel, you can visit http://www.mygreatstay.com which is a travel portal listing off beat locations across India……..
John Carter
Hi Blogger.your posting is awsome.i m also writing content about travel.my latest content on Plan India Holidays.pls read thanq.
Aravind GJ
Sahana, Sindhu
Its true… and I see no solution for this menace.
Shantaraju,
Thanks.
Siddhartha Joshi,
Thanks.
Rajesh,
Very true.
Kevin,
Thanks for visiting by blog and posting comment. You can contact me at aravindgj@gmail.com
mygreatstay, John Carter,
Thanks for your comment. Will visit your website.
R Niranjan Das
Its a nice place. Haven't trekked up. I rode up the hills in the rains. That was a nice experience.
Aravind GJ
Niranjan,
Thanks.
The wild
He had made sound of a jackal entire night!! -I could not stop laughing at this line ,good report ,lots of weird people even in forests!
Aravind GJ
Arjun,
Jackal guy was real and horrible!!
Anandan Iyer
Hey Arvind, I really appreciate your photography skills. Very few authors could actually capture a moment and you my friend, can actually do that. I loved all your pictures, especially the first one. You have created a great post and perfectly explained everything to the regular users. Nice Work 🙂
Aravind GJ
Anandan,
Thanks for your comments.
Aravind GJ
Anandan,
Thanks for your comments.
gokul devadiga
Hi Team
I m Planning for Night Trek to Ranganathaswamy Betta Next month, do you need guide for Night Trek !??, if yes any one have a reference.
Aravind GJ
Gokul,
You need to be careful about Elephants if you are planning for night trek. Check with locals before heading up.
Raghu R
@gokul- we are planning for night trekking tomorrow. Please do share your experience that will help us a lot
vinodh kumar
Is there any permission fee for morning trekking….????
Sowmya
Hey Arvind, great info abt this place, Ur blog alone did give gud info… Thanks… Planning to go ASAP. Can u pls let me know HW far is the hill from kanakpura???
aravindgj
Sowmya,
Thanks. It is about 15km from Kanakapura.
Nagesh Gowda
Nice clicks.where exactly the trek trail starts? Do i need take left after kanakapura or harohalli. could you please share the trail route.
Sowmya
Tq tq… Going 2moro… 21/8/2016… Will share the exp soon…
aravindgj
Nagesh,
As mentioned in the post, left at Harohalli takes to start of the trail.
Sowmya,
All the best!!
Pranith Reddy
Hey Guys Me and My Friends are planning on a night trek this weekend !So are there any issues entering in to the forest And is it dangerous?Can some one give more info about nyt trekking ??
aravindgj
Pranith,
You have to be careful about night treks. I have heard that there are restrictions to enter forests. Please check with local villagers about the presence of elephants before trekking.
MANOJ KUMAR S
Could me tell how reach BR Hills by bus and do we need to take permission from forest office for trekking…please give us complete picture
Badrinath R
And to add to the misery now, enters Bluetooth speakers.
It was a Beautiful experience riding the bike to the top for the mesmerizing view.
Your write up makes me to trek this asap.
aravindgj
Thank you.