The picturesque Koulihalla kere

When I was looking for places to combine with our visit to Gundal dam, Koulihalla kere came to my attention. It was a small lake, less visited and surrounded by hills. As it looked beautiful, we decided to visit and spend some time in the lake.

Drive to Koulihalla kere

From Gundal dam, we joined the State Highway 38 (Kollegal – Hasanurghat road). The highway condition was decent, but villagers were using the road to thrash their crops. It was a major inconvenience for people driving on the road. At one place, the reed got stuck in the wheel and strange noise emanating from it. We has to stop and remove the reed.

From the highway, we had to travel on the village road to reach the lake. There were more challenges on the road. The authorities had built a concrete road in the village but had conveniently forgotten to “connect” properly to the mud road. It was not possible for any four-wheeler to “climb up “ to the concrete road!! Few villagers were putting mud to make the elevation gradual. It took some time for them to set it up. It was not proper, and our car barely managed to cross!! Since the villagers had used the road for multiple purposes, there was a very narrow space for the vehicles to navigate.

At Koulihalla kere

All those hardships vanished when we saw the lake. It was so picturesque, and we were stunned to see. It was beyond our expectation. We were actually on the other side of BR hills!! The lake looked spectacular at the backdrop of the hills and forests!!

It was hot and we found a shady place next to the lake to rest. We enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere at the lake. We were surprised to see the hills resembling the ones in western ghats, but I understand that BR hills has all major forest vegetations types like scrub, deciduous, shola, riparian, evergreen and grasslands!! Very interesting!!

At a far distance, we saw a few turtles resting on a rock. We could hear the call from Junglefowls somewhere in the bamboo forests adjoining the lake. Even though it was midday, we could see some birds like Small minivets. A very peaceful and beautiful place indeed!!

I did not mind resting for a long time at the lake, but it was noon and we were hungry. We had to travel to Kollegal for lunch, which was one hour drive. We slowly walked towards our car!!