Savandurga - largest monolithic hill in Asia

Stamina and Will

2009-08-04T02:51:00.000-07:00

The first climb - Anish, Gulli and I - we climbed less than half-way up in about 45 minutes under bright hot Sun. Mostly we took the wrong path even though two local boys were trying to guide us through the ideal route. We were tired, thirsty and getting hungry ...we decided to head back and go home.

Second climb, Gulli and I, must have taken at least 90 minutes with local boy guiding us the way up. At places we would deviate from the path assuming it would be shorter and ended up doing circus.

Third climb onwards we started understanding the path better. Our timing got better with every climb. By the fourth or fifth we would reach Basava Mantapa in 60 minutes. I would start the stop watch in my Timez Zulu Time and note the time every climb. The best we managed was 40 minutes - from the base to the Basava Mantapa - we could not do better than that.

During our climbs I would monitor progress with time.

Base to Point 1, gateway in the ruins of the fort wall - 10 minutes

Point 1 to Point 2, the turret - 20 minutes

Point 2 to Point 3, the guest house - 30 minutes -

Point 3 to The summit - Basava Mantapa - 40 minutes

With experience we had learnt few things not to do -

talk (I would talk as less as possible though Gulli would chatter on non-stop)
sit down (if we need rest, we would stop and remain standing but never sit down)
drink water (chances of catching sore throat is high)
hold things in our hands (always carried a back-pack)

My heart beat rate would shoot up pretty quickly and breathless in minutes but I learnt to push on ...sweat pouring out from my face and scalp too. The path between point 1 and point 3 is very steep. By the end of 20 minutes I would be drenched in sweat by t-shirt would be completely soaked! My heart pounding and my shoulders ache like crazy ...I would question myself; why did I have to come all the way for this? At times I would pluck a straw of wild grass and chew the tender end - it would give out a mild sweet flavor - I used to feel that boosted my energy.

Once we reached Point 3 it's as good as reaching the top ...from here it's more of walk then climb ...s stretch of level walk, a short climb downwards, a short climb up, walk over rocks, walk though rocks and then a short climb up and there you see the Basava sitting in the Mantapa looking towards the East. I would touch the Basava's feet, circle him three times and do namaskara.

Going back to my thoughts 'why do i take all this trouble'. Well, now i know that every bit of trouble I went though is worth the feeling I experienced here on the top ...the cold wind of fresh air, the sounds of the wind though the rocks and the scenes my eyes saw. My heart beat be back to normal and would not even realize it.

Descending was relatively less strenuous but the knees would start paining half-way down. Once during my solo climb, I came down in 15 minutes flat. At some parts I would leap from rock to rock ...my high ankle Reeboks protected my feet from the shock and supported my ankles. From the temple below, we would look back up at the Basava Mantapa and say our bye and hoping to come back as soon as possible.

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Plan to visit

2009-07-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

I got a thought that I should take Durga, my niece to Savandurga shortly. In fact her name is Durga because my brother Deepak and sister-in-law Sherry met at Savandurga for the first time. Durga would love to see the place she's named after. I'm not sure if we'll be able to climb the hill ...if it's raining it's too risky climbing with a 7 year old. Let's see if Mother Nature let's us climb Savandurga.

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Overnight Stay Four

2009-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

This was the Saturday Pink Floyd was performing in Bangalore. Kiran, one of Kiran's cousin and a friend of his cousin and of course I, reached well before sunset, gathered firewood and settled down in 'our' stone shelter. As the sky darkened, we could see city light glittering. From here we could see Magadi to our left, Bangalore straight ahead and Ramnagara to our right. I'm not sure if it was full moon day.

Around seven thirty, mist started blowing in and visibility was restricted to about 20-25 meters. We were sitting looking towards Bangalore and Kiran was talking about some ghosts and stuff.... "Sidda, look to your right there's really something coming towards us" When I looked I could see a figure coming towards us through the mist! As it came closer, I realized it was a man. Kiran was telling see if it's a ghost in the form of a man. I told him that to my knowledge ghosts prefer to take woman's form in white saree. Still Kiran was little scared, I'm not sure about the other two guys. The ghost turned out to be a man in early twenties, drunk and looking miserable. He came straight to us. I asked what he was doing here and if he had company and he replied back that his friends left him and went away. He asked if he could go down to the village but we told not to take risk climbing down in the darkness. The 'ghost' hung around close by.

Pink Floyd show, was being live on Vividh Bharati and my pocket radio was playing... the sound quality was not great but still we enjoyed it. We saw a sky-shot... pink and white sparkles and more blue-green, white-yellow. We thought this must at the rock show but the next day we found out that there was no such fire-show. We had dinner pretty early, pitched the tent (a mosquito net) and slept off early.

The 'ghost' woke up pretty early and took off at first light.

We went to the Basava Mantapa stayed there for sometime and then...

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Savandurga Flower is now Frangipani

2009-05-31T05:07:00.000-07:00

Finally I found the name of this flower...

it's called Frangipani.

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Dogs company

2009-04-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

Somehow dogs at Savandurga seem to have a passion for climbing...

...when I went with Rajesh. We explored the smaller hill the evening before, stayed overnight in the temple below and morning we climbed.
This was one of the best scenes I saw on Savandurga. The clouds hung at this level for about 30 minutes or so. The dog sat there seriously watching the clouds.

These two gave us good company all the way up. They would stray away from us exploring the surroundings. For a moment it looked as though both would come down crashing when the puppy stopped to turn back and the big fellow bumped into the puppy's back.

...and finally had breakfast with us on the top. The little fellow was very hungry and would come back for more food.

This is on the Basava Hill, Kiran, Basu, Kiran, one of Kiran's engineering classmate and Rohin. My first climb after my injury to my left femur, I was extremely cautious during this climb.

...Basu and Rohin. This dog was a serious kind and he would never stray away from us.

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Overnight stay Two

2009-03-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

That's was my second camping trip on the top. For the others it was very the first time.
Dipi, Dad, Ravi Uncle, Kaalu, Ajay, Nagesh, Praveen and Shankar.

We had our of chapati and avarekalu palya sitting around a bonfire. The wood and fire was fun to watch, the breeze made the flame look as though a dragon was spitting fire. It was warm and we slept out in the open, it rained lightly for 10 minutes, bringing out the heat from inside the rock. Most of us did not sleep well after that.

Morning we went up to the Basava Mantapa and as the sun came up...

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Adventurous descent

2009-02-28T03:12:00.000-08:00

That's the very time we reached the summit... Gulli and I. The picture was shot by our guide.

If you look behind us, the rock just plunges down, it's very steep. We went down that way, against our guide's advice, mostly on our hands, bottoms and feet... trying to get the maximum contact with the rock surface. It was a crazy thing we did. We were relieved to be back on somewhat level surface.

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Jai Hind!!!

2009-01-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

Sometime 1998...

Dad, Kaalu, Murali, Praveen and Nagesh busy having breakfast atop Savandurga. That was during Dad's second and last overnight stay on Savandurga. Four years later he passed away.

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White flower

2008-12-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

This simple little five petal flower... I love the colors, white with light yellow and the fragrance is mild and refreshing, the shapely petals. ...it cannot be called a delicate flower.

It's found more during dry season. I used to pick these flowers and keep smelling them and would never get bored of it. Couple of times, I had brought them home and they stayed fresh for almost a week.

During one of the visits, I brought a small branch and planted that in our office backyard. It sprouted leaves, grew up and flowered. This plant is a wild one, grows in rocky terrain. I've seen this tree in Hampi also.

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Sunset and Savandurga

2008-11-14T05:39:00.001-08:00

Looking to the West from Bangalore, Savandurga is a small bump on the horizon.

Looking to the west from Savandurga.

It's wonderful to see how Sun lights up wild grass flowers.

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Roots

2008-11-09T03:45:00.000-08:00

I was listening to Jethro Tull 'Roots to Branches' and happened to see these roots shot during my last visit.

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One misty morning...

2008-11-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Manchenbele as seen from the summit some time June or July

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The Basava connection

2008-11-05T05:54:00.000-08:00

Basavanna has his presence here at the base in a temple and on the top in a small mantapa.

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Shades of green...

2008-10-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

...at Savandurga change with seasons. This is my favorite, the one you can find during rainy season. The grasses not only enjoy rain water but also the water which flows down the hill through the gaps in rocks.

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Some more ruins

2008-09-04T05:39:00.000-07:00

This wall is the first "mile stone" on the way up. Ideally I should reach this in about 12 minutes with a light backpack.

This is the second "mile stone", I should reach this point in about 25 minutes. The stretch between these two mile stones is the steepest in the route I take normally.

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Remembering Savandurga

2008-08-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about the hill... wishing to see it during rainy season.

Everything looks so green and fresh from the top.

On the way to the top, you can see rain water collected at several spots... such clear and cool water. You could drink it and play in it.

Stone Inscriptions

2008-07-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Found these stone carvings near Tavaraekere (between Magadi and Bangalore)

The language looks like it's Halegannda (old Kannada)

Lord Hanuman...

2008-06-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

Lord Hanuman with moon on his right and Sun on left.

shadows and reflections

2008-05-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

shadow of the hill on a screen of mist... if you look carefully, you can see my shadow too.

reflection on a cloudy day

Ruins of Savandurga

2008-05-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Temple Gopura in ruins

a shelter designed for summer?

quarters for soldiers on guard duty atop Savandurga

A gate way in the fort wall on the smaller neighboring hill

wall built on one of the hills

another view of the wall

part of the fort wall

a narrow gateway for security

Sunset at Savandurga

2008-05-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

Over night stay atop Savandurga - I

2008-05-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

December 1996. Gulli and I set off to Savandurga on my Kinetic Honda for an over night stay on top of the hill.

The night was windy, misty and cold. The wind made all kind of scary noises. Gulli was worried about ghosts.

The fire hardly lasted. But we had moon's company. We saw the Moon rise over Bangalore...

We saw city lights... Bangalore towards east, Ramanagara on the south and Magadi on the west.

Just the two of us on the largest rock hill in Asia!! Frankly speaking, we just waited for the Sun to come back.

First time I ever saw sun-set, moon-rise, moon-set and sunrise... an experience to cherish.

Gulli behind a bouquet of wild grass flowers.

It was fun!!!

The first time I reached Savandurga's top

2008-03-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

Visit One

My first visit to the place was time November 1994 with Anish and Gulveer (Gulli), my neighbors and good friends. We went there out of curiosity...we had come to see early morning mist at Thippagondanahalli, a rain water reservoir about 40km on the west of Bangalore. We had a wonderful time; breathing cold air, watching clouds of mist floating around, listening to the birds singing... nothing like nature. Gulli and I pitched stones on water till our arms ached. We played around like kids... till we were hungry... which made us head towards Magadi. We stopped at a junction on the outskirts of Magadi...we saw a small shop selling 'vada' and tea... the best vadas I'd ever tasted.

We learned about Savandurga from the shopkeeper and decided to go there. Riding our bikes through the woods... we stopped. I saw few wood apple trees and decided to take some wood apples home. We did take them home, my mom told us that wood apples are not supposed to be plucked. W were supposed to pick up the ones fallen off the tree (since they fall off when ripe). However, getting the wood apples to fall of the tree was more fun than actually having them.

We parked our bikes close to a temple at the base of the hill... one of the local kids lead us to the ancient temple...we paid our tributes to the Gods and headed to the hill guided by the same kiddo. By now, the sun was up, beating down our heads... 20 minutes later we reached the first wall. Another 20 minutes we reached the second wall... all of us exhausted.

We decided that we had had enough for the day... There goes our first climb... I decided to come back, soon. (the picture you see above was shot some time 2003)

Visit Two

Gulveer and I, were back determined to make it to the top. I do not remember how we met our volunteer guide, a local kid. Our little guide knew the most easy path but we hardly obeyed him.

We went past the first wall - ruins of an incomplete fort.

From this point onwards, the path is very steep. This is the stretch where most first time climbers give up.

We reached the second wall - point where we had given up.

Our guide encouraged us and of course we too were determined. Actually, I was the one who was struggling while Gulli and the guide were going easy. I hardly paid attention to the view or anything else... We reached the ancient stone structure (we took more than one hour to reach this point). I was breathing real fast.

I could feel my heart beat like crazy.

We shared our our breakfast of biscuits, oranges and water with the guide. We were told that the summit was not far from here, in fact the stone mantapa was in sight. The short break let my heart beat come back to normal.

We followed our little guide through head-high grass, a passage through stones and finally we reached the Basava Mantapa, the end of the trial. We had made it!!

The view was breath-taking!! These pictures give you a rough idea, that's it. You should see, smell, hear, feel and experience the place for yourself.

One thing I should tell... Not all pictures in this post are shot during this visit.

The sun was up. Now we could feel the heat. Another hour it would get real hot.

We started back. The descend was effortless for me, Gulli was little scared climbing down. At one point, we climbed down a very steep part, literally slid down, it was madness. Our guide was scared but joined us in our crazy adventure.

The climb, up and down, was fantastic. A totally new experience for me!!

I'd fallen in love with Savandurga.

Above the clouds....

2007-12-25T03:01:00.001-08:00

Some how, local dogs used to join us in many of my climbs. They gave us good company all the way up and down. We shared our snacks with them.

This particular one you see below, led us (a local kid and me) all the way up and stayed with us till we came back down.

Some times I feel they came to protect... just a feeling.

View of two reservoirs from the top...

2007-12-24T05:14:00.001-08:00

Manchenbele and Thippagondanahalli are two man-made reservoirs with mini dams which supply water to some parts of Bangalore.

Thippagondanahalli was one of our weekend destinations. Once Satish, Deepak and I spent a night camping next to the reservoir. We pitched a small tent, made a fire, sat around it drinking late into the night. Our dinner was 10 rolls shared between the three of us. When we ran out of booze, Satish and Deepak went to Tavarekere (about 12 kms) but came back disappointed.

When we were thirsty we tried to boil water from the reservoir so that we could drink it. The bottle burst and the water put off the fire. We decided to hit the sack, we got into the tent. It was filled with smoke. What a night!! Unforgettable!

Manchenbele is closer to Savandurga and I've passed by it plenty of times but never found an opportunity to go close to the water. It's quite big and you can appreciate it's size and beauty better from an elevated position. It's a popular destination for weekenders and for movie makers it's a convinient spot.

Manchenbele reservoir in the background