DoDDa Aladamara, Manchanabele Dam and Savandurga...

May 1, 2008 9:15 am

With the engine roaring like a beast, my Pulsar was picking up speed on majestic Mysore highway. With another beast in XCD also chasing, we were cruising on a Thursday morning on a pleasant weather, getting away from the urban life.

Only two days back we planned a quick outing to Big Banyan Tree and a unknown place called Manchanabele Dam. Thursday morning brought with it the outing spirit in us and we were off to it after a quick breakfast at Hotel Vaishali (8:00 am). With the divine blessings of Goddess Rajarajeshwari at Rajarajeshwari Temple (9:15am En route) we were off to Big banyan tree on Mysore Road. It took another 20 mins to reach Amruth Distillaries/Rajarajeshwari Dental College deviation(Right turn from Mysore road), which will leave us the fourlane Mysore road to a renovated interior road. Except for a final stretch of 3 km, it is a fantastic road to Big Banyan Tree (BBT) (10:30am About 30km from Jayanagar 9th block and 7-8km off Mysore road). The BBT has a history of 400 years and is spread across a 4 acre property and maintained by Thotagarika Ilake/Bank of Maharashtra. After taking few photos and spending few minutes we were off to our next destination Manchanabele Dam.

The road was under construction in some places and in others, no road at all, it was 10 km away from BBT (I remembered the fruit vendors words - daari sumaaragide DAMge) we had to take a left turn at a place called Chandrappa circle. Ups and Downs and a right turn of the road suddenly lead to a pristine beauty which left us spell bound. The panoramic view of the water reservoir and the background granite hills were just splendid and eye catching. There was no human activities to be found for kilometers away. We just just spent some time looking at the beauty and went near the reservoir (We have to take right turn for the reservoir and the straight road will lead us to the Dam) After passing the curvy road down for about 2.5 km we were near the reservoir. Without getting down into the water we just enjoyed the beauty on top of the big stones




We got back to the main road and further down about 2 km we were near the ManchanaBele dam (Maintained by Kavari Neeravari Nigama) The entry is restricted, but we could see few people entering the dam!! Most of the route was through small villages and BMTC(KSRTC) service is there till the dam! We were resting by now, as our planned trip was about to end, when one of the passer by told that the Savandurga is just 7km.





Bingo! we were on our bike again to explore one more place. The distant hill was not visible to our naked eye as the speedo meter showed 7km. It took another 7 kilometer (14 kilometer from Manchanabele Dam via Vire GowDana Doddi) to reach the Savandurga hills. The single large monolith hill was just amazing(Reached at 12:30pm). We planned just to see the hill and return back, but our instinct just overtook and we were climbing the hills!! As we were tired of the earlier trekking, we just restricted our climb to the ruined fort(half way mark). The 360 degree view was just picturesque. Prakruthiya madilalli, maanavana srusti naganyavo anisithu. With half hearted feeling of not reaching the top, we were back to the base. Visiting the Laxmi Narasimha temple and resting for a while we were back on track to B'lore. We will come again "Savandurga" to conquer you!!

Simhavalokana:

Pulsar started zooming again on the same route on our way back covering the same places that we visited (There was another route via Ramnagar, which would have taken 20+ km extra, but we wanted to enjoy the rugged road!!) We were back at Mysore Road at 2:30pm. The initial josh was slowly going down and we reached JP Nagar Nandini to have decent lunch. At exact 4:15pm bike came to a days final halt and we were back on our beds.

It was a refreshing experience for us, who were from small towns, different corners of Karnataka and now part of chaotic life called Bengaluru. The day which would have been spent sleeping, surfing net and watching TV was burned on a unforgettable experience....

ಸಂಜೆಯ ರಂಗಲೂ, ಮಿಂಚು ಗುಡುಗಿನ ಸದ್ದಲೂ, ನೀನೆ ನನ್ನ ಕಣ್ಣೆದುರು|
ದಿನವಿಡಿ ಕನಸ ಕಂಡರೂ ಕಣ್ಣು, ಮನಸಿಗಿಲ್ಲ ನಿದ್ದೆಯ ಮಂಪರು|| *















We : Avinash K S, Girish C, Naveen Bhat, Shashidhar RV
Transport : Hamara Bajaj - Pulsar 150, XCD 125
Food Beverages : Breakfast - Vaishali (Jaya Nagar 9th Block) Lunch - Nandhini (JP Nagar) Lots of Badavara Badami kaDlekayi.
Total tournaround distance : 120km
Remarks : Unplanned but picturesque, exciting and economic trip :)

For more pictures click Here

* Thanks to my friend Girish Shetty for writing such beautiful quotes!