Muttatti

This trip was long pending, as we had planned to visit the Kaveri valley from a really long time. What started as a search of Igglur Dam (which I plan to discover some other time), led us finally to Muttatti. I must say, this *is* the closest dense forest one can find near Bangalore. At a distance little above 100 km (via Kanakapura), this makes for an excellent day trip, with all the required ingredients – forest, water, a good drive, and unlimited scenery!

The Kaveri valley is a very beautiful cradle, where mother nature sings a lullaby for eternity, her voice flowing with the waters, making all we children cuddle up in her lap.

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Chennarayanadurga

Somewhere on the net, I had read about the existence of ‘Nava Durgas’ (9 forts) around Bangalore. My quest for them has been on ever since. Chennarayanadurga is one of them. This fort located near Madhugiri in Tumkur district, was built by a local cheiftain in the 17th Century, and has been lesser known to even a veteran Bangalorean!

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Hemagiri Betta, Kunigal Tq.

This was our first trek-to-be in 3 years since we came to Bangalore. It was during those hey days in Mysore, that we used to have extensive trekking programmes in the western ghats in Karnataka. Now, Bangalore had put us onto a life-on-fast-track, and we badly wanted to come out of that, hence this venture! Our first target, with the current setup, is to cover places of interest around Bangalore, which are lesser known to the junta. Read on to know more of one such place!

Our regular habit of googling led us to know of a place called Huliyurdurga in Kunigal taluk. Actually, we set off there. As usual, we left by around 08:45, and hit Tumkur road. Since it was not a Sunday, there was some heavy traffic near Peenya. After Nelamangala, we took left onto NH48, to reach Kunigal. NH48 is a 2-lane scenic highway that connects Bangalore-Hassan-Mangalore.

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