Chamarajanagara District - Day 02

I Continue from here...Chamarajanagara District - Day 01

Next day, we left Chamrajanagar at around 6:00AM and we were the first make an entry at the BR hills forest check post. The entire drive uphill was amazing with a feel of blending into the wildlife. We did see a lot of deer’s and birds but no elephants or tigers which are supposed to be other inhabitants in this forest range. We also pass through Jungle lodges which have guest houses for stay and arrange safari and trekking in the forest. But a much cheaper option is “Giridarshini (9383325042)” near the temple. It’s a nice homestay and they also arrange trekking in the forest.

Biliranganathaswamy temple is situated on the summit overlooking beautiful scenery. After a quick darshan we walked to the view point where the crowd was watching a herd of elephants in the hills.

Next stop – A small hanuman temple at the foot hills of BR hills while driving towards Yellandur which is famous for its sleeping Hanuman idol. Our next search was to find a Veerabadhra temple in a small village called Mookhalli. We drove towards Yellandur and took a deviation to Mookhalli. Finding this village was an adventure as we had to take several deviations and get into to real rural India. It’s a beautiful village; the kind where everyone knows everyone else. The temple priest came running to greet us, opened the door.

At Agara; another temple –Rameshwara swamy temple where several Brahmins were chanting some mantra creating a divine atmosphere.

We next drove to Shivanasamudra via Kollegal. Attraction here are – Someshwara temple, Madya Ranganathaswamy temple, a Darga, Gaganchukki and Barachukki water falls. We did not go down to the falls, as it looked like a difficult trek for my parents. 

We returned back to Bangalore via Kanakapura at around 4:00 PM.

It was a great trip as though I had a list of place to visit; the trip more or less was unplanned. Finding hotels in Mysore and Chamrajanagara; waiting for a priest in Channapanapura; finding Mookhali temple and more was a great experience. And the fact that my parents were part of it made it much more exciting.