Savandurga Hills - Trekking - Bangalore weekend destinations

In this post , we share our trekking experience to Savandurga Hills , near Magadi town about 60 kms from Bangalore.

About Savandurga

• One of the largest monolith hill in Asia
• Raises upto 1200m from sea level. Formed by 2 hills known locally as Karigudda (Black Hill) and BilliGudda (White hill )
• Consists of peninsular gneiss , granites
• Hill area ruled by many dynasties since the period of Hoysalas of 12th century
• Was considered as second capital during the period of Naada prabhu Sri.Kempegowda
• Also known as SavinaDurga ( Death Fort ) as during the rule of Kempegowda , prisoners / sinners used to be dragged to the top of hill and dropped to death - similar to Tippu drop in Nandi Hills
• Fort remains on the hill are still visible
• Surrounded by serene green & state owned forest - makes the spot more adventurous for Trekking , Rock climbing , Nature walks etc
• On the hill foots are ancient temples deities worshipped - SriVeeraBhadra Swamy ( a form of Lord Shiva) , Kaali ( form of goddess Parvathi) and Narasimha ( form of Lord Vishnu )
• Has a Nandi idol on top of the hill - Peak point

It was a bright sunny day when our team visited this spot. The temperatures were shooting up to 35 degrees making us further sweat . We had come through Magadi over the state highway 85 from Bengaluru and then took the diversion on SH94 of 13kms journey from Magadi .After passing through SH94 for about 10 kms , there was a diversion which led to this hill for about 3 kms which was fulfilling surrounded with state forest serene on both sides of the road which are well maintained. We visited the temples took darshan and headed towards climbing the hill. 

We took the passage which was just opposite to Narasimhaswamy temple and started slowly stepping up . It was around mid noon and the temperatures were shooting up , the rocks were getting hotter & hotter, thanks to the clouds which were just on time reducing our tiredness. 

There are no foot steps / ropes available to climb the hill . Hence we took along extra precautions of getting the required food stuffs , lot of drinks . Remember , this spot have very few hotels - we recommend to get parcels of your food stuffs. 

We were greeted by circling hawks , hill chameleon lizards of different colors all along the path. People say at night times this spot attracts animals such as Leopards , Bears etc - luckily we did not notice them on our path !!

After covering half of the hills , we noticed the remains of the fort which is believed to be existing since 15th century during the period of Kempegowda. The spot where prisoners were dropped to death is still present reminding the history.

Fort - Drop spot

We almost took 2 hours to reach on top of hill. The views from hill top was awesome , as we gradually stepped up , cool breeze flowing in relaxed our nerves with sense of completing this challenging  journey. Full stretch of Manchanbele reservoir could be noticed from this spot.

There were less visitors on the day around 20-30 when we visited this spot. People say spot is always safe and away from crimes. We still recommend to always explore in a group. 

We could not visit the Nandi Idol on top of the hill due to our schedule constraint and started descending back , reached the hill foot within an hours time.

Overall an awesome spot to explore with family and friends. Best time to explore would be during weekends in the early morning and evening.

Do visit here and share your experience.