Horsley Hills - Perfect Place For Doing Nothing

Horsley Hills, the name itself sounds energetic. I somehow always visualized horse stables and sometimes race tracks when I heard the name. I had read about it being referred to as a small hill in Andhra Pradesh - Karnataka border, good to be visited in the summers. The article about Horsley Hills on Wikipedia gave some more information about the place.

The decision to go was abrupt. We finalized in the afternoon, called up the Governor's Bungalow to book rooms, packed up stuff in the evening and left Bangalore by 7PM. Just 170 kms from Bangalore, we had estimated around 4hrs of drive time.

Telephone Numbers:
Governor's bungalow: +91-8571-279323/24
Or at Bangalore via AP Tourism: +91-80-41136373

Approach Route:
Bangalore -> Hosakote -> Kolar -> Rayalapadu -> Madanapale -> go towards Anantpur, turn left after a short distance to Horsley Hills.
Driving time at night - 5hrs (including break for dinner)

Road conditions:
- Good highway till Kolar
- Get into the city at Kolar, narrow roads with traffic till you cross the city
- From Kolar good roads till Rayalapadu
- From around Rayalapadu small potholed road till Horsley Hills

We had dinner at a place between Hosakote and Kolar. Eating places could also be seen till Kolar, and some at Rayalapadu. But none beyond that... if they were there, they were all closed for the night.

The thing I like about driving in the night is empty roads. And the cool breeze. That's about the only two things probably... Everything else becomes difficult; like avoiding stray dogs, finding tea/coffee, and reading road signs. The turn towards Horsely Hills on Madanapale - Anantpur road is easy to miss in the night. There is a big arch way at the entrance, but it is sort of hidden by adjacent trees and not lighted at all. We missed the turn and went further for about 10kms till we started suspecting it. Luckily we found some villagers still chatting by the roadside and turned back after taking directions from them. The climb up to the hills is a very gentle one. We chanced upon a rabbit on our drive up that scurried away under the glare of our headlights.

Impressions:

As we drove in through the gates of the Governor's Bungalow complex, I looked at the watch and it was 12:30 in the night. The staff at the reception had slept off, but woke up as soon as they heard us coming. They courteously checked us in and showed us till our room.

The complex has some cottages and rows of bungalows. The bungalows were mostly two floors high and each floor having around 6-8 large sized rooms. The rooms were spacious and airy and bathrooms huge. The construction is old and has been renovated recently. So don't expect any swanky fittings, but the place is clean.

(The picture to the right is of a cottage at the same complex. These were not the bungalows where we stayed. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the bungalows.)

The best part of the room we stayed in was its huge balcony. It was an awesome place to sit and watch the stars. Being high up and with its open surroundings, it was really windy out there. In the silence of the night all we could hear was the wind. The winds are probably a regular feature of the place, because all the bungalows were named after different forms of wind.

Next morning we got up early to watch the sun rise. After roaming around the hill in circles to find a good spot, we finally walked up a small hill near a temple (just adjacent to the Governor's Bungalow complex). There was a small pond at the base and a few houses where the staff of the bungalows and their families stay. The hills were barricaded with barbed wire, but a kind lady standing at the veranda of one of the houses there pointed us towards a break in the wire through which we could cross over to the other side. This place was not crowded at all, in fact, we were the only ones there. The sun rise from there was beautiful. We sat there for long and experimented with our cameras.

We would probably have stayed there the whole day, but pangs of hunger drove us back to the bungalow. It was easy to find the canteen - the place with most crowd and noise. The breakfast was ample with decent variety of south indian items.

Horsley hills has a bit for everything for everybody - comfortable stay, good food, natural beauty, a temple, a small zoo, a swimming pool, and a bit of adventure sports including a bit of zorbing, rappelling and short treks. Not everything was open that day and the place was under heavy renovation. Later during the day we discovered another place with magnificent view of the valley where we spent a couple of hours relaxing.

We started back late evening, and picked up some pottery on our way back. This area is also known for its pottery and terracotta work. We took a slightly different route on our way back, avoiding Kolar. Roads on this route were better.

Return Route:
Horsley Hills -> Madanapale -> Rayalapadu -> Chintamani -> Hoskote -> Bangalore.
Driving time - 4hrs

Horsley hills is one of the perfect places for a laid back weekend - perfect for doing just nothing. Not my regular kind of place, but I sure enjoyed it for the short while I was there.

A Trip Down Memory Lane - Chitradurga Fort

(Part of a series of posts starting with "A Trip Down Memory Lane")

Approach and Stay:
Chitradurga is around 130kms from Bellary and 200kms from Bangalore. Roads are great and driving time from Bellary was around 2.5 hours. We spotted a nice big hotel right next to the highway and checked in to it. I don't remember the name of the hotel, but I guess it was Hotel Green Park or something. The hotel had a nice restaurant where we had dinner.

The fort is around 20kms from where the hotel is, the road passing through the city. It is a well known tourist place and popular among local crowd and all kinds of tourists. It can get really crowded at the fort and parking space in front of the fort is scarce. In spite of reaching the gates quite early (around 10 AM) the parking spaces were almost full and we were lucky to find a usable space we could squeeze our car into.

The Fort:
One has to purchase tickets to enter into the fort and there are plenty of guides available whom one can hire to show you around. The fort is pretty vast and has many small monuments that have interesting stories. They are useful if you don't know the place and care about the anecdotes. We hired one. There's a nice map at the entrance which one can refer to get a general idea of what is where inside the fort. Below is a picture of the map. Click on it to enlarge and print it as a reference if you are visiting.

Map of Chitradurga Fort. (Click on picture for a larger view.)

Chitradurga is really vast and true to its name, picturesque. Its history dates back to the Chalukya era (6th century AD), but it achieved most of its prominence in the era of the Vijayanagara empire (1500 - 1800 AD). The Nayakas, feudal lords of Chitradurga, were associated with the Vijayanagara empire till it crumbled around 1565 AD. After that this area was ruled independently by the Nayakas till 1780 when Hyder Ali seized control from the Nayakas. Hyder Ali and subsequently Tipu Sultan strengthened the fort considerably. After Tipu Sultan's death in 1799, the British rulers used the fort till they left.

Below is a series of pictures of Chitradurga. Most of the structures standing today are temples and a few important constructions that were built with stone. There were many structures built with mud which have been destroyed completely. Few mud structures standing till now are parts of the palace and official structures (e.g. mint, treasury). What is striking is the greenery inside the fort - unlike all other places that we have seen so far. This place must be really fertile!

(Click on the pictures for a larger view)

Beauty and greenery of Chitradurga Fort.

Mint and Treasury complex (left).
Underground secret storage chamber of the mint (right)

Palace and Temple complex (left)
Hidimbeshwara Temple (right)

Another event not to miss while at Chitradurga fort is the show by the local "Spiderman"! His real name is Jyothi Raju and he is amazing with his climbing skills. He put up a nice show while we were there. His well rehearsed climbs, jumps and even slips are amazing to watch. The internet is full of videos of him.

Chitradurga Spiderman - Mr. Jyothu Raju.
(Click of the pictures for a larger view)

Advice:
The guides usually rush you through the prominent places in a couple of hours. But one can spend the whole day inside the fort. The guides charge around 300-400 rupees, but it probably also depends on your bargaining skills. After letting the guide do his job, just walk around slowly revisiting the places you saw or sit quietly under the shade of a tree or a temple courtyard. Carry enough food inside, there are no shops inside and hawkers are not allowed inside.

Thus ended our day at Chitradurga and this whole North Karnataka road trip. It was a long trip full of awe inspiring stories, monuments and sights. It was simultaneously enjoyable, relaxing and educative. Do comment and let me know how you found this series of posts titled "A Trip Down Memory Lane" covering a historical circuit around North Karnataka.

Back to "A Trip Down Memory Lane"