[girimajiananth]

Forget a travelogue , this is my very first attempt at writing a long essay. I never liked writing essays in my life. Kindly bear with me, criticism will be taken in a positive manner and I shall strive to improve.

It all started with a boring week at office . I wanted to take a break badly, decided to go to some place nearby , nice to relax and may be click some scenic pictures. A friend of mine had recently purchased a pre worshiped automatic (will be introduced shortly ) and was itching to push it on a nice tarmac road. After much thought and debate we fixed the place , BiligiriRanga hills or BR hills it was.

BR hills is around 170 Kms away from Bangalore which is known for its Lord Ranganatha temple . The BRT (Biligiriranga temple) sanctuary is protected under the wildlife act.

we had 3 route options , we decided to take the shortest route on Kanakpura road . In order to avoid all the weekend heavy traffic , we had to leave really early.

Early enough to catch the sunrise just in time.


The road was very inviting , it was like the god of driving had created a beautiful painting.



What would one do with perfect lighting , beautiful road and a very handsome car ? Ladies and gentlemen , presenting a pre worshiped 2005 Toyota camry automatic.



The 2.4L ,4cylinder 16 valve automatic packs some serious power.I never thought automatics could be interesting to drive.Overtaking needs some planning though.If you are used to slow manual cars , you feel like pressing the clutch and trying to shift . Here , there is a very conveniently placed leg brake instead of a clutch. So you can imagine my plight getting used to this car.





The car is very spacious , has a large boot , very comfortable ergonomics . The fully loaded car comes with a nice ICE , but my friend decided to upgrade to JVC player with Bluetooth. The stock speaker does a very fine job though. After purchasing my friend decided to install a rear view camera with all round sensors (yes , front bumper included )



It was close to 7:30 Am, we decided to pack up the cameras , hit the road and cover some distance . The twisting roads were almost empty in the early morning and we decided not to stop for breakfast at the famous "Vasu hotel" in Kanakpura.

I fell asleep in comfortable rear seat for a while. When I woke up, I saw this



This was near TG halli reservoir , one of the main water supply sources for Bangalore. We decided to get down and stretch our legs for a while , and ..... click more pictures of the car !!!

[girimajiananth]

There were some curious onlookers !


we decided to click one last picture at this location ,we were hungry and it was time for breakfast


We drove till Kollegala , no decent restaurants were open since it is a very small town. One kind local guided us to a small hotel beside the town bus stand , Idlis were hot and despite bad taste we devoured it within seconds.Finishing breakfast we left Kollegala towards the next way point -Yellandur.A point I forgot to mention earlier , after crossing Kanakpura , between Malavalli and Kollegala , several places of interest can be found , if one has luxury of time it is worth visiting Shivanasamudra , one of the oldest and probably the first (as far as I know) hydro electric projects commissioned in Asia under the guidance of a very great engineer Bharath Ratna Sir M Vishveshwaraya. (sorry to deviate , I have a great amount of respect for this man and had to mention it ).

After crossing Yellandur , we entered the BR hills forest range, we were stopped at the check post and paid a small fee . We were driving slowly hoping to spot some wildlife . We were not very fortunate , the only fauna we spotted was a peacock which quickly crossed the road and decided to go into hiding.



The view outside the wind shield was a visual treat to the eyes, combined with a twisty tarmac is what I would call a truly relaxing drive, fuel well spent.

[girimajiananth]

After a short twisty drive , we arrived a very picturesque view point


The greenery stretched as far as your eyes could see


I guessed this could be a soliga tribe camp. These are the local tribal who are involved in various agricultural activities . It is said that the purest form of honey is available in this place. I wish my home was in a place like this.


Fortunately the temple was not crowded when we went . We went inside to have a quick darshan and headed to the view point beside the temple.
A panoramic picture from the view point . (sorry for the low quality )



We still had a lot of time to Kill , on our way back we spotted a sign board "K Gudi forest - 20Km -->" . We decided to explore !!!

[girimajiananth]

Good roads and greenery continued all the way ! There was no end to clicking pictures




We arrived at the main forest camp after an hour's drive almost and we saw this fella and belted up and waiting to be transported somewhere.

[girimajiananth]

K Gudi forest is a true treat for nature lovers with its vast expanse of colorful scenery.


Spotted one wild lone tusker grazing in the woods . Forest officials discouraged anyone going near it .



Accommodation arrangements at K gudi forest can be done through Jungle lodges and there are safari's conducted in open jeeps twice or thrice a day.



It was well past lunch time , and since no decent hotels were near by we decided to bid farewell to the place in search of food.

Some parting shots.....



PS: Some pics are from my cam and hence the low quality. Special thanks to my friend who post processed the pics and let me use some of his pictures.

[mobike008]

Note from Mod : Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing

[ampere]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

This was near TG halli reservoir , one of the main water supply sources for Bangalore. We decided to get down and stretch our legs for a while , and ..... click more pictures of the car !!!

Nice car and a nice drive. Truly a worthy weekend.

Question: TG Halli? I thought thats on Magadi road? (here)

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by ampere

Nice car and a nice drive. Truly a worthy weekend.

Question: TG Halli? I thought thats on Magadi road? (here)

Sorry typing mistake. It is TK halli , just before Malavalli .