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Published: July 30th 2011
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I’m here again; ready to climb ’’The biggest monolith in Asia’’. I don’t want to make it sound like a daunting task, but for an amateur climber like me, this stone hill surely tested me at a few occasions during the climb. The steep ascend at a few places will quickly make you to lose hope and give up. The trick is not to give up and just keep climbing.
One think I realize and learned from this short trek is to pace yourself right from the beginning of the climb and try to maintain the same amount of speed throughout. Eventually the climb will wear you down but take rest at places where you can actually relax. In most of my treks I try to always stop at places where I can actually have a seat; for e.g. A stone slab, or a tree trunk, in fact anywhere you think you might be able to rest your back. I sometimes close my eyes for a few minutes and try to gather my breath and sip on some water. I also realize that lying on my back with my rucksack still latched on to my shoulder helps me relax my
Savandurga
A panoramic view of Savandurga. lower back and most importantly “climb with your legs, not with your back”.
Coming back to this trek, it was a trek I had intended to do for a few months now; however only now I came around in doing it and I’m glad I did it for a few very personal reasons. Now, I would guess on an average, the amount of time it takes to complete this trek would be 1 hour 30 min to 2 hrs at the max, which would also include your rest time. I curiously asked the lady down at the shops on how long it would take to climb this piece of rock and she’s like 3hrs, but then how would she know.
Although I usually don’t time myself while climbing, but I always try to make it to the top at the least amount of time and this time I completed the climb in about an hour’s time.
All along the climb, the stone hill got some nice places where you can stop and explore around. On the way and at the top of the hill it’s got some natural pools which looks safe for swimming; I suppose the water collected
Rock formation.
A balancing act. at these pools is rain water. At the peak it’s got this Nandi statue, I wouldn’t like to stay very long on the peak cause the wind was very strong and you might need to be just a little bit careful while you’re on the top. You can also find the ruins of the old fort and at a few places the walls are still in tack. The area below the peak is very nice, thorny cactuses, wild flowers and grasses adorn this area. Here you can relax and have your packed lunch. There are no shops at the top so bring your own supply. I saw this guy carrying a carton of juice boxes to the top; actually he was following at the same pace as this bunch of trekkers and I suppose he would offer them these juice boxes every time these guys stop for a break. I met these guys again on the way down and I can see his carton half empty; this guy did offer me also but I said no. Just a word of reminder, these juice box are everywhere along the way and on top of the hill; people have just discarded them
without a thought that they are messing up the place, so next time you buy these juice boxes remember to discard them at a proper place. I can’t say this enough but keep in mind that we are spoiling the beauty of the place by leaving our junk everywhere we stop.
On the way to the top I was greeted by these dogs and they were more than happy to welcome me. If you’re keen enough to look around you can spot some wild life, like the lizard on the picture. Also Savandurga is a location for the making of David’s Leans’s movie A Passage to India. Next time I would want to visit the actual filming area.
Coming down the hill is fairly quick; if you are in a hurry you can just run down the hill without any danger of falling or spilling over; when I say spilling over I meant you not your belongings cause my camera fell of my bag and I wasn’t even aware cause I was busy concentrating in running down the hill and moreover I had my earphones on. If it wasn’t for these good people who shouted at me and
Rolling Stone
I'll stop rolling right about here. stopped me I would have lost my camera; it would have been a pain if I only realized when I reached down, that my camera was gone and had to climb again to search for it; I was so damn lucky. I realized later that even the bottle of water fell and it fell way ahead the camera and no one had stopped me. This was one mistake I did; not checking my back if it was zipped properly before getting up from my last stop.
Reaching down, it had already started raining and I would assume that climbing that bare rock would be difficult when it’s raining because it would be slippery.
Overall a satisfying climb, I came down unscarred; a small mishap with the camera incident and I thank God for whatever happened.
There are also a few other places where you can explore in this area. Just like how I reached the area I intended to hike back to the Savandurga gate and catch a bus to Bangalore, but as usual I would stop any bike or car passing by for a lift and luckily this time an elderly person on a moppet stopped
and dropped me till the gate.
For your information, Savandurga from the Savandurga gate is around 4KM. At the gate you can get buses which goes to Magdi also direct buses which goes to Market in Bangalore. I caught the direct 4:30 PM bus at the gate and got back to Bangalore in no time.
For someone looking for a short weekend trip, I bet this place would be a good option. Don’t be shy to explore the area and also speak to locals, you would be surprise of what you can find and see. I’m sure this is not my last trip to this place because I found an amazing place around the same area and I’m eager to visit this place very soon.
So for now, keep exploring, keep dreaming and keep wandering and keep surprising yourself.
Cheers.
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