Siddara Betta Trek & Cave Exploration
For 1st time in my life, organizing trek to "SIDDARA BETTA" for trekking & cave exploration. Gathered information about the place, transportation, food availability & contacts from friends. Thanks to all friends for giving their valuable information & feedback about the place. This is 2nd trek of BTC & long way ahead.
Even gone through lot of reviews, blogs in the internet to know the place. By seeing them, it is clear that it is quite regular place for trekkers.
Thanks to all 8 members of this trek who made this trip so special to me as an Organizer. Hope everyone had nice time.
About Siddara Betta:
Siddara Betta means"Hill of Saints" (in Kannada) is renowned for numerous the Hindu sadhus and their meditations. It is rocky hill which has full vegetation It is said that, many saints used to perform meditation in the caves which is stretched over 1km inside. Hence the name "Siddara Betta" in Kannada means the mountain of seers. We have Lord Siddalingeshwara(Shiva) temple inside the cave. Trekking to top of hill to visit Sadhu Dhyana Sthana also very good one for nature lovers.
Being close to the Devarayana Durga and the forest surrounding it this place is a good place for a enthusiast bird watcher as well. This stretch of land covering Channarayana Durga, Devarayana Durga etc is the habitat of the Yellow Throated Bulbul.
Trip Outline:
After my busy trip to Coimbatore after attending office colleague marriage, I couldn't sleep well due to travel. Started from room on bike by 5:35am and went to pickup Megharaj from BTM. We reached Majestic & saw at our pick-up point. No one is there, so went to City Railway station & parked my vehicle. Came back to point where Viru is waiting. He is 1st person to come there, followed by Sandeep, Ruwise, Me & Megharaj. Our successive folks are Anil, Prabhakar & Chandrakala.
Planned to start @ 6:30am from Majestic. However, started @ 6:50am in HP TT with total of 9 members. Picked Anthony @ Jalahalli cross & moved towards Dabbaspet. Reached there by 8am. Had bfast - Idly, Kara Bath, Bisi Bele Bath which are very good. Couldn't get any rice item for parcel as it takes more time for them to make. So started towards Korthigere by 8:30am. Saw a small hotel there which has breakfast. Me & Megharaj went there to check out. Thatte Idli & lemon rice are available. Asked for one spoon of lemon rice to check the taste & they gave half plate of rice. We both tasted which was good. With difficulty I only completed it. Took parcel from there & moved to Siddara Betta.
Reached the base of Siddara Betta @ 10am. Parked vehicle, few purchased caps for Rs 40. Started moving towards for trek.
On entrance arch, it was mentioned that wearing chappals, shoes not allowed. We skipped it & started ascending through stairs. Took few breaks in middle to take lot of pictures (Group, individuals for marriage alliance) on the way. There are tables in huts on the way where we can sit & relax for sometime.
Iron rod railings are present beside the steps which will make trekking easy. After photo sessions, moved towards Lord Siddalingeshwara (Shiva) cave temple. Reached there @ 11:30am. Eshwar (Guide) is already waiting there for us. Removed our shoes, entered temple.
Priest pored holy water on our heads for 5 times. Water is so cold & we got relaxed with it. Started moving inside the caves for exploration. Guide us brief information about the place & sadus who was here. We moved in & around the cave which was fun. Took pictures while moving further.
It took nearly 2 hours to complete the exploration. Our group gave good competition to the monkeys stating there. Monkeys might have thought that, we got more companions. Hope you can understand seeing this picture (LOL).
Once all climbing, photos are done, we came back to entrance of temple @ 1:15pm. Everyone wore the shoes & started towards top of betta. Noticed that, sideways of trail are burnt (not sure about the reason - might be littering / done by temple folks). Reached top by 2pm. Now, started with Rock climbing by Viru, Anthony, Megharaj & Ruwise. As we are hungry, ate lemon rice. Once done with it, photo sessions starts. Viru is wearing Cowboy hat & Megharaj was trying to snatch it. Literally it was too funny & we are laughing like hell. Later, it was kungfu stunts btw Viru & megharaj again.
Individual photo sessions start. View from top of hill is awesome with other hills around with blue sky - no sign any cloud at all.
By the time all photo sessions are completed, it is 3pm. Started descending down to base & on the way took lot of pictures again. One place, everyone started playing telephone game (Which we used to do in childhood - connecting 2 match boxes with a thread, speaking from each side). This is done through 2 sides of iron rods. Viru, Prabhakar & Sandeep on one side. Chandrakala, Anthony, Anil, Megharaj on other side. It was really funny as they are shouting in it. Had one more group picture on the stairs.
Reached base by 4:30pm. Started moving back to BGL in our vehicle. To cut the time, started playing Dumb Sharats game. We played for 1hr 30mins while travelling. We reached Bgl by 7pm (As per my schedule made).
Travel Guide:
1. Board KSRTC Bus from Magestic (Bgl) to Koritegere. From there, we will have private buses which goes till base of Siddara betta.
2. Few KSRTC buses ply btw Tumkur & Siddara betta.
3. Can go on bikes from Bangalore to Siddara betta - 105kms. Go on Tumkur road, take left of flyover @ Dabbaspet. Take right below flyover & go ahead for 30kms to reach Koritegere. Take right & go for 5kms which shows you sign board for Siddara betta. It is 11kms from arch to base of hill.
It was really fun filled trek & cave exploration which is so special to me. Thanks for all members for being part of this trip. Let's meet up everyone in future treks.
Written By : Chaitanya Kumar Adusumilli
Organized By : Chaitanya Kumar Adusumilli
Date of event : 19th-Jan 2013
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