Savandurga Hill Trek

I checked the time. It was 2:59 a.m. The alarm was due to buzz at 3.00 a.m. Impressed with my bio-clock, I got up to get ready for the cab. Nature’s call is always a trouble at this weeny time of the morning. But c’est la vie. The cab was right on time and so was my friend. We both set off right at 4’o clock for our Savandurga Trek.

Savandurga Hill, view from the side

When we left the city and took a right turn towards Savadurga, the scenery changed drastically. It was a narrow road surrounded by forest on either side and there were no other cars to be seen. Our driver stopped suddenly. “You see there is a bhaalu (bear) standing there?” Eeek! Both of us sat bolt upright and narrowed our eyes. We couldn’t see anything in the dark but just then the driver ran over a big rat and the ambience was starting to get a little spooky, especially with the road signs saying ‘Drive Slow. Leopard Crossing’!  

Whilst climbing..

It was about a 50km drive. We arrived at the beginning of the trail at around 5a.m and started the walk right away. Savandurga is one of the largest monolith hills in Asia. The single massive rock coupled with the darkness and the silence set a unique atmosphere. 

Savandurga Hill

The climb at the very start was steep and the slope ran two ways - downwards as well to the right. This made walking harder. I had my headlamp on. But since we were blinded by the darkness around and couldn’t really see too far ahead, our confidence dropped. We wanted the sun to be up soon. There was a couple and a group of four who already looked like they were stuck. We laughed nervously, discussing ‘what the hell’ but we trudged on.

Boulders on the way

The climb didn’t get any flatter. There were places where we had to go on all fours to crawl up, jump up the big rocky bits, sort of hang from tree branches to get from one boulder to the other, walk in between a tiny gap formed by two boulders. At times, we wanted to stop so much to catch a breath, but we couldn’t because our ankles were precariously angled, we felt we shouldn't stop. 

Hanging off the branch :D

The hill is very bare and has an uneven rough rock surface. The coarse surface is the only reason this climb is possible. Had it been any smoother, it would have been very challenging. Also, starting to climb early is advisable. It can get very tiring with a strong sun directly overhead. The hill looked very brown and bare with a few cactus and cherry blossoms along the way up. I was very surprised to see the white and red cherry blossom trees on such a bare rocky surface! Towards the top, there was much more greenery and we could also hear a lot of chirping birds. I spotted a few chameleons as well.

Cherry Blossoms!

The trail continued to be steep until it got to what’s known as the Savandurga Peak Fort. It looked like a ruined brick wall of the fort. Just before we got there, the climb shot up from an angle of 45 to 50 degree or so it felt like. 

Savandurga Peak fort at the distance

But the most magical part of this was – we somehow made it to the Fort, found some solid ground, turned back and the red sun just peeked out of the cloud. Ah, the timing! We stood there, watching the sun rise over the Arkavathi river flowing across the Deccan plateau before us. 

View from the top

We were told to follow the electric posts and the arrow marks. This was a puzzle in itself! Often, we couldn’t find the arrow marks and the posts were laid out on tricky surfaces at places. It was only later while descending that we realized that there was a much easier route on the side.

The Peak Fort view from the top

We made our way through boulders and finally saw the little white Nanda Fort Temple at the top of the peak. It didn’t look like there was any path to that top. But there was, hidden amongst trees and rocks and boulders. 

Nandi Fort Temple at the Peak in the distance

We made it to the top finally. The view all around was mesmerising. The rocky spread of the plateau with hills, rocks, greens and the river at one side looked beautiful in the soft glow of the sun. We sat there, soaking in the view, munching our summit-celebrating ‘snickers’ for a while.

At the top.

Whilst we were there, this one person came to the top, bare foot. He sat there, meditating. When we began our descent, we started following him as it looked like he knew the route better. It was so humbling to see him, bare-foot, strolling down the hill with lazy effortless steps and a look of ‘nirvana’ on his face!

The Nandi temple at the top.

Anyway, the Saturday early morning trek to this massive monolithic rock came to a lovely end. The descent was not that difficult, and we were very pleased with ourselves. We visited the Manchanabele Dam on our way back and then took the liberty to make a stop at UB City. We were conscious of our smelly sweaty clothes as we entered the big mall, but we didn’t care. I’m pretty shameless anyway when it comes to food. We called it a day after gorging on plates full of chicken and fish and baklava.

Sweat it off and then hoover it up! Ying and Yang, until the next one!