Himvad Gopalswamy Betta

This is my 100th post, it came faster than i thought it would, My journey so far in the blogosphere has been a wonderful experience. Thanks to all the visitor's and followers who make my day.


I thought let me mark this 100th post by sharing photo's of one of my favorite place, I feel in love with this place when I first visited here about 8 years back and the photo's shared here are from my second vist, hope you all enjoy


Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta (GS Hill) is located in the Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka, It gets its prefix from its climatic condition, Dense mist predominates and covers these hills all round the year, HIMA in native language Kannada means mist. GOPALSWAMY is derived from the Ancient Temple on top of the hill dedicated to Lord Venugopala (another name for Lord Krishna) and BETTA means Hill (in Kannada) which is in the height of 2800 feet above sea level.


Click here to view photo's and read some interesting information of the beautiful Ancient Temple

 

GS hills is also known for its picturesque views of the surrounding hills and valleys and there is no doubt that anyone who visits this place will fall in love with it instantly.

GS Hills is the higest point in Bandipur Wildlife santuary, in fact it is the highest peak in this region. The hill is home for many wild animals and exotic birds. Elephants rule this region, if we reach on top of the hill early morning we can see herds of elephants moving slowly along with their young one's.

Its very foggy and cold here early morning, clouds cling to the top of the hill and it literally feels one is walking into the clouds, clouds clear slowly by noon only to reaturn by day fall, one can catch up spectacular sunrise and sunset from here but no one is allowed to stay after 5 P.M.

These regions were a favorite hunting ground for the Mysore Maharajahs and their British guests. The royals have built a guesthouse on top of the hills and there are some rare pictures of the Maharajahs and their guests with their prized hunt the tiger. Now this area is covered under the Project Tiger for Bandipur wildlife sanctuary

This place is an excellent picnic spot for all. There are total 77 lakes situated over a distance of 5-6 kms on this hilly region. These can be seen only by walking through hills and forest areas and the way is naturally made. Among these, one lake is called Hamsa theertha (Swan lake). There is a story behind this lake. Once a crow took bath in this lake and became Hamsa (Hamsa means swan in Kannada). Interestingly, one cannot see any crows surrounding this place.

Luch green mountains, cool weather, low clinging clouds can we very inviting but if your are not used to trecking or walking long distance you will end up like the guy in the picute below :)