Magan-kondh-maharayan-betta!

Weird title, isn't it?! Yeah, this is a beautiful place (a hill) in the state of Karnataka. The natives believe that once upon a time, a father took his son's life by pushing him from the top of the hill and thereafter this name stuck on!

It is situated about 3kms from the NH75 connecting Sakleshpur and Hassan. It can be seen from the highway and this was how we decided to explore it.

It was a pleasant morning of the 1st day of October. We (me and my friend Kashyap) left Mangalore around 5 am, and two of my friends (Ananth and Shruthi) joined us near Uppinangady. Our actual plan was a trek to the beautiful Ettina bhuja peak.The route to Sakleshpur (Shiradi ghats) was hopeless but the scenic beauty was worth all the pain we endured in the journey. After having our breakfast in the outskirts of Uppinangady, we realised that we could have gone via Charmadi ghats which would have saved us a lot of time and exhaustion.

After missing our route to Ettina bhuja, we continued our journey in the highway towards Hassan and it was then that we had our Eureka moment! We stumbled upon this peak purely by accident and after enquiring with the natives, we decided to explore it.

One must take a right turn near Ballupet (I suggest you confirm with the local populace) and ride for about 6-7 km. The road is simply wonderful with lots of greenery. The natives are very friendly and helpful. We reached the basecamp (if it could be called that) where there is a small temple dedicated to Lord Aanjaneya. It was around 11am and we were welcomed by the scorching heat.

It is hardly explored by anyone and we had no fellow-trekkers. In some places, we had to literally crawl, rock-climb and create our own trail. It was a small trek of 1.5km each side but our timing with the Sun's prime hour left us thirsty and tired. After huffing and puffing for an hour, we reached the peak. It was breath-taking. One can get glimpses of the highway, the fields, the clouds and faraway mountains from the peak. The initial path was amidst the forest and after a kilometre, we had to rock-climb our way to the peak. There is also a dilapidated structure (resembling a fort) at some places.

All in all, the experience was worth it. If we had made it to Ettina bhuja, I am not sure if we could have experienced such a raw, dangerous and adventurous trek. Sufficient amount of drinking water, light food should be ample for this trek.

Even though, we had no encounter with the rain so far, heavy downpour greeted us on our way back near Sakleshpur and accompanied us till our homes. We were drenched and exhausted but we carried home the thrill of exploring an unexplored place. Yes, we became the laughing stock among our friends' gang for missing out the route to Ettina bhuja even with the GPS technology, but they kept mum after looking at the pictures.

Karnataka has lots of such unexplored places in the chains of Western ghats, one simply needs the patience and desire to explore!