Huliyurdurga (translates to The fort of the tiger’s town) is not particularly well known. I guess Pole (Harsha) and I were among the handful that got on top of the hill this year. Infact, most people we met in the town were not aware of the trek path. As it is with a lot of other things, the less explored path is also likely to be the more adventurous and interesting one.
We started off from Pole’s home at about 6:00AM in the morning. Reached the village in about 1 hour. We had a hard time finding the scalable side. Our first effort went in vain and we had to climb down after a point. Luckily, we caught sight of a bird hunting a lizard live. The bird was generous enough to pose for a full video till the lizard gave up.
Finally, after going around a bit, we found a temple and the trail. For the convenience of others, I have put a local map below with the red path showing the path to the starting point of the trek-
Some helpful trekkers had marked a few rocks. The start of the climb was quite steep. Harsha went first.
There were some more interesting stretches.
We were on the top in less than 45 minutes.
As soon as we reached the top and looked around, we found a Pelican flying at about the same altitude. Interestingly, we could not spot a big water body around. Must have been an adventurous pelican.
The Brahminy kite seemed to be staring right back at us.
Not to forget the common kites..
The old temple as seen from top..
The panaroma –
The remains of the fort were pretty disappointing..
“Kadu Mallige” (Wild Jasmine) was growing in plenty on the top.
Spent about 2 hours on the top and started our descent.
View of the hill from the old temple…
The toughest part was yet to come.. I had to drive for 3 hrs straight through the traffic jams of Bangalore.