Sunday, November 01, 2009

Madakashira

Madakashira is one of those forts which are not difficult to trek apart from only one place. Of course there should be some part of difficulty in trekking if not where is the fun …..





We left Bangalore at 5.25 am on the 30th October 2009 and after took a break at 6kms before Goravanahalli for a small tea. And then continued towards Madaskhira and reached it by 9.30am. Don’t you wonder why took so long… me and my trek companion Arjun are also interested in clicking pictures of birds. And one can see Kingfisher, Bee eater and few other varieties of birds. So as and when we sighted birds we stopped the car, this took us extra time to reach the place. The next break was at Madhugiri for Breakfast. We had yummy idli and unforgettable chattni at one of the Brahmin’s restaurant. And then with extra josh we started towards Madakashira. Its approx of 30 kms from Medigeshi (another partial fort we had trekked almost a month ago). On the way we came across a nice lake with few birds and then reached Madakashira. Started searching for a place to park the car and we were enquiring with every passerby for the entrance to the Fort. All the trek palaces, forts I have seen are quite far away from the village but to my surprise this fort’s entrance in between few houses and the actual start point for the trek is literally behind someone’s home!



Just a few steps from behind some one home there is a remaining part of a welcome arch. We kept on following the steps and there were lots of human made walk ways, just keep following any one of them around 10 yards from here we got to see the standard ASI board which meant no meaning for the fort. Alongside this board was a small statue of Hanuman which looked like it was worshipped that day morning! Around 50 steps and then we reached a platform where we relaxed for approx of 15 mins, this place had good shad and the breeze we got made us stay there for more time. On to left had side we sighted a secret pathway which was deep and step. Also it looked like it was closed recently. After the break we continued little further and were surprised to see a huge bunch of goats. Of course they did pose for us as if they were very familiar with trekkers and cameras. 


The path continues a little head and takes a right turn we one needs to climb + jump a 5 ft rock to continue. I call it dangerous as on to the left hand there is a deep step with sharp rocks and to the right it’s a huge pit with full of thorn plants. Due to my fellow trekker I did not fall into either of the one! But nothing to worry as the history goes - me getting hurt in each trek this time also I meant with a tiny accident made by a thorn plant. So let’s get back to trek…. 10 steps after this jump rock we were greeted with a nice watch tower kind of arch. Though it was in good condition it was decorated with love names of people who have visited the fort. Once entered it felt like we were at a huge well planned entrance which was built for multipurpose say like halting place for couple of horses and large view point. Thru one of the view point we could see 180 degree of the city. Have confidently forgotten about the history of this fort but all I can see is I liked this view point a lot.


Then main fort is divided into three divisions by structure. On to the left side its only view points to the center it has a natural pond and a huge elevated watch tower and to the right a path which leads to another natural pond and a Shiva temple. This temple looked like it was visited for puja quite often. From here there are more and neat structured steps which leads to another adjacent hill which is also covered by this fort. There were many monkey families on that hill and 2 of us this side so we decided not to risk our lives and head backwards the return path. One thing to mention there are lots of points or places for resting with good shade and breeze along with few nice backdrops for photography. We were fast in coming down as against our other treks where we take our own good time to come down as if those places belonged to us . As soon as we reached down we headed towards Hemavathi.. Another interesting place which has a history beyond Karnataka and AP division. I’ll write about this under a separate heading.


Am keeping this write up with very less photographs, if you need more details drop me an email with your orkut/hotmail id so that I can share the same with.Though I had been to this trek in 2009 October, by the time I could complete this write up it was July 2010