Bananthimari Betta Trek

Bananthimari Betta is a lesser known hill located around 3 Kms from Kanakapura town and 60 Kms from Bangalore. This trek was long pending in my to-do list but somehow the timings never matched. It was already more than a month since my last trek. So it was trek time and I signed up for this trek with BMC (Bangalore Mountaineering Club).

We were picked up from the designated pick-up points of Bangalore early in the morning by BMC team. Since around 35 people had enrolled for this trek, two mini vehicles were arranged and 3 trek leads were appointed to manage this big group. 

After all pick-ups were complete, we drove towards Kanakapura. Enroute we stopped at Nasa's food court which is famous for varieties of Benna (butter) Dosas. I took tatte idli since I wanted to have light food before my trek. Tatte idli was good. We were asked to bring empty lunch boxes from home by BMC. In this hotel, Vangi (Brinjal) Bath was packed in our boxes as our lunch post trek. Bit disappointed with rest rooms at this hotel since they are not well maintained. 

We then got into our vehicles and drove continuously till the parking point of the trek. During our drive, we did not find any sign boards to this place. So would suggest use google maps upto the Bananthimari temple or ask local people or enroll with adventure groups like BMC to enjoy hassle free trekking experience. 

We were asked to get down from our vehicles at half a kilometer from the temple since the roads are really bad and except 2 wheelers its really tough for big vehicles to drive along this route. We started walking from here towards our first stop - the temple. 

We continued walking and reached flat region with a serene lake. 

Here trek leads briefed us about this trek difficulty, do's and dont's. After this briefing, we continued to walk till the temple. 

Total Trek distance is 5 Kms in total (Two way)  

Bananthimari temple is dedicated to Goddess Bananthimari and hence this hill is locally famous as "Bananthimari Betta" (Betta means hill). We decided to pray to goddess after completing the trek.

From this spot, you will find a trail on your right. We continued walking along that trail. 

After walking some distance you will find a small pond on your ride side. We took a quick pit stop here for pictures. Bananthimari Betta is also known as Karadi Betta since bears (Karadi in Kannada) are spottted around this region. 

We continued walking along this trail for around 20 meters then we took a left. From here started our thrilling walk inside the woods along with some rock climbing. 

Initial climb is little steep but once you reach the first milestone you will be amazed to know that you could reach this height so soon. We could see the pond from here(starting point of our trek). 

From here again the climb is a bit steep as you have to climb continuously on boulders until the hill-top. So our trek leads advised us to keep climbing up without looking down. For beginners this might be little tough. But for regular trekkers, this is an easy trek. 

In less than an hour, we made it to the top. Views of the lush green surroundings and the calm breeze at this spot was very refreshing and soul satisfying. We relaxed here for a while absorbing the serenity of this place.  

After relaxing for around 30 minutes, we started our descent which was faster as always since we didn't take any pit stops midway. We reached temple at around 12:30 pm and were super hungry by now. We opened our packed lunch and the aromatic tasty Vangi Bath just made us hog this delicious food upto our heart's content. 

Local villagers were offering some prayers to Goddess at the temple. After Pooja, they served us with sweet pongal which served as a dessert for us (Pongal is a South Indian dessert made out of rice and moong lentils). 

With this sumptuous lunch, we then decided to pray to Goddess Bananthimari. 

There is a water tank here. So we splashed some water on our face which was very refreshing. We also filled our water bottles for our return journey. 

Even though the above sign board has been placed by Karnataka Forest Department around the temple premises, it was very disheartening to see lot of plastic waste around this area. People should learn to travel responsibly and help preserve nature as well as wildlife too. 

We then walked till the parking lot and got into our vehicles for our journey to Bangalore with a satisfaction of successfully completing this offbeat trek along with yet another bunch of trekking enthusiasts😊.