Sri Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple - B.R. Hills

After driving through wonderful K.Gudi roads, reached B.R.Hills around 3.00 PM. Had our quick lunch near Giridarshini which is situated just before entrance of temple check post, Near check post they will collect entrance fee of Rs.20/- for cars.   

About Biligiri Rganganathaswamy Temple:  

Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple is devoted to Lord Ranganatha or Lord Venkatesha. Situated on the highest peak of the hill range, this is the only temple in the country where Lord Ranganatha is depicted in a standing position. Besides the idol of Sri Biligiri Ranganatha, this temple also houses a statue of the Lord's spouse, Ranganayaki. On Fridays, a special pooja is performed at Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple to the deities. This place is a remote place and the population in this village is very less. Normal visiting period is from October to March.

The temple peak is at a height of 1700 metres from sea level. Hundred years old Champaka tree is one more attraction in this place. Once in two years, the local tribes of this region present a large pair of skin slippers, measuring 1 foot and 9 inches, to the Ranganathaswamy.  

The surrounding of the temple gives a panoramic view of dense forest.

Spent some time roaming around the temple and keeping the forest entry closing time (entry timings to forest is from 6.00 AM to 6.00 PM) left from BR hills and reached back Bengaluru around 9.00 PM.

For next day spent some time in photo shoot around home stay and headed back towards Bengaluru. On the way decided to visit Krishnagiri Dam before reaching Bengaluru.  

Drive through Bandipura – K.Gudi – B.R. Hills forest

It was time to say bye to Masinagudi and head back to Bengaluru, spent some time in clicking photos near by our hotel. A plain grass land with beautiful mountain as a background which was perfect place for photo shoot.

While coming back from Masinagudi we decided not to take regular route to reach back Bengaluru. Plan was to drive through three beautiful forests Bandipura, K.Guid and B.R Hills to check again our luck to spot any wild animals 😊

Again, we were not lucky enough to spot any wild animals in Bandipura apart of deer’s. Hoping for the best headed towards K.Gudi.

Once we cross bandipura forest, from gundlupete need to take chamarajnagara route to reach K.Gudi forest. This was the third drive though this forest in past one year and never felt boarded while traveling through this beautiful place.

Stopped near K.Gudi forest department and spent some time roaming around and headed towards B.R. Hills.

After having lunch in B.R. Hills, headed towards Sri Biligiriranganatha swamy temple. 

Moyar Check Dam - Masinagudi

Around Masinagudi we don’t have much places to visit (at least I couldn’t find). In evening we decided to visit Moyar check dam which was around 10 Kms from the hotel which we stayed in Masinagudi. This place can be reached in our own vehicles or we can get a taxi/jeep rides from Masinagudi.

Spotted couple of Peacocks and deer’s on the way to the dam. 

Route was very good and took around 15 minutes for us to reach the dam. Once we reached there it drizzling and could not spend much time around this place. There is nothing to do much as well around this place, saw only couple of tourists and localities walking across this check dam.

But the route was very good and clicked couple of pics while coming back.

Though its not so worth visit place, the drive would be very beautiful across this route 😊

One thing I most liked about Masinagudi was, they banned usage of plastic and they are following it very strictly 😊

Masinagudi

Though I traveled many times in this route, never got at change to stay in Masinagudi. This is the place which we need to cross when we travel to Ooty. When we were planning for a long drive in Pradeep''s new car we decided to stay in Masinagudi. 

Booked ‘The Nest Inn Resort’ in masinagudi in advance for our stay.

Masinagudi is around 245 Kms from Bengaluru and can reach in 5 to 6 hours depending on Mysore road weekend traffic. Started from Bengaluru early morning, by the time we picked every one in our group it was already 5.00 AM! Stopped near Bidadi for early breakfast 😊 After couple of pit stops for tea breaks and reached our destination at 11.00 AM.

I was expecting some chilled weather or a bit of rain but it was a totally dry day ☹ to add more sadness to this we could not site a single wild animal when we drove through Bandipura forest.

Once we reached the resort, it was even more annoying! The resort was situated on main road itself and rooms were not ready and they asked us to wait for one more hour to check-in.

Instead of waiting for room, we decided to drive for some time and look for places around. Headed towards Electric power house which was around 7 Kms away. This place is restricted to visitors so came back and stopped near a stream to click some pics around.

After spending some time, headed back to hotel and take some rest.

Evening planned to visit Moyar Check Dam.