Around The World: Madhugiri Fort Trek

Madhurgiri trek is a one day trip from Whitefield, Bangalore. The trek lasts for approximately 2 hours to 3 hours.

Geography

Madhurgiri is a small village in Tumkur district. It lies to south Eastern Karnataka. It gets the name from the monolithic rock hill named Madhurgiri. Madhu means honey and giri means mountain. It is around 130 km from Whitefield Bangalore.
The Madhurgiri hill is second largest monolithic rock in Asia. Monolithic means single rock structure.

Logistics:

There are two options available

Single day trip

In case, you are short of time and have a day to spare then start early in the morning at around 5 o clock. Have an awesome breakfast on the way near Hebbal.Reach Madhurgiri village by 9 am. The trek would get get over between 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Leave Madhugiri and have an wholesome lunch a late lunch at Kamat on the highway.

Weekend trip or two days trip

Start early morning, reach Madhurgiri by noon. Check in hotel in Madhurgiri and relax. After lunch, stroll around the lake near Madhurgiri village. Enjoy karokle ride if available. Spot some migratory birds nesting near the lake. Next day start the trek early morning by 6:30 am. The trek would get over around 10 am. Head back to Bangalore. Enjoy lunch at Kamat on highway.

I was fortunate to experience the trek two times. First time, in September 2018, we were group of four ladies on two wheelers, a Scooty Streak and Activa.
Myself, Meera Velankar, Deepa Pawar and Madha Joshi. We stayed over night and did the trek early morning.

Recently, in Nov 2019, I visited again Madhurgiri in a day trip, with an enthusiastic group of trekkers from Prestige Shantiniketan appartment complex in Whitefield Bangalore.

MeeraVelankar

Meera Velankar of pedalmummy.com is a well known cyclist and sports enthusiast. She arranges treks and cycling one days tours around Whitefield for adults and kids. Meera along with Swarna Prabhu from Prestige Shantiniketan had arranged the Trek to Madhurgiri on Nov 2019 first week.

Can we do the trek on our own without a trek group ?

Yes. The trek can be done on your own without a trek group. It is recommended that you form a small group of three to four people either friends or family and visit the place. It's always advisable to hire a local guide. The Hotel Manjunath Comforts at the base of the Madhugiri fort can be contacted few days before the trek. They can arrange a local guide. This guide is usually a local resident, who knows the fort well. There are few difficult patches in the trek where you would need some expert help for the first time. Also as the name suggests, the fort is infested with honeybee nests and spotting of bear is possible. I have seen few videos on YouTube where solo travelers have climbed the fort on their own.

Recommended Trek Gear

Comfortable sports wear or trek gear.

Sports shoes. I would recommend not to wear treking shoes or the one with plastic sole. I had a bitter experience first time as I slipped at spot. It had rained the earlier day and some parts of the monolithic rock had small streams flowing downstairs. My shoes slipped in one such area and I was about to roll down my way to the base of the mountain. Luckily I held myself to the railing and our guide Siddhu came to my rescue.Half way through the trek, it's recommended to remove the shoes and walk bear foot as the hill becomes stiff and bear foot gives a good grip.

Bag - carry a small sack bag with minimum one litre water, snack bars, chocolates, some light snacks.

Sun protection - cap and sunglasses are recommended.

Mom's Scooty experience:

I had earlier done a Scooty trip to Masinagudi forest with my husband. Females only Two wheeler trip was on my wishlist for a long time. In September 2018, along with the Dare Devil girls gang, we decided to achive this feat on one of the weekdays. It was fun to ride the two wheeler on Highway and gave us much needed adrenal rush. It also allowed the four mother's to break free from our day to day activities for two days and just be on our own. I would definitely recommend others to do a small trip similar to this once in a lifetime.

Silk cocoon cultivation

Karnataka state is famous world wide for cultivation of good silk fabric. The silk thread is produced from silk worm cocoon. Once you take a left on the National Highway at Tumkur,we were able to spot few silk cocoon breeders near Madhugiri town. These are usually circular baskets of 1.5 meter diameter. The villagers sometimes keep them outside their house. The moths are spread around on the circular basket to form the cocoons. Once the cocoons reach a particular size, they are removed from basket and the tread is detached. The old lady was courteous enough and showed us the process.

Evening near the Madhugiri Lake

In our first weekend trip, we decided to explore the local area and reached the lake near the village. There was no concrete road leading to the lake and we were skeptical of exploring the area. We could spot some fishermen fishing in the karokle. We dared to venture in the wild. The fishermen had just pulled back their nets and finished collecting their days catch in a karokle. We could spot some nesting birds on the other end of the lake. We were also able to hear a lot of frogs crocking in a shallow pond. It was a perfect time for sunset. The mirror image of the Madhugiri fort in the lake at the sunset was cherry on top of the cake. What a perfect way to end the day. Later we went to the village did some shopping at local shop, loaded our self supplies for next days trek - fruits, milk and bread butter etc. We had dinner at local joint and crashed into bed.
Note - Madhurgiri being a small village do not expect high end shops and restaurants. The village will meet your basic needs.

Madhurgiri trek difficult parts:

To begin with the trek is sort of easy with stones steps. With 25% of the trek over, the monolithic rock begins. For the next 25% of the rock has steps carved in it and is supported with railing. The first difficult section come the mid way when person has to lean on both the hands and walk sideways. It is as good as doing push up and walking sideways on a steep. The second difficult section lies almost at the end where the rock is inclined at and angle of 70 degrees. This puts your calf muscles and quadriceps at test. If you do not exercise regularly, you are bound to experience major pain next day. After my bitter slipping experience, I always prefer going with the guide no matter what someone thinks of myself.

Things to do on the top :

Once you reach the top, one can sit and relax for half hour or so. The fort remains are in dilapidated condition however kept clean. You can sit in shade and enjoy the snacks. There are no shops or vendors, you need to carry snacks and water. There are no toilets, one has to answer nature's call in open. The scenic view of the Madhugiri town and near by villages will keep your camera lenses occupied for sure.
As per locals, people carry raw food and cook on top of the hill and have a one day picnic.

Photo Session and fun parts in Madhugiri Fort:

A picture says million words. There are many places at the Madhugiri Fort where you can pause and take picture along with a breather.

Stay options in or around Madhurgiri:

If you opt for two days trip then it's advisable to stay at Madhurgiri near the base of the fort. As it will help you kick start the trek early in morning. There are two basic hotels available Manjunath Comforts and Akshay comforts. Both of them are at walkable distance from the start point of the trek. We stayed at Manjunath Comforts, during our scooty trip in September 2018. Otherwise there are multiple hotels near Tumkur on the highway. However it's an hour's drive from the Madhugiri fort.This would probably delay the trek early morning.

Picture Credits :
Moms on Scooty - Myself. Deepali Pawar, Medha Joshi, Meera Velankar
Group Trek - Myself, Nayana Dongre, Prakash Upadhya, Satya Chekuri, Khusboo Jain and Team.

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