Trekking! we all love it to scale mountains and view the scenery around. How about an ancient palace trekking in Thirthahalli. This trekking trail is also a protected archeological site maintained by central government of India near Thirthahalli. Kavaledurga! if you have not heard of it then here is a short blog about this breathtaking destination in Malnad region of Karnataka. This is the only trekking spot in Karnataka inside a beautiful fort which is well maintained by Archeology department of India.
If you are planning to visit Thirthahalli in Karnataka then you cant miss the opportunity of covering Kavaledurga for trekking. You can easily drive till the hilltop and to the base of the fort. Park your vehicle safely and start trekking on the stone steps and pathways that was made during the ancient period and maintained now by Archeology department.
Our trekking expedition began from booking a stay in Thirthahalli with Travel Malnad Stays. We were not sure what we could plan in Thirthahalli until we bumped on this service provider located in the Malnad region. Good that we took their itinerary and stays and booked without any confusion. The trip was precisely planned with lot of attention to detail which we may have missed out if we tried to do on our own.
We stayed in Thirthahalli on a saturday which was our day off from our work in Bangalore. We relaxed at the homestay sitting around the campfire with our favourite music, playing fun games and discussing topics ranging from politics to technology in India. Our next day, early morning trek to Kavaledurga was discussed at length as one of our team member was asked to research on history of the fort and narrate it to our group members during this visit.
We all are aware that the fort belonged to Keladi Nayaks period and the reason it was built was to protect the citizens living around the region from enemies. When you climb up the fort/hill while trekking you will understand the reason why they would have come there and selected this perfect vantage point to view and monitor everything around it in 360 degree.
Kavaledurga trekking is best suitable for early morning hours or evening sunset viewing. However, we chose morning hours as everyone had to head back to Bangalore after completing this trekking session. We woke up around 6 Am in the morning. Our homestay served delicious and hot breakfast at 7 Am and we checked out and kept bags in our cars and started around 7:30 am towards Kavaledurga. It took only 30 Mins to reach the foothills from Thirthahalli town. There is ample safe vehicle parking space near the fort. The archeology department has deployed staff to record the details of visitors. Please note that camera is allowed but flying drones is completely banned in the area.
We started trek around 8:15 Am and could scale up in less than 45 minutes including photoshoot stops. The ancient temple which we can see halfway through the trek is just amazing. After that we went to the view point and saw the fort in detail with those ancient pillars and the swimming pool of queen etc. Overall it was a mesmerizing trekking trip to Kavaledurga. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip because we had included this magnificent sightseeing spot near Thirthahalli homestays in Karnataka.