BR hills is a nice place right in the forest area. The forest entry is open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00... read more
BR hills is a nice place right in the forest area. The forest entry is open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00... read more
Beautiful place to visit. Stayed in Gorkana, which is an excellent place to stay. Took a walk with... read more
The Biligiriranga Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka that is in Chamarajanagar District in its border with Tamil Nadu. ‘Biligiri Rangana betta’ in Kannada literally means ‘Lord Ranganatha's white rock Hill’. It is commonly known as B R Hills. It is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka bordering with Tamil Nadu in South India.
The famous temple here is Biligiriranga Swamy. Lord Vishnu is seen in the form of Rangaswamy in Biligiri hills hence He is named as Biligiriranga Swamy. It is in the range of Western and Eastern Ghats. The sanctuary is home to eco-systems which are exceptional to mountain ranges. It is also declared as ‘Tiger Reserve area’. Accommodation is available for tourists within the site. It is about 200 km from Bangalore and 90 km from Mysore.
The Annual Car festival of the deity held during “Vaishakha “in the month of April, is famous in the region and attracts thousands of pilgrims from far and wide participate in the ratha (cart) festival celebrated at the top of the Hills, where the temple is situated. It is one of the important temples for Srivaishnavites (believers in Lord Vishnu).
The hills are occupied by tribes called ‘Soligas’. There are a large number of "champaka" trees and several others covering the area with thick shadow. The Bhargavi River that flows here is a tributary of Cauvery. You can see the gigantic champaka tree, whose height may be more than 43 meters with the girth of trunk of about 20 meters. This is said to be of 600 years old and called as "Doddasampige". The tree "Doddasampige" itself is the God for these Soliga tribes. They perform the fire dance surrounding the tree on the eve of "Maha Shivarathri" festival. The peculiarity of this tree is that it bears flowers of both reddish and yellowish color during April season. You can also see number of Shivalingas on a platform which are worshipped. This champaka tree symbolises the tribal relation with nature. Trekkers love to trek these hills and reach the Champaka tree. You can take a trek down the hill range accompanying Malai Mahadeswara Hills or just enjoy the greenery and nature's other gifts here.
These hills are around the famous Malai Mahadeswara (Madeswara) hills in continuous range which is distinct and an unusual ridge running north-south amidst the plains of Bangalore , Mysore and Krishnagiri. The hills are at the height of 1400 to 1800 mtrs. The most conspicuous mammals in the Hills are the herds of wild elephants. According to localites there are several kinds of forest animals living here, such as shy barking deer which are quite common and the rare four-horned antelope, tigers, leopards, wild dogs, lesser cats and sloth bears and many other types. Mysore Maharajas use to go for hunting in these forests.
While you pass through the road you will see the quarrying activities, whether legal or illegal, at the outer edge of the hills. You must have been heard of the notorious man killer, sandal wood smuggler, elephant’s killer and butcher of police officer’s head and dreaded bandit Veerappan. He had made this as his center of all activities. Now he is not there you need not worry but be careful about the forest animals that may attack you when you are alone there in the forest. Please don’t dispose of plastic covers etc helter kilter. There is a ban for its use. This is surely an ideal place for a short vacation and you love it for adventurous wild. It is a paradise for nature lovers which cover an area of over 540 km with varied temperature. You can go on many safari rides in a day around the forest to see the animals.
Accommodation may not be a problem here because there are several options to stay for the visitors. There are tent cottages in Maharaja hunting lodge, Lo houses, and other camps maintained by professional hosts. Guest house is available at the top of the Hills. Free meal in South Indian style is served by the temple authorities at its premises. You should not miss to buy the excellent quality honey available here. Good luck but be careful until you safely leave the forest range.
We a family of four (2 couples) planned to go to B.R.Hills .After searching in the website we were able to get a home stay called Giri darshini.The owner vasu responded well and booked 2 rooms for us.Since we had some work in mysore and najangud we left from nanjangud around 11am and reached B.R.hills aroun 2pm.The road is good and with some enquiries we reached giri darshini.The owner greeted us and gave us 2 roomsin the middle of a coffee plantation.He gave us a delicious vegitarian dinner experianced in middle of a plantation.Since we were pure vegitarians we got a good dinner with lot of varaities.After lunch we had a small nap and a guide taken us round the plantations.It was a good experiance.Later in the evening we went to ranganathaswamy temple and after darshan we went around the temple.What a majestic view from the top.With cool breeze it was a memorable sight.We came back and had nice dinner.In the early morning we got up at 4am and left for k.gudi which is about 30km from b.r.hills.It was a real treat to have made that journey in middle of jungle with full silence.We reached k.gudi at 6am and went for wild life safari in a jeep.Though we spent an hour in the forest we could not seeany animals .only nature,nature.Came back taken late breakfast and left for Bangalore.One has to stay for one night for real enjoyment of nature.Thanks to vasu for pravoiding good accomodation and good veg food.Accomodation is mare than basic with good viewes.Must visit to get away from traffic,noise and dust of bangalore.
Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple is situated on top of a hill must be over 200 years old, built entirely of granite stone. . You have to climb about 150 steps to reach the temple. At the foot of the hill there are a number of stone caved rooms, must have been built as accommodation for pilgrims. Unfortunately these rooms are used a garbage dumps and some have built walls around them and are being used as houses by the locals. The entire area is littered with garbage and totally neglected. The view from top of the hill around the temple is beautiful as you can see miles and miles of forests. But as you look down the hill close to the temple you can see a number of small houses coming up. It looks like people have come here to start a business as this temple besides being beautiful attracts a lot of pilgrims. I wish the authorities cleaned up the area and retain the original look of the temple and its surroundings.
We visited BR hills and stayed at the jungle lodges property and the experience was outstanding. The property though owned by the government was excellently maintained and you get the experience of camping in the jungle and you can see wildlife all around you at night and listen to the calls of various wildlife.
The BR( Biligiri Ranga) hills are in the Bandipur forest range.It is a nice 4.5 hrs drive from Bangalore.Once you leave the crowded city traffic,the drive is comfortable,after you enter the Bandipur forest range it is even more green,clean and exciting.We were a group of friendsa driving ther to stay in the BR hills forest gust house.The excitement in the jungle drive always makes you alert to spot wildlife.if one is lucky you can see elephants,spotted deer and even a tiger .even if you are not soo lucky just being in the jungle and breathing the fresh air is invigorating.The guest house is atop a small hillock,with a huge rock face incorporated into the building with very nice paintings of nature,the facilities is basic,but for us trekkers it was a luxury.we trekked in the jungle for 2 days,spotted several deer,elephants,bison but no tiger.There is the ancient temple dedicated to the lord RAnganathaswamy - the preciding deity of this region,a nice temple too.In all a trip worth it