Trekking is addiction and Travelling is necessity for my life. After coming back from Maharashtra, I wanted to organise a night trek. First place which came into my mind is Kunti betta. Kunti betta is near to Pandavapura of Mandya district. This place is one of the popular night trek destination.
I called my friend Anil and he told he will come with 4 of his friends. My colleague Manju was coming with his friend Shravan and his cousin Parshu. My colleague Ravindra was coming with his 4 friends. Totally we were 14 people. You don't find any bus to kunti betta and hence we decided to go with bikes.
For every one in the troop, Kunti betta was first time. Nobody knew the exact route. We got confused in between but with the help of locals we reached the exact spot. People have come with their bikes and I was with Ravindra. We parked our bikes in front of a school which is in front of the steps to temple . I remember it was 12 : 15 AM. Whole troop was having their own idea about the route and we took 3 hours to find out which route to go. The first route we chose was the correct one. Thanks to another gang who helped us in finding out the peak. First 15 minutes it is 60-65 degree elevation. So we climbed carefully. It was little bit difficult in the dark to find out the right path since it was filled with big rocks. Finally when we followed the torch light of the another gang, we were able to reach the top.
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| Hill and lake combination make it perfect |
By the time , we reached the peak it was 4:30 AM. We sighed a relief since our trek was about to fail and we were able to make it. We took rest. We waited for sun rise. Though sun rise was not visible clearly, we enjoyed this trek thoroughly. The hill with the lake in background added to the beauty of this location.
For trekking up we took more than 1 hour since it was dark. But coming back was easy. We climbed down in less than half an hour. This trek gave us confidence for other night treks. You can do kayaking and other water activities in the lake. The lake is known as Kunti Kund. You can find another big lake 10 kms from Kunti betta i.e. Thonnur lake which provides water to nearby village. If you have time do not miss to visit Thonnur lake.
Historical significance :
It is believed that Kunti, mother of Pandavas stayed here during Vanavasa. The lake in front of the temple is believed to be sacred. It is one of the pilgrimage centre.
While returning to Bangalore, on the way we had sugar cane juice in the "ale mane". It was fresh and was tasty. For 100 Rs whole gang had sugar can juice. On the way we had dosa in Shivalli tiffin room. Shivalli tiffin room is most popular restaurant in between Bangalore and Mandya highway. Though our trek was not planned well, it was an exploratory and fun filled trek.
Thanks to everyone for making this trek successful. I met many wonderful people with whom I still go for trekking.
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