My friend had learnt about a hill in Kanakapura Taluk through a YouTube documentary. ‘A large statue of Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva has been installed at the peak of the hill which can be reached by foot, through a hike,’ he told me. A hike plan was charted, and a few common friends joined us over a weekend to see this ‘statue of the Nandi’ located at the peak of ‘Acchalu Betta.’

We started from Bengaluru quite early that morning and had our breakfast at a popular location at Kanakapura. From there, we followed google maps to Acchalu village and arrived at a small village temple located on the foothills of a large monolithic hillock. Based on what we had read online, we knew this hill was what we were supposed to summit. We parked our car beside the temple, but we were not sure of the hiking trail that would lead us to the top.

Beyond the temple was a mud-road which we planned to walk further. We walked about a kilometer and realized that vehicles could have been driven until that point. There was yet another temple with an open field around which provided ample space for parking. Anyway, we did not mind the additional kilometer we had walked. From there began the actual hike to Acchalu betta.

The entire trail is nicely made with the kaccha roads cleared off all rocks, boulders, and grass, making it easy to walk and good to drive with a 4W-drive vehicle. However, the initial stretch had been washed down by the recent rain, so there was no way a vehicle could drive past that. After this stretch was over, it was an effortless walk to the peak, but through a thick canopy of bamboo forests. It is frequented by elephants which was evident with freshly dropped dungs enroute.

The canopy then opened to a rocky outcrop offering a panoramic view of Bengaluru cityscape at the horizon. There was an old guesthouse that is abandoned and used by nighthawkers as a place to have a bonfire party.
A short, paved pathway from there leads to a small pond filled with white lilies. We sat there for a while before proceeding towards the statue that we had motivated us to ascend this hill. The statue of a lone bull (the Holy Nandi) sat gracefully overlooking the cityscape beneath. We too sat there at his foot soaking in the calmness that was swept in by the strong wind that was blowing there. Nandi is the mythological vehicle of Lord Shiva. Hence, a small shrine dedicated to Shiva exists opposite to the statue. It is in fact, a small rocky outcrop under a large tree which is worshipped as the presiding deity. We bowed our heads down to seek his blessings before commencing our return hike.

On our way back, we wanted to explore a shortcut to the base and hence, decided to follow an electric line that connected to pole at the place where we had parked our cars. This route was indeed beautiful and interesting as compared to our ascent. This descent was more open to the skies, with lot of green bamboo patches scattered amidst large brown boulders with a constant company of the blowing winds. It was no doubt shorter but was steeper and harder for amateur hikers.

The good decision to explore a new trail came with its own set-of challenges, especially in the last stretch. As the path was unused for ages, thick thorny bushes had taken over the trail. We did not carry any tools with us that would help us to clear our path as we walked ahead. Hence, we tried all methods to navigate our way through the last few meters of our hike. But in the pursuit, we slid a few slopes, our clothes and hair got entangled in the bushes and we came out with bruises all over our limbs, bums and back. We rolled down the hill and got out on an open farm on whose side stood our car.

The bruises did not bother us as we returned with the content that we had conquered another hill around Bengaluru.