After a long time, there is one more addition to my list of Weekend Destinations/Picnic Places near Bangalore – Manchanabele dam. Not that I had never been there; but another visit last week reminded me that it is pending on India Travel Blog.
Manchanabele is small village where a dam is built across Arkavati river. The backwaters of the dam form a large lake with hills surrounding it in all directions. When driving, it appears suddenly when you go over a ridge, and unfailingly makes you go ‘wow’ at the first view.
It is a good place to spend a few hours whiling, walking around the lake or sitting somewhere on the bank. The river water is clean but often you will little bit of trash where the road skirts the lake. It would be worthwhile to go for long walks on the hills surrounding the lake too.
On the way to Manchanabele is Doddaalada mara, or the Big Banyan Tree, an old and huge banyan tree and a well known place for a visit. While you are at Manchanabele, you can also get to see the prominent rocky hill of Savanadurga raising up far away.
Manchanabele Information
Below is an interactive map. Zoom in to get a closer look or drag the map to see an area outside the map. There is some degree of speculation involved in mapping the route from Mysore Road to Manchanabele, but it is most likely without any errors. To be sure, please read the directions below, which is accurate, and use it as a reference.
View Bangalore to Manchanabele in a larger map
Map and driving directions from Bangalore to Manchanabele
Directions, how to reach: Take Mysore Road out of Bangalore and drive past Kengeri, where you will see a right turn leading towards Big Banyan Tree and Manchanabele. Turn here and drive straight to get to Big Banyan Tree. You can stop here to see the big tree. Continue on the same road till you reach a small village called ‘Chandrappa Circle’. Turn left here and drive for another 15 minutes to get to Manchanabele Dam. The last 15 minutes of the road doesn’t have tarmac, but your car should not have much problems making it. There is also another way from Magadi Road to reach Manchanabele.
Restaurants/food/accommodation: No food or accommodation is available anywhere near the lake. A dhaba that used to exist on the lake shore sometime back is now closed. On the way, 15 minutes before Manchanabele is Ruppi’s resort. I haven’t been there though, and don’t know if they have a restaurant that serves everyone.
Newspapers and news channels have been reporting of a typical winter in northern parts of India – foggy, cold and difficult. I see pictures and hear stories of planes unable to land and trains making way very slowly through the mist.
Sitting in a cozier weather down south, I have been wishing for something like that here in Bangalore for a few weeks now. But the biting cold and typically foggy mornings of the winter are nowhere to be seen this year.
I have always preferred colder climes to the hot and humid summer days that forces me to keep a lookout for air conditioned enclosures. Winter mornings are usually crisp and quiet, with little activity and a lot of freshness on the streets. Basking in the sun in later hours of the day and trying to force away the idleness of the winter cold day has a pleasant feel.
My preference to winter goes beyond the beauty of frosty morning outside or the pleasures of a warm bed at home. The immense beauty of nature unfolds in this inert season, as Tabebuias bloom pink and yellow to declare the beginning of the season. When Tabebuias wither in December, it is time for African Tulips to take over and paint the town red, followed by Flame of the Forest and Gulmohars that splash the city in colors till the onset of summer.
Beyond the urban jungle, flocks of winged visitors crowd the lakes and forests as they fly down from the cold of the north to breed and care for their younger ones. Water bodies are dotted with ducks, storks and pelicans and the forests accommodate smaller birds like the drongos and shrikes. Farther away from the city on the hills, fog envelopes the slopes in the mornings, and sun goes down with a colorful display every evening.
View from Skandagiri – Feb 08
My highlight of the last winter was at Skandagiri, where the unusual gathering of clouds below us were swept by the east to west wind through a narrow opening between the hill range of Skandagiri and Nandi. The previous year, I was struck by the views from Nandi Hills, of two different layers of cloud – one above and another below me, with the hilltop sandwiched between them. Sun tried to make way through the clouds above, while gaps in the cotton candies below us gave glimpses of the flat ground below. Further away from Bangalore last year, I stood on Thadiyandamol peak and watched the sun lacing the clouds with orange and crimson colors as he went down. A few days later, sitting in a boat just off the shores of Gokarna, I watched dolphins jumping up and down in the sea as the sun went down turning into a mild crimson ball.
Sunset from Thadiyandamol – December 2007
It has been much different this season, which has stayed unusually warm in these parts and hasn’t witnessed a significant dip in mercury. My jacket is still lying unused in a corner of the wardrobe, fungus ridden from the days of the monsoon. Waking up in the morning and getting out of the house, I don’t feel the chill and crispness of the air. People walk around with ease without shivering or closing in their arms around their body. The unfailing fog was missing on the top when I made an early morning foray to Nandi hills in the middle of November. A friend went to Skandagiri in the later days of December and came back without seeing the magical display formed by envelope of fog and clouds. I haven’t taken stock of migrating bird population, but have seen pelicans missing in Yelemallappa tank – one of their regular hangouts just outside the city (though, my guess is that there is no decline in bird arrivals this year). The charm and romance of the cold days is missing. I don’t know if it is simply a function of global warming or related to many other forces that govern and influence nature, but I still hope to see some goodness in the weather in the remaining half of the winter that is ahead of us.
An image from a flower show in Lalbag, Bangalore. Week long flower shows are held twice every year, once during republic day and once during independence day.
