A Trek To Matanga hill and visit to an unexplored place

 Hey Friends..how are you?Hope all are fine and safe.As promised I am going to share my trek experience  to Matanga Hill and also going to share my experience to an untraversed place.

So lets begin..

It was the first day of the New Year(1 JAN) and we thought to just start the new year with enthusiasm(as we all will be on first day).

We planned the trip to Matanga hill with one of our friends and his family.As Hampi is just near to our place (Its just an hour),we started by 10:30 from home.

We reached the place where we needed to start the trek(the stairs).

It was 12 pm and myself,my husband,his friend and his family( his wife ( my friend) and her 3 and half year daughter( yes she trekked with us to the hill without any hesitation and crying.

Before I start my journey,I will give an overview of Matanga hill.

Matanga Hill:

As per Ramayana,the place was the heritage of the saint Matanga.

The Vanara King Vali killed a buffalo demon  called Dhunduvi and he threw his corpse on the hill and so Saint Matanga cursed him for his act and said that he will not be able to venture on that hill again.

Later mayavi(dhunduvi's son) fought with Vali as a revenge for hs father's death and while fighting Vali threw him in the cave and told his brother to stand outside the cave for guard.

They fought for years and one day sugreeva saw the blood oozing out of the cave and thought that they both died and closed the cave and went on to rule the kingdom.

But one day Vali came out of the cave and saw sugreeva ruling the kingdom in place of him.

Sugreeva was chased out of the monkey kingdom and lord Hanuman and sugreeva took shelter at the hill.

As vali could not climb the hill due to curse ,lord Rama killed Vali.

There is a temple at the top of matanga hill which of Veerabhadra ( form of lord shiva.

Ok back to our journey,there are some stairs at the starting .we started climbing the stairs

.The stairs are not fully stairs,they are broken at some place.

Me and my friend were at the front ,my husband ,his friend  and little girl was with them.One more thing,my friend and her husband had already trekked the Hill half before( 2 to 3 years before).

We were climbing,at this point it was easy ,so I thought it will be easy.

We took steps fastly as we were free but they had a child so they were slowly proceeding.

Then came big stones which were slippery and stairs disappeared.

There were big round stones and boulders but it was manageable to climb.Here there was a family of monkeys.

Then came a point which had no bondary,if we look down,it was valley.

There  were 2 ways so went from other side as we had a kid and that other way was scary.

Some plants also came in ways which had fruits like small berries .

We even thought what will happen if we eat them or they are poisonous

.Then came the first view point,we took photos and sat for sometime.

We were halfway to the hill,I must say my friend is a good trekker and she guided me well.

The small kid was also energetic till the last point and not at all scared .

When she was tired at some places, sir used to ask her"Shanvi hum kaha ja rhe hain?, she used to reply:"God ke paas".

She thought that we will climb up and see the god. 😊😊

Then we again started to the main view point,now all the broken steps were disappeared,there were boulders and slippery stones.

At some points it was hard to climb,we just took each steps carefully,

 When we were nearing the hills there was a moment when it was so steep.

We finally reached the view point and there was a temple( veerabhadra temple) ,we sat and had puran poli( homemade) and enjoyed the top view.

Now it was time to go back,we always think coming down the hill is easy but it was not that easy and we completed the trek.

We completed the trek in 1 hour( excluding the time we sat nd enjoyed the view).

Points to be noted:

1.Visit hampi in early morning as it will be less hot.( Hampi is always hot during the day( be it summer or winter),so carry proper sunglasses,cap ,water bottle,things to eat and umbrella) and sunscreen during summers.

2.Wear trekking shoes or good shoes with grip ,dont be irresponsible by wearing walking shoes or chappals as they will be slippery and trek will be tough and dangerous.

The kid( shanvi) was so brave and courageous.She didnt even cry nor she said that she was tired.She just enjoyed the trek with her dad and uncle( my husband).

Its her parents upbringing that she trusted them and climbed the hill with ease.Well I never thought that she will climb because kids at the age just sit and cry and needed to be carried by their parents in their laps always.I was mesmerized by this.

In hampi there is a a famous restaurant called " The Mango Tree".Just try it out and do try its thali.Well we cant say that hotel as budget restaurant.

The other place we visited is "The Hampi Waterfalls".The place is literally in the middle of no where.

The exact way to the falls we didnt knew.All we knew was that it goes through the banana farms.

You might be confused ,well we were too.At this time,it was 3:30 ,we went near the banana farms as my husband's friend knew that we need to cross the banana trees and we found out a local guide who agreed to show us the way and return with us .He charged 250 rs.

We traversed through banana trees then came forest with thorns.Then came a river( not exactly a river though) but it was hard to cross for me,I had to remove my shoes and then cross the water.the problem was that it was muddy and slippery.

Then we crossed the water and then it was grassy.

Then we saw the stones like boulders( big boulders).We crossed some boulders to see the waterfalls. Then to our surprise there was no waterfall but we could hear the noise of the water.

Then we saw big boulders with holes in it .Those boulders were all over the place and water was flowing under the boulders  and stones.

So actually waterfall is present but its under the boulders.

But we came to know that during monsoon months ( july,aug,sep) those boulders are fully covered with water and nobody visits during that time as its highly dangerous.

We found round stones ( like decorative stones for plants).Me and my friends collected them and put in our bags.

We also sat there for some time and enjoyed the flow of the cold water.

Sir( husband's friend) also told that there is a cliff  and many people do cliff diving when there is water .

Those big stones resembled the foot of lord hanuman as per sayings of the local people 

Then our guide called us as it was time to head back before getting dark.

Overall it was a unexplored place of hampi and less people know it.

So this was my experience of Matanga hill and hampi waterfalls.

Hampi is a hub of unexplored places, you will know when we visit hampi. It doesn't end.

Some lines on Matanga hills:

Matanga The Pride:

Stepping on the foothills, I dared to complete my dream,

Reaching the tophill with all my efforts gave a kick to my self-esteem,

A mere trip with not much of a glamour

Accorded me with unseen armour,

For once I dared to break the clitches and soar,

to rejoice the victory for my silent roar.

Source: aswini pandit.

Meet you in next blog, hope you will enjoy the blog.