In search of ancient temples and birds

 We were itching for a road trip as we went through entire monsoon season without any travel for various reasons. We started making plans for this trip in mid October and it went through a lot of chopping and changes finally settling as a manageable short trip under the circumstances and we decided go for this trip during the last weekend of November.

Note : Almost without exception, use of camera was prohibited in all temples, you can use mobile phone to click photos. I personally dont understand the logic behind this kind of a restriction, but that is the rule in a lot of temples across India.

Ikkeri :

We left home around 5:00 AM. Early start meant the roads were empty and we were able to cover good distance before the dawn broke. We stopped for our breakfast bit early at 7:30 AM near Kollur. Post breakfast we stopped at Linganamakki reservoir.

 

 

 We reached Ikkeri Sri Aghoreshwara temple at 9:10 AM.

 

 

Some background / history about the temple. 

 

 

The stones used for the walls had red and yellow tinge in most places. 

 We spent almost an hour here and we left after taking loads of pictures of some of these beautiful carvings.

 

Keladi: 

 

We were not sure if we will find good options for lunch on the way, so we decided to have second round of breakfast at Sagar.
We reached Keladi Rameswara temple at 11:00 AM.

 

 

Some information about the history of place/ temple. 

 

 

Gandaberunda carved on the ceiling. This is the Karnataka State symbol as well. 

 We spent about 40 minutes here and left for our next destination.

 

Gudavi Bird Sanctuary: 

 It was about 40 KMs drive and we reached the bird sanctuary at 12:30 PM.
Not the ideal time for birding, but my purpose of the visit was to understand the potential of the place with respect to birding. 

 Weather was kind and had decent amount of bird siting considering the time of visit and season both were not idea. 
  There is an entry fee that need to be paid for both people and vehicle here. 

 

 

Indian Roller 

 

 

Grey Langur 

 

 

Black winged Stilt
 

 

 

Black necked Ibis

 

 

Darter/ Snake bird  

 

 

 

 

 

Cormorants 

 

 

Grey Bellied Cuckoo

 

 

Grey Heron 

 

 

Wood Sandpiper 

 

 

Open Billed Stork 

 

 

Pied Kingfisher 

 

 

Crested Serpent Eagle with a snake kill 

 

 

Eurasian Spoonbill 

 

 

Glossy Ibis 

 

 

Black Crowned Night Heron (juv) 

 

 

Some interesting section of the walking trail 

 We stayed here for over 2 hours and was able to walk just one round around the water body. I have made a note to come back here again and dedicate one full day to look for birds. 

 

Banavasi : 

 

Our next stop was Banavasi Madhukeswara temple. We reached here at 3:15 PM.  Local shops sell fresh cut pineapples here. Since we did not have lunch, we  had some of these pineapples out side the temple. 
 

 

 

Some information about the place/ temple 

 

 

On the pillars here one can see the most popular form of art of this region called kaavi arts. 

 After the temple visit we stopped for snacks at a small hotel in Banavasi.
We had booked our stay in Sirsi for the night and we reached the place by 5:00 PM.

 

 

Walls of our resort also had similar paintings (kaavi style) but in white colour. 

Though this Nano was well camouflaged, I was able to spot it.

 

 Bankapura Peacock Sanctuary : 

 

We left from Sirsi after our breakfast around 9:00 AM and it took us close to 2 hours to cover about 60 KMs to reach Bankapura. We were here to search for birds in the Peacock sanctuary. However the situation on the ground is quite different to what we get to see on social media about this place. There is a fort and a temple inside the sanctuary here as claimed in most social media posts, but there is also a cattle feeding station and all the people who are visiting this temple and cattle around has made sure that birds have moved away from here. 

   We spent about 90 minutes here, we could here few birds but because of the kind of plants/ shrubs here it is difficult to spot the birds in this place.

 

 

Chestnut tailed Starling 

 

 

 Warbler

 

 

Great Tit 

 

 

Walking trails inside the sanctuary 

 

 Laxmeshwara :  

 

 It took us about 45 minutes from the Peacock sanctuary to our next destination Someshwara temple at Laxmeshwara. We reached here at 1:00 PM and completed a quick visit of the temple in 30 minutes.

 

 

Some information about the place. 

 

 

This "Lajje Gauri" temple inside the temple complex allows entry for only women 

  Post temple visit we realised it was lunch time and from our past travel to this region recalled that there is a Kamath hotel at Gadag, so we decided to pay visit to that hotel again for our lunch. 

 Annigeri :  

 

Post lunch we started our journey towards our next destination, Amrutheshwara temple, Annigeri and reached there by 3:15 PM. 

 

 

 

These door frames had interesting carvings on them 

 

 

Temple was getting ready for the annual festival. 

 

 

This is a smaller temple, so it took us about 30 minutes to cover this place and left from here. 

 

 

  Hubli: 

 

From Annigeri we left for the last destination of the day, Chandramauleshwara temple, Hubli. It is about 40 KMs drive and took us an hour to reach the temple. This temple is situated close to a housing colony and only 2 wheelers can go through that road. Car will have to be parked about 500 mts away and have to walk through the narrow lanes to reach the temple.  

 

 

 

 

Even the windows are carved out of the stone here 

We had booked our stay in Hubli and reached our hotel at 5:00 PM.
Rest of the evening was spent trying out local eateries near our hotel and shopping for local savories. 

We were returning home and we had the most popular route of Hubli - Gokarna - Mangalore, but I didn't want to drive the coastal route and decided to experiment with the route options. We decided to take Hubli - Hanagal - Shikaripura - Nagara - Udupi and from Udupi drive the coastal route till home. 
   
    We left from Hubli at 7:15 AM & stopped for breakfast after we exited the city.  And on this route after crossing Hanagal we spotted an ancient temple at Kubatur and this temple got added to our trip just because we decided to take a different route. 

Sri Kaitabeshwara temple, Kubatur

 We reached home around 2:30 PM. 

All in all we covered 850 KMs in 3 days; enjoyed exploring some wonderful ancient temples and spotted some birds too. Most part of this route was winding roads and we drove through amongst the greenest part of Karnataka was an added bonus.