Horsley Hills
| Horsley Hills | |
| — town — | |
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| Coordinates | 13°40′N 78°24′E / 13.66°N 78.40°ECoordinates: 13°40′N 78°24′E / 13.66°N 78.40°E |
| Country | India |
| State | Andhra Pradesh |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 1,290 metres (4,230 ft) |
Horsley Hills (Telugu: హార్సిలీ కొండలు Kannada: ಹಾರ್ಸಲೆ ಬೆಟ್ಟ), elevation 1,290 m, is a famous summer hill resort in Andhra Pradesh, about 160 km from Bangalore, India and 144 km from Tirupathi. Madanapalle is the closest town near the hills. The major tourist attractions here include the Mallamma temple and the Rishi Valley School. Horsely Hills is the departure point for the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary located 87 km away.
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[edit] History
The old name of Horsley Hills was Yenugu Mallamma Konda. According to legend, there used to be a little girl named Mallamma who was taken care of by Elephants. She used to heal the tribal people on the hills. When she disappeared suddenly, people thought that she was a goddess and built a temple for her.[1]
Horsley Hills is named after a British officer named W.D. Horsley, the Collector of Cuddapah district. He visited this place around 1840-43 and was impressed by the beauty of the hills and chose this spot for his summer residence. Now the Governor of Andhra Pradesh uses this house as a summer residence and hence this house is called the Governors bungalow.
[edit] How to Reach Horsley Hills
Horsley Hills is approximately 165 km from Bangalore and 274 km from Chennai. (depending upon where you are located)
From Chennai, you need to catch the Poonthamalli High Road, Get onto NH4 and drive till Wallajah before Arcot from where you have to take the route to Chittoor. Stay on NH4 till Palamaner and turn right onto NH219. Stay onNH219 till Madanapalle. Take right onto NH205 and Horsley Hills is 16 km from here.
From Banglore, one needs to drive on NH-4 starting from Krishnaraja Puram (get onto the cable stayed bridge and heads towards Hoskote) and going onto Hoskote and then Kolar. From Kolar take the road to Srinivaspur and onto Rayalpadu. Beyond Rayalpadu is Andhra Pradesh territory. From Rayalpadu get to Madanpalle and take the road towards Kadiri and Anantpur. Then a left deviation towards Horsley Hills.
Alternate route: Bangalore - Hoskote - Chintamani - Rayalpadu - Madanapalli - Horsley Hills (Fine double road; saves you more than 30 km)
Alternate route two: Bangalore - Hoskote - Chintamani - Gownipally - B.Kothakota - Horsley Hills (Shortest and Best among all)
Alternate route three: Bangalore - Hoskote - Kolar - Mulbagal - Palamaneru - Punganuru - Madanapalle - Horsley Hills (this route is approximately 195 km from Bangalore depending upon where in Bangalore you are located). This route is better because you drive on NH4 up to Palamneru and then NH219 and NH205 up to Madanpalli. The road is very nice to drive on although there is truck traffic on NH4.
Google maps suggests another route through Chikbalapur. This route is . This route is small village lanes suitable only for a big biker group perhaps but not at all suitable for 4 wheelers.
By Rail: For people visiting the place from places further than Bangalore, a rail option is available. The place is connected to Hyderabad, Dharmavaram (on the Bangalore-Guntakal route) as well as Tirupati, which is equally well connected to all parts of the country. The nearest railhead to Horsely Hills is Madanapalle Road (13 km away), which is connected by the Dharmavaram-Tirupati passenger and the biweekly 12732 Secunderabad-Tirupati Express.
[edit] Tourist Attractions
The narrow road to Horsely Hills is very scenic. It is surrounded throughout its entire length with dense growths of eucalyptus, jacaranda, allamanda and gulmohar trees. The major tourist places around Horsely hills are Lake Gangotri, Highview seeing place, Gaalibanda, Environmental park and the Horsley Hills Museum.
Horsley Hills is also one of the few places to offer Zorbing in India. Other adventure sports conducted are Rapelling and Trekking.
The Environmental park known as EEC centre was built with the help of a hydrogeologist and environmentalist from Hyderabad named Balijepalli Venkata Subba Rao, Director of the Centre For Resource Education. He spent the early years of his career in building EEC centres all over Andhra Pradesh trying to educate the common man about the importance of saving the environment and encouraging Eco Tourism.
[edit] New places around HH
There is a famous Shiva temple about 15 km towards Madanapalle from Horsley Hills.
Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary, Palmaner
[edit] References
- ^ Prajasakti (2008-05-05). "Horsley hills". Prajasakti. Archived from the original on 2008-03-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20080329021007/http://www.prajasakti.com/sunday/coverstory.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
