Galikere
A small hill tarn on the Baba Budangiri ridge — the windy lake, and usually empty.
Galikere — literally the wind lake — is a small natural pond held in a fold of the ridge between Seethalayyanagiri and Baba Budangiri. It is nothing dramatic: a sheet of water, grass to the edge, hills all round. What it offers is quiet, which is increasingly hard to find on this road, and a short flat walk when everything else on the ridge is a climb.
What to do here
- Walk the short path round the water
- Stop for a flask of coffee between the two big peaks
- Birdwatch early — the grassland edge is good for pipits and larks
One of the few genuinely level, genuinely quiet spots on the Chandra Drona ridge.
History
Local herding families have watered cattle here for as long as anyone records, and the name is theirs — the saddle it sits in funnels wind almost constantly.
Travel tips
The turn-off is unsigned; ask at the ridge checkpost. Do not go looking for it in mist. There are no facilities of any kind.
Please note
Do: keep well back from the water's edge, which is boggy after rain. Don't: swim or wash in it — it is a grazing water source. Don't: leave food waste; it draws bonnet macaques onto the road.
Stay nearby
Places to stay around Galikere
PremiumTC Resort TRV, Chikmagalur
Mullayanagiri · 12.5 km from town
PremiumTC Resort SLV, Chikmagalur
Chikmagalur Town · 9.9 km from town
PremiumTC Resort GLV, Chikmagalur
Chikmagalur Town · 4.4 km from town
PremiumTC Resort BND, Chikmagalur
Chikmagalur Town · 11.2 km from town
Combine your trip
Places near Galikere
Kavikal Gandi Viewpoint
The horseshoe gorge on the Mullayanagiri–Baba Budangiri road — fifty steps up, and the whole range in front of you.
WaterfallJhari Falls (Buttermilk Falls)
A white sheet of water off a granite face
Seethalayyanagiri
The green shoulder below Mullayanagiri, with a Shiva shrine and a view over both valleys.
PeakBaba Budangiri
A shared shrine on a ridge of coffee legend