We are located at about 800 Meters ASL, surrounded by Narasimhadevarabetta State Forest (178.5 km2) part of Chikkaballapura Forest department.
Southern end of this hilly forest terrain is famous Nandi Hills part of Chikkaballapura Forest range.
Nearby Avalabetta 'Coconut' Hill offers breathtaking panaromic views of the surrounding landscape, especially in monsoon time.
Nature Conservation Foundation Report Dated March 2022 has estimated 16 Leoperds and many Sloth Bear in Forest Zone using Camera Trappings. The wild prey include Sambar, Chital, Black Buck, Four-Horned antelop, Wild Pig, Gray Langoor, Black-naped hare and domestic pray form small settlements.
Indian Gray Wolf has disappeared over the years due to human interventions, reduction of natural shrubby, thorny and dry deciduous forest and more non-native fast growing trees plantation such as Eucalyptus.
There are 8 hill forts in the 2 - 50 kms (by road) vicinity in mostly ruin state
Varlakonda fort (32 Km/50 Min)
Gummanayakana Kote (68 Km)
Gudibande Fort (25 Km / 60 Min)
Makalidurga (34 Km / 60 Min)
Skandagiri fort (28 Km/60 Min)
Nandidurga (45 Km / 60 Min)
Kundana Fort (51 Km/90 Min)
Devanahalli fort (45 Km/60 Min)
Kote Betta (Village Fort)
(1 Km/Walking 20 Minutes) - Old Temple complex, Fortification using hill rocks and a wonderful water tank to see.
Akkamma Betta- Kalavarahalli Betta - Hari-Hara Betta
Area is Semi Arid climate characterized by typical monsoon tropical weather with hot summers and mild winters.
The district is well known for mango, grapes, pomegranate, sapota, guava, papaya, banana and citrus and cut flowers cultivation. Besides, farmers are increasingly going in for protected cultivation, particularly, carnation, gerbera, Dutch roses, capsicum, tomato, etc.
The soil and the climate are favourable for growing field crops like ragi, maize, pulses and oil seeds, vegetables and fruit crops.
SOIL, RAINFALL AND CLIMATE
Soil Type: Red and small patches of laterite
The soils of Chickballapur district occur on different landforms such as hills, ridges, pediments, plains and valleys. The types of soils distributed range from red loamy soil to red sandy soil and lateritic soil. Of the total area, about 73% is suitable for agriculture and horticulture; about 3% for forestry, pasture and the remaining area is suitable for quarrying, mining and as habitat for wildlife.
Agro-climatic Zone: Eastern Dry Zone ( X and XI - Sub Region II) + Semi-arid and Arid
It experiences a semi-arid climate,
characterized by typical monsoon tropical weather with hot summers and mild winters.
Ground Water: In the absence of surface water irrigation system ground water is the main source of irrigation.
Presence of chemical constituents more than permissible limits - Fluoride,
Average annual Rainfall - 756 mm
Chickballapurdistrict owes its prosperity and development
to the existence of ancient tanks. There are as many as 1243 tanks located in the district. The main occupation of people is agriculture.
The year is normally divided into four seasons. They are;
a) dry season during Jan-Feb,
b) Premonsoon season during Mar-May,
c) Southwest Monsoon season during Jun-Sep and
d) Post or Northeast monsoon season during Oct-Dec.
The southwest monsoon contributes around 55 percent of the annual rainfall. The other monsoon (NE) yields around 30 percent. The balance of around 15 percent results from the premonsoon.
September and October are the wettest months with over 100mm monthly rainfall.
Thunderstorms are common during the month of May. The post monsoon season often gets copious rains due to passing depressions.
PREDOMINANT GEOLOGICAL FORMA TIONS
Peninsular Gneissic complex (Granites, Gneisses and Chickballapur schist (Horn blende schist and Amphibolite schist )
Himalayas are about 30 million years old and Aravallis about 300 million years old, rock formations in this area are 2000-3000 million years old, one of the oldest landmass on earth.
Stone inscriptions found in hills around Bangalore have captured events from 1000 BC to the present times.
GEOMORPHOLOGY
The topography of the district is undulating to plain. The central and eastern parts of the district forming the valley of Palar Basin, are well cultivated. The norhternpart of the district forms a depression forming the valley of the North PinakiniRiver towards Gauribidanur. The general elevation varies from 249 to 911 m above mean sea level
HYDROGEOLOGY
Major water bearing formations - Weathered and fractured Granite Gneisses and schists,
Granites, gneisses, schists, laterites and alluvium underlie the district. Basic dykes intrude the above formations at places.
Granites and gneisses occupy major portion of the district. Schists are mostly confined to the northwestern part of Gauribidanur taluk.
Laterites occupy small portions in Chickballapur, andSidlaghatta taluks. Alluvium is confined to river courses. Fractures or lineaments occupy well- defined structural valleys and majority of them trend NE-SW.
The occurrence and movement of ground water is controlled by weathered zone and fractures and fissures that exist in hard rocks. In the district, ground water occurs in phreatic and semi-confined to confined conditions. It also occurs in alluvium under water table conditions.
The weathered thickness varies from 6 to 18 m in the majority of the area, except in parts of Sidlaghatta and Chikballapurataluks where it ranges from 40 to 60 m. The depth of water level in piezometer generally ranges from 12 to 49 mbgl.
The ground water levels are essentially controlled by physiographic features and rainfall distribution.
Mode of ground water extraction is through borewells. Among the abstraction structures, borewells are predominant. The yield of borewells in hard rock varies generally from 15 to 200 m3/day. The depth of irrigation borewells range in depth
from 100to 300 mbgl and the yield of borewells ranges from 0.5 to 20 m3/hour.
Semi-confined to confined aquifer is formed due to fractures in hard formations. This aquifer system is developed by bore wells ranging in depth up to 300m. Its yield ranges up to 1200m3/day. and specific capacity ranges from 2 to 173 lpm/m
HILL INFLUENCE
Hills and other small differences in topography, whether natural or artificial, can create large modifications in the microclimate. Many of them can be attributed to the cool air behaving somewhat like a liquid. The topography of a site, plants and buildings can create 'pools' where air cooled at night can 'flow
In the absence of winds generated by macro-scale in' (catabatic airflows) and gather, or 'dams' impeding weather phenomena, large bodies or water can refree flow of the air through the site.
Hills also modify winds' strength and direction as well as precipitation distribution. They can deflect wind in both its horizontal and vertical stream pat-terns. Measured wind velocities are higher near the hilltop on the windward side and at the sides on the crest. In sunny weather, these places will experience the smallest temperature rises: the wind will rapidly remove heat by forced convection, substantially reducing potential warming. The lowest speeds will be recorded near the bottom of the hill on its lee side.
Similar differences can be observed in precipitation distribution: rainfall is more intensive on the windward side and weaker on the lee side of the hill. Such a precipitation pattern follows adiabatic processes of condensation and precipitation in the ascending air.
In terms of radiation effects, hillsides receive an impact depending on the inclination and direction of the slope. The east and west sides of a hill receive more radiation than the south or north ones. It is because, in the tropics, the sun takes positions that are perpendicular or almost perpendicular to hill slopes in its east and west positions rather than while at the zenith when its beam is at a sharp angle to any inclined surface. However, the problem of radiation can be dealt with by designers in many ways and therefore wind incidence, much more difficult to control, remains the dominating consideration.
It is land locked district and hard rock terrain of Karnataka in the maiden (plain ) region.
The area lies almost in the central most part of peninsular India, which has immense bearing on its geoclimatic conditions.
The Bay of Bengal in the east and Arabian Sea in west both are equal air distance of less than 300 kms.
This pocket experiences Bangalore like weather throughout the year. Summers little hot and winters little colder.