Paadha Dhare Male | M.M Hills | ಪಾದದರೆಮಲೆ | ಮಲೆ ಮಾದೇಶ್ವರ ಬೆಟ್ಟ |

Paadha Dhare Male (11°58'11.6"N 77°34'14.0"E) has the remains of the left and right foot prints of Lord Mahadeshwara along with few marks formed on the rock believed to have been made by the Tiger belonging to Mahadeshwara. There is also a big rock which is believed to be the Tiger of Lord Mahadeshwara who happens to have transformed into a stone after getting a curse from Lord Mahadeshwara himself. This place falls within the Male Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary which was established in 2013 with an area of 906.187 Sq Km. The forests of M.M Hills wildlife sanctuary are principally of dry deciduous type degrading to scrub forest in the fringe areas, and are interspersed with patches of moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests occurring at varying altitudes. Animals including tiger, elephant, leopard, wild dog, bison, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, sloth bear, wild boar, four horned antelope, black naped hare, common langur, bonnet macaque, honey badger (ratel), varieties of reptiles, birds, etc. are found in the wildlife sanctuary. A proposal has been made from the Karnataka State to notify M.M WL as a Tiger Reserve. The approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is expected any time and as prelude to this a Tiger census was carried in the month of February 2022. As per the old census carried out in this region confirms the presence of 300 elephants and 12 Tigers in 2018. There are a total of 19 villages falling in this Wildlife Area and has an overall population of 50,722 people. The forest trail to reach Paadha Dhare Male starts from a small hamlet called as “Kombudikki” (12.035142, 77.574914) which is at an altitude of 3300 Ft MSL. While travelling to M.M Hills from Talabetta through the Ghats we come across a place just before Anetale Dimba (12.035142, 77.574914) where in we find a sign display board showing the road towards Kombudikki. A 6 km drive brings us to a very beautiful hamlet called Kombudikki which has 150 houses. The main crop here is Millet (Ragi) and Wheat. A family here have been performing the worship at Paadha Dhare Male on every Monday from hundreds of years with great devotion. Mahesh a young boy from the same household was our guide and leader of our team trekking to this sacred place situated at an altitude of 4020 Ft MSL. Our trekking trail led us through several ups and downs as we had to ascend and descend various hills to reach our final destination. We started our journey at 9:30AM and reached Paadha Dhare Male at 12:20 PM thereby we took around 2 Hours 50 Minutes to travel 5.00 Kms. We started back at 1:00 PM after performing pooja and reached Kombudikki at 3:45 PM. Overall we took around 6 Hours 15 Minutes to complete this 10 Km trail successfully. 

Important Advice: As this place is amidst a forest with bamboo and water in abundance it is a natural paradise for elephants. It’s very important to complete the trek before 4:00 PM as Elephants flock towards Tarekere Pond to quench their thirst in the evening. This trek trail can be graded as Medium; hence the trekkers need to be fit and sound. Its advised to visit this place on Monday’s only as the priest performs the puja only on Monday and moreover he would take up the dual role as our guardian during the trekking.