Island of Vakkund

Jan 25th
Pushpa and I were on a day trip to visit a few historical spots of Belagavi district. Having seen the places by 1-30 pm, we drove back towards Dharwad looking for a spot in farm lands to have home-packed lunch. We passed by Bailhongal. I knew there weren't any convenient spots, so I decided to turn off the state highway and stop near Vakkunda. We found a spot in a vacant farmland next to the road. We were famished, we just spread out a mat and had rotti, sprouts, cucumber, radish & shenga-chatni. After lunch Pushpa lay down for a nap and I launched my drone. I navigated the DJI Mini2 towards Malaprabha, got a few stills of the island, and also shot a short video. Here's the hillock-island of Vakkund. The island status is temporary. Water level drops and the shoreline recedes gradually. By March or April the hillock is no more an island.

On the hillock are three ancient temples. My first visit here was 2022 Feb 16 to see the temples but I had to return with a few shots of the hillock sitting in the backwaters of Renuka Sagar. Then I visited Vakkund again on 2022 Apr 16th i.e. after two months, the hillock reachable by foot then. Here's the link to the blog post- Mukteshwara Gudi, Vakkunda part-1 if you wish to get a glimpse of the temples on the hillock.

Lastly, here's the short video of the island, river Malaprabha & Renuka Sagar back-waters. Along river Malaprabha are several historical places. There's a post dedicated to journey oof Malaprabha Nadi.

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