Bamboo Meadow Lake

Overview

This is one of the most straighforward flat, but very rewarding hikes around Bangalore. The trail weaves in and out of patches of bamboo thicket and other natives trees. A great place to spot birds too!

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Trail description

The trail starts as you park an enter a gate. There's a wall on one side and a small muddy ridge on the other. As you walk for a couple of minutes, you'll the lake right ahead of you.

Then, the trail turns left and you have an option of walking in the shade of bamboo and pongamia trees or staying outside that shaded patch based on the weather.

Once you're past this patch it opens up a bit and the trail turn slightly left again. And after few minutes in, you'll have large patches of bamboo to you right and some trees and shrubs to you left.

After you cross that bit the trail opens up, with a row of dead trees to your right and thick bamboo to the left of that patch.

We can walk across this opening, usually to the right of the bamboo patch or inside it, depending on the season. In the rainy season the mud might be very slushy and hard to walk though so you can instead choose to weave through poky bamboo branches.

Then you cross a small stream (might be flowing in the peak of monsoon, usually it's pretty muddy). This is probably the trickiest part of the trail, but it's pretty doable. You might need a hand from a fellow hikers.

And avoid wearing white shoes, especially in the rainy season to avoid getting them super muddy.

You pass into the next leg which has a mix of several types of trees, shrubs and bamboo and then the trail open up again with the lake visible ahead of you and to your right.

We then again turn left moving a bit away from the lake, weaving in though a shaded path and then out in to grass and small shrubs, to come out again to the lake shore.

This is where you'll see the expanse of the lake (although still not its full extent, because you're at the same level)

And this point also marks the turnaround point for the hike.

Follow the same trail back to the start.

🌦️ Season

Any time of the year. When it's hot out you can choose to be in the shaded parts as the whole trail is well shaded. In rainy season plan according to the wet, slushy mud on the trail.

🎟️ Permit

No permit needed.

🐾 Wildlife

Nothing to worry about. You'll get to see birds 🕊️ here, numbers and variety will vary based on the season.

Cleanliness

Some trash in the beginning, but it reduces as you go further on the trail.

Crowd

Very few people go here, a few locals go here to catch fish and to graze their goats and cows.

Swimming

I haven't swum here, but looks okay. I have seen local fisherpeople wading till their chest.

I have walked into about knee-deep water here.

There are a lot of dead trees and thorny plants, so you'd have to be wary of those.

Getting there

You can use one of the ride hailing apps to book a cab to the spot. That's how close to the city this trails is!