Gangamoola

Gangamoola, also called Varaha Parvata, is a hill of the Western Ghats in Chikkamagaluru district, part of the Gangamoola-Aroli-Gangrikal range. It rises to 1,458 m within Kudremukh National Park, is thickly forested and gets about 575 cm of rain a year.

Three rivers start here. The Tunga flows north-east past Sringeri, Thirthahalli and Shimoga, and the Bhadra east and then north-east past Bhadravathi, the two joining at Koodli to form the Tungabhadra, while the Netravathi runs west past Dharmasthala and Mangalore to the sea. The hill lies in the Kudremukh biodiversity cluster nominated for World Heritage status, and a 1980 survey recorded 107 bird species in the area. Iron ore was once mined nearby, until the Supreme Court ordered the operations to stop.