Jogimatti is a hill station and forest reserve in

Chitradurga district Chitradurga district is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Chitradurga is the district headquarters. Chitradurga gets its name from Chitrakaldurga, an umbrella-shaped lofty hill found there. Tradition ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

, India. The reserve covers in

Chitradurga Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance which is locate ...

, Holalkere and Hiriyur

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s, south of the city of

. There is a century-old hilltop bungalow built by the British to house travellers, and a nearby temple dedicated to the local

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

for whom the hill station was named, with 155 steps. The reserve has a small zoo called Adumalleshwar, which the Central Zoo Authority of India ordered renovated in 2012 to better house the animals, and an

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

adventure centre which opened in 2010.Sachidanand Kuragund
"Forest Tales"
''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printe ...

'', 31 July 2012. A waterfall called Himavatkedara or Himavatkedra has created a natural cave in which a

Shiva lingam A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

and idols of

Veerabhadra Virabhadra (), also rendered Veerabhadra, Veerabathira, and Veerabathiran, is a fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva. He is created by the wrath of Shiva, when the deity hurls a lock of his matted hair upon the ground, upon hearing of the self- ...

and

Basavanna Basaveshwara, colloquially known as Basavanna, was a 12th-century CE Indian statesman, philosopher, poet, Lingayat social reformer in the Shiva-focussed bhakti movement, and a Hindu Shaivite social reformer during the reign of the Kalyani Chalu ...

have been placed."In and around Chitradurga"

, retrieved 14 September 2014. Jogimatti is the highest point in the district, at in elevation, and one of the coolest places in the state. The vegetation is dry deciduous forest and scrub. It is rich in wildlife and until the 1950s was tiger habitat, but is threatened by encroachment from farms and from nearby

windmills A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

, which endanger birds. The tigers and

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as Vulnerable species, vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss ...

s are reported to have almost died out, and the medicinal plants found in the reserve are endangered.Pradeepkumar Kadkol
"Need to declare Jogimatti as wildlife sanctuary stressed"
''The Hindu'', 27 August 2012. A proposal has been made to declare it a wildlife refuge. Jogimatti was declared as sanctuary in 2018.

References

Reserved forests of India Hill stations in Karnataka Geography of Chitradurga district {{Chitradurga-geo-stub