Gandikota and Belum Caves

Ever heard of Gandikota or the Belum Caves? Chances are that you have not. Well I certainly had not. I had asked an office colleague his suggestions for travel destinations close to Bangalore and one of the suggestions he came back with was Gandikota. “Hmm, where is this Gandikota and what attraction does it hold?” was the question that came to my mind. So I did some searching about it on the internet. I got to know that Gandikota is a village in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh in India. The main attraction was the canyon that was being popularly called as the Grand Canyon of India, albeit much smaller in magnitude. The Penna river flows through this canyon. The other attractions included the Gandikota Fort and two ancient temples. Browsing through a few trip reports from others firmed up the decision to have it as place to visit when we got the chance. It was also just around 300 kms from Bangalore.

December of 2015 and we were trying to decide on a place for a short trip. The time to visit Gandikota had finally come! I had also found out that the Belum Caves (the second largest natural caves in the Indian Subcontinent with a length of 3.2km) was not too far from Gandikota; roughly 65kms. So we decided to include it along with the visit to Gandikota.

The trip was being done along with Shanavas, Priya and their two children. We were on our journey in the wee hours of the morning. Being a December morning there was a bit of mist and nip in the Bangalore morning air. The traffic was light and the drive to our first planned stop was easy; our breakfast spot. It was Nandi Upachar, a restaurant on NH 44 and located just after the turn which one takes to go to Nandi Hills from Bangalore.

Tummies full and loo break done, we headed on to Gandikota. The route further on was continue on NH44 till Kodikonda, then take take NH 87 to Kadiri, catch NH 28 towards Jammalamadugu (yes it is a tongue twister at first 🙂 ) and then finally turn off to Gandikota.

They say that a trip is not just about the destination but also the journey. Well we all kept our eyes peeled for any exciting landscape enroute. And sure enough we got to see many; vast expanses of fields of cotton, millets, etc.; One of them a field of sunflowers too! We just had to stop and admire them, and of course click some photos 🙂

The rest of the drive was uneventful except for a bit of excitement towards the end. We were relying on Google Maps to guide us to our destination and we lost all signal from our mobile phones. Thankfully Google Maps has a feature of storing the route information offline and it will continue to guide as long as one does not deviate from the earlier route. So that is what we did.

We had booked the stay at Haritha Resort Gandikota. It is a property run by the AP Tourism. This was the only hotel accommodation available close to the Gandikota Fort. We reached post noon. So after completing the check-in formalities we first attended to our famished stomachs. Lunch done we took a small nap. The afternoon sun was also quite strong and making us drowsy. A couple of hours later it was time to explore the area.

The main attractions were the Gandikota Fort, the Madhavaraya Swamy Temple, the Jamia Masjid, the Granary, the Ranganatha Swamy Temple and the Penna Gorge. Access to all these were via the fort. The fort was just a short drive away from our place of stay. We decided to park our car outside the fort entrance and then walk around. This would give us a good feel of the place.

The entrance to the fort was through a large arched gateway.

Seeing the size of the doors one could almost imagine the elephants walking through the archway in the time of the rulers of the place. The doors were also built with defenses against the possibility of enemies using elephants to break open the doors.

Once inside the fort we made our way towards the Madhavaraya Swamy Temple. The walk lead us through a village inside the fort. We could see a multi-story tower aptly called Charminar at a distance.

The walk took us through pathways with good tree cover as well as a water body.

Finally we saw the gopuram of the Madhavaraya Swamy Temple.

Here is the view of the gopuram from inside the temple.

It was just us in the temple that evening. This allowed us to see the place at our pace and soak in its beauty as well as serenity.

Boys of of course will be boys. Here is them trying some stunts to burn of their energy.

And no, the above pictures do not show a magical portal where one boy transforms into another when they jump through it 🙂 .

Next was to explore the fort area besides the temple. Exiting the temple we however had to first maneuver through a herd of cattle that had settled outside the temple entrance. Being animals they are usually wary of the people that they are not familiar with. Once we managed to cross them, we walked around to explore the area. It was a nice walk and gave us good views of the fort walls on that side of the fort.

Dusk was fast approaching. So we hurried back. We did not want to miss seeing the Jamia Masjid and the Gorge. The Jamia Masjid came first. It also had the Granary next to it. Here are a couple of pictures of the Jamia Masjid.

To reach the Gorge we had to walk over an area of stones and rocks. It was not difficult. However one had to be careful of one’s footing. Finally we were able to see the magnificent gorge!

Darkness was starting to fall. That had us walking back to the car. Back at the hotel we all went for dinner. The night sky was clear. So some time after dinner was spent up on the terrace on top of our rooms admiring the stars and night sky.

The next morning we decided to visit the Gorge again. The children however were going to sleep in late. This time there was a light mist over the gorge. It was much chiller with a cold morning breeze.

This time as we walked back from the gorge we decided to explore the Ranganatha Swamy Temple before the Jamia Masjid. We had not got time last evening to explore it. Here are some pictures of the monument.

The kids were still in bed when we reached back. We had to cajole them out of their beds. Post breakfast it was time to pack our luggage into the cars and head on to Belum Caves. The drive was to take around 1.5 hours.

What greeted us first as we neared Belum Caves was a giant statue of Lord Buddha. We could see it even from outside the complex. Obviously one gets to appreciate it much better once inside.

After parking our cars we walked to the entrance from where steps would lead into the caves. We could see a sign that said there were conducted tours with a guide periodically. So we bought the tickets for the entry and decided to wait for one. While waiting I walked around a bit. I got to see the contraption by which air was being pumped into the caves. A much needed equipment as we later experienced.

Back at the entrance we were getting restless, not knowing when the next guided tour would start.

Since we had to drive back to Bangalore later in the day we decided to go in by ourselves without waiting any further. We then descended into the depths of the cave 🙂 .

The experience was brilliant. Much of the pathway is lit by neon lights giving it a beautiful colour. The cave structure was huge. Most places that we explored it was easy to walk. However it does get a bit “squeezy” at places. Being an underground cave there is no natural air circulation. So it can also get stuffy at places. I could see why they had placed the ventilators at different places. We could see signs asking people to stay a few minutes under the pipes bringing in air from the outside. It never became very uncomfortable. Here are some pics from the walk.

It is certainly an experience walking in these caves. We had done it when the pathway were all well marked, lit and the ventilators were pushing in air at places. I wondered how it must have been for the first set of explorers of the caves; surely it takes a different mindset to be able to discover and explore caves without such facilities!

Back outside the cave it was time to leave for Bangalore.  It was well past noon and not too long into the drive that our stomachs where yearning for food.  We however could not find any restaurants on the road that we were traveling on.  We finally saw a Punjabi dhaba (a small open air roadside eating joint) coming up ahead. I turned into the parking area besides it. I did not want to go any further without filling up especially since Bangalore was a good distance away and I had to drive. Seeing the seating arrangements in the dhaba the children were skeptical about eating. But when the food came they were all blown over by the lip-smacking food. All of us ending up ordering more food and finishing it all! As adults we knew that it is many-a-times such small joints that offer very tasty dishes. Hopefully this experience had also given “food” for thought to the kids; that they should not always judge eating joints just by their looks.

We were soon on our way again. Depending on how we were doing on time we decided to see if we could stop over at Lepakshi Temple enroute. But that was not to be. Lepakshi Temple  would have to be covered on a separate trip. Night had fallen by the time we reached our homes.

It had certainly been a worthwhile trip; both places were the ones that we had heard of by chance. We got to explore very different type of terrain in these two days. Reflecting on this trip it is evident that such beautiful places and unique attractions are not promoted well enough. Accompanying that conclusion is a selfish thought too – it was good to meet less crowds than in other popular tourist destinations 🙂 . But one does wonder in a large country like India what other destinations are there which is not known to many.

Tips

If you are visiting Gandikota, then the only decent place of stay is Haritha Resort Gandikota (at least when we went). As the destination is slowly getting more popular the accommodation is also starting to fill up fast. So it would be a good idea to book sufficiently well in advance. They do take online bookings.

I would expect summers to be super hot. So it is best to visit in the winter. Days can be hot even in “winter”. So take a hat and drink plenty of water.

Mobile network connectivity was not good in some places. So be prepared for navigation on your own (like in the earlier days).

If you are also visiting Belum Caves and exploring the caves, make sure you follow safety instructions. They are there for a reason. At places the pathway can feel cramped. So if you get claustrophobic easily then avoid them. Otherwise it is a comfortable walk at least in the beginning stretches.

Carry some snacks with you. You may not find eating joints that easily enroute.

 

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