Bangalore to Gandikota and Belum caves - A Road trip

After a cancelled Waynad bike ride in the last week of August, my heart was throbbing for a getaway. Everyone around me wanted me to stay back but the traveler within me was not ready to listen to me and hence there was no point in asking him to listen to others! This time the plan was done the previous evening of the drive and 4 of us were ready for the drive. We were lucky to get a Ford Figo in zoom cars at last moment but, from Airport site! Did not have much time to decide if we want to take the car from there or drop the plan itself. In the confusion itself booked the car and the trip was confirmed!
Parked our bikes in zoom car parking area, picked up the car and left to the destination - Gandhikota. (If you are travelling by zoom car / any commercial vehicle, you will have take entry pass from RTO check post on the way and hence you will have to travel till Penukonda just to get pay the entry fee. If not, you can take a deviation around 20Kms prior to Penukonda.)
The most horrible part of the journey is finding any hotel on the way to Gandikota. We did not find any! We directly went to Gandikota and we knew there is a resort there and had our lunch there itself. We checked if we can get any accommodation there but the in charge said weekends are booked for next 2 months! Seriously? We hardly found anyone around and he says its booked for 2 months. We did not care since we were not desperate to stay there.

Gandikota (Kadapa District of Andhra Pradesh)
In Gandikota, you can spend 1-2 hours. Avoid afternoons since it will be very hot and unbearable heat. Evenings can be pleasant and you can get a good sunset view. There is an old mosque, a temple, a granary all within the fort. Inside the fort itself, there is a small village. The main attraction is the view of the gorge. The rocky walls and the river flowing in the middle provide a splendid view. You do not feel the depth and vastness until you compare it with something. We saw a boat coming from one end and only then we realized how vast the area is. The place looks safe even for family trips unless you have very naughty kids who run away and you cannot control them! Good place for friends to go for a ride or drive and have a good evening.
Our next destination was Belum caves and hence we took route towards Belum and took a stay in Jammalamadugu as that is the city that falls in between Gandikota and Belum. There were enough lodges but not many hotels. Luckily we found a lodge near a hotel and booked room in that. Till morning we have repented for not booking an AC room. The weather was horrible and we were sweating all the night! Morning after breakfast, we headed to awaited destination - Belum caves.

Belum Caves (Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh)
In simple words, gives you a feel of Grand canyon (may be for people like me who have seen grand canyon only in photos. :P ) Belum caves is definitely worth travelling a distance and visiting since it is hard to find many destinations like this in India. You are allowed to walk for around 1.5Kms inside the cave and the cave is lit by artificial lights. These lights give a different mood to the walls of the cave. Need to appreciate Andhra tourism for the effort they have put in maintaining the cave and making it a good tourist destination. The walk inside cave is not a difficult one and is almost flat. There are different locations like Dhyaana Mandiram, KotiLingam, Pathala Ganga etc. withing the cave and we felt there is no need of any guide unless you are passionate about learning about the cave.Overall Belum caves should falls in your must visit places since it is very unique and beautiful one.

How to reach?
To Gandikota - From Bangalore, take Hyderabad road and take a right around 20Kms before Penakonda. Head towards Jammalamadagu. 4 Kms before Jammalamadagu, take a left turn to Gandikota. (Food and stay available at Gandikota. But book in advance for stay.)
To Belum - From Gandikota, reach Jammalamadagu, then head towards Tadapathri. On the way, you get Belum caves. To return to Bangalore, head to Tadapathri -> Anantapur. Once you reach anantapur, you take Bangalore Hyderabad highway. The road from Jammalamadagu to Bangalore is excellent and you take atleast 2 hours lesser compared to Bangalore to Gandikota road mentioned above. We took around 4.5 hours to cover ~300Kms.

Photos

The Arizona feel in Belum Caves

That wonderful feel!

Sunset time and windmills creating a canvas in Gandikota

Inside the old mosque in Gandikota

The gorge in Gandikota

On the way to Belum caves

Belum Caves

Budha statue near Belum caves

Like Hollywood :P 

Series : There is an experience apart from an opinion - 1

An experience and an opinion about the place and the people are the 2 things which I always gain in each trip. When I turn back and see my blog posts, all I see is I have shared my opinion about the place, the route, the best time to visit etc. But what I have missed is recording my experiences. If not for anyone else, for me these experiences mean a lot and I wish I do not forget any of those. But, life keeps on adding more to the stack that we tend to forget, a few simple yet important ones. But, those special ones can be recorded somewhere and when you read them again, all those scenes flash in front of your eyes as though you are reliving the moments. 

During college days, me and a couple of my friends sitting in last bench used to discuss about going for a trip and I still remember when one of our lecturer just told the word Egypt, we started saying ourselves "Namo Egypt poyiyaa" in tulu meaning "Let's go to Egypt man". But, it was more of a fun for the moment and not really a serious one. But today if I think of any place and decide to go, I start longing for that day every minute. A lot of places are in my bucket and these haunt me everyday. The only major trips we covered during college days were overnight decided Mandalpatti bike ride and Kumaraparvatha Trek. Rest were class trips etc.

A job changed my life and that too when I got posted in Bangalore and most of my friends got in Mangalore, things changed. I used to travel every Saturday and Sunday as if it will be my last weekend of life. Hundreds of reasons joined together to make me get addicted to travelling. I would make a couple of calls to a few friends in Bangalore, and if none were free on that weekend or if they felt lazy to join for the trek on a row, it was me and my backpack travelling to the next place in the bucket list. 

A lot of treks, a lot of places of Bangalore were covered and by then it had become my habit to pick the bag and move somewhere every week. 

In this course, I have met a lot of people in different places whom I may never meet again in life. But those people have given quite a few good memories to me. Some annoying ones, some making me feel uncomfortable, some funny, some making me feel great about them and some people just not making me feel anything but were present for a couple of minutes in life. A couple of next posts dedicated to my experience as a traveler in different places with different people.
When I simply turn back and try listing such people, the first one who comes to my mind is the drunken guide we went with in elephant prone Raagalli Betta and the next is the dad who climbed Madhugiri with his 2 kids aged 9 and 4 with kids wearing no shoes or chappal! A lot of interaction with such people and cant simply stop the list with just 2 people in it. More about these people and more of them in coming posts.

The guide (The One in blue shirt :P ) who 'guided us' in elephant prone Raagalli Betta

And this is how he looks when he is drunk. :P But he was in his senses :)