Dandeli on the River Kali

Some moments of your life will always be etched in your memories, I could still remember the moment, my heart thumping and gasping with the sound ringing in my ears. All through the moment my only worry was about my swimming skills which i never had, although i was tethered to a Life Jacket. I was like a kid caught between whether to close my eyes or open and go with the adrenaline rush. But adrenaline caught up with me and i let out a sharp shriek while going through the turbulent waters. White Water Rafting was the pinnacle moment of the trip, when all you can do is hold a paddle against the agitated white frothy waters.

Dandeli is a sleepy small town in the Western Ghats lying somewhere in the forest between Hubli and Goa. Although it does not have much of the charm like the various Hill-Stations dotting the Western Ghat, it does have its own old town character. This place is dull, gloomy and not so lively if you want to experience packed houses, jumbled shops with you vying for space with all other socialites.

Dandeli is not yet commercialized like other hill stations or adventure spots of India. This place enlightens you with the tall green trees which allow only a spec of light to reach the ground. The other beauty which enlivens the place is the River Kali. The river in all its meandering flow is beautiful and gives a lively picturesque view all along its banks.

Wildlife

Dandeli is flanked on the Western side by National Parks and Wildlife reserves, one can sight rare birds but chances of sighting other fauna are rare. Forest Safari are arranged everyday from Pancholi by Forest authority for a price of 500/head. But seats for a Safari are very limited to 120 per day and can be difficult to get during the long weekends. I was on the unlucky side and could not get a spot, but we did spot some wildlife while on return. 

Animals don't have boundaries

I was dejected I could not get a ticket and was returning to my homestay, when my lucky angel was walking straight onto me. At first glance I thought it was a dog and let it passby, but then I realised it was a Golden Jackal. I screeched to a halt and went tip-toeing in search of the feline, having two thoughts I should not scare it and the Jackal should not scare me either.... But I caught a glimpse of it and took a few snaps before returning. But the sighting of other animals had just started, I spotted few Hornbills as they flew in pairs wherever I looked up the sky. And the icing on the cake was spotting a Giant Malabar Squirrel, this one was massive, the size of a teddy bear jumping, hurtling along the trees and eating wild fruits of god only knows name kind.

Indian Golden Jackal

Indian Hornbill

Giant Malabar Squirrel

Stay Options

Dandeli does not have proper hotels or well built infrastructure for tourism but they do have homestays which provide decent accommodation in the wild. Plan your stay way ahead to get decent accommodation. One big disadvantage is there are not eating out places and one has to be suffice with the food options provided by the Homestays.

Sight-Seeing & Adventure

There are a lot of Sight seeing spots around Dandeli like Syntheri Rocks, Sykes Point and Crocodile Park. Adventure activities are limited to water activities like Water Rafting, Zorbing and River Crossing on the River Kali. Homestays do arrange the activities and help you out.

USP: If you are looking for a quiet sojourn in the midst of a cool forest, this place has got it.

Sea Diving @ Alamparai Fort

"Thambi thannila kuddhi pa....!!! Athan Lifejacket pottu irukala....!!! Thannila muzhigadamata....!!!!"  (Jump into the water... You are wearing a life jacket... You wont drown) Yuvaraj the boatman screamed for the last time. Everyone else on the weekend sojourn were already in the water.

      I scrambled to the edge of the boat, took a deep breath and jumped into the water. After seeing some hazy bluish green figures in the water, i came floating over to the top thanks to my life jacket and started to search for the thin rope attached to the boat. People who have gone through the ordeal of drifting in mid sea with life jackets on would endorse with me the value of the thin rope ( I remember some of my friends going through this while diving in the sea for the first time).

     This was part of my idea on our trip to Alamparai Fort. The Fort's ruins lie on the East Coast Road around 100 kms from Chennai, which qualified into our list as an easy weekend getaway. If you are expecting a Fort with lot of inbuilt structures on the inside you would be disappointed. All that remains of the Fort are the Red Brick Stoned Walls which too have large cracks in between. The rusted Plaque present at the Fort's Entrance suggests the British ruined the Fort in the year 1760. The inside of the Fort has no structures inside with thorny bushes growing along the walls of the fort.

The Entrance to the Fort

The Inside of the fort is nothing but a playground for the locals

Bushes overgrown on the walls of the fort

       We started strolling towards the beach, The Fort Wall stands close to the backwaters. Walk a few paces and you could see the damage done to the fort by several natural events on the east coast. The Backwaters with the remnants of the fort on a cloudy day was picturesque.

The Ruins of the Fort on the Sea side

    
       Look closer in the backwaters you could find crabs, molluscs and snails on the receded water floor, On the other side is the sea lapping on the shoreline.
 

A small crab peeping out

      To the north of the fort is the fishing hamlet where we hired a boat to go for Sea diving. We ensured all the 9 of our team got life jackets and went in a single boat. The duration was one hour and soon we drifted away from the coastline.

After the Sea Diving Exercise

       The Sea diving concluded with a lot of giggles and banters, the one hour floating in the mid sea experience had drained us of all the energy. We took snaps of ourselves along with our bikes and started towards Chennai. But soon the cloudy weather turned moist and ensured all of us got drenched in the rain.

Riders on their Horses & Bulls

USP: If you are looking for a drive on the East Coast Road to a picturesque destination to be covered in a single day, go for Alamparai Fort.

Wikipedia- Alamparai Fort

Route Map

The Biking Team

Gandikota Fort & Belum Caves

The roads were steep and surrounded by shrubbs and rocks all around with no signs of civilisation around and it went on for another quarter of an hour. The sight of the temple gopuram heaved a sigh of relief in us. We drove through the fort walls which were designed as fortifications from enemy armies.Frantically we park our bikes and go for in one direction.

The temple and fort walls which can be seen from a distance

Road towards the Fort

Is this the view we saw in the internet ….?
No
Maybe we should go a few more steps ahead and check….
No… Its not over here… We shall go back to fort and check with someone.

                Gandikota was in all its calm on the weekend. The fort stood on a shrubby hill with a few houses near it. The main catch of the fort is the Gorge to the left of the main gateway. We were lost in the backside of the fort and were searching for the Scenic Cliff also known as the Grand Canyon Of India.

        Soon, we came to know of the location and moved fast since it was nearing Sunset. The approach to the cliff was full of boulders of different sizes lying all over the place. We had to negotiate our way through the rocks to reach the cliff. The Cliff was huge, the pictures were true…. It really looked like the Grand Canyon. There was no water in the river and it was full of algae. The sides of the Cliffs also marked two walls of different sizes of the Fort itself. We could see the reservoir on one side of the cliff and green hillocks on the other side dotted with Windmills in the background. It was a perfect setting for a day wherein we had travelled 400kms for this view. There were many selfie mongers lurking over the edge to take pictures of the scenic point and we saw a group equipped with a drone too!!!

                The only hotel in Gandikota is the APTDC Haritha hotel and can be booked online. The other option for lodging would be the town of Jamalamuggudu which lies around 15kms away. There aren’t many shops around the fort so pack yourselves for any refreshments before you wander the fort. We were lucky enough to get accommodation in Gandikota itself.

Outside the APTDC Hotel in Gandikota

                Earlier in the day we had started at 6.15am from Chennai with a Royal Enfield Classic and an Electra. We halted for breakfast in a small hotel near Renigunta, rested ourselves and started Towards Kadapa. The 135Km road towards Kadapa was a two lane highway with few towns dotting the road. The route was picturesque with trees and hills all around which was also a relief from the sun.
                We had pitted for Lunch in Kadapa. We had done our Homework of the specialties of Kadapa and drove straight to Andhra Spice Hotel. We reached a tad too early at around 11.45. We had already fixed the menu in our mind- Kunda Biriyani (Biriyani cooked in a Mud Pot) with Natukodi Chicken which is a famous Kadapa Cuisine. Our thirst for something new was not over since we ordered for Bongu Chicken (Chicken Biriyani made in a Bamboo Stem). With our appetite for travel not yet filled we then started towards Gandikota at 1 PM.

Belum Caves

                The next day morning at 7 we started towards Belum Caves which is another 80Kms away from Gandikota fort. We reached the caves to be welcomed by a huge Buddha Statue. To our surprise the caves opened only at 10am. We had our breakfast in a small hotel outside and had a quick nap outside the caves.

                We bought the passes and entered the cave through a downward staircase. A guide accompanied us through the cave which was mandatory in the place. We entered into a large causeway which branched further downwards.

Stairway leading down to the interiors of the cave

The Cave is 3kms long in total but visitors are allowed only for a length of 1Km. Though the cave is well ventilated with air shaft pipes it felt a lot humid down. The Orange lighting provides a perfect blend to the otherwise cement colored limestone cave. The cave narrows down to a foot in some places where you have to manoeuvre yourselves through the small causeway.  The cave is well maintained with paved footpath even in narrow sections and CCTV cameras lined along frequently just in case you get lost. As you get into the interior of the cave you get to see the stalactites and stalagmites (a hard word which you would have encountered in geography books).

The Huge hallway near the entrance

The curvy low ceiling interiors with orangy lighting

Stalactite Formation

We were told that the cave goes around 120feet down from the entry point but that was enough for us to sweat out all the fluids in our body, it was in stark contrast to the outside weather. But the cave in itself was a natural wonder and I am sure it is a not to be missed one.

             
Note: Gandikota and Belum Caves are visited by a lot of people in the weekends, plan your stay well in advance. Nearest Towns for accommodation would be Jammalamugudu and Tadipatri which provide average stay options.

Trek to Velliangiri Hills

It was midsummer but the heatwave did not repent us from planning for a trek. Velliangiri Hills was one such destination in our minds; away from the Chennai nestled in the Western ghats near Coimbatore.

                To start the trek one has to reach Poondi a small town in the base of the foothills with a temple from where the trek starts. Poondi is easily accessible from Coimbatore City as there are plenty of buses plying to this place.

                We were six of us (Guna,Bilal, Mani, Bala, Barani and myself) and boarded a bus from chennai at 9.30pm towards coimbatore on  a humid friday night in May (We decided against going on a bike as it would make us tired). We reached Coimbatore in the morning at 6.30 had a quick breakfast and made a plan for the day. Since coimbatore was hotter than we expected we had to put the idea of day trek to rest and planned for to start the trek late in the noon. We were looking for options to spend the morning and decided upon the Isha yoga center which was near to Poondi. We reached the Isha Yoga Center at 9.30, there we came across few trekkers and queried about their hike. They could not cross the second hill because of the scorching sun and we felt vindicated of our decision. Isha Yoga center provided us good time to relax and learn some quick meditation and breathing exercises. We had our lunch outside the Isha yoga Center and started towards Poondi temple.

                We reached the Poondi Temple at 1.30, packed biscuits, bananas and nuts for our hike. We also bought a bamboo stick which would be our third leg while on trek. We had a quick visit to the shrine and were greeted by a forest guard at the base of the plight of stairs towards the hill. Our bags were vetted for any plastic products and were removed.

Velliangiri Hills

                The trek towards the cave temple is 6kms long according to Google maps (though we would contest that) and comprises of 7 hills. The first hill is a steep staircase which keeps moving high until you reach the Vellai Vinayagar Temple. This part of the trek was the hardest for us. While we reached halfway through the first mountain we had our first wicket gone, Guna could not climb anymore and returned back to coimbatore, we were reduced to five in number now!!!

Barani whiling away the time as rest of the gang catches up

                The second and the third hill are a mixture of stairs and walkways through forests. Along the trek towards the second hill one will come across a natural spring where cold water flows from the rocks. We replenished our water bottles and had a quick break over there. And not to mention there were a lot of shops selling fruits, lemon soda, biscuits and buttermilk all along the way.

Bilal posing on the way to the third hill

                The fourth and fifth hills were free flowing walkways, though the rocks strewn around hindered our pace. We could notice the dramatic shift in the terrain compared to the first three hills. We could see grass or shrubs all over the place and the rocks had given way to soil which were orange colored. We also noticed that we were walking at the edge of a big mountain all along. Soon sunlight faded away and it was time for our torches.

Crossing the fourth hill

On top of the fifth hill- Enjoying the sunset at the edge of a cliff

               

                The Sixth hill was to be descended downwards and the soft soil gave away easily with our weights. In some places we had to sit and get down going along the away. At the base of the sixth hill there was a small pond, we decided to take a quick bath and changed our soiled clothes. We ate the fruits which we had taken along and started towards the seventh hill.

The Seventh Hill

                The Seventh hill was a steep and long ascending. We could see the silhouette of the hill in the moonlit darkness. The trek on the hill was hard as it was a mixture of rocks and soft soil. We could feel the temperature dropping heavily and the soil was literally cold as water sprinkling all over our feet.

The Caves

The cave was more of a cutout section in the huge hillock rock. Legend has it that the lingas in the caves were naturally formed. We reached the cave at 9pm, offered prayers to the natural lingam present over there, and soon started our descend towards the base. We decided to take quick breaks on the way along rather than halting for long hours.

DOWNWARD NIGHTMARE

                The trek downhill was a nightmare, the crowd for to see the temple had started to trickle up and choked the way all along the hills. Worse still all the shops had run out of water or any kind of eatables because of the unforeseen crowd. We reached the summit of the first hill at 3'o clock and decided to take a quick nap. Mani had prepared well in advance for this occasion and brought a tarpaulin with him which came in handy. We slept for two hours and started to descend and reached the Poondi Temple at 5.30. We replenished ourselves, took rest, had breakfast and took a bus towards coimbatore at 8 in the morning.

                Guna who had discontinued the trek in the start took a room for himself which came in handy for us to take some rest and bathe ourselves. We took the 2.55pm Kovai Express and reached Chennai at 10.30PM (The heat on the day train literally baked us and barani was complaining why i had not booked in an Air Conditioned coach).

The five member team

NO PAIN NO GAIN         

The trek in itself was arduous because of the steep climb in certain areas and scorching sun which roasted us. Everyone were wincing in muscle pain all along the return journey and it continued for the next day or two. But we were delightful in a way that we had reached the summit and completed the trek successfully!!!

The Mangrove Run

When my Royal Enfield Classic 350 was delivered everyone asked the same question, "When are you going to go on a trip?" After lots of chatting, planning and quarreling we decided on the spots to be covered Pitchavaram, Poompuhar and Tharangambadi, a distance of 310 kms in all from Chennai.  We were three guys on the prowl with a Royal Enfield Classic 350, Yamaha FZ 2.0 & a Suzuki Gixxer XF.

On a cold drizzly Saturday morning in January we set off from Madipakkam at around 5 in the morning. We decided to have a cup of tea before we start our journey through ECR, we halted near Mayajaal while Gixxer finished off his prayers. We had a mouthwatering Bread Ommlette which set the urge in us for the trip. We set off at 6.30 from there (rather a long break) and travelled non-stop till we saw a good spot to click some pictures and cool our engines off. Our Next photoshoot was in Marakkanam where the Backwaters and the marshland offered a good scenic view for my friends to take pics. Rain halted our pace while we entered Puducherry and we had to stop for a while before we pitted for breakfast. We had food in Arya Bhavan and shooted off towards Cuddalore at 9.30.

         

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TRAFFIC!!!

                The City Of Puducherry and the town of Cuddalore are nestled at a distance of just 21kms which makes a perfect place for traffic, accidents and jaywalking. After a couple of close shaves and lots of honking we crossed Cuddalore. The highway towards Chidambaram is a driver’s paradise, after the traffic and market mayhem this presented a perfect place to shoot off. After a lot of Google Mapping and asking directions we reached Pichavaram at 12 noon. We refreshed ourselves and packed some snacks before we set off in row boats inside the mangrove forests.

                Pichavaram was in my bucket list for a long period though it is not very far off Chennai i missed many opportunities to visit this place.


THE MANGROVES

                Our journey was scheduled for two hours and two kms. Our Boatman was Kumar, who was equipped with two rows and soon we left the boat house. The climate started to change and we were feeling humid with our Lifejackets on (Kumar had given instructions for us to pack some snacks and fluids). We went deep into the mangroves, soon the navigable width reduced to the size of the boat itself and the trees formed a perfect canopy above us. Kumar then started to speak of the various plants and reptile species which habitat over there. He then guided us to the various locations where films were shot. According to him the water was not more than 6 foot in depth and there were not any poisonous reptiles in there. He added that there is a Poisonous tree “THILLAI MARAM” which can inflict wounds if the milk of the leaf is exposed to the skin. We returned to the boat house sharp at 2 with the afternoon sun beaming on us. We three of us were always interested in food and soon asked for directions where seafood was famous. We were guided to a hotel by name PUTTUR JAYARAM hotel on the NH 45A itself. As it was on the way to our next destination and we were not that hungry we took our bikes to the hotel. This hotel was referred by at least 5 of them with whom we spoke in Pichavaram, and we made up our mind not to settle for another one. The hotel itself was having a traditional look with thatched roof and the cooking and frying done outside with wood. The food served was delicious and we tried all the Seafood items over there. We finished our heavy lunch by 3.45 and soon we had doubts whether we can ride the bike with such heavy stomach.  With No Second Thoughts we skirted off to Poompuhar.

                The road leading towards Karaikal is NH 45A; the good part it has lots of curves and the bad part is it is too narrow in width making it too dangerous. We had some good time bending our bikes on those curves as there was pretty much no traffic (Although it was difficult for my Classic, FZ and Gixxer enjoyed it!!!).

Poompuhar Beach

Coins Displayed at the ASI Museum

                
         Poompuhar is a historical town which is set on the Cauvery river basin; famed for its ancient sea trade to be later devoured by the sea. The town is around 20 kms off the NH 45A with a signboard that led us into the town. We checked into the art museum and went for a quick stroll in the beach and gazed at the sea imagining how mighty a city stood with the Romans, Greeks and Chinese trading. Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed as it was far beyond working hours.  Seeing our keen interest in the art museum, the gatekeeper instructed us not to miss the ASI Maritime museum which is a tad outside and can be easily missed. The Maritime Museum maintained by the ASI possesses rare artefacts found while excavating various sites in Tamil Nadu; The Roman Coins displayed over there are a real treasure. As the day set on us and were real sure Tharangambadi should not be missed we quickly searched for lodging, then the thought set upon us of Thirukadaiyur.

                Thirukadaiyur is a small holy town famous for its Abirami temple. This Temple is where couples do their 60^th anniversary marriages. Finding a room decent enough was not a big task and soon we started to doze off.

THE DANSBORG FORT

Renovation underway at the Dansborg Fort

                We woke up to a bright sunny day and quickly went to Tharangambadi to check on the Danish town. The Fort’s huge chunky gate welcomed us and could soon see the European influence on the architecture of the buildings inside the locality. There is the well maintained Church to the right of the road and a big golden statue of Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg. The place was well maintained and tourists were flocking before the place even opened. We went for a stroll on the beach and found that the sea had engulfed the outer brick wall of the Dansborg Fort. Soon, we came to realize that ASI was erecting an outer stone wall to protect the fort and were doing maintenance works inside. The fort has a mammoth presence on the shore and the interiors all bore European architecture of curved and arched roofs. The Rooms on the first floor of the fort were used as a Maritime Museum and displays the original agreements signed between the Tanjore King and the Danes. Similarly it also has the agreement of the transfer of the fort to the English. The lower rooms had huge openings and low roofed, it was used as a makeshift place for storing the construction materials!?!?! Noon was setting on us quickly and we checked out of our rooms and started our return leg right at the stroke of 12.

DEEPTHOUGHT

                Since we had a torrid time enroute Pondy- Cuddalore and were warned by the locals that it was an auspicious day by which you will encounter more traffic in those areas, we were scratching our head for alternatives. We decided to go through Virudhachalam- Ulundurpettai, the latter which lies on the NH 45. Though it was a bit circuitous to go through this route we made our minds as it was a countryside way. Soon we touched Chidambaram bypass and went towards Virudhachalam thereby touching Bhuvanagiri.

BAD DECISION!!!

                The distance between the towns of Bhuvanagiri and Ulundurpettai is hardly 40kms which is connected by the SH 70, but the road was bad enough to make us feel that we had driven for one full day. The road had no traffic but was full of potholes which slowed our pace. From the start of our journey we never encountered any bad roads at all, maybe we ever entitled to go through this route. We reached the outer part of Virudhachalam at 1.45; had a small snack and decided to go through the Bye-pass thereby not touching Ulundurpettai and reaching Veppur a small village lying on the NH 45 at 2.30pm.

NH 45

                The four lane road leading to Chennai stood ahead of us and we took our bikes and started to speed up on the roads as we maintained a standard 80 to 90KMPH till we crossed Melmaruvathur. Upon the mayhem we had endured on the SH 70 we had forgot about our lunch. We decided to have a quick bite in a roadside hotel as it would give time for our engines to cool off and refresh ourselves too and started towards Chennai.

FINAL LAP!!!

                As it was a Sunday evening all the people who had fled the city on the weekend were returning and soon we felt it in the form of traffic, with meagre place for bikers left on the four lane stretch. We reached the Chennai Bye-Pass at 6.30 and decided to part our ways leading to each of our house. We covered a total of approximately 700 kms in two days or to be precise 38hours.

                As I reached home I was thinking of my first ever bike trip, during which I never had any time for personal or professional thoughts, maybe this is why people go on a bike trip; to recover themselves from the past and refresh their souls. The next day as Classic, FZ and Gixxer met each other soon were the seeds for the next bike trip sown.

Route Map