A quick writeup of my recent visit to Araku valley near Visakhapatnam. There are basically two ways to reach Araku valley. One is via rail and other road. I prefer road only :). I just enjoy driving/cruising with my close or best pals chitchatting and listening to music. Have heard that rail route is scenic as it passes through a couple of small tunnels (heard that there are 50+) of them. May be i will try that afterwards.
To explain, the road is really good and the drive wonderful. I'm driving a Alto 800 with my wife as the navigator! ;). No not really, she's just enjoying the drive while i'm driving :D.
Any way, the route is excellent and the ghat road is not a very difficult to drive. There are only 8 hair pin bends with a couple of villages along the route. The entire route is scenic with a couple of valley view points. The major villages or government run resorts are at three places, Tyda, Ananthagiri and Araku valley respectively. They will be coming in the same order before you reach Araku valley. I chose Ananthagiri resort for my stay. It's situated on a hill overseeing a huge valley from three sides. And the resort is very large and well maintained. I liked my stay there and food is also good in the restaurant. I've checked in to the hotel, and started back to Araku valley on road. Our next stop is Gaali konda (Air Hill) a view point. Justifying its name there's lot of wind that's non-stop! Felt very good standing there and watching over the valley. Here's the snap of the same.
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| Gaali konda valley view |
After a while i decided that i will come back here at night. There will be almost full moon today. I thought i will watch the valley back in moon light.
So, after while started back towards Araku valley. On our way back saw a couple of nice valleys and sunsets. Below are a couple of them.
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| Another valley |
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| Not sure if these are pine trees |
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| Step irrigation by the local villagers. |
Another valley view
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| Moments after sunset. Loved the hue. |
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| Grass |
After reaching the araku village, we have gone around by foot and had a really good tea and snacks (samosa). They are awesome. Again got back into the car and started cruising the valley stopping here and there, taking in the view. Here are a couple of sunset snaps that i've captured on our way.
At around 8 in the night started the return journey. By the time we have reached the village it's 8:30 and i felt as if it is 11:00 in the night. All the shops closed and streets are deserted. Then it struck me, what abt our dinner?? Started searching the small village for food. But Araku evolved lot and was able to find a couple of restaurants. Got into one of them with the intention of spending atleast more than one hour for the time to pass. To our surprise and delight the food is excellent and the restaurant is also very neat and clean.
By the time we are out of the restaurant it's 10:30. And the night is very pleasant with moon and moon light. We started back our journey with windows down and stopped at a valley view point and sat at a valley view point for long looking at the moon, stars and moon light. The only disturbance is the occasional car or bike driving past us. That's a really wonderful experience. Any way we went back to the gali konda view point and spent some time there.
Next day we got up early and again started up the valley towards village
We have visited the Borra caves and Katikeri waterfalls. The caves seem to be maintained well. They are a million years old and there's the pungent smell of bats in the cave. Below are some of the snaps of Borra caves. Damn, i forgot my tripod, had to manage the below by propping my camera against some stones.
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| Katikeri Waterfalls |
The next one is Katikeri waterfalls. The only way to go till these waterfalls is, using a 4x4 over a "path", there's no road per say only a path with stones a big as football. Booked a cab and visited the waterfalls. From the drop point, we need to do a small trek for roughly 1 KM to go near the actual waterfall. A bit tiring if you are not prepared for a sudden trek. But the water is ice cold, came to know that the source of water amidst the hills is from underground. The local villagers built a small reservoir atop the hill and are redirecting the water through pipes for their daily needs. If you are strong enough, you can go till the top but will take lot of time and energy to do so.
Post that we have started our journey back home. The best time to visit Araku is Nov till Jan end.
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At around 8 in the night started the return journey. By the time we have reached the village it's 8:30 and i felt as if it is 11:00 in the night. All the shops closed and streets are deserted. Then it struck me, what abt our dinner?? Started searching the small village for food. But Araku evolved lot and was able to find a couple of restaurants. Got into one of them with the intention of spending atleast more than one hour for the time to pass. To our surprise and delight the food is excellent and the restaurant is also very neat and clean. 
We have visited the Borra caves and Katikeri waterfalls. The caves seem to be maintained well. They are a million years old and there's the pungent smell of bats in the cave. Below are some of the snaps of Borra caves. Damn, i forgot my tripod, had to manage the below by propping my camera against some stones.
