Kanakai Waterfalls, Adilabad District, AndhraPradesh

This post is in continuation to my earlier post on Gayatri waterfalls, Adilabad District.
Link : Gayatri Waterfalls, Adilabad District, AndhraPradesh

About Kanakai Waterfalls

Kanakai waterfall is located in Adilabad district near a small village called Girnoor of Bazarhatnoor Mandal. Kanakai waterfall is also called as Kanakadurga waterfalls. The place has significant importance in the ancient history. People from nearby villages come here to the temple of Goddess kanakaDurga. The other things to see here are Bandrev waterfalls, Golusula madugu and cheekati gundam.

How to reach?

Ichoda is 272Kms from Hyderabad on the way to adilabad on National Highway 7. From ichoda we need to go towards bazarhatnoor via adegaon khurd, pipri and girnur villages. After driving for 1 Km from girnur there will be a sign board pointing towards a dirt road on the left that leads to temple and waterfalls. One can go by vehicle only till here. From here we need to go on foot to reach waterfalls. You can stop at Girnur village and ask for a guide.  Make sure you are accompanied by a villager, else you might get lost.

Route from Ichoda to Baazarhatnoor

In continuation to the trip report of Day 1:

Last night we decided to wake up by 7 am and pack up everything before 8 am as the school will start by 9 ‘o clock. We woke up early at 6 ‘o clock. By the time we came out of tent it was all mist around. Because of heavy dew the outer layer of tent was completely drenched and was dripping water as if it had just rained. Thanks to my Quechua T3 tent. Not even a single drop seeped inside and moreover kept us warm all night.

Misty Morning and my Quechua Tent....

We tried to shake off the water from the outer layer of tent, but our efforts didn’t pay well. Later finished folding the tent as it was in the same condition and stuffed inside the sack with great difficulty. We dumped the entire luggage inside car and went inside village to have some hot Tea. Along with Patel few other villagers are already there who started asking our whereabouts, what we do and how did we come to know about their Gayatri gundam etc. While having Tea we got to know few more things about the village and local conditions like schools, medical facilities, crops they cultivate etc. Meanwhile rajanna also joined us and ready to leave with us for kanakai gundam. 

@ Tarnam Khurd

We thanked Patel and villagers who were very nice to us. I was very much impressed with the way they treated us like guests when couple of people came to us last night and asked whether we are comfortable or not and asked if we need anything. Feeling happy being around in such a village environment after long time, we started walking towards our car with another task of exploring kanakai gundam ahead of us.

With our Wagon-R

Soon we are back on Highway towards Ichoda. Ichoda is just 11Kms from Tarnam khurd. We had breakfast at Ichoda and bought some biscuits and banana. We took a left turn from Ichoda that leads to bazarhatnoor. We crossed adegaon and pipri villages. When enquired the villagers of girnur about the waterfalls, they told us to check for the sign board indicating direction towards kanaka durga temple. 

Comments Plz...

After driving 1 km from girnur we came across sign board to our left with an arrow indicating to go left. The condition of road from Ichoda was pathetic with many patholes. We parked our car under shade of a tree besides the road and started walking on the dirt trail which was motorable only if one can risk their car and was just ok for a 2 wheeler.

The Sign Board.....

All we can see around is complete greenery of grasslands and fields with lots of varieties of birds. We walked for about 2Kms and when asked rajanna about the route he simply told us that he never came this way. With the information I had gathered and the homework I have done on the route, I was sure that we are very near to the destination but has to find the correct path.  We walked further ahead and asked a farmer for direction to kanakai gundam. He told us to turn right from here and go straight till we see gundam. We walked in that direction for about half kilometer through the soya fields. And now we can see the river flowing down through the gorges of rock formations on both sides. We found our way down near water. The river flow here is very still which means the depth could be more. Standing besides the river in a gorge, I felt like I am in a mini canyon. After moving few steps ahead we saw a utensil kept on stones ready to cook on firewood. Thought It might be the cooking setup of someone who came to work for firewood. I felt like having nice river view lunch and camping. We went ahead further and three people with baskets, fishing nets and fish were coming towards us. When asked a person about waterfalls, he told that right now we are in Cheekati gundam, next comes is Golusula Madugu and later will be kanakai gundam.

Dinesh @ Cheekati Gundam

Spotted many birds here.......

We thanked him and started walking slowly by the side of water enjoying the surroundings. We walked at the pace of tortoise clicking pictures and spotting different birds for quiet sometime. We simply sat down at few places along waterside where ever we felt like relaxing. Moving further ahead we came across a Y fork of the stream where the right diversion of the stream is completely dry with rocks all over.  We walked in that path for almost half an hour till we reached a point where it is turning right and it’s no more a dry stream, but filled up from here onwards. Now we got off the stream and started walking towards right across the trees only to find another branch of dry stream with rocks on the other side.

Relax on the Rocks...

By now I understood that we are lost, but still I am enjoying getting lost in this trek. None of us was actually in a mood of tracing out the route. In fact Dinesh and arif are also enjoying the trek to the fuller, least bothered about the route. May be it because of the belief they had in me or even they might not have noticed yet, that we are lost. Only thing we were doing is walk, relax, click, go where the path leads to and simply taking a Left or Right when some obstacle comes on the way. As I had looked at the Google maps of these places the day before we started, I had chosen to keep on right side every time.

Rock 'N' Roll Trek.. :)

After moving ahead crossing the rocks and now along the side of water we came to a dead end where we are left with no option but to climb the steep slope towards top.  The stream had become narrow here and it was shady, covered by trees on both sides of the banks. We climbed up to top with little difficulty as it was all loose soil with tiny rolling rocks. Now we are on one side of the canyon and we walked along the side of the canyon. We heard the sound of a waterfall which was increasing as we are nearing it. In no time we are standing in front of Bandrev waterfall. This is a slopy waterfall with number of branches flowing down the rock face. We settled down under a tree with a nice view of waterfall. Had bananas and biscuits here and captured video of waterfall along with some nice pictures. After spending half an hour at Bandrev waterfall, we started again expecting Kanakai waterfalls in the next few minutes. 

Bandrev Waterfalls

Fun Time @ Kanakai waterfall:

Arif with Rajanna @ Kanakai Waterfalls

In less than 15 minutes we reached Kanakai waterfalls. This waterfall looks similar to Bandrev waterfall with almost same height and pattern where as bandrev is wider than Kanakai with less water flow compared to Kanakai. Here again we found a nice shady place under trees with a nice view of waterfall. It was very pleasant under the tree with nice cool breeze often passing by us. Meanwhile I checked if I can get down through rocks and go near waterfall. Later decided not to take risk there and went ahead in search of safe way down. We descended down making our way through thick thorny bushes and slipping rocks. I decided to get into water and have my share of fun in this natural pool. Me along with dinesh got into water and slowly moved forward to check the depth with a stick in our hand. It was kind of stepped pool with flat rock under water. Dinesh swam inside to check the depth and told the maximum depth could be 8 ft and better for me not get to into that part of pool as I do not know swimming. I slowly moved towards the waterfall by the side of pool at safer depth. I dipped number of times and done floating on water as much time as I can and of course made a successful attempt to swim for few feet distance which is definitely a morale booster for a beginner like me :P. With my self confidence boosted up a lot now I started climbing against the water flow to the top.  The water was pushing me away with enormous force. Sat there for quiet sometime and enjoyed a much relieving body massage with Jacuzzi bath.

Its me @ Kanakai waterfalls

Arif who was sitting on the safe Bank till now got ready to finally get into water and has got a nice snap of mine before he packed up his camera. I reached top portion of the falls and had great time in the gushing waters and the mini pools. We spent almost 2 hours of time In Kanakai gundam. Unwilling to leave the place soon we finally started walking back to the road at around 3 o’clock imbibed with loads of positive energies from the amazing and pristine nature spread all around us.

Walk Back to the Car:

Where ever you go... U will find a water stream

Padddy....

We walked along the canyon for few minutes before we could see the river flowing on one side and the paddy fields on other side of our path. The vehicles moving on the road are clearly visible from here but in order to avoid going through the fields we tried couple of paths that ended into bushes again.  Crossed couple of small agricultural canals and walked on the narrow edges between paddy fields and often through unavoidable mud patches on the way. We reached our car at 0430 pm. Thus ends our two days of waterfall hunt well lived in the pristine nature away from the hustle and bustle of running life of the city.

We dropped Rajanna on our way back at Tarnam and decided to go as far as we can before sunset without any break. But we couldn’t resist stopping at kortikal waterfalls which we missed the day before.

Kortikal Waterfalls....

Clicked it Besides Kortikal Falls

 

Clicked few pics here as well and started off soon. We just passed by an interesting thing on our way which gave me another excuse to stop by. A person was transporting a big iron almirah on his TVS Excel Moped. As we have already crossed him we stopped by ahead of him and waited till he came. Cool and funny snap that couldn't be missed.

Funny Pic... :)

An Old Bridge on othe Way

THE TRANSPORTER @ Sunset

Had spent few more minutes to see an old bridge and took sunset pictures on the way.  We reached Hyderabad by 10 ‘o clock and while Arif got down at SR nagar, Dinesh dropped me at my room. Thanked Dinesh and his Wagon-R, for being our much needed Transporter throughout the trip and left for the room with my brain busy while memorizing every minute and moment that we spent on these two days.

Happy Travelling.... Folks..... :)

Gayatri Waterfalls, Adilabad District, AndhraPradesh

The only waterfalls I know in adilabad were Kuntala and Pochera Waterfalls until I came across the website www.nirmalcity.com a year ago.  It is through this website I came to know about Gayatri waterfalls, Kanakai waterfalls and other interesting places in adilabad district.

Nirmal city website was launched by Mr. Praveen Indoori, who was born and brought up in this small town of Nirmal, a great land of art and crafts. Inspired by art at every step of his life and with a burning desire of giving back something to art and art related made him start www.nirmalcity.com to bring forth the grandeur of Nirmal toys, paintings and tourist attractions in front of the world.

About Gayatri WaterFalls

Gayatri Gundam

                 Gayatri waterfalls, a very less known waterfall is on Kadem River, a tributary of Godavari River. It is located at a very secluded place inside deep forest and at a distance of approximately 5KM from Tarnam Khurd, a village near Neredigonda in Adilabad district. Gayatri waterfall is also called as Gadidha Gundam or Mukdi Gundam by villagers. It Is a wonderful sight to see this waterfall plunging down 100ft into the valley to create this magnificent beauty.

How to Reach?

Neredigonda is 257Kms from Hyderabad on the way to adilabad on National Highway 7. Kupti village comes after 6Kms where you will find sign board for Tarnam village on the right side. Turn right from here and drive for 2Kms on dirt road to reach Tarnam Khurd village.

View Larger Map

One can go by vehicle only till Tarnam. From here we need to go on foot for 5 Kms to reach waterfalls. You can ask for a guide in the village.  Make sure you are accompanied by a villager, else you might get lost in jungle.

OUR TRIP:

Ever since I came to know about the beautiful Gayatri waterfalls I was planning to visit the place on my Bike but ended up with change of plans due to bad weather and some other reasons on couple of occasions. With the end of Monsoon by start of October, I thought I have to wait one more year till next monsoon to visit the waterfalls. With heavy rainfall in the second half of October all over Andhrapradesh, I have decided do visit both kanakai and Gayatri waterfalls in last week. I planned it for a 2 days trip. I have called Praveen Indoori for guidance and he gave us few pointers that helped us in this trip. Dinesh and Arif also joined me and we decided to leave by Dinesh’s car on 29^th early morning 4 AM.

Dinesh.... Myself ... Arif

Drive on NH7:

We started an hour late and Dinesh picked me and arif from my room and soon we are on our way to Adilabad. Since we are travelling by car we didn’t mind carrying extra luggage. We dumped the entire luggage in dicky including my Quechua T3 tent, couple of tarpaulin sheets, sleeping bags and our bags. It was very cool and pleasant weather early in the morning. Once we crossed city the environment gradually changed a lot and now it’s only the mist that we can see around. It simply looked like we are speeding through the clouds. The scene became even more beautiful with the first rays of SUN spreading all over with gentle warmth. Everything seems glittering like gold and reflecting. We stopped for breakfast at a highway restaurant named ZYKA restaurant and tried idly, wada and Dosa. It’s neatly maintained and the breakfast was also tasty. Within half an hour we are back on wheels again.

Some interesting places that attracted us on our way were couple of ruined forts by the side of highway and some hills which looked like a huge heap of rocks put at a place. We decided to explore those places on our next visit which will be a bike ride. As soon as we crossed nirmal I started looking out for kortikal waterfalls which was mentioned in the website. We saw small waterfall by the side of highway to our left after crossing kortikal B village. We stopped at Neredigonda to buy water bottles and some snacks. We had paid 260Rs for Toll alone at four toll gates till we reached Tarnam. We stopped at Kupti village and asked a person for direction to Tarnam. Luckily he too has to go to Tarnam. We gave him lift and told him that we came to visit waterfalls and need a villager to accompany us. As soon as we reached village he introduced us to their Patel. We asked him for a villager to show us waterfalls. He told Rajanna to go with us and show the way to waterfalls and asked us to pay him at the end of day.

Our trek to waterfalls: 

We parked our car near Patels shop. Quickly picked my camera and water bottles to carry in a small bag and followed Rajanna. From here we have to go by foot. After walking for few minutes we came across a water stream. It is one of the rivulets of Kadem River. We crossed the stream with not much difficulty. From here onwards it was a plain walk of almost half an hour on a trail cutting through cotton and soya fields. The next half an hour was through the jungle crossing couple of small streams.

Kadem river that we crossed

Dirt Trail leading into dense forest

Trail formed by bullock carts

Beautiful grasslands on our way

Entering into jungle after the fields

Descent through rocky water trail into Gayatri gundam

At one point Rajanna told us he will take us to the bottom of the waterfalls first and top view later. We started descending down carefully on the rocks which is actually a water trail. The rocks were slippery and rajanna was prompting to be careful all the time.

@ Gayatri Waterfalls

After a good amount of decent we found ourself in a deep valley surrounded by hills on all directions. And here we are standing infront of Gayatri waterfalls with a huge pool under it. It was an amazing sight to see. We can feel the drizzle of waterfall from the place we stood. We clicked many pics here. I took a stick of about 7 feet and tried to check the depth between two rocks that were submerged. It had gone almost 6ft inside water. Someone might get stuck between rocks or get injured if they try to swim and it was too slippery on those submerged rocks. As the depth is very unpredictable we didn’t dare to go near waterfalls. By now it was almost 1:30 pm and the rocks were heated up like anything. Meanwhile Dinesh started climbing the rock patches next to the waterfalls and sat there for a while before he started feeling the heat of rock. He was exhausted by the time he got down and his palms turned red because of burning rocks. We spent almost an hour and half here taking pictures and relaxing under shade.

Vertical panaroma view of Gayatri Waterfalls

Cute elevated Hut besides waterfalls

Top portions of water stream before it plunges into Gundam

At around 2:30 we started climbing back to the top. Rajanna took us through a shortcut to the top and we entered a cotton field. There is a small elevated hut at one corner of the field which looked so cute. For a moment I felt jealous of those who are living in such a beautiful environment right besides a waterfall. After crossing the field we saw the stream that was flowing down. I decided to have a dip here. We found a shady place and decided to relax for some time and later enjoy the Jacuzzi in water. While Arif and dinesh settled down I went further ahead to see the side view of the waterfalls. I had to go till a slopy edge of the rock to get full view of waterfalls. With some difficulty I hung there for few minutes and I had captured video and a vertical panaroma of waterfall from top to bottom. The climb back was tough because of burning rocks and the afternoon heat. I was completely exhausted by the time I came back and collapsed under the tree. We slept for more than half an hour here. We had a nice Jacuzzi bath in the stream. Inspite of burning sun, the water in the stream was cold and we spent an hour in the water before we started back for village. On our way back we captured some nice pics of the fields and grasslands which were glowing during the golden hour of Sunset.

Flowing at full pace

Just for FUN :)

Glittering Golden Hour of Sunset

Glittering Grasslands

Night Camping in the Village:

Our Tent Lighted up under Stars.....

It was around 6 in the evening by the time we are back in the village. By now we were very hungry as we didn’t have lunch in the afternoon. We asked Patel about any place where we can have dinner. He told us that there is a dhaba on highway before ichoda which serves tasty food. He also told us that we can camp in the school compound. We told him about our next day’s plan of visiting kanakai waterfalls and he suggested taking rajanna with us as he could be helpful. We said we will meet him next day morning and left for dhaba. We had roti, fried rice and curd rice for dinner. The food was just average and didn’t met our expectations. By the time we are back in the village almost half of the village was asleep and there is hardly any one seen outside. We pitched our tent in the middle of the ground. Arif had setup his camera for capturing star trails with our illuminated tent in the foreground. We did star gazing while dinesh explained about few stars with an App in his mobile. After sometime we went inside tent as we felt very sleepy and dozed off in no time. In the middle of the night it turned very cold because of heavy dew outside. I sneeked into my sleeping which gave me enough warmth for a sound sleep besides the snoaring sounds of Dinesh.

Please find below link of our next day trek to Kanakai waterfalls.....
Link : Day2 : Our Trek to Kanakai waterfalls

 

Sahasrakund Waterfalls, Nanded District, Maharashtra.

I heard about Sahasrakund waterfalls almost an year ago and wanted to plan for this in monsoon along with any other places nearby. On couple of occasions we had to cancel the plans at last moment due to some reasons. Finally Myself, along with my friend Krishna Srivatsa decided to visit this place on October 2^nd as it was a holiday for both of us

Sahasrakund Waterfalls is near isalpur village in Nanded district of Maharashtra. Islapur village is on Bhokar to Kinwat Road. This majestic waterfall on river Banganga is a visual treat for eyes and soul.... 

Panaroma view of complete Waterfalls

The sight of Banganga River suddenly falling down from a great height is a sight to behold. We have to simply walk down to the other side of the river by a bridge and roam around to click some good photographs or can just sit back and enjoy nature's tranquility.

How to Reach?

Sahasrakund can be easily reached by train from Hyderabad. We can catch Krishna Express(17405) at 09:00 PM from Secunderabad which reaches Sahastrakund at 4 ‘o clock early morning. The waterfalls is around 6Kms from Railway station. One can wait till morning at station and go by rickshaw to falls or can even start for a nice early morning walk to sahastrakund waterfalls.

To reach sahastrakund by Road, One has to take left from Nirmal onto swarna road and proceed for Islapur. Distance from Nirmal to Sahastrakund is about 60Kms. Very few buses are available from Nirmal to Himayatnagar at regular intervals via Islapur.

Where to Stay?

The nearest towns are Nirmal and Kinwat to find a decent accommodation.

Food options?

Couple of hotels are available on the bank of the river which serve biscuits, cool drinks, breakfast and lunch. One can get few more food options in Islapur.

The Day of Journey:

We booked only onward tickets for Krishna Express from secunderabad to sahastrakund road on the night of 1st October.We reached secunderabad station by 08:30 PM. Got biryani parcels from the famous ALPHA hotel and were on the platform waiting for Krishna Express. The train was on time and we hopped in. To our surprise the reservation compartments are almost empty. The train started and we too started with our usual endless discussions on treks and travel related stuff. Meanwhile ticket collector came for checking and when we asked him why the train is so empty today, he replied that there will be hardly any crowd for this train on any given day. We had Biryani and dozed off for the night with alarms set at 03:30 AM as the scheduled arrival at sahasrakund is around 4 ‘O clock early morning.

Early Morning Walk to Waterfalls:

First glimpse of the single falls on our side.

Our train arrived at Sahastrakund around 5’O clock which is almost an hour delay and we are happy to get delayed. It was still dark and no rickshaws were available outside station. As the weather was pleasant we decided to walk to Waterfalls which will be around 6 Kms. The route is very simple, we just need to come out of station walk straight along the road with no deviations that will take you straight to the river. We passed through Islapur which is yet to wake up. We crossed a main road where there is a checkpost. We just re-confirmed the way to waterfalls and headed straight in that direction. The rest of our walk was through fields on both sides of the road and couple of villages on the way. We could hear the sound of waterfalls from some distance.

We reached sahastrakund at around 0730AM. It looks like here River Banganga plunges down from top of a rocky hill. The place is like a canyon with towering rock formation on either side of the river flow. There are temples on both sides of the river. A long elevated platform kind of ramp was constructed to have good views of the waterfalls. We spent some time here looking at the falls and the river, clicking pictures. From the side where we are standing, we couldn’t see the complete waterfalls as the rocky structure in the middle was obstructing the view.

An elevated Ramp of View Points

The Watch Tower.

It may look like a surf boat for You ... But its his Life Boat - A fisherman set out on his daily routine

There is a watch tower nearby and we climbed on it hoping for a better view of falls in a single frame. Though we were missing a part of waterfalls to be seen even from the watch tower, the aerial view of the surroundings was good. We were there for almost half an hour capturing the views in all directions. There is a bridge at some distance on the river and we decided to cross it to go to the other side of the river.

We had our breakfast at the hotel besides the river and enquired him about bus to Nirmal. He told that there is a bus to Nirmal at 11 ‘O clock that comes from himayatnagar. After breakfast we took the small kutcha path opposite to the hotel to reach the bridge. Its about 15 mins walk to bridge and once you cross bridge it’s a tar road on the other side. The village on the other side is Murli. 

My friend.. Krishna SriVatsa on the way to Bridge.

We were stunned to see the other side of waterfalls which is huge and amazing. It is like a mini Nayagara waterfalls. We quickly moved on further ahead so that we can get complete waterfall in a single frame. We got off the path and settled on the edge of a rock patch where we are standing straight and opposite to the waterfalls with nice panaroma view.

Me .. Posing before Sahastrakund

We spent a good 30 mins before we started back. Now its time to go near waterfalls as much as we can.  I sat at a safe distance about a couple of feet distance by the side of the falls. I can feel the furious, roaring waterfall from this point with full intensity. I was spell bound and lost in this amazing act of nature for quiet a few minutes before Vatsa called me to hurry back as we need  to catch 11 ‘O clock bus to Nirmal.  After a short Photo session we were walking back to the bridge. We had to hire an auto for full fare as there are no other passengers to go on share basis.  We waited for half an hour for our bus to arrive. Thankgod....  its an APSRTC express Bus.

Words fall short... U must go, sit there and experience it..

As we still have a half day left we decided to visit Kuntala waterfalls.