Day 3 -> 05-Dec-2008
It was like any other day yet quite unlike any other coz we were to visit only waterfalls the entire day.
Our first stop was Chitradhara and again a reailty check for us. It was 95% dried up, only the rivulet bed remained soaking the winter sun proudly. Since we didn’t needed a reason / place to click photos we spent close to 1 hr clicking photographs and exploring the rocky terrain. After that we headed for Thumdaghumar waterfalls.
THAMADA GHUMAR water fall is another recently discovered waterfall which is also in Lohandiguda block.Its height is more than 100 feet and is generally formed in rainy season. There are green fields on both sides of this waterfall. Very few tourists visit this spot coz of far off its location and we were the only lucky ones to be there that day. The first feeling you get is that the entire scenic beauty including the waterfall is built especially for you in your own private location hidden from outside world.
The fall is straight 96 feet fall after which flowing water disappears into the green valley before forming a small pond at the base. We all agreed that Thamada Ghumar was indeed a perfect paradise from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World.
Late afternoon we reached Chitrakot Waterfalls.
Chitrakot??? If you are thinking you have heard about it, you are right. There are chances you might have seen / read about it on TV or newspapers during monsoon season. For Curious people reading this- Chitrakot Waterfall is supposed to be the Niagara Falls of India. It is the broadest water fall in India. During Monsoon one can see its might. The River Indravati falls from a height of 29 m (96 ft) to form this waterfall. It is located 48 km (30 mi) from Jagdalpur and is accessible by road only. There is a helipad but it is used by government only. A few small hotels and restaurants are located near the falls.
Here again we took a dip in the shallow waters of indravati river but before the water falls down.
We saw the waterfall from both above(walking) and below (using a peddaled boat). FYI - Max water discharge here is 184500 Cusec which happens during monsoon.
On our return journey from Chitrakot we got a chance to gulp down desi beer of chattisgarhi tribals which is made of fermented rice and served in some green leaf which acts a glass. This desi beer was called ‘Laanda’ and locals consume it just like any other beverage (tea, coffee). The other famous Desi beers being Sulfi and Mahua. These are little extra things you get while you are in Chattisgarh.
Our Home Return journey was overnight Bus Journey(4th dec night) from Jagdalpur to Raipur and then finally from Raipur to Mumbai(5th-6th dec) in Howrah-Mumbai Mail which dumped us at dadar station on Sunday 06-dec-08 at 05.00am.
During our 3 days stay at Jagdalpur we had 2 consecutive days breakfast of Idli, Vada and Dosa’s which were so yummy that we thought it had been brought down straight from Udipi. Also not to forget the lip Sucking biryani that we had at a Kerala hotel which did not serve south Indian dishes(weirdo). The biryani was so irrestible that inspite of me suffering from mouth ulcers and loose motions I had it for 2 consecutive days[ That’s Madness ].
SL coach Train tickets - 760 rs
Bus Ticets - 185 (Luxury ) [Down journey]
- 220 (Super Luxury) [Up journey]
Indica Booking - 800 / Head
Hotel Charges - 220 / head (for 2.5 days)
With TV n Hot water
PS: The time period we visited was not good for tourists as there was no government Chattisgarh due to ongoing election process. There was POLICE rule and NAXALITE’s really hated that and had declared naxalite week from 01 dec to 06 dec 2008 which meant restricted access to remote tourist locations (Bhainsa dhara in wild safari was one of the remote location).
Before going to Jagdalpur make sure there is no Naxalite week ongoing else u may have to alter your plans.
Day 2 -> 04-Dec-08
After performing morning duties and Breakfast our first stop was “Van Vidyalaya” of Jagdalpur.
We were here to see the Speaking Hilly Myna of Bastar region. (Hill Myna is State bird of Chattisgarh).
This Myna could exactly reproduce (speak) any sound or word said by humans (basically any sound they can hear).
Myna successfully said:
“Aaaja”,
“Shantaram Namaste” ,
“Saheb Khaana Khaya”,
“Bye Bye”,
”Ashish” (one of my partner in jagdalpur).
WOW!!! Only heard about such events in Jokes and wild stories…now was an eyewitness to such an event.
Late morning journey to Kailash and Kutumsar Cave
Distance – 38-40 Kms from Jagdalpur.
Visit to Kailash & Kutmsar Caves brought us more closer to the Science and art of Mother Nature
(I thought there should be some bouncy statements as well…. :P). The Jaw Dropping Rock Formations, dark Alleys, Bat Colonies, narrow openings, Dripping Water, Blind Fishes, Lower ceilings, Slippery Stones, Stalactite and Stalagmite rocks, etc brought back all memories of scariest movies that we have seen over the years.
By Dark Alley I literally meant a dark place with not a single ray of light hence the blind fishes.
Kailash Cave is rarely visited by tourists due to its Remote location.
The To and Fro journey of Kailash cave was more scarier than the Kailash cave itself [:P]. The Snaky Jungle Roads, terrible road conditions (sharp small rocks were laid in most parts of Jungle for building a pucca road),Confusing Turns, Confusing signboards and confusing Tribal language made us to take detours more often than not. Bad roads which were esp. meant for SUV’s / Jeep only , Our Indica pushed itself beyond its limit so much that many times we thought it would either breakdown or have a flat tire.
Either of both could mean we would have to walk at least 15 KM of Jungle to get first basic help.
By early evening(04.30 pm) we reached Tiratgarh Falls.
Tiratgarh Waterfalls are situated at a distance of 35 km. from Jagdalpur in south west direction and can be approached through the state highway of Jagdalpur to Sukma. The waterfall (cascading waterfall)is actually situated in Kanger Valley National Park and the height is approximately 300 ft in stages. This place is a favorite picnic spot, especially for large groups looking for a day-long picnic in a forest. The good season for visiting these waterfalls is from October to February.
The beautiful & Romantic tirathgarh falls made me believe that I am on a honeymoon only to realize seconds later that I am travelling with 2 other boys and surrounded by too many monkeys who were ready to pounce on our bags for any food items(Worse reality check I had in recent years).
Finally we did manage to find an islandish point where we dumped our baggage’s & took a refreshing dip in chilling waters at 5.30 pm. We also bought a bathing soap to cleanse our dirt rich bodies which had become red in color same as Jungle soil.
Late evening we head back to our Hotel (Jagdalpur town).
Our trip to Jagdalpur was cut short by 1 day thanks to late night continuation of our best Friend’s Wedding Reception. Never mind the delay; we had awesome time after Reception. The immediate impact of delay was cancellation of our Wild Safari Tour inside Kanger Valley National Park (KNVP), Jagdalpur, Chattisgarh, India. With 70% of our initial plan still intact we had blast of time in & around Jagdalpur.
Following are the highlights of our Trip.
1. Attend Abhijit’s Wedding ceremony spread across 30-Nov-2008 to 02-Dec-2008 in Raipur City(Chattisgarh).
Our Adventurous Trip was from 03rd Dec to 05th Dec 08.
Day 1 -> 03-Dec-08
Raipur to Jagdalpur Bus Journey
Distance – 300 Km
Time Taken : 7 hrs (09.15 am to 05.15pm)
Reason to Visit Jagdalpur
Chattisgarh’s most popular tourist attractions are in & around Jagdalpur.
After refreshing ourselves at our hotel (Hotel Gopika), we headed towards local places of interest in Jagdalpur. We visited 2 temples and 1 Musical fountain, out of which the last one is worth mention.
Musical Fountain at Dalpat Sagar Lake was indeed a Sexy Show and the best part being it was all FREE.
Yes!! The show lasts for 15 mins and is done thrice in evening with Monday off for weekly maintenance. The fountains were in all shapes n sizes that a piping engineer can imagine of. We truly were mesmerized its beauty. I still remember one of the local songs synched with fountains.
Lyrics “Mori Shaadi kerayilo, Mokhe Gori Chumai Lo”. Other songs being hit bollywood nos and one patriotic song.
Later at night we experienced our first adventure.
Booking of Indica V2 Diesel for our 2 day sightseeing trip was done after too many searching, inquiring and too many arguments with the hotelier (Hotel Poonam) at 10.45 pm (Which is like 1.30 am of Mumbai).
End of Day One and we hit our beds early at 01.00 am (Jagdalpur local time) [:(]
Event - Jivdani Pilgrimage Trip
Time - 17.00 hrs to 21.00 hrs
Date - May 1, 2008
Venue - Jivdani Temple, Virar East.
Around 14.30 hrs I got a call from Vijay(VJ) enquiring me bout different route for reaching Jivdani Top. And at the end of our talk session I received invitation from VJ to join him n others for a PILGRIMAGE Trip to Jivdani Temple with main agenda being Mataji ka darshan and Shooting the Sunset from top. I havent been there for quite few yrs so my answer was YES. I met the group - Rutu(Toungester), Amol Kulkarni(Self-Obsessed), Neeraj(Majdoor) and VJ(the.only.moron) at Virar station at 16.45pm. We started our Pilgrimage at 17.00hrs and after covering the first stretch of Stairs(5 mins) Mr Neeraj sent a SOS message to us which was "Mein aur nahi chal sakta, mere aankhon ke aage andhera chaa raha hai, chakkar bhi aa raha hai".We then asked him to take rest and follow the normal route which other devotees were following and we ourselves took the untrodden path coz the beautiful barren mountain was calling us for the trek which we cudnt resist. The terrain was a slippery slope and since it was summer the small trees / shrubs/ grasses were burnt making it difficult for us to get some grip. After few mins, Neeraj felt better and he joined us for the trek. Ppl were taking turns in slipping in which I created a record(coz i was wearing Bata rubber slippers only ;P).After first slippery loose mud-rock stretch came the Rock patch (10-12 feet). VJ took the most difficult patch and completed it by doing some bouldering stuff. I, Rutu and Amol took the moderate path and completed it with ease while Neeraj took the most easiest one kyunki kuch der pehele uske aaankhon ke aage andhera chaya tha. While Amol was doing his rock path his one wrong step left him hanging on one hand and he too sent a SOS to Rutu for help.But Mr Amol the self-obssessed cudnt stop himsef clicking his photographs while hanging on 1 hand.His Life n death experience in his words "Sab aage nikal gaye mein aakhri mein tha aur maine realise kera ki mein keval ek haath mein latak raha hoon, neeche hawa upar kuch nahi aur rutu ko help ke liye chilaya, jab tak rutu aata mera ek haath jo free tha usse apni kuch foto nikal li yeh soch ke ki yeh meri aakhri tasveere hongi [b]agar gira toh[/b]".Soon Rutu gave him a helping hand and we all were together again.Now we started our last patch, the slippery loose mudrock terrain (60 degree slope). By now my feet was fully sweating and not to forget I was wearing BATA rubber slippers as we had decided it was a pilgrimage trip. On inside my feet was slipping becoz of heavy sweat and on outside the slippery terrain was causing my slippers to slip.For once I decided to go back but going down was more worse than going up. If I wud hv loosed balance, I wud hv gone down slipping upto 30 feet then a 10 feet rock patch and then again 20 feet slope after which i cud hv halted only if i manage to grab hold of burnt tree branches / roots.I cudnt even remove my slippers as the mudrocks wud hurt me and there cud be possibility of me loosing the balance. My legs were shaking, My heart was beating harder and I was slipping with each step I took. But somehow I managed and finally covered tht last patch and reached the normal route where all others were waiting for me(whew...).After reaching here we had lots of fun by hanging upside down while trying 2 cross the steel rod(check the pics).Soon we reached main temple had our darshan and headed for Shooting the sunset.After that it was time again for having some silly fun. PPl started sticking coins on the rock surface and wishing that their wild-extravagant wishes will be fulfilled.No one cud stick a single coin but rutu did managed to pull down one coin of fellow devotee [:p]. After clicking the night pics from top and a group photo session by self timed cameras we started climbing down as fast as we cud. The stairs were barely visible bcoz of very few street lights but we continued at Rapid pace.VJ was heading the lot and after sometime we heard a huge THUD/THUND and VJ was down on his knees and then completely down.Someone shouted-- What Happened?? Amol thought a monkey hit VJ, someone else thought lightning striked !!. What actually happend was VJ's Head hit a 3-inch thick horizontal steel rod which was fixed at a lower height than normal(the structure was erected to provide shade). All this happened while VJ was speeding down at his fastest pace.Then there was long laughter session on VJ's fall and we soon reached the base.The trek was over but not the trip. On reaching Virar station ppl filled their empty stomachs with multiple samosas and Sugarcane juices and finally boarded Churchgate fast train thus bringing an end to our Pilgrimage trip which had bcome unexpectedly eventful trek.
Moral of the Trek :
1. BATA rubber slipper sucks, ACTION trekking shoes rocks.
2. The terrain that looks easy may not always be easy.
On Friday Evening all of sudden we decided that on Saturday we will be heading towards mahul Creek for Shooting Flamingos.
But what time.... 8 am or 9 am ...no 6am coz we also wanted to capture sunrise.So after sleeping for only 3 hrs I woke up at 3.45 am and boarded 4.59 Churchgate Fast from Vasai Stn(Still I cudnt get a 4th seat [:(]). As decided, we (Vijay, Amol, me and Ruturaj)met outside Lucky Hotel at Bandra West. Soon we called up Mallik who joined us at Chembur in his Raleigh 650X. By 6.50am we were at Mahul Jetty ready to take a boat to shoot Flamingos. But we didnt knew that Flamingo Sightings depends on High Tides / low Tides. As during low tides Motor boats cant be used coz of shallow waters. We were adviced by Rajaram Mahulkar(Boatman / fishermen/ guide) to come by 9.30am as high tide will start by then.
We visited a hotel at Mahul bus depot and filled our empty stomachs with Sada Dosas and Batata Wadas[:P]. By 8.00 am we were back at Jetty waiting for high tide to arrive. Then all of sudden 2 professional Cameraman came to our rescue and adviced us to take a rowing boat as high tide will take another 3 hrs. The only drawback with rowing boat...we cannot cover entire creek. No probs as we were impatient to wait for high tide. Not to forget with the sight of Nikon D-200 and 500mm lens we had our Jaws Dropping upto feet.
Soon we 5 enthusiasts + 2 rowers boarded a small boat and started our most memorable ride of recent times. We had anticipated it as normal boat ride but little did we knew that with Vijay in our boat it wud bcome the scariest and adventureous boat ride. Bcoz every move that VJ made....our boat swayed violently and we feared that we ll fall down into tht 5ft super black, super polluted, super dirty, super stinky, super mushy creek. With our continous screams Flamingos pushed back which annoyed the Pro-photographers the most(we cudnt control laughing at their helpless state).
Since all cudnt stand at once, we took turns in Standing up to view / click flamingos. Soon we all got settled except for VJ [:P] who continued his dialogue with Rajaram Mahulkar regarding various environmental issues, BMC issues and even camera lenses. While clicking the Pink beauties we realised we had already spent almost 2 hrs in the creek and the heat of 11.00 am + hot vapors added to our misery. After reaching back to Jetty it was again time for snacks.....and we satisfied ourselves with bananas, Malliks Chicken Biryani, Amul chaas and Lots of water.
Around 11.45 we left Mahul.
Mallik said good bye 2 us @ chembur while we headed towards bandra.
I boarded Virar Fast from bandra and rest (VJ, Rutu, Amol) continued their Bike journey to their respective homes.
Thus bringing an end 2 our successful Flamingo Hunting / shooting trip
Note
The Mahul River, a dis-tributary of the Mithi (or Mahim) River is the remnant of what was once a much broader water channel separating the island of Parel on the south and west and Trombay on the north and east. It is now largely reduced to a thin stream, and is mostly dead and choked with garbage and debris.
This creek is surrounded by many gigantic industries. At the heart of the creek is Mahul Village. There is a jetty for landing small boats for fishermen. Migratory birds come to this creek every winter
Strategy: The birds congregate on the mudflats when the tide recedes. The key to a successful visit is to go after an hour of high tide and watch the birds as they arrive to feed.
This Blog is created for all the netizens and net addicts like me to know that there exists a beautiful world outside the virtual world(The Internet).
This is Blog will provide Info about How to get there, dos donts, must-to-dos, etc etc while trekking to the places that I have been
