“A gorge? Caves too?” This is the reaction I get when I tell people that I was on a weekend road trip from Chennai to Gandikota and Belum Caves in Andhra Pradesh. Almost equidistant from Chennai and Hyderabad, and a shade quicker from Bengaluru, this is a good place for friends or family to meet and enjoy time together.
Ten travel enthusiasts set out around noon and stopped for lunch at Amaravathi restaurant on the Chennai-Nellore Highway. Armed with water bottles and snacks, we moved on, stopped for tea and decided to spend the night at Kadapa. Google directed us to the comfortable Manasa Inn. Breakfast was a king’s meal, replete with South Indian breakfast items. The star though was the ‘red chilli bomb chutney’, a Kadapa speciality, which set the taste buds on fire.
It was then that I noticed our own desi ghee beckoning me to use a dash of it with the chutney, paired with the crispy vadas. The final result was a sumptuous breakfast, and we felt ready to take on the day.
Filled with history
Gandikota is 86 kilometres from Kadapa, and we reached by 11 am. A combination of the architectural, geological and geographical significance of this land was an interesting revelation to us. Known as the Grand Canyon of South India, this place has attracted reviews by travel bloggers.
Gandikota has a fort, a gorge, and allows us to peep into the history of a bygone era. The fort is an easy climb, and spread across the area were two flights of stairs. There is a lot of scope for good photos within and from the top of the fort. The palace grounds housed two temples, a mosque, a granary, a temple tank, and a jail.
The highlight was the gorgeous Gandikota gorge. At certain spots, one can just sit and gaze at the Penna river, that seems almost still and resting peacefully at this point, after having flowed majestically through millions of years, thereby creating this huge gorge.
At Gandikota, the Andhra Pradesh tourism department runs the Haritha Resorts that offers rooms to stay and a restaurant. However, we gave it a miss to explore the lesser-known local restaurants and sampled spicy Andhra chicken biryani, and curd rice.
Inside the Belum caves
Our next destination was Belum caves, which is 64 kilometres from Gandikota. The road is quite picturesque. The caves are situated within a large gated campus with convenient parking space. There are many trees and it is breezy even around 3 in the afternoon. There is also a children’s playground and decent toilet facilities.
Measureless to man
The charge to enter the caves is ₹65 per person, with no charge for cameras or mobile phones. It’s like walking into a deep pit. There are sturdy steel stairs. The caves are large at first, and in some areas there is artificial lighting, lending the caves different hues.
The paths inside the caves have been levelled to facilitate easy walking, and there are stone benches to rest. Oxygen is through an artificial vent near the resting spot. And from that resting spot, there are caves to explore in different directions. There is a water source below, called the patala ganga with a lingam. The entry and exit to caves is the same.
On our drive back, we chanced upon a large reservoir near Owk. We were drawn to the beauty of the water and the dusky clouds. When we reached home, we looked back at the memory of the sunflower fields, the chatter of friends, the climb down at Belum, the hike up at Gandikota and realised that it had been a fulfilling weekend adventure.