(Click the photos for enlarged view)
Araku, also called as Andhra ooty, is located approx. 100km away from Visakhapatnam. It is well connected with rail and road ways. The best time to visit this place is between November and February.
The places that one must visit here are
· Borra caves
· Katiki water falls
· Ananthagiri water falls
· Chaparayi
· Padmalaya gardens
· Tribal museum
The most enjoyable part of this tour would be
· Train journey through tunnels
· Journey through ghat roads
· Night stay at Tyda jungle bells resorts/Haritha hill view resorts
Till now I’ve visited this place for 6 times but it’s never been a boring trip. Once we are in this magical world we will forget our daily routine work . . . no computers, no mobile signals, no office work, no tensions, no fast foods, no pollution... Greenery everywhere, romantic weather, hills, valleys, view points, tribal people, cameras in hand. . bindaas life! (BSNL mobile network catch signals in Borra & Araku and airtel in Araku only).
Now let me share some wonderful experiences I had in my latest visit to Araku.
The day before our trip to Araku, we heard about Naxals Strike in Borra. Borra caves were closed due to security reasons and by the warning from Naxals. The movements of Naxels are there in Araku, Borra and Ananthagiri forests. We were in the dilemma of the trip and slept in that night. The next day morning we reached Vizag railway station by 6:30am and heard the good news. The strike was called off by Naxals and the caves were open. We felt happy, and got into the train.
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Part 1 – Train Journey from Vizag to Borra caves
We (me and 3 of my friends from MSIT) started by train from Vizag around 6:50am on 6th Nov ’09. There is only one train (Visakhapatnam – Kirandul passenger train) available to visit this place. As I experienced the journey in unreserved compartment (It’s full of crowd, very hectic), I booked reservation tickets (fare 80/- per person from Vizag to Araku) in advance. After we travelled for an hour or so we witnessed one of the beauty of nature, rainbow. We all couldn’t believe that we were able to see the ground touching points of rainbow. We could see this for about 3 minutes and it disappeared in just 5 seconds. The journey through tunnels was superb. As we passed through 40 odd tunnels and number of bridges, we enjoyed every bit of it by sitting at the window and also standing on the door for some time! We reached Borra caves around 9:30am and took few photos there in the railway station. We also booked a commander jeep there itself for two days and reached caves by walk through railway tracks.
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Part 2 – Borra caves
The entrance ticket for adults is 30Rs and 100Rs for digital camera. (They also charge 50Rs for mobiles with cameras) We spent for about 2hrs in the caves and reached Borra village by 1pm to have our lunch. By the way, our jeep driver Shyam booked lunch for us in one of the hotels in Borra caves. The food was excellent. We had our lunch there and started around 2:30 to see Katiki waterfalls.
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Part 3 – Journey to katiki waterfalls from Borra caves
Katiki is about 15km away from Borra and the roads were not in good condition. Only two wheelers and commander jeeps can go in this route. In the middle of the journey we stopped at yellow flower gardens and took some photos there. Here we came across a funny incident. There was a person standing at the flower garden who was asking money to take photos in the gardens. Before we give him money he said, “మీరు ఇక్కడ ఫొటోస్ తీసుకొని సిటీకి వెళ్లి అమ్ముకు దొబ్బెస్తారు!!” All of us surprised with his words and laughed for about 5mins. It was really a funny incident we experienced. There was a toll gate at the entrance of the katiki village, maintained by the villagers. We can hardly find 2 to 3 houses in this village.
The vehicles can reach the katiki village from which the waterfalls are about 1km away. To reach the waterfalls we have to walk for 1km from the village and meanwhile we have to cross the railway track. We went into the nearby tunnel, walked to the other end, took some photos in between etc.
Finally after a 10min walk we reached waterfalls. The water was very cool (water temperature was below 5oC). We enjoyed there for about 1hr and returned back to our jeep. It was almost 5:00 in the evening and went to Tyda Jungle bells resorts. It is located 20km from Borra caves towards Vizag. In the middle of this journey, around 5:30pm fog surrounded the hills and we couldn’t see which vehicle was coming opposite to us. The climate was very chilled and romantic. You can see that amazing location in the below picture.
We reached Tyda around 6:30pm.
