As part of exploring Andhra Pradesh....
To get out of hustle and bustle of city life, we started for a weekend trip to Kurnool to cover Mantralayam, Belum Caves, Banaganapally, Yaganti, Mahanandi and Alampur. Kurnool is a treasure trove of natural resources like rivers, reservoirs, beautiful mountains, belum caves and famous temples. It was 1000 Km round trip and the journey to and fro Kurnool like a cruise on the free way.... it was unbelievable...
When little Rohit heard that we are travelling to rayalaseema...he was little hesitant to accompany us....thanks to tollywood. I had to explain him the beauty of factionism compared to terrorism and naxalism.
When little Rohit heard that we are travelling to rayalaseema...he was little hesitant to accompany us....thanks to tollywood. I had to explain him the beauty of factionism compared to terrorism and naxalism.
It was a pleasent experience at Mantralayam as there was no traffic and tungabadra is flowing full and visible from the temple. In the last 4 trips I never saw water in the river. Instead of taking a Jadcherla, Palamuru and Raichur road thought of exploring it from Beechupally on the Kurnool road. Took a right at Beechupally and crossed Gadwal and for my surprise heard that the bridge after Ieeja got damaged for last year floods. Had to struggle a lot through village bulluck cart road to reach mantralyam which was a life time experience. It was a happy end as there is not much rush at the temple and could have very pleasent darshan of Sri Raghavendra Swamiji. I could recollect the saying of hardwork leads to success......;-). Returned back to Kurnool on the same day and found another hardwork opportunity.. all the hotels were booked by students who were appearing for PHD exams the next morning...however again the saying goes correct...could get some thing on the Bangalore - Hyd highway. Got up early to start our exploration.....whether was too good..
The whole idea of the trip was to visit Belum Caves as i heard great about it from many who visited this place. The Belum Caves is a must visit place in India. It is an indescribable experience. I have also seen Borra Caves but these caves are many times better. The caves are very well maintained, well lit and easy to walk around. We could explore 1.5 KMs long and 1.5 Km way back in 2 hours time. There are nine exhausts provided into the caves to take out CO2 and provide fresh air. The guide provided by APTDC will explain the things and take you to cover the full distance if you have patience and time.
On the way to Belum caves you will pass through Bethamcherla which is a place where mining of polish stone is done and banaganapally where Sri Potuluri Veerabramendra swamy lived in 17th century. Also visited the cave where Veerabramendra swamy written the Kalagnanam.... The road from Betamcherla to Banaganapally passes through beautiful mountain range...for a while I felt like being at Grand Canyon. Just before the caves you will also see a telugu ganga project which NTR started to provide drinking water to Chennai. The reservoir is in the middle of the maintains and the location is beautiful. Bethamcherla stone was ruling the flooring world before marble flooring become affordable. Even today it is known for its strength and beauty. The same evening returned to Nandyal to stay overnight and start in the morning to Mahanandi. I would suggest staying in Mahanandi as there is very good accommodation available now. There is APTDC Punnami and other hotels available.
The joy of bathing in fresh water in mahanandi pushkarini is a different experience. Rohit and I took bath there and went for sivayya Darshan. The way from nandyal to Mahanandi is about 15 KM which is so green and covered with Banana plantation either side. On the way back we found beautiful yellow rock formations about 15 KM before Kurnool. It was a place for taking beautiful photographs. Also there is APTDC restaurant..Haritha Rock Garden.. which serves food in the middle of this natural beauty. It is worth stopping for photographs. If you are adventurous can get into trekking also....it was a sunny day so team preferred having ice cream instead of tea / coffiee... From Nandyal the other option is to visit Ahobilam temple if you have time as it takes about a day to cover all the temples. We did not do as we wanted to reach home by evening.
Could get an opportunity to visit goddess Jogulamba temple at Alampur on the way back to Hyd from Kurnool. It is about 20 - 25 KM from Kurnool. This temple is the 5th shakti peetam and was built in 6gth century as per the history. However it was rebuilt few years back. During Sept, 2009 floods this temple was submerged. As it happens to be Navratri time the wish of having durga matha darshan is also fulfilled. This is the place Tungabadra meets Krishna and is the starting of srisailam reservoir.
Could get an opportunity to visit goddess Jogulamba temple at Alampur on the way back to Hyd from Kurnool. It is about 20 - 25 KM from Kurnool. This temple is the 5th shakti peetam and was built in 6gth century as per the history. However it was rebuilt few years back. During Sept, 2009 floods this temple was submerged. As it happens to be Navratri time the wish of having durga matha darshan is also fulfilled. This is the place Tungabadra meets Krishna and is the starting of srisailam reservoir.
Next destinations....Kaleshwaram, Ramappa, Antharvedi.....
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