Wednesday, October 30, 2013

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.
Ichoda to Baazarhatnoor
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
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
@ 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 Wagon-R
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. 
Tamarind Tree
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.
Sign Board
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
Dinesh @ Cheekati Gundam

Birds of 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...
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
Bandrev Waterfalls
Fun Time @ Kanakai waterfall:
Arif with Rajanna @ Kanakai Waterfalls
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.
Kanakai waterfalls
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 see a waterbody....
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
Kortikal Waterfalls....
Bird FLock
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
Funny Pic... :)
Old Bridge
An Old Bridge on othe Way

Our Transporter.........
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..... :)

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