Exploring parts of Andhra Pradesh and Raichuru:
To start with this travel was done 3 years ago. Never found time to write about it for various reasons ( Might have to write a blog to explain the reasons 😁). Having said that lets get started.
The places we visited in this trip were not in our bucket list, entire trip was planned based on an Instagram photo which I came across and the whole trip was built around it.
Route plan
On the way we stopped at multiple places to click photos as we were in no hurry to reach our next destination. Also this was the first time we were driving in this part of the country, so we wanted to see around as we go. During most part of the journey we encountered very good roads. We reached Gandikota at 1:45 PM.
With water-body and greenery around, it is also good place to spot some birds.
All the walk and climbing on the rocks is worth it to see this majestic view.
As the only option to stay here was already booked, we had booked a hotel in Prodathur @ BGR Hotels. We left from Gandikota at 4:30 PM and drove towards Prodathur. Evening sky was beautiful and was creating excellent cloud patterns for the setting sun.
We reached our hotel at 5:30 PM. We had a very nice and creamy tea here, the best tea we have ever had anywhere. It is worth trying tea in this part of the country if you are a tea lover. Took some rest as we had started early in the morning. We had dinner around 8:45 PM and some ice cream to beat the heat and called it a day.
Day 2: 02/11/2018
We woke up at 6:30 AM, got freshened up and went to have breakfast at Sagar, a nearby hotel. We checked out and left from Prodathur at 8:45 AM. We drove slowly enjoying the beautiful roads, stopping for photos on the way and reached Belum Caves by 11:00 AM.
We bought entry tickets and started our cave exploration. There are few narrow passages and needs some careful maneuvering but all passages are well lit and is comfortable to walk.
We completed our walk in the cave in 90 mins. Came out and had an ice cream and left from Belum at 12:45 PM.
On the way we stopped for photos in many places. Roads were narrow in some sections, but were in good condition through out. We couldnt find any good hotel for lunch, so we skipped lunch and drove on. We reached Rollapadu Bird Sanctuary at 3:40 PM. We decided to go for safari here. But when the safari was about to start at 4:30 PM it started to rain. We waited for a while and the safari started.
Safari here means they take you in a van and drop you at a grassland where you can walk around and they come back to pick you later. It stopped raining and the sun came out ; the cloud patterns were out of this world. We got to see some blackbucks here. Great Indian bustards were missing as this was not the right time of the year to spot them. When we were about to leave we spotted couple of Montagus Harrier. As the light was poor, couldnt take presentable photo of this bird. But spotting these birds made the trip worth it.
We got picked up by the safari van around 6:00 PM and we returned back to our car by 6:20 PM. We left from here and drove in some narrow roads and reached our hotel DVR Mansion in Kurnool by 7:30 PM. After checking in had a tea and took some rest. Had dinner in the same hotel and retired for the day by 11:00 PM.
Day 3: 03/11/2018
We woke up around 7:00 AM, got ready and had our breakfast in DVR mansion. We checked out of the hotel at 9:15 AM and left for Raichuru, our next destination. It was time for breakfast for our car, so went to the nearby petrol bunk.
Most part of the road here was getting reconstructed, hence had a lot of deviations to take from the highway. Once we entered Karnataka the road quality improved. We reached Raichuru, Hotel Orange Suits by 12.20 PM. This is an average hotel and has no covered parking area. So consider this as review if you are looking for options to stay in Raichuru.
After checking in, we went out to explore the town and had authentic North Karnataka lunch at Halli Oota.
Spotted this shikra on the way
Lunch at Halli Oota
Post lunch, did some shopping in the local market and returned to the hotel. Took some rest and we got ready to go out in search of flamingos at 3:15 PM. Our first stop was Manchalapura lake. Here we found many water birds which are regular to any lake and only couple of flamingos. We saw a lot of flamingos on the other bank of the lake, but couldnt find a route to reach there. We clicked some photos and left from here.
Manchalapura Lake
We decided to come to our next destination, Merched lake and try our luck there. When we reached there we found them in plenty here. And the best part is we were the only 2 here. There were few villagers wondering what we are doing near the lake.
A flamingo photo on Instagram from this location was responsible for planning this trip as mentioned in the beginning.
We clicked photos here till the sunset and returned back to hotel at 6:00 PM.
Merched Lake
Car waiting patiently for us to return back
Rest of the evening was spent in the hotel room as my wife had stomach upset suddenly. She skipped her dinner, I had had some fruits and we ended the day early.
Day 4: 04/11/2018
Woke up at 5:30 AM, got ready and left for Merched lake at 6:15 AM. My wife was still not feeling well, so she decided to stay back in the room. Reached the lake right in time for sun rise. However the birds were missing. Spoke to villagers who informed that birds should arrive soon. So waited patiently and by 7:15 AM, the flamingos and other birds started arriving at the lake.
Today the difference was I was there at the lake before the birds came, they considered me as part of the surroundings and they were not scared of me. So I was able to get much closer to them to take photos. Clicked a lot of photos till 9:00 AM and returned back to hotel.
After breakfast, we got ready and checked out of hotel by 10:30 AM. As my wife was still feeling uneasy, we drove back to home with no break in between and reached home by 5:00 PM.
All in all a very good trip. We had not much expectations from the places we were visiting and all the places exceeded our expectation by a huge margin. Except for some poor quality road we encountered between Kurnool and Raichuru, there was nothing else to pin point about in the whole of the trip.
