Everyone thinks of Grand Canyon in the US.
Fortunately, India has a canyon worth visiting too.
So this offbeat trip started with a sudden twist when our bus didn't show up due to some accident it had in our to way to pick up.
Without killing our excitement we checked on the local buses from Hyderabad to Gandikota.
There were no direct buses, the bumpy ride started when we took off with a bus without knowing the regional language which is Telegu.
At first it was going amazing but then we got to know that we would have to switch our bus from a place called Kattappa district in Andhra Pradesh then take another bus to Jamalamadugu ( quite funny name, lol).
We had no plans, no map, due to poor connectivity and no language to talk.
Making the bus conductor understand was itself a tedious task. And finally he said something we didn't understand later got to know it was a cuss word ( gaali)because someone shouted Gaali diya gaali.😂😂😂 Saying that "you are on the wrong way. Now ill drop you on the next station from there you can go back and take another bus to Jamalamadugu." Funny story isn't it. 😆😆
Later we took a bus to Jamalamadugu (I still cant pronounce it appropriately),...but that was not it. We took a long auto rikshay ride which took us from barren lands to our destination Gandikota.
Finally we were there before evening and it was worth when we saw the majestic canyon along with the Penna river.
Things we did before camping.
- Explored Gandikota fort which is a big maze specially when it gets dark.
- Witnessed old ruins of some temples and a mosque.
- Saw pretty sunset adjacent to the windmills.
- Made Maggie with the only shop amidst 10 kms.
- Had amazing spicy chicken curry and rice which our sweet camp owner made us.
Later we lit the fireplace and enjoyed some games getting drunk.
I remember the sky was sparkling with bright stars everywhere. It surprises as we dont get to see such things on a short weekend trip.
We woke up early as it was supposed to be out planned day for Kayaking
With all fatigue vanished, we were all set after a simple breakfast for our kayaking ride in the Penna river.
It was my first time I did kayaking so it took me quite a while yo understand how do we actually row but later we were all set for racing. <joke>
We had to trek from the highest point of the canyon to the lowest and then vice versa to come back. It took us 3 hours to stop our never ending discussions about kayaking.
Around noon, we went to explore the canyon edges at was gigantic.
The best memory I have is of whistling from an edge because it echoed around 5 to 6 times from the canyon rocky walls.
Reaching the edge and looking at the beautiful landscape. All the struggles we managed by then were worth struggling for.
Later in the day, we packed our bags and hopped in the only bus available which runs once a day from Gandikota to Jamalamadugu.
This trip was as unique and amazing as its name.
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