Complete Tour Details Of Vizag – Araku Tour which covers Coffee Museum, Tribal Museum, GaliKonda View Point And Borra Cave.
Although we went there 4 years back, still the memories run fresh in our mind.
Coming back to our story. The day was an early start as we had to catch the train to Araku Valley at 6am. So we headed towards the Visakhapatnam Railway station from our Hotel APTDC Haritha Beach Resort, which was on the Rushikonda Beach, to catch the train.
The name of the train was Visakhapatnam – Kirandul passenger train (58501). We had our respective sit along with other fellow travelers. Finally our journey begins. Train left the station and took the hilly rail track.
OUR GUIDE ALREADY INFORMS US THAT THE TRAIN WILL PASS THROUGH 58 TUNNELS AND OVER 80 BRIDGES.
So we started counting from the very first tunnel. The train passed through the tunnel one after another and the scene that appears before our eyes were so mesmerizing. The real beauty of untouched nature composed of vast lands, trees, rocky hill where the water falls can be seen peering thick lush greenery and forest on both the side. We must admit this was the best train journey through the hills.
The train condition was so pathetic. We didn’t at all expect this kind of service from APTDC. The quotas were unreserved one and fan also didn’t work properly. For the last few station the tribal people were also boarded the train and became a part of our journey.
We finally reached Araku Station at around 11Am. The station, encircled by the whole nature and it still gives an aroma of the ancient tribes and their culture.
As it was a rail cum road tour, so APTDC arranged a Volvo bus for the travelers and they gave us our sit numbers in the train. So we stepped out of the station and get in the bus.
From there they took us to our 1st destination, Coffee Museum located just besides the Tribal Museum.
1st destination, Coffee Museum:
Such an amazing place. The sweet aroma of coffee beans and coffee powder were prevailing all over the places. This must be a weekend place for coffee lovers. So we went inside it. After going inside we discovered it was not only a coffee museum but also had other rooms named as coffee journey, coffee destiny, coffee souvenir, fun with coffee, coffee R and D.
Special Attraction:
The thing which made this place so special is the history of the origin of the coffee in Ethiopia and the journey all the way to the Araku Valley.
The whole history, showcased by dioramas.
They provide different kinds of coffee based chocolates, brownies, mousses and tarts, as well as coffee mugs and other paraphernalia like posters.
A sitting arrangement is also there in front of the coffee museum. So we had our coffee and I must say the coffee was so appetizing. Completing our coffee we headed towards Tribal Museum
2nd Destination…Tribal Museum:
The museum is not so big. It has two floors and has an ethnic looks from outside. The museum holds a decent collection of the life of tribal’s in different phase. It also includes the type of houses, tools, ornaments, armors, musical instruments they used and different models of tribal exhibit different cultural activity and daily activity.
Vizag, Visakhapatnam,, Travel diary, touring,explore, Araku, Coffee plantation
Apart from the main building, few structures are erected all over the ground like the girls dancing famous Dhimsa dance and all.
A beautiful lake covered the front part of the museum where boating facility is also available.
When we came out of the tribal museum main gate
we noticed the local tribal people sells the famous Araku tribal dish, Bamboo Chicken on the road side. But sadly we can’t taste the dish as we were in hurry.
Once again we started our bus journey and stopped at Mayuri Hill Resort for our lunch break. The food was as usual so bad that we could not have our lunch properly.
Mayuri Hill Resort, a nice and well maintained resort encircled with hills and beautiful flower garden. We noticed a unique two-faced statue there.
CULTURAL PROGRAM:
APTDC arranged a dance program of the tribal for the travelers. The dance program, held at open auditorium of Mayuri Hill Resort. They performed for around 45 mins and the dance was entertaining.
3rd Destination…GaliKonda View Point:
Adventure begins with the name of GaliKonda View Point. GaliKonda View Point is a Scenic viewpoint on the top of 4300ft height from the sea level offers a panoramic view of verdant Araku Valley.
Our bus stopped at a distance of few steps and we all walked towards the view-point. We saw a completely different beauty of Araku Valley. Hills were stretched out all over and the peaks were covered by clouds. The plants spread out their kingdom all over the Araku Valley. The beauty was such a mesmerizing one.
We clicked photographs and headed towards our next destination.
4th Destination…Borra Cave:
The sole reason of prevailing rail cum road package is to visit the Borra Caves also called Borra Guhalu are located on the East Coast of India, in the Ananthagiri hills of the Araku Valley. These caves, the deepest caves of India with a depth of 260feet in the ground and an impressive natural phenomenon made of limestone.
On our way to Borra cave we crossed coffee plantation which was so nice. During our visit to Borra cave we saw a beautiful calm Stream of Gosthani River.
We finally stepped inside the Borra Cave.
We both murmured together “What a natural beauty.”
Indeed a great sculpture by nature own. The curves are so beautiful and forms different shapes and size. If one have imaginary mind then one can figure out different things from that curvy caves. We also figured some animal through imagination. The caves have quite few numbers of steps to go down. We also follow the steps to go further inside the cave. We didn’t face any problem as steps are well maintained. But for old people it may get quite difficult. The caves, lighted by blue and yellow light to make more mysterious. We can’t get admitted fully inside the cave as it was restricted. As per guide the cave has a long way deep inside and can get out from the other end of the cave.
We returned back from the caves and bid a good-bye to Araku Valley for that day as this was our last destination.
We again started our bus journey and return back to city at around 8 pm. The bus dropped us at R.K. Beach.
Overall the day was awesome.