Last summer, one of my friends put up a picture captioned 'Sunrise at the Grand Canyon". The river cutting through the boulders, making its way ahead and the orange hues of the sun peaking in between fluffy clouds was an image that I instantly fell in love with. I immediately messaged him, only to find out that the canyon in the picture was not in Arizona, but in our very own country, India! Right away, Gandikota was added to my bucket list.
Gandikota, popularly known as the Grand Canyon of India, has garnered a lot of attention over the years. With the increase in number of visitors, the canyon now offers adventure activities like rafting, kayaking and rappelling. In fact, even camping was recently added to the list of experiences that one can have in Gandikota . As soon as I had enough information about camping, my husband and I cleared our weekend schedule. We bought a two-man-tent, practised pitching it and drove 300 km to India's very own Grand Canyon.
The road trip:
The key to a successful road trip is not just great views and good music, but also delicious food. We knew that there weren't many eateries in Gandikota barring a hotel, so we decided to stop for heavy breakfast on our way from Bangalore to Gandikota. Right before we hit the main highway, we were lucky to find a row of stalls and hawkers where we had delicious vada and idlis served on a banana leaf. This was accompanied by a sweet dish, kesar bhaat, and we washed our meal down with the ultimate cheat meal – chaat puchkas. If you're a North Indian, you must try this unique version of puchkas that are found aplenty on the route from Bangalore to Gandikota.
As we continued our journey, we were welcomed with tiny hillocks, the dry barren landscape reminded me of the beautiful Leh. After driving for about hours, we reached our destination.
A kilometre away from the entrance to the canyon is a government run hotel called Harita Hotel, where we freshened up and had a cup of coffee.
With a bottle of water and camera in the backpack, I felt like Dora the Explorer! We took a different path from the crowd, hopping over boulders and rocks towards the other end of the canyon. We simply sat there till late evening watching the horizon change colour with every passing minute. It was as if the sky had put on a magic show just for us.
A kilometre away from the fort on a parallel road is a 200 metre long camping spot. Sadly, we were quite late to grab the best view for camping and so, we had to settle for the one at the end of the slippery rock, 10 inches from the edge. We pitched our tent, spread the sleeping mats, pillows and blankets; it was our tiny portable home for the weekend. I couldn't be happier! There were easily 50 other tents there, some of them private like ours and some had rented it from the locals. That's right! You can rent tents here too, only for Rs 1,500 per person.
By nightfall when the tourists settled, the entire place transformed into a hip-hop party spot. There were campfires, some old melodies being played, a few playing antakshari; it was like the scene out of the famous song "chappa chappa charkha chale". As the night blended into silence, we dozed off to the sound of the sharp wind whistling.
I had expected to be woken up by my alarm like everyday, but instead, the chirping of birds woke me up just in time for sunrise, for which I had come all the way!
My jaw fell wide open in awe of the view outside as I opened my tent. The clouds were reflecting a yellowish-orange hue, the river below was golden with little ripples, and the sun rays falling on the boulders made them sparkle like they were a pile of coins in a treasure. The beauty was beyond my imagination! We hiked up and down a set of rocks to reach the spot from where we could clearly see the river.
If you too, like me are a sunrise and sunset chaser, then trust me, and head to Gandikota. The views may last only for a short while, but the beauty will stay in your heart forever.
As someone who has experienced unbound beauty at Gandikota, I'd like to give you one tip if you're heading there. At the camping spot, you will find a minimum of 100 tourists. It is very easy to get carried away while we are enjoying in our groups. However, please be empathetic towards fellow travellers and also the destination, the beauty of which you are here to delight in. Don't make noise and take your trash back with you. Respect the sanctity of the place so that more travellers can enjoy Gandikota's pristine environment.
Looking for more off-beat destinations to visit around the country? Check out Kitkat Travel Breaks on Tripoto here.
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