Monday, July 29, 2019
Dudhsagar falls, Sonaulim, Goa is 320 meters (approx. 1017 ft.) high falls on the Mandovi river in the Western Ghats. The huge height of the falls, spectacular view and the train track that passes by the falls make them very stunning. These falls also became very famous after a train stopping scene in the "Chennai Express" movie.
Visiting Goa in monsoon season is always doubted by the tourists. Except for a few main beaches most of the other beaches are closed or do not have the scenic beauty because of heavy rainfall and the missing sun! Every season in Goa has its own eminence! Monsoon brings a whole lot of things to do in Goa.
Trekking to the Dudhsagar falls is one of the main activity I will suggest you must do it! In fact, trekking is the only option to reach Dudhsagar falls in this season. The dirt road is submerged in water due to heavy rainfall that makes it very difficult for a vehicle to pass through. It takes 10 km from Colem to reach falls making a total of 20 km trekking. If you are lucky, you can catch a train on your way back, 3 km away from the falls at Sonaulim railway station.
We (I and other two friends) started from Goa at 10 am in the morning. Initially, the weather was good but heavy rain started on our way to Colem. We reached to Colem by car at 12 in the noon and hired a guide to take us to the falls. We were given life jackets to wear in case we decide to come back swimming in the river ;). Just kidding! Due to heavy rain, we could not take much stuff. Just water bottles, some snacks, and a rain jacket! I am lucky my phone is waterproof that I could use it to click amazing photos during the act!
It was going to be my first long-distance trekking and we were excited about all the adventures that we were about to experience.
Railway track and the train!
Trekking starts from Colem town on the railway track. If you keep walking for 10 km, you can actually reach the falls directly. But it is not allowed to visit falls by train or walking on track anymore because of a few incidents in the past couple of years. We started the trek at 12:15 in the afternoon. You need to walk for 4 km on the railway track before parting your way into the Jungle.
It took around 1 hour to complete this part of the trekking. We got to see a couple of trains passing. Each time a train came, we had to go down on the side of the track and wait for the train to cross. Those freight trains had more than fifty coaches and we kept waiting for them to be over!
Forest and the Snacks Shop
After walking for 4 km on the track we parted our ways and entered into the forest. The dirt road was straight for several Kilometers. You need to pay a fee of Rs. 25 per person at the entry to the forest department check post. The trail was wet and slippery due to rain and we were moving ahead with caution.
We kept moving on the road for the next 3 km. This road is also used by the vehicles in other seasons to reach the falls. We came across the cashew plantation on the way and a local small factory to make Goa's famous drink - Feni.
I was astounded by the greenery all around which made me feel alive and active! After 3 km of trekking on the main road, we reached to Sonaulim. This is a small village with a couple of houses, a shop and Dudhsagar Devi Temple. We took some rest and ordered our lunch here to eat on our way back to the Colem.
The "Real" Adventure
Next coming 3 km was going to be the best adventure of our trekking and all other small treks that I had done in the past. It was around 2:30 pm when we started the third part of our trek. Our route was separated from the main road and had more narrow paths filled with water.
The path was very slippery due to wet mud. We had to walk very carefully and slowly making sure that we don't stick in it. The tree branches were hitting our faces. We had to make sure that we were watching our route both front and down.
Bamboo Bridge over the Heavily Flowing river
We had to cross the river and other small streams a couple of times. The first time, the river was deep and flow was fast. You need to cross it using a small bamboo bridge. Crossing the bridge was as scary as it was daring. The construction was incomplete at the other end of the bridge and we had to get off from it very delicately.
Finally, the falls were now visible to us. The view was huge and amazing! The topmost point of the falls was covered by the clouds. We could only see the above part of the fall from that distance and kept moving further towards the falls.
After crossing all these hurdles we reached to the Doodhsagar Falls entry gate. But the falls had not arrived yet and we continued to move forward on very rugged and slippery terrain for next 1 km.
Dudhsagar Falls
At last, around 3:30 pm we reached the falls. The water flow was very heavy due to rain and we were not allowed to go inside the river.
It was indeed Dudhsagar - Ocean of Milk! The water striking down from the falls was looking exactly like "Ocean of Milk" coming out of the clouds at a height of 300 mts.
We stood there for at least 30 minutes staring and enjoying the bath from the showers coming from the falls. A couple of monkeys chased us to catch our snacks bag. We were able to get rid of them but lost the water bottle in the flight :p.
Lunch at Sonaulim
We came back to Sonaulim and had a delicious lunch - daal, rice, a couple of veggies, pickles and papad! It was raining very heavily outside. We were very hungry after trekking for 13 km at that time and had a lot of rice. Someone told our guide that a train is arriving at the Sonaulim train station and we started running towards there to catch the train to Colem. In the halfway, we saw the other group was coming back telling that it was the freight train that did not stop. I could not even finish my lunch and started running with others :(
After knowing that there was no train, we started walking back to the same route and came back to Colem at 6:30 pm in the evening.
Tip: I noticed a lot of broken Slippers on the railway track. Make sure you wear good quality shoes while trekking to prevent such incidents and walking bare feet.
We had tea and Vada pav in Colem and drove back to Goa.
It was totally amazing to experience for me. I was not expecting all this when we started in the morning. Let me know how you find this journey and what were your experiences in comments!
Enjoy my full Goa Adventure with places to visit in monsoon season in details at 15 Best Places To Visit In Goa During Monsoon Season