Srisailem - A cage car trip

18th I went on a different trip - this time in a cage ... errr.. I mean a car.

A colleage of mine (Jinny) was impressed (??) by my tripping around on the bike. So, she wanted to go and see the country side - but in her car. Oh well, lets go I thought - not often I get to ride drive a car.

So, the plan was made and the location set as Srisailem after consultation with my walking encyclopedia friend GR ( he works in NRSA and has a pretty good idea of offbeat places to visit).

As usual, got up late. We were supposed to leave at 6 - got up at that time ! :-) Got ready and around 7am hit the roads in the cage. Getting out of Hyderabad was easy as another friend from BN (Partha) had given good directions ( follow the gachibowli road till you come to foodworld, take right). We were out of the city in half an hours time. This part of the city is relatively less crowded than the Mumbai-Hyd side. Roads were good and we made good time. The road has small signs for Sriselam and its relatively easy to find your way.

Kids trying to sqeeze the cyle between the bus and our car

The problem on this route is that there are no good eating joints - so it would be better if you carry your own food. In a car thats the advantage and kurkures came to our rescue ;-).

The road after Hyderabad

We reached Mannanur without much misadventure. Stopped at the checkpost there - to register our car number ( and the official on duty there asks for chai-pani) . Came back to the car ( I was driving) and the car would not start ! Oh boy !! Here we were - middle of someplace in a modern car and it would not start ! Tried looking under the hood ( does not make much sense) and someone suggested that maybe the battery had conked ! Jinny went to get some help and came back in a jeep with a mech - who checked the battery - which was fine. Ultimately some 4 guys pushed the car back and I was able to jump start it (in reverse). From that point on , we drove without shutting down the car even when we stopped to take pics !!Road through the Forest Ranges

Up-up and Away!No Stopping the car!

The road passes through some arid jungles - a totally different feeling - especially when ther roads are empty !

Srisailem Dam

Reached Sundipenta ( a few kms before Srisailem) where we were to meet Mr Tulasi Rao, but he was busy in the conference so decided to check out the temple in Srisailem . Reached srisailem and stopped for a bite when I got a call from Mr Rao that he was sending a man to take us to the temple there.

As far as temples go, I don't know the history, but to me it looked much like most of the temples in south - a bit less crowded. However we had to do a rush tour of it - the floor is granite - and it was burning for those not used to walking barefoot !

The Temple

Tribal Museum

Srisailem is known to the general public for its Temple and dam. The lesser known fact about it is that there is a Biodiversity lab there where they carry out the census of the flora and fauna of the place. Had a long talk there with Mr Tulasi Rao and his team and got to know the new discoveries of some snakes and other reptiles which were supposedly not in this area. Also got to know that they have discoverd a new species of Tarantula there ! Way to go !

Had a second helping of lunch there and started back around 4PM. Passed back through sleepy roads and villages, and got some great sunset-shots along the way !


The trip back was uneventful (jinny driving in the hills - a new experience for her) - except for a red car. We used to overtake it - then stop for a pic - letting the car overtake us - and then overtake it again . This went on fine till the 3rd time - when the guy got psyched and over took us doing 100+ ! Unfortunately for him - his mom and dad seemed to be in the car - and they somehow managed to slow him down - and Jinny overtook him again !

Nearer to Hyd, I took the wheel and drove back into the traffic - which was so bad that cycles were overtaking us ! :(

Reached home at 9. There endeth the trip. Next time I will probably go for an overnight stay as I want to check out the nature trails around the place.

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