Ranjith’s Castle

Last week end, we went to Talakona, a water fall near Tirumala [Thirupathi]. It was a nice place to spend a week end. It is a 200 Km drive from Chennai. We were a 20 member team from Chennai. We started around 11:30 AM on Saturday. We had Lunch @ Amulu a motel at the TN-AP Border. The food was not that good but OK to live with. The best part of the drive was the Ghats section [NH 205] from Bakrapeta. It was a 20 km stretch on the hills covered with green trees. The roads were wide enough to have a leisurely drive and enjoy the view of hills. Evening timing and the mild drizzles made them look great. We reached Talakona at 6 PM in the evening. The drive was a little slower as we had families and small children.

We reached the AP Tourism Guest House. The rooms looked very good . The Guest house had 6 ordinary rooms and 6 Deluxe ones. We took 6 ordinary room and 1 deluxe room. We got settled and ordered food for dinner. We ordered 5 Kgs of Country Chicken, chappathi, Dosa and Rice. The preparation was very good. The size of chapathi is too big that one can take only three for dinner. We ordered a little excess without knowing the actual sizes. We played Dumb Charades for some time. It took around 9 PM to deliver the food. Do make sure you order the food in advance.The other session started in parallel and it went till 2 AM before we hit the bed.

We got up around 7 AM. Thank God it was not raining till 11 AM in the morning. We went to the falls. It was a 2 km drive and a 1 km trek to reach the water falls. The falls had two steps, obviously one @ the bottom and another in the middle. We went up to the middle one and the fierceness of water was little powerful as water travels 200 fts before hitting the middle step. We returned back to the Guest house around 11 AM and went to the near by small hotel for break fast.

Visited the Siddeshwara temple of Lord Shiva near the guest house. The temple was very good and silent.

We then moved on to the Eco Tourism of Forest Department where we went for a small boating and a Canopy walk. The boating and Canopy walk was just a time killer than any fun or adventure. The Forest Guest house seems to be better than the AP Tourism Guest House. We were not able to go for the Jungle Safari which I feel may be a good one.

We returned back to the Guest house and a nice Lunch killing some more chicken and rice. Few took a  short nap to get themselves ready for the downward drive. We started around 3:45 PM and reached chennai @ 8 PM.

Beware of Monkeys :

The only (wild) animal we saw were the monkeys. But we were not able to win over it. We lost a bunch of Bananas and some more fruits to it a couple of times. Keep the Balcony doors closed and Carry snacks in bags when you move to Falls and be informed that Monkeys do know to open your bags.

Good things are :

• No Mobile Network, So, No worries.
• Food is Very good and at the same time Cheap. It costs us Rs 3000/= for a Lunch and Dinner with 8 Kgs of Chicken included.
• Rooms are good and Cheap. The ordinary room costs Rs 350/- and the deluxe costs - Rs 450/-
• Easy reach from Chennai.

You need to come down 7 Km if you want any snack or any drink. So make sure you buy whatever you want from Bakrapeta. Once again, it is advised to buy it from Thirupathi or Chennai or somewhere before Bakrapeta, as everything is little costly there.

A Few Snaps taken at Talakona

Cheers - Ranjith