Araku Valley

Araku valley

23rd - 25th December 2015

Araku valley is a hill station in Andhra Pradesh located about 120 km from Vishakhapatnam.  Situated in Eastern ghats bordering Orissa, it attracts many people from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

Araku valley is connected by rail from Vishakhapatnam. The route from Vishakhapatnam goes via Araku valley reaching the maximum height at Similiguda station and continues further into Orissa finally ending at Kirandul in Chattisgarh. The total distance of this line is 472 km which is completely electrified. One might wonder why railways would have constructed this line in such remote area. The intension of this line was to enable transportation of ores from the mining fields of Kirandul to Vishakhapatnam port!! And for general public, they have granted one passenger train running daily.

The best mode of transport to reach Araku is undoubtedly train as the route passes though series of tunnels and bridges. But unfortunately we could not take train as railways did not put additional bogies nor enabled “tatkal” tickets for this train. Mistake from my side was assuming that booking starts 90 days before journey whereas it was 120 days. A three digit waiting list number was of no value!! We had no option but to take the taxi to reach Araku.

Borra caves

We started from Vizag after breakfast. The first place we visited was Borra caves. It comes 35 km before Araku. We were there on a Sunday of Christmas weekend and hence it was very crowded. But the cave itself was so huge that it could house 1000 people!! The entrance of the cave was very big with 100 meter width and about 75 meter in height.

 While I and my wife liked the place our daughter hated it immediately. It was dark and also the crowds irritated her. But she had no choice than to follow us!! 

The total length of the cave is 200 meters where we need to walk for about 350 meters to reach the dead end of the cave. Steps are constructed and lighting arrangements helps people to see interior of the cave better.  It was an amazing experience for us to see such a huge cave. The cave is the best place in Araku.

Near to Borra caves was Katiki waterfalls. The journey to the falls involved some amount of travel on Jeep and walk. It was already 2PM and we were extremely hungry. Since we did not find any good restaurants near Borra caves, the plan was to reach Araku and have Lunch. We skipped the falls for next day.

Galikonda view point

The view point is next to the main road before Araku. Beautiful views of hills and the valleys can be seen here.

Tribal museum

A museum that contains many collections of the tribals leaving in Araku and nearby areas. In front of the museum is a Coffee house which is a nice place to have drinks and snacks.