Hampi to Kadapa via Belum Caves

DAY 4 - HAMPI TO KADDAPA

Did I know of Belum caves when I left from Bombay, I did not. It was in Hampi that my guide made a mention of this 3.5 kms of underground caves that piqued my interest. It was in Andhra Pradesh some 300 kms from Hampi & one could head to Chennai from there via Tirupati. It was route made in heaven so that I could traverse on it. I started after a lazy breakfast at 8:30am and headed for Bellary bypass from Hampi. Everybody while directing me would add "you will not miss it sir". Guess what.... I missed it by miles. Simply because the road that I was travelling was far superior in its condition than the bypass (its supposed to be 4 lane express highway) It was bad for a small stretch... I realised once I actually went on it with great reluctance.

The Hampi stretch is a fertile landscape, bountiful is the apt word to describe it. As I headed towards Bellary the land became dry & it seemed I was crossing the area in peak summer. Some rain had happened but not enough for the land to go green. The fields & farmers were waiting in anticipation for some wet deluge to irrigate & cultivate. As I reached Bellary in Karnataka the air was polluted with dust particles & the road conditions were like I was driving in 1965, thankful enough to have it in the first place. This is the Jamshedpur (steel city) of southern India. Huge factories line up on both ends of the road. The farm lands lay unirrigated & villagers looked poorer for it. The other thing missing on this route was hotels or Dhabas. One could only purchase water or have a tea break in villages that dotted the state highway. The lack of hotels & Dhabas meant the prosperity of the city was not being spread to the lower echelons of the surroundings, the villages. The dangerous thing on roads leading to & from Bellary were speed breakers. They are everywhere with no indicators or warning boards. It was as if the Karnataka had a death wish.

I finally entered AP & crossed cities like Guntakal, Gooty whose names I had heard in passing conversation from colleagues who hailed from them. The land was dry, rain had not blessed them enough. Some canals were brimming with water & some bridges were over dry river bed. I wonder how bad/good was the rains this year. The unirrigated fields I noticed spread over many many kilometres were screaming of rain deficiency. Do remember the only rains I witnessed was in Maharastra & that too till Sholapur. For the past 3 days I have not seen a drop of rain. This was meant to be a monsoon riding experience.

I crossed Guntakal, I was hungry but I could not find a quite Dhaba where I could park & eat. They did not exist in these parts. Also Guntakal had extended the width of the road for people to bypass the municipal city limits & its traffic. By opting for that road I had to stay hungry for another 30kms till I reached a big town or a small city called Gooty. I stopped at Annapurna hotel for lunch & it was the best veg lunch in ages. Served on Banana leaves I got rice, dal, two vegetables, curd, Pappad, sambhar, Rasam, pickle (unlimited helping) & topped it off with Filter Coffee. I paid 60 INR for my blissful healthy meal. Next time if anybody happens to be in Gooty with me, remember the lunch is on me.

With a full stomach and a feeling of contentment I finally came at the cross roads at a city called Bugga (after the gigantic L&T cement factory) from where I rode on an internal state road (read nightmare for some parts) to access Belum caves. It was worth every bump & pain that I had to go through to reach here. The region I had entered was where the Kaddapa Stone (Black kitchen-top stone) is mined. The price of 7 feet X 2 Feet Kaddapa stone is 100 INR, at the mines, unpolished Of Course. Belum caves was known to locals for centuries, infact rainwater used to gush in them and disappear. The British documented these caves in the last decades of 1800's yet they were forgotten. It was in the early 1980's a team led by Germans with some Indians who went into this abyss & found 3.5 kms long natural underground cave. It was properly mapped & documented. It became the sub continents biggest underground cave & yet the people of India were Unaware of it, I too must be counted in it. It took the govt of AP another 2 decade to make it a protected site & spend some money in making the access more easy for the tourist. It was opened to the general public in around 2002. These were locals who flocked to see the mythical hole they knew existed forever. Now they could actually descend & check out what it truly was. They saw these amazing sharp structures that came down from the celling & some that rose up from the floor. What they were witnessing had taken centuries to form & they are know to us as stalactite and stalagmite. The caves never became famous, nor was its discovery every marketed for tourism. So eventually the people who visit are mostly from the neighbouring districts & young couples who find this labyrinth an amazing place to cozy up with no prying eyes.

In 2005, on one national holiday some 3500 guest descended the caves & they started breaking the millions of years formation of stalactite and stalagmite. They may have done this as fun or may have assumed the quartz would fetch money nobody knows. Eventually 1.5 kms of formations were destroyed forever. Post this the balance 2 kms of intact stalactite and stalagmite has been closed for public. (This information I gleaned from the local Kadapa miners) Its atrocious that such a act of vandalism could take place. Cordoning off is not a solution, making people aware of their hideous act is important. If they market this place & the L&T cement company takes over the upkeep & maintainence professionally we might see amazing progress. We all know what happens to most govt protected properties.

After the awe of seeing the caves & its inner labyrinth I decided to head towards Kadapa city for my night halt. I made it with no major incidents, I have some clutch issues thanks to some stretch of really bad roads. This is a very very small city yet looks prosperous. I am staying in Shri Shrinivasa Residency & its the best in town (thats what the manager said). I will know how good it is only when I surface in the morning. Its time I hit the bed as I have to reach Chennai via Tirupati tomorrow. Keep your comments coming & do spread awareness of Belum Caves, make it a point to see it in this lifetime, its AMAZING.

Today distance covered - 335.7 kms Total distance from Bombay - 1149.3 kms Tomorrow - Chennai via Tirupati.