First time when I
saw the pics of this place I was very much impressed about the place and could
not believe that they are so near to Namma Benagaluru. Later started gathering
more information about some other places around Gandikota to plan for a trip, at
this point of time came to know about one more must visit place Belum Caves.
Started our journey
from Kadri early morning and it was around 3 hours journey from Kadri, plan was
to visit Belum caves which is around 150 Kms from Kadri first and while coming
back visit Gandikota. If we start from Kadri we can cover both the places
easily in one single day.
Belum caves will be
open for visitors from morning 10.00AM to 5.00 PM and entry fee is Rs.65/- and
for children it is Rs.45/-
Reached Belum caves
at the right time, we were the second group to enter the caves and got a
perfect chance to click the pics :)
History of Belum
caves: Though these caves were known to the locals for thousands of years, the
first official records that mention them are from 1884, by Robert Bruce Foote,
a British geologist and archaeologist who conducted surveys for the Geological
Survey of India. In the 1980s, Indian officials worked with a German expedition
to explore and map the caves. The relics found in the caves dated back to
around 4500 BC and showed that the caves had been inhabited by ancient Buddhist
and Jain monks. In 1999, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation
took over the caves for maintenance. They cleared the mud and debris inside,
built pathways, provided illumination and sank ventilation shafts to make the
caves accessible to the public.
These are suppose
to be the 2nd largest caves in India. Caves go about 3.5kms in length but only
1.5-2km portion is opened to tourist and is developed.
There are many
places inside where the cave is there but cannot go inside due to lack of
light/air. Through out the caves, artificial lighting is done and ducts are
provided for fresh air.
There are several
sections inside the cave like cats gate, Patalaganga, thousand hoods,
meditation hall, Kotilinga, Banyan tree hall, musical chamber and Mandapam. It
would require at least two hours to see all parts of the cave.
Best time to visit
this place is in either monsoon or in winter, since Andhra Pradesh can be
really hot in summer. However,
irrespective of season you visit this place you will be exhausted once you
enter the caves because of humidity inside the caves. One more thing to keep in
mind is, its better to carry enough drinking water, since there is lot of
walking involved and no other source is available inside the caves.
The cave is well
maintained by APTDC. There are play area out side the caves for kids. A Buddha
statue is constructed at the entrance (near parking place).
Once we are done
with exploring the caves our next destination was Gandikota which is around
60KMs from Belum caves.
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