Hyderabad - Bodakonda waterfalls - Nagarjunasagar - Ethipothala waterfalls

[Sridhar Tandra]

Hello All

 

I am back with a recent family outing that we did since lockdown. Family members were also at their peak frustration sitting at home for so many months and were badly looking for someone to take them out which gave us the thought of this family outing.

 

We initially planned to drive to Vikarabad / Ananthagiri but then plan got changed at the last moment to visit Bodakonda / Sagar / Ethipothala since most of our family members have been to Vikarabad. 4 of our organizing committee folks have visited Bodakonda falls on 2 wheelers on Saturday which is kind of reckky drive before venturing out with family members since this group consisted of 60+ folks and kids ranging between 2-8 years.

 

Finally plan is finalized to drive down to these places on Sunday (September 13, 2020), 4 cars (2 Swifts, 1 Wagon R and 1 Tiago) with about 17 adults and kids. Only my Tiago was to start from Suchitra and the rest of the 3 cars were starting from Badangpet (Near Balapur). It rained cats and dogs the night before until Sunday morning 7am, we almost gave up on our plan and then to our surprise rain stopped and we saw sunshine at around 715am, I started my Tiago without any delay and informed the rest of the convoy to meet at Bongloor X Road by 745 / 8am. We met as per the plan, thanks to the new back to back 2 flyovers between Nagole and LB Nagar and then the underpass, I was able to cross Uppal - Sagar X road in no time. With weather being so good with light drizzle , we started from our meet point towards our most waited Bodakonda falls. Our reccky team has spotted an isolated place to enjoy the falls on Saturday, while 99% of the visitors stop at the foot of the falls, we took the ghat road towards the top of the hill and took a detour in to forest for about 100 meters for our isolated car parking zone and hiked to the falls (another 200 meters) to realize that we are the luckiest with none apart from us were at this location that we have identified. Everyone including kids enjoyed the drive and falls thoroughly which indicated our success with the plan, let pictures speak from here on...

 

Tia waiting for other cars at the meet point

 

 

Ghat road to the top of the hill

 

 

Glimpses of the waterfalls (water here flows on flat rocks but the rocks are slippery making it equally dangerous)

 

 

 

 

Everyone enjoyed the visit, maybe because we were the only ones at this point (top of the falls)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little deep hike of about 50 meters required to get down to reach waterfalls (any age group can easily do it)

 

 

We spent about couple of hours here and started to drive towards Nagarjunasagar (Roads now from Gungal (where we take Left for Bodakonda falls and come back and take back the highway) towards Sagar are pathetic! Almost near every village / 5-10 kilometers there is road work going on and the roads are pathetic with rough patches which led us to take an unplanned break costing us about an hour (and I understood the importance of carrying a good tyre inflator). You are right, a flat tyre!!

 

Ok guys, I know my tyres are due for change! It was just that one more drive wala feeling which kicked in... No gyan please  

 

 

 

 

 

We started again after loosing so much time because of this. Then we got the news that 4 gates of Sagar are opened, sometimes whatever happens - happens for good!! We carried on with joy of seeing gates lifted. We reached Sagar and sadly the cops already have blocked the way towards gates / temple with barricades. So, we had to enjoy the view from the main bridge.

 

We were here only for a little time!!

 

  

We proceeded towards Ethipothala waterfalls, reached the falls, had late lunch with no littering (carried garbage bags and dumped them at proper dump yard). When I saw Ethipothala falls, it is all changed! We use to get in to the water from the top of the falls when I last visited Ethipothala long back, but now it is a commercial tourist spot with all the fancy fencings built around with multiple view points, no entering / getting in to the water! I was little disappointed and carried on to enjoy the views of the falls.

 

 

 

We started our drive back to Hyderabad at around 545pm and reached our disperse point (Bongloor X Road) by 8pm bidding good bye to the rest of the convoy and continued to reach home sweet home!! All in all time well spent with family and a good decent drive to start off with since lockdown!!

 

 

Until next drive, adieu!!!

 

Lots of Love, Sridhar Tandra ❤️❤️ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shiva]

Excellent report Sridhar. Any restrictions at Ethipothala and NagarjunaSagar dam?

[Gowtham]

Very detail report. Thank you for sharing Sridhar. 
Never heard of Bodakonda till date.
I guess this place is active only during monsoon? 

[LoneRanger]

1 hour ago, Gowtham said:

Very detail report. Thank you for sharing Sridhar. 
Never heard of Bodakonda till date.
I guess this place is active only during monsoon? 

Yes , Bodakonda waterfall is a seasonal waterfall. It doesn't have any flow during summers.

[mit1682]

Very detailed blog. Thanks for sharing. One more location added in my bucket list. Can all above Spot be able to complete in 1 day?

[sagar]

Excellent report @Sridhar Tandra, Loved the details.. This place reminded me of Chaparai water rocks in Araku valley. Marked Bodakaona falls into my list to do. And as @LoneRangersaid, this place surely looks seasonal. Thank you for sharing such a detailed report. 
 

[LoneRanger]

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

Can all above Spot be able to complete in 1 day?

If planned well, like @Sridhar Tandra, you could easily do it in a day. 

[karthik]

Nice travel log. One day is good enough but I read that road condition from Hyderabad to NagarjunaSagar is not great?

[Sridhar Tandra]

14 hours ago, karthik said:

road condition from Hyderabad to NagarjunaSagar is not great?

It is pathetic!!

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/18/2020 at 11:12 PM, mit1682 said:

Can all above Spot be able to complete in 1 day?

Absolutely! we did it in a day. Started at 8am and returned by 9pm (with a 1 hour wasted because of flat tyre)

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/19/2020 at 12:53 AM, sagar said:

Chaparai water rocks in Araku valley

very true!! it is very similar to Chaparai but a little more broader and seasonal

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/18/2020 at 8:22 PM, shiva said:

Any restrictions at Ethipothala and NagarjunaSagar dam?

Like I have mentioned Ethipothala is now fully commercial spot with all fences, you cannot go beyond a certain view point (very similar to Jog Falls). We use to get in to the water years back when there were no fencings and all.

 

Nagarjunasagar again as usual cops blocked the way which goes towards dam gates as soon as the gates were opened. This has become a very common practice in the last 1 year due to overcrowding.

[LoneRanger]

Hoping that you will be changing your tyres now @Sridhar Tandra 😛

[Guest Suma]

excellent report..is the route you took the regular one to waterfalls..I saw lot of

walking..trekking in few videos..safe for kids?

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/21/2020 at 11:15 PM, Guest Suma said:

excellent report..is the route you took the regular one to waterfalls..I saw lot of

walking..trekking in few videos..safe for kids?

Absolutely safe!! My son who is two years old enjoyed the little trek and falls completely. Like I said drive to the top of falls.

[Sridhar Tandra]