Hyderabad to Saleshwaram - Temple that opens for only 4 days in an Year

[Sridhar Tandra]

Hello again ID! Hope you are all doing well. This is an interesting topic for me specially since this place that I am going to describe has created a lot of excitement within me because of it's special appearance for about 4 days only in an year. I was planning to do it last year but this temple place opened up on weekday and closed before weekend and hence could not do it. This year it opened on March 29, 2018 and opened through the weekend until April 01/02, 2018 and hence I have decided that I am going to do it this time irrespective of someone joining me or not. Finally, 3 of my cousins were in the plan and we set off to Saleshwaram at 3 am on Saturday (March 31, 2018) and the plan was as mentioned below

 

March 31, 2018 - Start from Badangpet (Near Balapur) where my cousins stay at 3 am

March 31, 2018 - Reach Saleshwaram temple parking by about 6 am and start Trek inside forest towards Temple which is about 5 km's in to core forest

March 31, 2018 - Reach the Parking back at about 12 pm after Darshan

March 31, 2018 - Drive back to Hyderabad and reach about 4 pm to the start point

 

We started off an hour late at about 4 am from the start point and I tried my best to cover the distance and could do it until we enter the Tiger Safari with a very quick Chai break at Amangal. So, to reach the parking place before you start the trek inside forest one has to take Right in to the Tiger Safari zone (Amrabad Tiger Safari). I think this is the only time when the private vehicles are allowed inside this route, not sure though! We have reached the entrance of the Safari by about 615 am and entered the Safari route to realize it is full of loose red sand with loads and loads of dust since lots and lots of vehicles are being going inside out. Also, I have witnessed one of the best sunrise in my life from the middle of nowhere of the forest in the core tiger zone (Pictures Below). We were still positive about covering this distance as quickly as possible but it took us about an hour to cover this stretch of around 20 km's and reach the designated parking space (Location coordinates provided at the end of this thread). We have not wasted any time as planned and since we were already delayed by about 1 hour, we reached the parking by around 715 am. We started to walk from the parking towards forest and saw lot of stalls being set up by Government as well as common citizens which include emergency medical camps, promoting village stuff, water stations, snack counters and a few free food camps (Annadanam) as well, I was happy when I saw all these stalls put up which implies that there is a lot of improvement against the feedback that I have got on inquiry that we generally do not get anything once we reach this place. 

 

We continued our trek inside forest and boy believe me this is the toughest trek of my life!! My legs still continue to suffer while I pen this article here! We completed the trek almost as per the plan and returned back to the parking by around 1 pm after having lunch in one of the Annadanam counter set up by the devotees as soon as we come out of the forest where the stalls are set up. We started back to Hyderabad and I did not have any more energy left in me, somehow managed to drive until highway (Tiger Safari Entrance) and gave the wheel to my cousin and dozed off in the rear seat of my Tia baby! Thanks to my cousin, he aaram se took his time and ensured that we reached the End point again by 5 pm. 

 

I will let pictures speak more about the rest of the story! But this trek and visit to Saleshwaram Temple would remain very special to me with a lot of super memories!!

 

I have tried to cover as much information as possible from the short yet biggest & special trek of my life!!!

 

Saleshwaram Parking Location: 

 

 

[Ashish Shah]

Went there on the same day, it rained in the evening. Got stranded there for the entire night. No regrets though.

[Sridhar Tandra]

7 minutes ago, Ashish Shah said:

Went there on the same day, it rained in the evening. Got stranded there for the entire night. No regrets though.

Where did you stay overnight? How did you go? Car?

 

[Pinaki]

@Sridhar TandraThanks for sharing the images. Though the pictures of the sunrise and the surroundings are great, the photographs of the trekking by the devotees give a clear image in the mind what is meant to be at this point of pilgrimage.  Great capture and thanks for sharing them. 

[sneHavisHal]

@Sridhar Tandra, thanks for sharing the pics.. it's a trip down memory lane which I did with my cousin some 10 years back in his Maruti 800. 

[Sridhar Tandra]

32 minutes ago, Pinaki said:

@Sridhar TandraThanks for sharing the images. Though the pictures of the sunrise and the surroundings are great, the photographs of the trekking by the devotees give a clear image in the mind what is meant to be at this point of pilgrimage.  Great capture and thanks for sharing them. 

Man! Like I said, this was one of the toughest trek of my life. I still have pain in my legs while I walk.

[Gowtham]

Beautiful pictures.
looks like crowd is very high.

Weather looks fantastic.
Approach + overcrowd near the temple is very poorly managed. 

TIA needs a good wash. 
 

 

[Ashish Shah]

22 hours ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

Where did you stay overnight? How did you go? Car?

 

tried to sleep in the car, but couldn't. My clothes were all wet, and was feeling very cold. So i lit a fire and sat next to it.

We went in a car.

[Sridhar Tandra]

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

Beautiful pictures

Thank you @Ranger

 

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

looks like crowd is very high

It was madness all around! people everywhere, we did not realize the crowd while trekking but after reaching temple premises, we could feel the crowd as the path to walk became narrower, that's another reason and like you said, very poor crowd management! I have seen the assigned locals to control crowd enjoying watching people struggle all along instead of helping.

 

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

Weather looks fantastic

It was! We were super lucky in this case, it was not a sunny day or we would have gone crazy

 

1 hour ago, Ranger said:

TIA needs a good wash

It still needs one, I could not find time after coming back and the week started! Any good car wash locations near Suchitra that you know of?

[Sridhar Tandra]

33 minutes ago, Ashish Shah said:

tried to sleep in the car, but couldn't. My clothes were all wet, and was feeling very cold. So i lit a fire and sat next to it.

We went in a car.

Lit fire? Did you actually do that? I mean none of the cops around stopped you or you would have done it in the parking area, not close to the forest! But, I am positive that this place would improve more in the coming years as it is happening. From being a isolated and deserted place to so many stalls this year with free food camps.. Way to go!!

[sagar]

Awesome Travelogue @Sridhar Tandra. You have introduced us to a new place now. A trek involving alongside a road trip makes it more eventful and more than worthy i suppose. Great going brother. Cheers!

[Sridhar Tandra]

6 hours ago, sagar said:

Great going brother. Cheers!

Cheers bro @sagar 

[nithisha]

Beautifully written. I hardly found any information about this place outside but heard quite a lot about this place. The reason behind why the route to this temple is open during only those 5 days of Chaitra Pournami (March/April) is unkown to me. But sounds exciting when said it is located between the Nallamalla forest and Tiger reserve.

@Sridhar Tandra

Any interetsing reason why only 5 days of the whole year?

[Sridhar Tandra]

12 minutes ago, nithisha said:

Beautifully written. I hardly found any information about this place outside but heard quite a lot about this place. The reason behind why the route to this temple is open during only those 5 days of Chaitra Pournami (March/April) is unkown to me. But sounds exciting when said it is located between the Nallamalla forest and Tiger reserve.

@Sridhar Tandra

Any interetsing reason why only 5 days of the whole year?

I am not pretty sure about the reason too Nithisha but all I could understand from the locals is that this temple is dated back to around 6th Century and details about this temple are mentioned in "Sri Parvatha Purana" and the temple is open only for 4 days on the First Full Moon after Telugu new year "Ugadi". I am trying to gather more information on this temple and the reason behind me starting this article is the motivation that I took to provide as much information as possible on this place which is very mysterious so far and I could not find any details about this place anywhere online. An additional information that I understand is that this beautiful place can be visited apart from this time of Chaitra Pournami with prior permission from forest officer, would be wonderful if we have a known Police source and can explore this place in peace off season!

[Satya Nagapuri]

Even I heard abt this place , few of my friends visited this season.. look like amazing place to visit! I am not able to open the picture attached. Can you plz help me ?


Sent from my iPhone using India-Drive

[Gowtham]

17 hours ago, Satya Nagapuri said:

Even I heard about this place , few of my friends visited this season.. look like amazing place to visit! I am not able to open the picture attached. Can you plz help me ?

 

I'm able to view the images, please try using chrome browser. 

[sagar]

Yeah @Sridhar Tandra, The reason behind "why only 4 days" still stays mysterious to me too.. would love to know more about this and the urge to visit this place is more in me now

[Guest Teja]

Its open now for the year 2019, my question is whether it is safe to take kids along, im planning to carry by two  and half year old son while trekking (I have good prior trekking experience including high altitude ones) appreciate your input on this.

[Gowtham]

1 hour ago, Guest Teja said:

Its open now for the year 2019, my question is whether it is safe to take kids along, im planning to carry by two  and half year old son while trekking (I have good prior trekking experience including high altitude ones) appreciate your input on this.

 

100% NO

I would suggest you to avoid taking the kids due to heat.
People usually trek during the night time to beat the heat. 

 

It is not at all safe for kids. 

 

[Gowtham]

Saleshwaram temple opening April 2019
 

Dates:
April : 17th 2019

April : 20th 2019

[Anand Singh]

4 hours ago, Ranger said:

Saleshwaram temple opening April 2019
 

Dates:
April : 17th 2019

April : 20th 2019

 

I am Starting now from Hi-tech City @ 2.00 AM  

[Guest Lalitha]

hi, in news papers, it is written that its from 18th apr 2019 to 21st apr 2019.. please confirm quickly as we are planning to visit this temple tomorrow

[Gowtham]

On 4/20/2019 at 2:19 PM, Guest Lalitha said:

hi, in news papers, it is written that its from 18th apr 2019 to 21st apr 2019.. please confirm quickly as we are planning to visit this temple tomorrow

 

In some papers it written till 20th.
May be they have extended.
 

Quote

However, this year, while the Endowments department announced the Jatara to be held from April 17-21, the Forest department declared that it would allow the entry of devotees for only three days from April 18-20.