Day-3_ On the Top of Eastern Ghats

Discovering Secrets of Nagas- Nageswar Caves

It was a chilly morning when we went out, People looking at us as usual; we had our breakfast in Semiliguda itself and proceeded towards the Nageswar Caves near Nandapur.

The Journey was pleasant, with the fields covered with yellow Niger flowers, distant Blue Mountains, blue sky and pleasant wind blowing, you feel as if the nature is singing lullaby to you.

This day of course I had the camera in my hand and we took all possible time by clicking the photos.

Partha on the Top Left , Roads to Nandapur on the right top corner , Niger Flower fields at the bottom

It’s about 40kms from Semiliguda including the twists and turns scenic roads via Nandapur.

We reached the footsteps of Naga Caves around 10:30am and started the ascend . Naga Caves were about 4000ft , where one can see the mystical caves and a plateau like surface above the mountains . Exploring this was our main motive along with the view from 4k feet above.  The road was rocky but we expected to be better roads ahead, what we got is more bad roads, there was literally no road. There was a grin when we were riding up through these. We were enjoying the off road biking till it started to get worse and it got even worse up ahead. We stopped at a point, giving rest to our bullet, kissing it and taking pride in being a bullet owner. Any other city bikes would have died a long ago in these hills but here we are deciding to go on further.  After the engines cooled off a bit we started again, this time the road was even worse, we were driving on a walkway made my walking over these hills where the stones were all drunk and came down when the tires hit them. It was scary at a moment when my bike started skidding, with the both the brakes applied, one leg on the ground and the bike in first gear, it kept on skid till I got my leg on a solid rock, though I was laughing but yes I was scared to not about me, but about my camera and bike in case I lose balance and fall. There was visible tension in the face of Partha when he saw me , it grew even bigger when I said my clutch wire seems loose a little after .That was it , Suddenly the environment seemed pretty hot for both of us , we decided to stop as moving further is like inviting more danger  .

Scenic and Dangerous - Road to Naga Caves

 Naga caves were more 5kms to go in the uphill , we could have trekked the distance but we dint wanted to be late on our schedule too i.e. go to Deomali a plan which can't be jeopardized with  .  So we agreed mutually to return back. We took a shed nearby and found a Lil stream too to quench our thirst. The road was never made of asphalt but was a Kachha Road and thanks to the recent rains it was washed up to the core left with the bare essential mountain road.   We heard some weird sounds of the jungle, a Raptor up high in the air and what we dint wanted is to run into a Bear. It took both of us to turn each bike towards our decent. Though we both had different techniques for our descent i.e. I kept my engines off, ND Partha didn’t, we tip topped with the bike till the end of the Ghats. A video on how we rode down .

P.S doesn't try this until you are riding a Jcb. Btw we plan to trek the caves the next time we both are in Koraput.

Partha Spent 6yrs of his childhood in a place nearby called Padua. We went in there to make him Nostalgic about the place and relive his childhood memories. He showed me the place where he lived, where he studied, played, hang out and even attend the social gathering parties (an oil British bungalow now in almost ruins). Yes also saw the Yellow billed Babbler (a bird endemic to the southern India only) which has such a sweet voice. 

Anyways were back from Nandapur soon. We reached Semiliguda around 2. We were actually late for deomali. Initially Partha had called his friends to accompany us to the mountains but none came up. We waited for Siddu (Partha’s younger brother) but he was late, waiting for him would have made us more lately which we dint wanted.  

Yellow Billed Babbler @top left , Scenery Surrounding the British Bungalow (Bottom) 

"After all it’s you and me buddy -let's go." I said.

So close near the heaven-Deomali

 We were already behind schedule, as we started late. It was 15kms from Semiliguda to Kunduli, which is a small market place on the Koraput-Vizinagaram road, the gateway of Deomali. I remember watching the old cemented gate many times while going to Sunabeda with a wish that I would ride up those mountains. Well it’s not every day you go near the highest peak our state. For us it was no less than the Himalayas. Upon entering we were greeted by the spell bounding scenery's of that area. Greens , Mountains , streams , it was a typical pictorial depiction of the drawings that we used to paint in our childhood days , with the sun just perfect position near the mountains we rode up fast up the hills . The road was good baring the few bad patches, we were enjoying the sharp turns, uphill riding with the sun gleaming on our faces. We saw few tourists staring at us, probably because they were all on a car and we on a RE (Fate Favors the Doers after all). We reached the gates of Deomali around 4, we were already late to make the climb but the scenery deomali offered was breathtaking.

On the way to Deomali

Deomali the highest mountain peak of odisha at an altitude of 5400feets , sadly most of people are ignorant to these mountains . The golden hour of sunlight was falling upon us as we rode through the lonely roads. Partha had a grin on his face like a baby, maybe I was smiling like an idiot too, blames it on deomali; it’s a paradise in odisha for nature lovers. We almost clicked every landscape while making our way up. We soon reached the end of the roads. Our bikes had been faithful with us this long to carry us this far, we parked them near the view point and patted the seat. There was a family outing there, feasting upon Kheer served in the plastic glass. They were about to leave after the dessert. An old shepherd came up to us, asking where we came from and all details. Partha asked me to give a small amount of money; obviously we were a little concerned with the Maoist thing. The road had messages of the Maoist painted in white and the last thing we would want is to upset the local that came up to us.  We were in a jinx, it was getting dark, the trek from there would take about an hour, and no man was about to be seen for at least about 10kms. We already had a failed plan of going inside the Nageswar caves in the morning and coming back from the tourist view point in Deomali was bad for our male ego , further the question was , 6yrs of dreams , 6months of planning and 6hours of waiting to climb the mountains , can it be jeopardized with the fear of the dark and Maoist ??

  The answer was no and we decided to continue with the stupidity and adventure. We reached the last view point  , the view point now in ruins, with scribbled names of couples all over it , packets of cigarettes , chips , water pouch was lying alone . We rested there for some time, the moon was already up, and the twilights were playing with colors over the Blue Mountains far away. After resting for some time, we decided to move further till there is complete darkness.  We were about 200mts away from the tip of the mountain when we felt it was no longer safe to continue further  due to the uneven rocky slippery surface. Darkness was the time for mountain animals, most importantly I was afraid of stepping into a snake rather than meeting a Maoist. We sat there for some time to enjoy the pure silence that the mountains offered. It’s not every day you sit in a completely silent environment. I would advise my friends reading this blog to enjoy this feeling of complete silence, it re-energizes you, and fills you with a good feeling and most importantly it offer complete peace of mind.  Anyways, the descend  was covered in a short span of time, as we collected some dead grasses and sticks to make our bonfire (completely Partha's idea). Lighting the Bonfire was more difficult than climbing the deomali in the windy conditions, but still we managed to light it up after all. And yes posed for photograph also: D.

Awesome_deomali_me and Partha in the bottom posing with the bonfire

We were late; it was about 7:30pm when we decided to move back towards Semiliguda. I was praying to the hill gods to clean away any thorns in our pathway. A Single Puncture and we would have been stranded over there for the whole night until any help could arrive from Kunduli or Semiliguda added to the fact that there was a feeble network connection in the mountains. Saw many owls, lapwings, and a fox, after we left past the deomali gate, with almost every turn we saw people with long sticks, Axe waving their hands to us. I was in the front  and it was really very scary , it was dark , you are scared of the place, the Maoists and suddenly with a turn you find a man in the middle of the road with axe in his hand . Phew Scary!!  Anyways they were probably the woodcutters and we carried along the path. At the midway to Kunduli, Partha was in the front, and we were driving little  slow. Out of nowhere (or probably from village) I saw a bolero was coming up to full speed. That was it; it was enough to boost our turbo as I was warned Partha about the vehicle. We were riding in daunting speed in those mountains, facing the twists, turns and Ghats like experts, and neglecting every pothole and bump that came up on the way.  We have to make till Kunduli for the own safety before the vehicle does. It might have been a passenger vehicle but we don’t want to take the risk of the Maoist nor the robbers.  The Bolero was no matching for our RE in those sharp turns and ghat roads and our succeeded by leaving it far behind when we reached Kunduli. We sighed a bit of relief and cruised till Semiliguda to have a cup of tea and some snacks. 

Memoirs of Deomali

The packing of bags was done soon, we left for Jeypore which is about 45kms from Semiliguda on a straight highway via Koraput. The condition of the roads from Koraput to Jeypore has deteriorated, but thanks to our experiences in the morning they felt like our city roads.
We reached Jeypore (the Largest Town of the Koraput District and also the hometown of  our Partha Babu ) around 9:30 Pm, and went off straight to meet Partha's uncle and his Younger Brother SIddu. I thought Partha's uncle would be quite old and I was ready to touch his feet for blessing, but I saw a man of hardly in his 30's gesturing for a handshake. And there was Siddu , who rides a Bullet of 1965 make , took Partha's bullet for a test drive in those streets and came back complaining about the Quality of sound , and also checked for the head of the engine in case of oil leakage . “If it doesn't leak any oil, it ain't a Bullet “came his statement. 
We were soon joined by Partha’s youngest cousin of 3yrs , who was as crazy about bullet as his cousin brothers .

We bid Goodnight to Siddu and Dada and went Partha’s  Elder Aunty’s (Bada Maa ) home where we were about to stay . Bada Maa had prepared Parathas along with Veg Curry upon which we feasted upon . Sadly my common cold was responsible for my indifference in my taste buds  and it was hard to eat with the swollen tongue .
We prepared the bed with layers of carpets and bedsheets and lay flat while going through the photos of  Deomali . What a day it had been , we were smiling at each other while watching the photos and slept with the happy feelings of the day .

 Day-4 to be continued …
Amazing  3 falls of the mountains..