That's the way I see: Highway to Phulbani

Day-2

An impromptu plan, and we were off to Phulbani. We called up a contact in Phulbani who promised us there's lot more than Daringbadi to see in Phulbani, 4 waterfalls to be precise 😀. Being a crab 🦀 ( Cancerian) water attracts me more than anything else and with nothing more to see in Daringbadi( Hill view and nature park to be visited next time) the course was set.

We started for Phulbani around 12:30 Pm, on a road which was best part of this journey SH-1, with huge trees 🌲 on both sides of the road, pitch black roads with painted white stripes, autumn 🍂 leaves on the black canvas each turn was no less than a scenery. There was a stupid grin on my face while I was riding most of the time, and I fell in love with Odisha again, this time the roads, a 100kms full of beauty. I seriously forgot to take my camera out and click some pics of this road😑☹️.

We reached around 3pm in Phulbani and were prompted by google to try a restaurant nearby called Cooks. Phulbani is relatively a better town, with good wide roads, cleanliness and almost every important thing can be found on the main road. All we needed after a good ride was some good food 🥘 and Cooks didn't disappointed us in that. He also gave suggestions about Hotels, places to visit and also about an android app called "Kandhamal", which contains all the info you need.

Rice, Dal, Roti, Panner and Mushroom

Dessert 🍨, you lovely sweet poison

We called up our contact who also suggested to stay at Hotel Dreamland. It has parking area like a cave with an animated plane on top of the building. The rooms were cheap and decent too, plus who gives unlimited wifi on ₹500 per day 😆.

Before Google Maps

We met our contact Mr. Akhil Senapati, owner of Aakash Photo studio to plan further. He advised us to visit Maa Barala Devi temple along with Pilasalunki Dam which round about 15kms from the town.These were starting of the bumpy roads ☹️, we got a bit late in reaching and it was almost sunset 🌅, , this Dam reminded me of Pitamahal Dam in Rourkela, with similar mountains surrounding this Dam.

Pilasalunki Dam

Bad images jinx started 😟

On the way to phulbani we stopped for some snacks " Vada" in particular as they say " Bara pratek odia ra durbalata 😆" ( Vada, weakness of every odia) add guguni too 😋 to this list.

Dinner time was pretty much relaxing with some music 🎶 and online research about the places nearby. I would have slept early but I can't sleep immediately when I hit the bed unlike Udipt, added his snores are no less than sound of a Bass trumpets 🎺, I heard from people that I snore too but this is brutal, I should Sleep first 😩.

Day- 3

Woke up around 5 in the morning but decided it was still early to go out. How does one start and day without a cup of Tea ☕️ ? Plus we needed a bit of confirmation on the routes. We tried the old fashioned way of asking peoples for directions instead of googling, thing is I wanted to hear the cliched dialog every odia says when you ask for directions " hmm... apana gote kama karantu.... ) 😆"( hmm.. do one thing... ).

Putudi waterfalls is around 15kms from Phulbani you take a right turn after 9kms from the main city , do watch out for sign boards. From this turn our DANGAL with the roads started, if you hum a tune it shall come out in classical voice for sure but we were not complaining, for I knew there would absolutely be no crowd there in waterfalls. The view to the falls was great with River Salunki flowing by, sun rising up on that side, riding a bull up the ghats, I was expecting something good again.

Entry gates to Putudi were in poor state, picnic had taken a toll on this place, the Stairs, the view point, many broken Alcohol bottles with plastics can be seen all over, but the view was awesome from there. We heard many stories before, a word of caution actually from the locals before coming that one should be disrespectful towards this place, avoid intoxication if planning to go near the falls or better don't go at all. There has been many cases of people being killed in this waterfalls, a word of caution for everyone who loves to explore these kind of new places, don't mess with forces of Nature, calculating risk is fine which we did when we did a small trek to the falls below but I wouldn't have done so during monsoon season which would have been plain idiotic.

Small trek video

Lighting was not proper, I did took some shots but not worth it, wasn't happy at all. The sun ☀️ was away and dull lighting conditions weren't making a merry of a scene for Photography. I did sat down for a while, listening to the sound of water gushing, the lush green surrounding and river salunki was offering some amazing peace ✌️ of mind.

I have uploaded 360deg images on google
360 Deg view of Putudi Waterfalls

Udipt was pretty much against the idea of coming down, but I literally dragged him along, I didn't wanted to die alone 😆 🤞. Another word of caution, please wear a good pair of boots, and if the rocks are wet don't put your feets on them last but not the least, don't litter 😡.

You can't always get desired lighting conditions on first visit to a place, I realised that one needs to spend a whole day to get some good shots, alas would be doing it next time. On our way back we say some good lights actually.

Back to main roads we took a right turn and went straight ahead to Katringa the T- Junction where right leads to Urumagada Waterfalls and left to Katramal Waterfalls.
After having breakfast 🍳 we went right to Urumagada, time was ticking, roads were no good either, but only thing bad was the sun overhead, but sky was like a blue ocean.

Upon reaching Urumagada Waterfalls, we strained our ears 👂 for sound of waterfalls which was absent, on reaching the falls it was absent too 😑 I mean the water, yes yes do blame it on us, we went in the wrong season. But the view was amazing, I'm sure it looks lovely in prime seasons.

Click on link to View Urumagad 360 deg View

From there we headed back to Katringa junction, exhausted and dehydrated we took some rest, enquired about the route to Katramala Waterfalls and started off again. We also got to know fishes in those waterfalls are believed to be sacred and tourists often feed them with biscuits, the story was exciting enough for us to buy some biscuits for them. Now the best way to go from here is to hire a vehicle which charges around 1200 for 5-6 people's, also there are auto rickshaw plying in this routes, dunno how comfortable the journey shall be with that.

We reached the spot but due to absence of signboard we were unable to find the way to Katramala waterfalls, what we found was a incomplete foot bridge.

We returned back to one of the streams flowing by and I started shooting the little fishes ( Rasbora deniconius) underwater, I swear my heart was in my mouth pounding like a drum 🥁 when I dipped in my iPhone 7. I did many videos and clicked many pics, the biscuit we got for fishes were being shared among us 😆 Coz it was already way past the lunch time.

Now it didn't gave a good feeling to go away without watching the waterfalls, near yet to far, luckily some tourists were on the way to the falls and upon following them they lead us to the waterfalls, one has to take a right turn after the foot bridge while going by the rocky river bed and not on the bridge as it's incomplete.

Here there was no water either, but there were fishes, bigger versions of the Rasbora, luckily we still had some biscuits left for them.

Water Ledu

Translation - Do not litter

Click to View 360deg view of Katramala

On the way return We stopped again at Katringa, had a Cutting chai and retired to our rooms.

Pakrajhar waterfalls were shifted to day 4

Day 4

Pakrajhar is about 27kms from Phulbani town on the way to Boudh road. We started again early in the morning, the roads were fabulous with one ghat road offering a good view of the area.

Time for breakfast 🍳

Chef of the Morning

Pakrajhar comes under wildlife division, so there is a entry gate with fees. ₹5 per person and ₹20 for two wheeler.

Look out for Malabar Giant Squirrel

Paise do, Entry Lo

Hyperlapse of the descend

Look Maa, no water here too, reasons you know. But this place was something different than other places we visited, the bird population in this area was superb with 15mins I spotted Hill Myna, Greater Racket Tailed Drongo, Plum Headed Parakeets, Scarlet Minivet, Small Kingfisher, Blue Bearded Bee eater, short toed snake eagle, Rufous wood pecker, Rufous woodpecker, great tit, and many other common birds. I didn't had my tele lens so next time I visit this place, would be back with it.
Click to View 360 Deg view of Pakrajhar

We returned around 10 am, visited Akhil Babu's studio, gave some wedding tips to the photographers and by the time we returned it was already 12:30.

Contact for Baby shoots

So we decided to have our lunch and go, The food was totally homemade style, so don't forget to eat out here in restaurant of Hotel Dreamland.

Ghar Jaisa khana

We started around 2Am, the road was lovely till Daspalla after that it had occasional patch work going on.

O My Back oops I will be Back

Our pit stops increased as we rode further and further, the bag pack was heavy and it was taking a toll on our back.


Famous Chennapoda of Nayagargh

Added the little stint with bad roads, improper sleep and water in these three days, we reached Bhubaneswar around 8PM.
That night I don't remember what happened after I hit the bed.

PS:
Do plan your trip in prior, make sure you do all the necessary arrangements, keep time in your hands to visit these places, the idea is to relax and not to stress yourself. We were on a continuous wedding shoot and couldn't prepare for this trip which is why it was a bit tiring for us.
Hope you mark this place in your calendar for winter visit.
Some unseen Pictures Below