23 November 2014
During our return journey from Gandikota, we made a visit to
this cave. It is about 60 km from Gandikota. From Bengaluru it is about 300 km
via Ananthapur.
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| Entrance to the cave |
Thanks to the publicity given by APTDC, the Belum cave is
widely known among people. It is the second longest cave in India. (The longest one may be in Meghalaya)
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| A 'hole' in the cave!! |
As we entered the Belum cave complex, it was hard to believe
that such a long cave exists in that region. The entrance of the cave does not
divulge its grandeur. But once we get
down, the cave just opens up to its fullest!!
The cave though well illuminated was not good enough for the
camera to take good photos. Only then I remembered that I had forgotten to
bring the tripod!! The photos had to be taken with great effort.
The initial part of the cave is very wide. It gets confusing
with various pathways diverging from the main path. There are several air
shafts in the cave but still in some places we ended up sweating profusely!!
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.
I must say that the cave is well maintained by APTDC. There
are play area in the complex for kids to place. A Buddha statue is constructed in the complex. But the hotel maintained by
APTDC is not so great. It is better to have food either at Tadipatri or
Ananthapur.
Labels: Andra Pradesh, caves, travel
