We embarked upon our approx. 600 km road journey (Raipur to Vizag) on a crisp Sunday morning after a hearty breakfast of the regional favourite : the Rice Chilla ( rice flour crepe).
Raju our local guide and ace driver organized by Uniglobe Travels (www.uniglobestar.in) made sure we cruised through the well maintained NHs and SHs.
As we moved away from the city, baskets of local wild produce sold by native women lined either side of the roads. Custard apples in season this time around adorned the baskets and we bought our share. Besides, local market at Keshkal introduced us to some handwoven everyday stuff like brooms as well as the Mahua flowers…..more about them later.
Our first destination was the famed Chitrakote waterfalls. Enroute Chitrakote , we halted at Kondagaon to buy tribal artwork from indigenous musical instruments to innovative lampshades of dried bottleguord, we could not have enough of this display.
Bhanpuri led us to the massive horseshoe shaped falls on the rocky plateau by the river Indrawati. The name Chitrakote is derived from herd of deer ( Chitar meaning deer) that once inhabited this region considering the vast forestland in the surrounding area.
Being the widest falls in the country particularly this time of the year, the voluptuousness and the sheer grandeur of these falls is indescribable!
As opposed to most other falls which occur from the mountain ranges at a height, these occur over the plateau and hence one can lust on the entirety of the falls from the river of origin to the base with their misty exit!
Also the quartzitic sandstone over which the falls occur amplify the sound effects echoing in the entire area comprising of the Baster forestland.
The setting sun on the calm river across the falls just made the surroundings mesmerising!
Having spent a couple of hours soaking in and a quick snack of onion fritters in a shack overlooking the falls as well as seeking blessings from a monolithic cave temple nearby, we made our way to the Bastar Jungle Resort for our night halt. A charming place with clean and comfortable rooms albeit with elementary facilities, it was located away from the bustling traffic of the nearby town of Jagdalpur at the outskirts of the National Park. Chitter chatter of birds at dawn woke us up and as we strolled in the sprawling campus of misty grass dazzling in the rising sun, our lungs were inflated with pure oxygenated air ( As Raju jockingly mentioned that the air here had more oxygen!).
Piping hot upma and well set curd further rejuvenated us as we set out with little knowledge of what lied ahead!
Raju had a surprise in store for us and must we say, it far exceeded our expectation!
Rajneesh and his wife Urmi were an absolute pleasure to spend the day with. Founders of Aamcho Laadi, a sustainable homestay, Rajneesh Panikar met and married lovely Urmila Nag, a native of the region and set out on a mission to give a superlative experience to their patrons . We were greeted with a traditional tikka and flowers and ushered into their humble dining area. Mainly catering to French tourists, Rajneesh introduced us to Mahua, a local alcohol brewed from the dried flowers of the Mahua tree found in abundance in that region. Mahua cocktails caught the fancy of the French who introduced the World to this drink as a tribute to the Mahua Tree through Mah (www.mahspirit.com). Described as “ Sweet and juicy, they (Mahua flowers) are dried, fermented and distilled to produce a drink so delicious that spirits, animals, birds and humans are said to love it with equal relish.” Having learnt cocktail making from the legendary mixologist Lucas who was put up at Aamcho Laadi during their annual Mahua Workshop, Rajneesh indulged us with this organic mahua cocktail with mint, butterfly pea flower, lemon and sugar. This was followed by simple but wholesome ingredient based lunch cooked by the lovely Urmi herself. The Gordon Ramsay, having tasted Chapda ( famed red ant chutney) during his stay with Rajneesh and Urmila described it as the best chutney in the World ( healthy as well!) and included it in his menu!! ( www.indiatoday.in) “ Red- ant chutney from Chattisgarh makes it to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s menu” . Flavourful drink, sumptuous meal later, Rajneesh took us to the Kanger riverside alongside his home which overlooked the densely forested National Park.
We were lost in the calm broken by soft ripples of the river and melody of birds!
One cannot have enough of such moments ; but alas it was time to bid goodbye to our hosts.
Next morning we set out early for a drive to the Araku Valley with plans to make it in time for a cup pf Araku filter coffee.
We stopped over for a quick roadside brekkie of rice chila. It’s amazing how the same dish undergoes regional modifications occur in the same dish. While the rice chilla in Chhattisgarh is pan cooked, the one in Orissa was steam puffed and further south in Andhra as we know it gets transformed into the legendary dosa..…These subtle and interesting transitions can be noted on road trips only. Pleasures of driving through our diverse yet unifying regions !!
There are a lot of coffee plantations in India, but perhaps the most unexplored remains the Araku Valley Coffee Plantation.
Since coffee was the main focus, we headed straight to the coffee museum which was all about the story of coffee from Ethiopia to Araku. Araku takes pride in growing Arabica coffee. The aroma of Arabica coffee led us to the Barista where we enjoyed our Peaberry coffee and some confectionary.
Invigorated by the coffee and its theory, we headed to Ananthagiri coffee plantations. It encompasses almost 25 hectares of plantations interspersed by pepper. Meandering the ghats we reached Anathagiri. A reasonably good trek gave us the breathtaking views of red coffee beans on the shrubs with pepper creepers on the tall tree barks.
With our hearts and minds full of heady coffee, we moved on towards Vizag!
Mythologically, this region is referred to as Dandakaranya, translated ‘ the forest of punishment’ ….it wasn’t a favoured land then and even today remains largely mysterious for anthropologists and historians. The denseness of the forests, the virgin landscapes, pure air and relatively preserved indigenous culture mark the uniqueness of this region. Also a special mention of the exemplary roads which made our journey so pleasurable!!
We feel so fortunate to have had an opportunity to explore these lush forestlands.
