The Wrong Turn made our Day

Initially thought to be a photographic trip, few of our photo enthusiasts office colleagues planned for a trip to Ananthagiri hills near Vikarabad. Vikarabad is around 70 kms from Hyderabad. It is the place from where the famous Musi river originated. Ultimately 11 of us became part of the trip and we decided to take 2 cars - an Invova and a Polo.

Morning being the best time to take pictures, we decided to start early and meet at around 6 near Kondapur. However, we end up starting at around 8.30 when everyone joined.

The Gang

Taking the second exit from the Outer Ring Road, we made our way towards the Vikarabad road and stopped near the Chilkur crossing for having breakfast. Initially many was of the opinion of not having anything since they already had something while they left from home or was not in the mood of having anything at that time; But no-one could resist once we reached the dhaba. It was not long before, ultimately everyone started gulping more than a single plate of Idli's, Puri's, Dosa's and Upma. Fully loaded we started again stopping in places to take pics of the beautiful curvy roads.

Finally, stopping at Vikarabad, we bought snacks, water bottles and cold drinks for the day. Our destination was Ananthgiri Hills, a little ahead of Vikarabad. We took a wrong turn and reached the APTDC Haritha Guest house. Realizing the mistake, we again made our way back to the original route and reached the Anantha Padmanabha temple around 6 kms from Vikarabad Mandal.

Parking our cars there at the parking lot, we went inside the temple for darshan. Padmanabha is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu. There is a small cave, inside which the god resides. After darshan, we collected prasad (Pulihora and laddus) from the counter and decided to have it before we start for our venture.

Having Prasad

Our journey started from the base of the temple following the steps which directly leads to the jungle. Now; It's the time to explore !!!

Groups started getting scattered, some taking pictures of wild spider or butterflies while some others climbing the small cliffs to get a top view of the forest. Lots of other madness carried on for nearly about an hour or so.
It was quite hot and we decided to set back for some other place since till this time, the trip was quite ordinary until we took the WRONG TURN. Getting bored while walking in the sun along the road of red pebbles, one of our friend thought, it would be great if we could take a turn and walk along the jungle way to avoid direct sun.

After going for a little while, we realized that we have lost our way and there was no way forward. The only hope was to follow the bells of the temple. Even that too faded away after some time. Doesn't it sound interesting? We were just hoping to have some adventure like this. :)

There was really no way to go ahead, we had to make our way through the thorny bushes, cobwebs and what not...With sounds of 'Hollas' and 'Ollas' we marched forward. The last thing we were hoping was to have an encounter with a wild animal. Map on GPS on one of our friends IPhone came to our resume. The current location indicator said that we had gone past the temple and will have to turn back to reach our destination. We started clearing the thorny bushes to make our way towards our destination.

It took us nearly 2 hours to be back on the main red pebble road, but we loved every bit of it and it was a great experience which we would have never had if we had taken the main road. Thanks to technology that we were back on the main road in this time, or else we would have been still roaming there inside the jungle for probably few more hours until we could trace our way back or land up in some other place.

Tired and exhausted we thought of taking lunch, but the lust for more adventure did not end yet. Everyone decided to move forward towards the other trek location which is about 0.5 kms from the temple on the way to Kerelli. Some of us still had the zeal to go down and climb up the hills. I choose to stay on the top clicking pictures of the picturesque beauty of the surroundings.

Spending some time here, we decided to go towards the Kotepalli Reservoir which is around 20 kms from Ananthagiri Hills. The lake often called as Nagasamudram Lake is huge, clear and it offers scenic views. During monsoon it is completely filled with water. The entire day was hot, but thankfully as we proceed towards the reservoir, it started raining making our day complete with all sorts of experience. Initially we took the forest route and ended going to the other end of the lake which was equally beautiful. This time as well we did not curse our WRONG TURN.

Side from inside the Forest

Front Side

Later, we went to the Reservoir from the front side as well and spent some time taking snaps and enjoying the cool breeze of the lake. But, hunger forced us to get back to the APTDC Guest House. We reached the place at around 4 PM and was hoping to at least have some thing to eat. Luckily enough we got Egg Fried Rice for Non-Veggies, some plain Rice, Dal and Raita for veggies and that was more than enough for the hungry folks.

Having our late lunch we drove back to the city and reached around 7 PM after having a small tea-break just before entering the Outer Ring Road.

Overall to see, it was a wonderful trip with all odds and thankfully none of them disappointed us. It is definitely a good place to visit for the weekend.