Solo Backpacking in Chhattisgarh : A Magical Retreat for Travelers

I felt inspired when Dalai lama said  “Once in a year go somewhere where you have never been before” (I made it a month instead of year 😜😜). I traveled to Kerala in January, Tamilnadu, Nainital in February & Mathura, Vrindavan in March(for holi) in this year 2020. After relaxing few days at home the travel bug in me started itching and I decided to make a trip to Chhattsigarh which was pending from past one year…

“Chhattisgarh is the heaven for Travelers..” 

Yeah I am aware of this and to add some more boost to this sentence, Many of my travel mates suggested me saying “Bharath, you should visit Chattisgarh and as a traveler by now you should have explored”. Even I thought many times that how did I miss this beautiful state being our neighbor state (its seems like ghar ka murgi dal barabar). We (RK& me) discussed so many times about organizing a trip for our BCF travelers. But it never happened due to various reasons. As a trek lead, I was also not travelling in March. We stopped organizing trips considering the safety of our BCFians due to the pandemic (COVID – 19). I thought this is the right time for a solo trip. So after postponing for almost 1 year I thought it’s the time to backpack in Bastar. Bastar is a district in southern part of state which hosts most of tourist places in state.

Dont plan too much.. Just go for it..!

“Unplanned trips go crazy always” I have experienced this so many times. The only advantage here is  I have already listed in my notes about the places to visit. So I just packed my bag and boarded bus to Jagdalpur (HQ of  Bastar dist. which connects to all the tourist  Attractions of  Bastar )  with lot of excitement….

My Tentative places to visit :

1.  Kanger valley National Park
2.  Kutumsar Caves (which are inside the park)
3.  Tirathgarh Falls
4.  Chitrakoot Falls (aka Niagara of India)
5.  Dantewada
6.  Dholkal Ganesh Trek

How to reach Jagadalpur :

By Rail : From Raipur and Vishakapattanam trains run to jagadalpur
By Road : Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam, Raipur has regular bus services

As on day 1, I have planned to visit 4 places and halt for night stay at Chitrakoot. I got into  sleeper bus so that I can have good rest. Had my dinner at a dhaba, Set my alarm (as I have  to get down before jagadalpur) & off into dreams about crazy trip ahead…

Entry to Chhattisgarh:

As the alarm rang, I woke up and checked the surroundings , then realised we are going through ghat section , views are eye catching . Once we enter the Chhattisgarh from Telangana  most of the journey will be through the forests and Ghats only  and it offers  beautiful scenery with many water streams falling from the hills..

Little fun while getting down:

As per Google I was planning to get down at a location(to head to Tirathgarh falls) and asked the driver to stop at the same . All of sudden they started staring at me in some different way (as that area is one  of the  in highly effected Maoist area in the country (Sukma)) plus  my backpack  and tent are added to their feeling that  am one of them 😆😆  . I understood and explained them my travel plan. They all laughed and driver said he will stop at exact place where i have to get down ( Google maps sucked as always) … after few kms there is a entry of “Kanger valley National park” on the main road itself , Finally landed in the Chhattisgarh… Adventure has already started 😀😀

Travel Tip :

Kanger valley park has two Counters on  hyderabad- Jagadalpur Highway

Counter 1 :  Main entry into National park. From this junction only we have to go for Tirathgarh falls. This come first while coming from Hyderabad

Counter 2 :  This comes first while coming from jagadalpur. It’s a safari pickup point. Even jeeps started from this point also have to enter park  from counter 1.

Both are 3-4 km apart. Its better to get down  @ Counter 1 i.e main entry so that you can go to Tirathgarh falls also directly after safari.

Day 1 @ Kanger valley Park & Kutumsar caves : (17th March 2020)

I got down at safari point, Freshen up near a hotel ( only hotel available) had some tea as there no breakfast available in the early morning and went to safari counter . The guy over there said i have to wait till the vehicles arrive. Am the only person came by that time so i have to hire whole jeep in order to go to safari ( which includes kutumsar caves, a water stream, deer park) & the price was 1800/- .Safari guy advised me to wait for sometime  so that I can share safari with other people. Luckily after 40 min. a Bengali family came and I convinced them quickly (you should be more talkative while travelling solo) got into the jeep 😀😀

We have visited a water stream inside park(aka kanger dhara) and then proceeded to Kutumsar caves about which I was more excited. We were accompanied by a guide. He explained about the formation of caves and history behind it. It was thrilling experience to go caving inside a forest. It is a limestone cave, best time to visit the caves is October to march as in the monsoon season it will be flooded.

Hitchhiking To Tirathgarh Falls:

After coming out of the park, I sat at the junction waiting for a ride to Tirathgarh falls. its 6 km from the junction. No public transportation available on this route so i have decided to hitchhike. I got a lift from a local group . I reached Tirathgarh in 30 min. Most important thing is “Be aware of monkeys” they have all the abilities to open your bag and grab the stuff. To reach the falls we need to go down by stairs, it will take 20 min roughly.

The moment i reached the bottom i can see the full view from where it falls on to the ground. It’s a huge 300ft plunge makes everyone stare the falls for few seconds. It’s a block waterfall , it makes 3 tiers totally. I went further down luckily found a perfect place to take bath under the falls. I set my Go-pro to record my own bathing video :p :p .

I saw a family there who spoke to me few minutes earlier while I was waiting for a ride ( remember this family, they are going to surprise me again in this trip😃 😃 ). 2 kids from their group very curious to talk to me after seeing my tent and Go-pro. I observed their talk for a while and I left that place as I have to reach chitrakoot by evening. But I remember those kids curiosity to know about me .. who am I.. what am I doing alone here ?…

Travel Tip :

 If you want to stay overnight, Forest rest houses are available at kutumsar and tirathgarh which require prior permission from District Forest officer.

Hope is the only friend..

After my lunch at the entrance of falls i came back to road to get a ride back to junction so that i can catch bus to jagadalpur. I waited more than 30 min. & started walking by thinking someone may show up on the way (hope..) . After a km walk one guy offered me ride and he said he can drop me in jagdalpur .. I thanked him in advance and jumped into his bike.

Meeting the new people become my new normal to me since past 3 years(Thanks to BCF). We talked about how rural development going there, he said most of the people will think of Maoists when they listen about Chhattisgarh but our place offers beautiful nature trails and so many attractive places to visit too. He thanked me also for visiting Chhattisgarh and dropped me at a place where i can catch a jeep to chitrakoot.

Whenever I spoke to local people i feel it close to my heart for the respect and love they show for visiting their place.  My suggestion is to the travellers who want to experience the real culture and know about the history behind the place is  go and talk with the locals .. no one knows their place better than them  and they always welcome you..

Chitrakoot Waterfalls  (Aka Niagara Of  India)

 As soon as i got down i got a vehicle going towards Chitrakoot. Its 45 minutes of journey. My plan was to camp there for that night. I quickly checked options for dinner, one of the shop guy there said  he will be open till 9pm ( food options are limited here , only 2-3 shops available). 

As its already evening i went to the falls directly. We need to walk down for 10-15 min. to reach the Boating point. The view is stunning from front. People are enjoying boating in the pool formed by falls.  My plan is to go for boating during sunrise time. So i just took some pictures and sat there for a while enjoying the cool sunset breeze. 

It slowly getting dark, all boatmen are coming off the water one by one to get back to home. I was talking to 2 young boatmen then who are of 12 yrs old about where they learned rowing , how they got into this at young age etc.. Suddenly a group of 3 people came and requested them for a ride. As everyone in mood to go home no one accepted. These two kids were intelligent 😉😉 they asked them for little extra payment which seemed very reasonable to those 3 people, they got into boat finally, as they were only 3 people in boat ,i was offered a ride by those boatmen ( it saved me 50/- rs 😉). Without even thinking about my sunrise boating I bumped into boat..

Crazy Boat ride into the falls..

Chitrakoot is a very wide falls falling from 100 ft height. it’s very famous for  Boat ride (Rowing boats) into the falls. You will start ride from left side of the fall, Slowly you go down the plunge exactly where it falls ..Its crazyyy actually.. You will be surrounded by mist formed and the Gushing sound it makes. I went almost at the beginning of summer so water level allowed us to go completely under falls. Those few seconds under the falls was cherishing memories forever.

I have special attachment to waterfall always, I feel that it is the most perfect traveller, when it travels it  creates a path itself.

As I came back to top pleased by the  spectacular view of  “Niagara falls of India” (though I don’t like comparing natures wonders with each other) . it’s like you are standing next to the plunge which falls 100 ft down directly forming a giant pool. I saw some people crossing the stream just before where it starts falling.  I decided to camp here just beside the falls.

To my surprise the family I saw at Tirathgarh showed up here too. Those kids started walking towards me, but they are about to leave so they just said  “Hi”  and left. ( am sure that we going to  meet sometime soon)

I went to the shop and had my dinner (only breakfast items are available). Meanwhile I put my Go-pro and Mobile on charging. After that i went to my camping place which in 2 min walk from there.

I got stunned by the night view of falls as there were full lighting set up over the falls.  Words are not enough to explain that beauty. I set up my tent at visitors picnic place and went little ahead and sat over viewing the falls.  That beautiful sky with decorated stars, Romancing sounds of waterfall in the focus of fluorescent lights made my day.

Travel Tip :

For accommodations 2 options are available

1. PWD  Resort ( require permission from dist. officials)
2. Dandami Tourism Resort

(go for room #101 which offers best view of falls from room)

If you are camping, there are 2-3 restaurants available who can arrange food on request.

Dantewada : Heart of Bastar

Dantewada is one of the major town in Bastar District. It hosts the famous Danteshwari temple which is one of the shaktipeetha and also family goddess of Bastar Region.

From chitrakoot i came to jagadalpur and catched a bus to Dantewada . Bus frequency is very good, majority of transportation is run by private operators here. It took 3 hrs to reach Dantewada. I went to temple directly.  The architecture of temple represents the  Bastar Regional culture in  elegant way. Entry into the main temple allowed only if you are wearing full clothes( am on my regular shorts ), i just went till where am allowed and luckily had a darshan of goddess Danteswari.

Had prasadam as my lunch in temple. Other than saving money i always respect the food in temples, langars & anywhere when people are donating. Sometimes it’s the only food we get also.  So feel happy to have free food anywhere.

Finally we met..

While having my prasadam the surprise family showed up again, this time it seems like the whole family recognized me from the previous day waterfall scene. We got little time to chat. They wondered how i decided to travel alone, but one thing they felt happy was about my passion towards traveling. Some kind of motivation,isn’t it?.  Kids were interested to know about  my accessories and how I use them. I said the same quote by Dalai lama to them “ visit one new place every year “ they felt  little inspired and looked at their parents  with cheeky smile hinting that  “ we have decided to travel” 😜😜  . They even told about places they have been till now.

The very interesting thing about travelers is “we meet, we share our experiences, we go ahead”. I said bye bye to them and went ahead into town.

Dholkal Ganesh Trek:

Here comes the most interesting part of my trip. Every place I go, I generally search for the treks near by. Without a trek I feel the trip is incomplete and I won’t feel satisfied 😎😎. So I decided to go for dholkal trek which was near Dantewada.

About the trek :

Dholkal Trek is in the border of  Dantewada –Bizapur district. Its stands next to the heighest peak of state in Baildila rang with 3000ft height. 1000- yr old ganesha idol found at dholkal peak in 2012 by an archaeologist which made the place popular.

To the base of Dholkal (Faraspal) :

The base village Faraspal was 13 km away from Dantewada. I got into an auto-rikshaw going towards that village. It took 30 min to reach the place but i realised then that i had to take a walk of 2 km from the road to reach village. I enquired some info about place at a shop near by and started walking.

I did some basic research about the place before the trip. I got to know that Eco tourism project is very successful in Bastar . Dholkal trek also officially run by district eco- tourism group. It was really a good initiative to help the local youth by providing skills and employment.

I reached the village after 30 min. I saw tourism office at the entrance and welcomed by the local girls who works under the eco tourism in that village. I told about my trek plans, and enquired about camping place and food. I got to know that that village has 2 homestays also which can accommodate around 8 people. As am the solo traveller i decided to do camping. They said they will arrange dinner also. After some rest, I took a walk around the village.

The village portrays the original tribal culture of people living in the Bastar.  Most of the houses are built with mud. Every house has one big spare room to store their crops. They look so simple and classy. I spoke to some villagers and sat in the fields adjacent to office to watch the sun setting down in the hills.

I spoke to girls over the office about who are all works here and where are they??  They replied “ the village has around 8 volunteers totally , any 2 people will be taking care of office everyday” . As that day there is a Big Mela happening in nearby village all the boys went there.  These girls are waiting for them to return so that they can go home  as am staying here tonight in the office. Oh I forgot .. as am a single guy they asked me to stay in their office itself which is well maintained with attached washroom.I cancelled my camping plan by thinking that any amount paid to them will be helpful to the local community.

Later a guy named Hiralal ( guide & volunteer) came and  he brought a hot dinner from his home  which is just opposite to the office. He offered me some local wine (Mahua) to taste along with ant chutney (never miss when you are in Bastar). We both had a little chat post dinner about traibal life. We slept early as we have to trek in the early morning.

On trek day :

We started around 6 am towards dholkal. First few km is a flat walk till we reach the campsite. Normally for big groups they arrange camping there. From that point we enter into forest. On the way hiralal explained me the process of  making mahua from the fruits.

As we entered the forest I can  feel the fresh air , ears are pleased by the sounds of birds and my body synced its rhythm with the trails of forest. It was very rarely visited by people, i can see the freshness of trees surrounding, even the trail is also less used. As our muscles warmed up we continued our hike as fast as we can. We reached half distance in 45min. Took some rest, had some snacks and started again.

The final 300 mtrs of trek is very crazy. It was beyond  my expectation, i was really happy to experience this kind of hike . I gave my Go pro to Hiralal to capture some climbing moments. Within few minutes we were in front of  1000 – yr old Lord Ganesha idol at the height of 3000 ft.

 Yess.. we did it !!!!! Summit moments are always special.

We spent some time there talking about the history behind this place. There is a mystery that people tried to steal it once but idol fall down in the valley 100ft. below.  It was found after a rescue but some parts gone missed.

We took some snaps and moved to the near by rock  few meters  away which  hosts the temple of surya bhagwan.

We started back after taking some pics and got back to village. I had my lunch in the hiralal’s house which was so tasty (food after treks tastes so good 😃😃) and left the village with beautiful memories .The sad part in the travel I feel is saying bye bye to beautiful places and lovely people.

End of the trip due to Lockdown:

As I reached Jagadalpur back its already 4.30pm , I tried to visit “Amcho bastar mela” but got to know that its closed. Locals suggested me to go back home asap as lockdown may be announced nationwide anytime. I went to bus stand to enquire about bus to Hyderabad, they said it’s cancelled as Telangana already closed borders. I decided to took long route via Andhra, which took me almost 31 hrs to reach Hyderabad. I am tired badly but it was much needed travel in that time because from next day on awards its complete lockdown for 3 months throughout nation.  Unexpected end to Crazy trip …

Epilogue :

Before I finish, I would like to mention and remind you, the sustainable and eco-tourism projects run by Bastar officials helping local community in much better lines. Don’t throw any litter on the trails, I suggested them idea of counting the no. of plastic bottles carried by trekkers at the time of trek and implement some fine amount if they don’t bring them back ( I observed this during KP trek in Karnataka).  Please protect the nature as much as you can so that our next generations can also experience the beauty of it.

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Notes from BCF:

We organize this trip very often through out the year. You can follow us on Instagram for regular updates. Insta ID –bcf.official. For more info on BCF upcoming events visit us here. About logo you can read here.

Contributed by Bharath (BCF’s Organizer)
Follow Bharath on Instagram here

Bharath is a full time trek lead with Backpackers and City Freaks for the past 3 years. He has completed Basic Mountaineering Course(BMC) and he is a certified Wilderness First Responder also. He is available @ 8008072787 / whats app direct link

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