Gandikota Trekking

Gandikota trek was great and amazing place to explore and it is second largest humpi in India. Gandikota was founded in 1123 by Kakaraja, a subordinate of Ahavamalla Someswara I, the Western Chalukyan king of Kalyana. The town played a significant role during the Kakatiya, Vijayanagara and Qutub Shahi periods.

Gandikota is a small villageon the right bank of the river Pennar, 15 km from Jammalamadugu in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh in India. The fort of Gandikota acquired its name due to the 'gorge' (in Telugu it is called 'gandi'), formed between the Erramala range of hills, also known as Gandikota hills and the river Pennar that flows at its foot, reducing its width to a mere 300 ft (see the river image below). Situated amidst beautiful landscape and wild forests, it is endowed with vast natural resources.

Not all things can be described......

I find no appropriate words to describe the beauty of Gandikota.........

We are thankful to GHAC for conducting this wonderful event. Our organizers Mr. Diyanat and Mr. Shri are simply the best and the most capable organizers for they have headed the team with lot more care and consideration. They guided and supported every moment. We are really glad to have been lead by such capable organizers.

We were much more enthusiastic – Gandikota is simply the best place to be seen

We really had a lot of fun.  Night cooking, campfire, swimming are only a few things.... that I could mention here...

Our team was really excited on having reached such a wonderful place. All of our team members were so friendly and considerate. I really consider myself lucky to have been a part of such a team whose members were truly altruistic. Half of your journey becomes successful when you travel with someone who understands you and tries to help you out, perceiving your brainwaves. We end our journey with as same amount of excitement as we began on Nov 19, i,e Friday Evening at or around 8:30. We spent two days in Gandikota but the time seemed to have passed away so soon. We savored every moment of our stay there in that remote place and we really enjoyed a lot.   Walking through Jammalamadugu, we felt that we would not be able to have such a chance to cage in moments of intense happiness. 

We hired an auto-rickshaw from jammalamadugu to Gandikota. My friends and I crept on to the top of the auto-rickshaw and we, eating sugarcane, enjoyed views of that beautiful location.

We felt we were in a different world when we reached gandikota. It was to a certain a Historical place, monuments built during Qutub Shahi Period. Truly a symbol of excellence and nothing could be brought in comparison to the piece of work done in that period of time. We were really enthralled to have visited such historical places and captured them in our cameras. Temples, symbolic of past grandeur, looked very much of the present. We live in a techy world but still it is difficult to match their piece of work. Simply Awesome !!! We refreshed ourselves in a swimming pool there.

Gandikota Hills were a sight to behold !!! Really. River Pennar flowing through the hill area looked gorgeous. We took it to be a challenge to reach there on the top of the hills and we successfully achieved it. It was quite risky for all of us and had you been there, you would have labeled our efforts as stupidity. We all team members resolved that we had to reach there on the top of the hills. We faced many difficulties while climbing the steep hills because they were littered with thorny bushes. We got scratches but we didn't give it up. A few words of encouragement from our GHAC organizers helped us a lot and we successfully achieved our target. Other people or the visitors were looking at us from a distance. They were gripped in awe and were looking at us.  

We enjoyed a lot. We took some snaps. We team members spent a lovely time together at the swimming pool. We told jokes to each other and had a hearty laugh. After this it was time for us to go for mountain trekking. We were a bit skeptical but determined to make the best of our adventure here.

 For almost eight hours and in the hot sun we were trekking and finding our way through thorny bushes, carrying the burden of our own luggage on our shoulders. A dog, we named it pinky, was with us all the time. It helped us a lot in showing the way. We team members even spotted some rabbits and even snakes during our trekking in the mountainous area. Though we were to a certain extent, exhausted at the end of journey yet we can say we really had a wonderful or a memorable time there in Gandikota. We once again thank GHAC for conducting this memorable or adventurous trip to Gandikota.   

We put up a tent on the top of the hills and we lit the fire for the purpose of cooking. We ourselves carried everything necessary. Rafia and Shree were great cook. Nearly all of the members contributed in cooking session. We lit the campfire and past the night time telling each other stories and cracking jokes. We had a good time together before we were all lost in deep slumber.. But Pinky, our Gandikota Friend, was awake...

Written here only a few things of what we did on our journey to Gandikota or in Gandikota. For almost half an hour when we reached Gandikota station to take our train to get back to   Hyderabad, we team members were all laughing and discussing our usual FRONT END AND BACK END Topic. The discussion on it was began by one of our team members, Venkee – funny icon of our team.   

The time we spent really will be a memorable for all us – surely !!!