Anantagiri Hills -A calm and beautiful place

One cannot believe this it took one year for us to go to a place which is hardly 100Km from hyderabad. We were planning to go to this place since last year finally we could make it on 12/01/2008.

We ( 5 people)started early in the morning 6:30Am with enough snacks and drinks.When we planned this trip i read few blogs which said no dhabas are available on the way so please have enough food along with you but i was surprised to see many dhabas on the way. If any one is planning a trip to this place my suggestion is not to overload oneself with unnecessary things.

Coming to our journey

we crossed city outskirts by 8:30AM and reached vikarabad around 10:00AM. I was the navigator sitting beside my friend Vara ( F1 Driver) .I heaved a sigh of relief when we reached vikarabad because the way was confusing once we crossed chevala.After a short power break we started to our destination which is just 10 Km from vikarabad, everyone was eagerly waiting even hari who was sleeping for most of the time was peeping through window in search of forest :) .

From what we heard and read about the place we thought it was in a forest but except for few places with dense tress,a TB hospital and few view points from the top of the hill there is no forest.

Finally we arrived at the place at 11:00 AM believe me air was refreshing as if we are in some hill station. We went to the temple ( Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple) had a small chat with priest to know about the history.

He told us this idol is a swayambhu and if one takes bath in the Gundam ( in telugu) or water tank it is as good as taking bath in Ganga. We went around temple and were surprised to see very old structers around the temple.Few cave like structures made in huge rocks , rooms built ( very old) for piligrims were present suggesting this place is very old and was frequented by people.We started walking down towards the water tank , this place has two tanks one for bathing and another for drinking water.I remember reading in one of the blog about river musi and its link to this place , i did nt find any of that here.

I would be doing injustice to this place if i dont talk about its ambience. This place( around temple) is a beauty with trees, small bushes, mango, tamarind trees. One can have a look at different birds on the tree tops and listen to the music show of the birds.Once we crossed the watertank we found lots of teak trees and a narrow road going down the hill.

Now its was time for another power break so had some food and recharged overselves for the rest of the journey.

We enquired about the places nearby and go to know about the view points on the hill. we started for the view point but realised later that we had crossed the place which is hardly 500M from temple. Now my navigation and vara's driving skills were put to test believe me we were trying to take a U turn on a blind turn we couldnt succeed and after a khati mitti dialogues with one bus driver we went down the hill to take u turn. View point is just the place where given a chance one would like to spend whole day with their dear ones.

This place if developed properly then it has the potential to become an good eco tourism place.

Finally our trip came to an end we started back at around 2:30Pm and reached home by 5:00PM.

This trip has really invigorated everyone and it was a welcome break from the chaotic life in the city.