A trip to Gandikota doesn’t end without visiting India’s second longest caves called Belum Caves. We spent our Saturday evening in Gandikota and started around 9 am from there the next day, to visit the Belum Caves. It is around 310 kms from both Bangalore and Hyderabad. The cave opens for general public around 10.30 am and it’s usually crowded during the weekends. Belum caves is an interesting place for anyone interested in archeology and history.
Entry fee: Rs.50/-
Fascinating facts of the Caves
The caves were first noticed in 1880s when it was British India and around 100 years after that a group of German Archeologists headed by Herbert Daniel Gebauer explored the caves, which went on for about 2 years. The cave had remnants of 4500BC, and it was a river cave system formed over thousands of years by the constant flow of underground water from the now-disappeared river called Chitravati. It was also found that the caves were occupied by Buddhist and Jain monks around 1000 years ago. Few artifacts found in the caves during the cave exploration are now kept at the museum in Ananthapur.
The cave reaches its deepest point at a place called Paatalaganga(literally translating to underground ganga) which is a perennial stream that disappears into the depths of Earth.
The Unique Experience at the Caves
It started with us climbing down the stairs to enter the caves. I was able to sense the smell of petrichor once we entered the caves. There were several pathways with interesting patterns of water streams on limestone which will leave you captivated. The then flowing water had carved the caves beautifully. The river cave system fascinated me so much that I felt the need of being able to time travel to see how the structure was formed.
Maintenance of the Belum caves
The caves are well maintained by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). The caves can easily get hot and humid, so there are vents even at the lowest of points in the caves. There are also colorful lights inside the caves which might make you wonder if you are on film sets.
Carrying water bottles becomes a must when you are caving. If you carry any kind of food, you will be asked to keep it outside before entering the caves.
The cave length is supposed to be around 3kms, but general public can visit only till 1.5 kms of it. There is also a Buddha statue that you can visit within the Belum caves premises.
Now, tell me how exciting can visiting Belum Caves be? 🙂
Nice to read about the history of such places. Really well written 🙂