[PVS]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

PVS, kudos on completing a great trip, hope to follow your lead, terrorism be damned, but yes, let us take care!!!

Thanks hvKumar! It is sad that parts of Dantewada district are totally out of bounds for the administration. Apparently Salwa Judum (Villagers trained by the administration to tackle Naxalites) has not delivered results, and there have been reports of heavy casualities. Unless Chhattisgarh government comes up with an elite commando force like the GreyHounds in AP, nothing much can be done.

[hvkumar]

The Salwa Judum is supposed to be guarding the Sukma road that you travelled by, hence it is open. One has to be careful in selecting the right route when one travels through this area. Have been pondering with going to Chitrakoot and Jgadlpur via Raipur (from North) which is a good and safe road - and also shortest for me from Bombay area.

[adc]

Stumbled on this when searched for Jagdalpur, while trying to fix a place for the monsoon run.

Sure a journey to be cherished and thanks a lot for sharing it.

Myself planning this monsoon

CAL - CHILIKA [2 days ] - JAGDALPUR [3 days ] - KONASEEMA [3 days] - CAL

Some questions:

Is 3 days okay or 2 days enough for Jagdalpur?

Jagdalpur - Kakinada would be through the road via Sukma. We two along with our small child will be making the tour, hope the road is the way it was with the numerous checkpoints? Or is too unsafe now?

Read your other travelogue too, the Konaseema one. Konaseema being name of the collective area, which are the places that one should touch during the 3 days in Konaseema. I would prefer no touristy place - just off beat places with simple clean hotels would do - places which capture the essence of the Konaseema area, .

So looking forward from all, and definitely from you and from Mr Kumar, suggest a 3 day route map of what to cover and where to stay while in Konaseema.

Thanks much in advance.

[PVS]

Hey adc good to note that you are planning a monsoon run through Jagdalpur & Konaseema.

The main places to visit in & around Jagdalpur are the water falls (TirathGarh & Chitrakoot). Both are nice in their own way, but Chitrakoot looks much more spectacular. You can book the Chhattisgarh Tourism's Log Huts well in advance and spend a night there, near the Chitrakoot water falls just like we did. Its a nice experience.

Apart from the water falls, you have the underground Kutumsar caves; again in the rainy season they get filled up with water and hence are inaccessible. If you have some spare time, you can check out the Barsur Ganesh Temple as well as the Narayanpur haat which are in a radius of about 70 Kms from Jagdalpur. I need to fish out the Chhattisgarh Tourism brochures to tell you exactly where they are located.

Over and all, 2 days in Jagdalpur with a night stay at Chitrakot would be just fine.

Konaseema. The 'rice bowl' of AP - the fertile land between the two tributaries, the Godavari & The Gautami. As you might have read in my Konaseema report, we did the Kakinada-Kotipalle-Amalapuram-Narsapur-Vijayawada-Machilipatnam-Repalle - Vijayawad route by various modes of transport.

You can include Kakinada - Kotipalle. Park your truck at Kotipalle, hire a boat for a ride on the vast and expansive Godavari - you might even have a bath at one of the islands in the middle!. Come back to your truck, head back on the road to Kakinada for a few Kilometers, and then take the road to Amalapuram. From Amalpuram, you can head to Narsapur and again parking your vehicle there, take a quick boat cum Taxi ride to Antarvedi and back.

COming to the stay part - None of the places except Rajahmundry & Kakinada have decnt places to stay. I woudnt recommend any hotels in Palakollu or Narapur - simply not worth it. You can choose Kakinada as your base and go round Konaseema.

HVKumar should be able to give you pin point directiosn as he had done this strtehc himself in the Coast to Cape to Coast run.

I am afraid I am not able to give you detailed itinerary right now.

I need to revisit my travellogue and the Eicher Road Atlas and mark out an itinerary for you if you desire.

Do let me know..
Regards
PVS

[adc]

Hey thanks much for all the info, particularly the Konaseema area.

I need to revisit my travellogue and the Eicher Road Atlas and mark out an itinerary for you if you desire.

Do let me know..

Let me do my homework in more detail about these areas and the exact location of these places. Will bother you up with queries/comments about a month before I set off.