[pramods]

Since I got my Scorpio on 3rd Sep 2008, wanted to take it for a long drive and at same time wanted it to be fun not just for me but for whole family, I knew the second part was always going to tough, so I have to choose a location where my wife and son would enjoy, and can get ready to a long drive too.

Got up late in the morning by 8 AM and started thinking where to go, with constraint of coming back on the same evening, by the time I decided on the location it was 8.30, told wife to pack some food so we can have breakfast, she thought I was joking, but I again told here we are going to be on road for whole day, better get some food, rather than snacks. She said she needs at least 30 minutes to prepare parathas. I called my brother to find out if he wants to join us for this trip, he is always ready to join me for this type of trip, he even didn't enquired about the destination, the only question he asked was how much time he have to reach home, I said 10 minutes!

Finally after 45 minutes we were ready, it was 9.30AM when we left home, I knew it was going to take some minimum 45 minutes to get fast the Nagpur city, as traffic till Kanhan is quite heavy. By 10.30AM were cruising happily on NH7 toward Jabalpur, the road till Mansar is quite busy, but after Mansar the real fun to this drive starts, now you are in between the buffer zone of Pench national park, both side greenery make you feel like in jungle, the air are fresh and the sceneries are breath taking, in few places you seems to be in deep jungle.

Our first stop cam by 11.30AM, everybody was hungry, including me, the drive enthusiasm was getting a hard beating because of hunger, we stopped at a sunset point in the jungle and used Scorpio bonnet as our breakfast/lunch table. One side of the road hard a hill and the other side had a deep valley, most beautifully place to have a breakfast. Till this time we were able to cover 90kms only, 200 more to go. The next stop after this break was Soaner bypass for toll, and from there we continued till Jabalpur, after Soaner, the road widening, 4 lane road work is going on with good pace, the best part on side of the road are done, so you can cruise at speed in access of 100+ any time, I did speed in access of 150 at some place, I used GPS to record the speed and the highest speed recorded was 148 on GPS.

We reached Bhedaghat Bhedaghat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia by 2PM, we went for the ropeway trolley and crossed the waterfall to the other side, this side allows you a better visibility and also while you are crossing the river Narmada form above you can see the complete waterfall in all it might, we spent an hour seeing the fall, when we reached the fall and faced the heat, we realized we didn't prepared for the heat and sun, we were not having any caps, or umbrella and direct sun light with the surrounding temperature started taking its toll. Anyway we enjoyed the waterfall, took some snaps and promised to come next with proper planning.

Once we were back to the parking, wife wanted to buy lots of soft marvel stuff, I went to the Scorpio, as it was parked in Sun, parked it in shade and opened all the windows and started waiting, my brother, son and wife took their sweet time to shop and came back in 30 minutes. We started our journey back at 4.30, but stopped at Jabalpur outskirt dabha and had a nice food, 3 adult and 1 child, bill just Rs140, my wife comment, we should do all our food outing at dabha's form now!.

By 5 PM we started to Nagpur from Jabalpur, after 20 kms we saw a road going to Bargi Dam Bargi Dam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia as our stomach was full, and no other thought we agreed to see this dam, and I believe it was a real good decision, looking at the Dam both side the front where you just see a small stream which is the river and the other side where you see a "Sea", is real experience, you only realize the DAM once you see the water reservoir side, this is quite a big dam, we spent an hour here too and then started our Journey back to Nagpur.

The back journey was quite, as my son was sleeping, this made sure everything is quite in Scorpio apart from engine. We reached back home by 10.45PM.

Attached are few images from the journey, first at the breakfast stop, then Bhedaghat and Bargi Dam.

Some stats
Trip date: Sunday 14th Sep 2008
From: Nagpur - Bhedaghat - Bargi - Nagpur
Total distance covered: 620 kms
Total time: 13.5 hours
Vehicle: Scorpio 2.2 VLX
Max Speed: 148kmph true on GPS
Experience: Nothing else will do

-Pramod

[cnaganathan]

Nice pics - never heard of this place till now.

[ramkya1]

Hai Pramods,

Thanks for sharing that short travalogue and the photos. Great to feel your joy of riding the Scorp.

I've been trawling the web for exactly this info., without result, your post is like Manna from Heaven. It gave me a peek-preview to what I would be seeing in October end.

One or two questions, if you can. Earlier there was only one place to stay of the MPTDC, now I hear one more resort has come near the waterfall. Any infor on this?

How was the road from Jabalpur to Bhedaghat? How are the general road conditions of NH's in MP now, specially the one from Jabalpur till Obdullaganj till Bopal. I will be driving in from Panchmarhi to Jabalpur in October.

--Ramky
======

[pramods]

Ramky, I am not aware of resorts near Bhedagath, but heard Taj Group has setup one resort. Regarding road condition, NH from Nagpur till Jabalpur was in great condition and road from Jabalpur till waterfall is a single lane tarred road. The best time to see the waterfall is fullmoon night, this is what the local told us, not sure if people are allowed during night time.
-Pramod

[Nutty Nair]

Nice pictures, boss & good write up too. Looks like a good place to spend a day with family. Btw, which camera you used?

[vivekiny2k]

Ah, good memories. Looks like you missed the bhedaghat. you actually went to dhuandhar, the water fall.

bhedaghat is a boating resort down the stream, the commentary given by locals driving the boat is awsome, if you know hindi . they take you thru various hidden scenic parts of the marble rocks. I did it back in 2000 with my college buddies.

you can see some of it in a song from movie asoka. there is also a spot called bandar koodni where it's rumored that monkey used to jump across the river. here is a good set of photos i found on the web.

MarbleRocks12.JPG on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I think there was only one resort called shagun. run by MP tourism. now ther may be more.

And the Bargi dam, I grew up there in a residential school (navodaya vidyalaya). Have seen the dam when it was half built, have walked on loosely tied ropes when construction was going on, have done numerous treks up and down in the morning jogging sessions. Now you can't get to the top at all.

[pramods]

yes you are correct, it's dhuandhar once I got back and talked about this got lots of feedback about places to visit there, the major attraction are rocks and boating in river Narmada in these rocks. Good that I have manymore places to go next time :-) not too many people know about this place and many other nearby places.

-Pramod

[snaronikar]

Nice pics and good write up. Looks like lots of water in falls. Did it rain the previous day?

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Sorry to sort of hijack this post but it needs to be mentioned that the river in question here is Narmada, which is a perennial river and Dhuadhar is more or less like this throughout the year. In rainy season the colour of the water is perhaps a bit dirty. In fact in drier seasons the fall is perhaps even more dramatic.
Bhedaghat is further downstream (just a few km) and is more famous as Marble Rocks, as Vivek has rightly pointed out.
This spot is more or less the central point of India.
I would request mods to suitably change the title of the post and call it Nagpur to Dhuadhar.

[pramods]

Originally Posted by Nutty Nair

Nice pictures, boss & good write up too. Looks like a good place to spend a day with family. Btw, which camera you used?

thanks, the camera used is Nokia N95. :-), Mods as suggested by other member please change the title from Bhedagath to Dhuandhar, the title will become more attractive too. This place has lots of attractions, in case anyone wants to visit please plan for 2 days, rather than few hours.

-Pramod

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Pramod
If you have a few more days please consider Bhandhavgarh. Not very far from here - about 4 hours. Worth every single rupee and every single moment.
Sudipto

[pramods]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Pramod
If you have a few more days please consider Bhandhavgarh. Not very far from here - about 4 hours. Worth every single rupee and every single moment.
Sudipto

It's my weekend drive, but verymuch interested in knowing about Bhandhavgarh, may be something happens this weekend, please provide more details about this place and specifically road condition and route from Nagpur.

-Pramod

[vivekiny2k]

To add to it, since it trickles down from the dam, the supply is controlled thruout the year. in monsoon, when the reservoir exceeds it's limit and rural areas start getting flooded, they release a lot of water downstream. i have watched the dam gates fully open and it's simply marvellous with 50-100 feet high waves in the river at the spot where last but one pic is taken.

nobody crosses the bridge at that time.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Pramod
I wouldn't recommend Bandhavgarh as a weekend ride from Nagpur. I can't give you the road directions either because we went by hired taxi. But we went from B'garh to Jabalpur as a day trip. Therefore you could also do it in reverse. You have to research the route a bit and ask the experts. Probably Vivek could help you as he is from that region.
Basically you go to Katni from Jabbalpur and then to Umaria and onwards to Bandhavgarh. There is a short cut by which you can avoid going to Katni. But I wouldn't recommend that route because even our taxi driver lost his way and we lost some 3/4 hours. But that red kuchha road through rural MP is fabulous.
Bandhavgarh, incidentally, is a tiger reserve and has the highest concentration of tigers in the country. Sighting a tiger in the forest is a certainty for anyone who goes there.
Regards
Sudipto

[mjothi]

Very good travelogue. Nice pictures. Ist time hearing such places. (Doesn't mean I heard about all other places )

The view of water from top, looks scary. I am sure you all would have been so excited. Good pick.