Papikondalu – The Mystical land
As the train rumbled on, I was just wondering what this new destination would give me. Papikondalu is such a strange and unique name and I was just waiting eagerly to know what this place would offer me. From the time, I have retired, I take it upon myself to visit places and then write about them. It not only gives me personal satisfaction but also the fact that you read it, makes me want to go to more places and share it with you.
So Papi Hills is where I was headed. Monica, my wife had my tickets booked whilst she was in another all women adventure trip elsewhere. I love being alone sometimes and as I got down at the Rajahmundry station, I looked around in this district of Godavari in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Lying on the banks of the River Godavari, this mountain range Papikondalu is one of the most scenic spots around in this part of the state. This is a vast area that the ranges cover and they spread over the districts of the East Godavari, the Khammam and the West Godavari districts.
From Rajahmundry I went by boat to Papikondalu. The motor boat had five of us in it and there I saw some steamers carrying more than 50 or 60. The eight hour journey was quite adventurous as we saw the cool waters sometimes moving calmly and sometimes tilting the boat completely. The sand drifted on and the breeze was quite cool and blew on my face. The water was clean yet due to water current the boat seemed as if it would totally collapse sometimes!
Anyway I had a good travel and I loved to have come to this land of greenery, birds, animals and beautiful plants. The river was quite full and this added to the thrill. The sailors and the boatmen were skilled so they weren't sacred at all.
I saw some communities of tribal on the hills of the Perantalapalli and the Pattiseema. Apparently these tribes have made a living here and have fishing and agriculture as their main occupation. They also indulge in a lot of handicraft making. I decided to camp at the riverside overnight. I wanted to experience something different. Coincidentally all the men in the boat agreed to do the same. Soon we had got ready to camp with eatables, fishing rods and tents. The night was quite pleasant and the five of us got to know each other very well. We were a group of one doctor, one graphologist, one naturalist, a chartered accountant and me a retired person.
The next morning we went up and had a good trek up the hill. The walkup quite tired us, but all of us from different streams yet had the same taste – adventure tourism and we got what we wanted. We came back down and had a good breakfast of tea and biscuits and some eggs which the boatman gave us. We then went to another place called the Pattisam. This is actually an island though very small and is popular for the Veerabhadra temple here. Incidentally Veerabhadra is Lord Shiva's warrior. The village is so named after one of Lord Shiva’s weapons.
The boat ride was quite nice and convenient. We were given food on the boat so we didn’t have to worry. It was good that I had towels with me as the summer heat makes you sweat a lot, and so you would be quite grimy and sweaty.
At Perantalapalli I got the chance to see some good handicrafts. I bought some for Monica and my friends who would certainly be a trifle surprised I actually shopped while on tour. There were beautiful flowers and some toy items. All these are good souvenirs so I picked up all of the things that I felt were good and was quite impressed with my shopping instincts.
There are two ways to go to this place. One way is to take the trip of two days. Start in the boat early in the morning and reach your destination in the evening. Here you can go and take a darshan of the temple at Bhadrachalam. The boat halts around an hour away from this place. The next day you could come back after an overnight stay here. This trip is however a little longer than other trips. However you could get to see a lot of temples mentioned in the Indian epic Ramayana.
The other option is to only go to Papikondalu. So if you starts from a bank near Rajahmundry then the boat would go on and would show around the places that are important
in and around Papikondalu. The boat halts for some time and then comes back. However both the options are worth it and you could take whichever suits your schedule.
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