BASTAR – "The Mysterious Tribal Land".

PART- I

Bastar- “The mysterious tribal land”… As the title of my article suggest's, today I will take you on a tour of the tribal village which is full of different kinds of mystery. This time I have decided to show you the charm and delight of the lovely locale. 

I really feel to make you experience the gorgeous nature along with the tradition and cultures of the tribes. I really believe that few of these customs will seem to you astonishing while others will amaze you. When I have decided to explore this mysterious creation of nature I was thinking, you will be flabbergast for sure. Bastar is not only a place of the tribes it also have a mythological importance in the later vedic age.

This place is famous with the name of Dandakaranya and mortals were known as Dandak. During the time of Ramayan age this place was the empire of Ravan. This region was full of dangerous demons, devil beast and wild animal’s.

Let me first narrate beauty of the nature splashed out all around this locality. Just hold my hands and walk with me to the mysterious land with your open eyes but experiencing the emotions and places with my words with your soul’s eye. Let’s move to the first location.

Niyagra of India “Chitrakote water falls”: A marvellous and incredible water fall situated on the Indravati river approximately 38 kms from west of Jagdalpur. This is the widest water fall in India. This waterfall falls under the vindhya range of hills. The scenic beauty of this waterfall just overwhelmed me. I really felt as if I am lost in the beauty of the spring of water coming down from a height of almost 95 metres. It cherished me in it’s beautiful arm of seven colours made by it in the form of rainbow. I felt the different colours of life with these talismanic colours.

 

Moreover, I also enjoyed the adventurous boat ride in a small flatering wooden boat in the middle of the fast moving current of the water down and falling water which is not less than the musical guitar played by the Mother Nature.The rhythm of this magical guitar just doped me and made me intoxicated.

After relishing this landscape painting made by nature I become avaricious to witness more such alluring miracles and my steps headed towards our next destination “Tirathgarh Water fall”.

What to say about this place it is just my good fortune to have visited this mind blowing fascinating shade of incredible waterfall. The rocks near the waterfall seems to me like casted in a mold and the running water from top to down shined like small droplets cut out of diamond Kohinoor. 

I am just more than happy to show you a glimpse of the torrent downstream which will give a solace to the eyes. Located on the river Munga bahar, this waterfall fall is 300 feet below the stilted hillside of natural structures.

                       

 

This water fall is a part of Kanger Valley National Park a typical mixed humid deciduous type of forest with abundant large and dense Sal, Saugaun, teak and bamboo trees in the forest desolation seems to be savage once it’s down and the sun sets. The silence in the darkness will make you muted.

Kanger valley national park is also a home for few more site seeking. The Kenjhardhara and Bhainsadhara are famous for Crocodile Park you can easily travel to with a gipsy.

Till now I have only told you about beautiful waterfalls and forests but the mystery is not yet over. There are few lime stone caves present here like Kutumbasar, Kailash and Dandak- Stellagmites. Peoples who love exotic and often threatened place must visit this lime stone caves for sure.

                       

Kutumbsar is situated on the bank of the river kanger. The entrance lies at an altitude of 560 m above sea level. Stalactites and stalagmites are the speciality of this ecological site. 

This cave is a canvas of the nature. Some of them are sculptures and somewhere pillars of lime stones. You will witness the leakage of water out from the sides of the mountains. 

The more you step down into the dark tunnel it becomes more and more dark and dangerous. Peoples with weak heart can even feel lack of oxygen and breathing uneasiness too. Presence of water makes this place more humid.  This place becomes so dark that it’s even beyond the imaginations. 

You can also find a few weird wild creatures inside the cave, not even sun light reached here ever since more than 2000 years.

 If you are lucky enough you can also witness blind fishes in the deep and dark long tunnel of 60 to 120 feet depth and 4500 metre long cave. 

There is also a mythological belief that lord Rama have spent quite a long time in this cave and Stone Age persons might have also lived here. 

Inside the cave at the extreme end point a shiv ling is prevailing. It is really very tough and hazardous to reach the extreme end point of this cave.

           

 TamdaGhumar is another beautiful waterfall. You can enjoy the blissful view of this waterfall on the way to Chitrakote near Mardum. This waterfall flows directly from the river Indravati, falling from 100 feet. The presence of peacock around this area, named this waterfall locally as Moore Ghumar.

Yes!! My dear friends I can understand you might be really eager to visit these places for sure. So, let me tell you how you can reach.

The nearest city you can reach is Jagdalpur. At present  Vishakapatnam -Kirandul Passenger (58501), Durg -Jagdalpur Express (18211), Hawrah-Koraput Express (18005), Hirakhand Express (18448)  and Vishakapatnam-Jagdalpur(Night Express) are operational from Jagdalpur.

(Jagdalpur-Hyderabad), APRTC(Jagdalpur -Vishakapatnam,Vijayawada,Rajmundry),OSRTC etc.

The main airport of Chhattisgarh is Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur, which is 300 km from Jagdalpur (Bastar).

You can always book cabs from Jagdalpur to reach these places. I will advise you to have an advance booking before you reach Jagdalpur. My extended help will always be with all my dear reader's those who wants the booking details of cabs or hotels can also contact me. I will share my Instagram details in the last part of this article so that you can also connect with me directly.

This region is so vast and extensive that I couldn’t complete my story in this one article. I believe you will surely want me to complete this voyage so, let the mystery continued… I will meet you very soon with some more frames of Bastar- “The mysterious tribal land” and in my next part you will love to read about the life style and the untold stories of the tribal people’s. You will also witness the scenic beauty and will listen to the rythmic magical tunes of the water falls on my youTube channel pallavi's travelfootsteps shortly.You can follow me for more such exiting stories on my instagram #travelfootstepswithpallavi. Meet you soon…