Anantha Padmanabha Swami Temple,
Ananthagiri resort,
Andhra Pradesh tourism,
hyderabad to vikarabad,
Telangana,
Travel,
Vikarabad,
weekend gateways
Ananthagiri Hills,Vikarabad
6:18 AM
Riding through the serpentine roads to Ananthagiri hills was mystifying and getting lost was icing on the cake.
My friends and I planned to start exploring the nearby places to Hyderabad and Ananthagiri Hills in Vikarabad was on the top of the list.
Amidst the forest area of Rangareddy district about 90 kilometres from Hyderabad, Ananthagiri Hills are a pleasant weekend gateway. Tress canopying the road and small water bodies in between makes the journey picturesque. On the way there is a Vishnu temple named Anantha Padmanabha Swami Temple. During the weekends temple is rabbled with pilgrims in the morning. We chose to visit the temple later and followed the road till our expert GPS navigator (our friend) could not figure out what was Google maps up to.
It was be difficult to judge the destination as Ananthagiri Hills got camouflaged with the Ghats. Nonetheless, what followed was way more adventurous. We were lost and we did not know the regional language. So, if you are lost and cannot read or speak Telugu it will be really arduous but can be riveting too. We found ourselves on the mud paved roads. We kept moving into the forest instinctively and to our surprise a wild boar crossed in front of our car. We were thrilled but it ran too fast to be captured by our cameras. Next we halted in between the forest to look around and see where the road leads us to. Just about 20 meters from where we were was a small reservoir of Kotipally Dam. We walked up to the shore of the reservoir.
The place had a different charm, it was serene and yet reverberating with life. There were flocks of lovely birds all along the shore. It was a great place of amateur photographers like us. It was rejuvenating to see all of bustling spirit. Green beaters, Black Ibis, Little Egret and many more were all occupied from taking a dip in the water to catching their prey. Taking a near perfect shot of birds in flight is any photographer’s delight and we accomplished it.
Let the birds do some chirping themselves.
Spending couple of hours, we drove back as we were famishing by then. We thought it to be wise to go back to the temple area and eat as there were few eating joints. We visited the temple first before having our lunch as it was about time for the temple to close.
The temple is built by Nawabs of Nizam some 400 years ago. It is still well preserved and revered by many. I was amused by the cleanliness inside which is not common in other temples. But we couldn’t click the pictures as it was not allowed to carry cameras inside the temple. I assume some things are better captured by our personal lenses – our eyes.
We had a decent South Indian lunch which we were not hopeful of getting at this place. On enquiring from the natives about other landmarks to be seen, they told us about Buddhist Caves near the temple and on the way to the forest. We marched ahead and bypassing the temple there were stairs leading to the jungle. We kept walking inside but could not find the caves. After taking few shots of exquisite birds we decided to return. It was late afternoon and sun was no more merciful as he was the rest of the day. Well, no qualms for that as we were quite lucky to enjoy a temper day in the month of June.
So, next time if you are lost while on road I would say it's a blessing in disguise.
Happy Traveling!
Places to see
- Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple
- Ancient Caves
- Trekking inside the forest
Accommodation
- Haritha Resort
- Wildwoods
How to reach
- Rail - Vikarabad Junction Railway station is easily accessible by Hyderabad
- Air - Hyderabad is the nearest airport
- Road - 75 km drive away from Hyderabad
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