Distance from Hyderabad : 230 Kms
Route : NH -7 Hyderabad to Nagpur
Major Places in between , Nirmal , Kamareddy
Place to Stay : Sri Krishna Residency Hotel , Ph : 08734 244255 (Nirmal)
Other place: Hotel Thirumla
Best Season to Visit : Aug to October end (Monsoon Season)
Must be Aware: Carry enough food items , water , Snacks from Nirmal ,as falls doesn’t have much options.
Tenting Option: can pitch a tent both in Kuntala and Pochera ,
Caution : Must be beware of sudden water flows during monsoon
Contact Person at Falls : Po Shetty , Security
Our trip 1 :
Day 1 : Hyderabad – Nirmal (Friday ) 220 Kms
Day 2 : Nirmal – Kuntal _ Pochera- Kuntala (40 Kms) Stay in Kuntala Falls
Day 3 : Kuntala – Nirmal – Basar – Nizambad – Hyderabad ( 320 kms)
Trip 2 :
Day 1 : Hyderabad – kuntala - Hyderabad ( Morning 4:00 Am to Evening 6 PM)
At the peak of monsoon we decided to check out some waterfalls, we initially thought of a day event, and after much Google search, we found couple of amazing falls. Falling from a height of 42 feet makes kuntala one of the highest falls in Andhra Pradesh.
We are leisure travelers, seeing things and enjoying at snail speed doesn’t bother us. We started on Friday evening catching the NH – 7 towards Nagpur. Half the distance of 230 kms was covered in no time as we were driving in four lane national highways. We decided to have dinner once we reached outskirts of nirmal city . Dhal Makhani and Roti were really good at manpreet Punjabi dhaba. They offered good food though it was small dhaba.
We managed to get a room in hotel Thirumala as sree Krishna residency were occupied. We had a good sleep at night . We started the day pretty early and headed towards Kuntala . The Highway from Nirmal to Kuntal was under construction at time ( Now its finished) . We knew that our first stop point should be Neelima Punjabi Dhaba. Neelima Punjabi Dhaba is last stop for any kind of food you will have before kuntala falls. Apparently the same dhaba is the landmark as you have to take right from the highway toward kuntal falls from here. We would suggest , that we should carry food from nirmal . Caution Neeliam Punjabi Dhaba doesn’t have any kind of snacks.
We started with few paratha and Rice in morning and headed towards kuntala. We decided to come back to nirmal on the same day as we thought we do not have much activity to do there . Once we reached kuntala we were just taken back by the massive flow of the Falls. As this was peak of the season the gushing sound of water were amazing. The falls flowing between the woods was a pure delight to watch.
We managed to get a make shift stay arrangement near the falls. We confirmed the security that we would be back by 6 in the evening. We decided to check the other falls (pochera) mean time. As it was lunch we again decided to have lunch at Neelima dhaba . By this time the Dhaba guys were spotting a weird looks, Which we could imagine that probably we were the only people to taste their food twice. Anyways Masala rice and Tomato rice weren’t a bad option.
We reached pochera late noon and decided to stretch our legs a little amidst the mighty falls. The volume of water flow was really high during these days. We were just wondering about the Tenting place which my friend did once facing these majestic falls.
We realized we were late only when the sun really came down , By this time the clock had already clocked 6.00 , Oops we were late. We knew we had to pick food from the same dhaba guys before reaching Kuntala. We managed to pack some rice , for now Neelima dhaba guys were sure that they are making one of the amazing food , as we were having food for 3rd consecutive time on the same day. Apparently they would have realized that people don’t have any other options.
By the time we reached kuntala village it was completely dark and clock stuck 7.00 , we picked the security and headed 4 km towards the falls. When were were trying to check our make shift guest house we realized that we didn’t have power. Enjoying camp fire for a while without light seems to be a good idea , but what’s like sleeping in a pitch dark amidst Indian python and Bears. We decided to try our luck by calling the helpers back again from the village. We then separated ,Two of the guys along with the security headed towards the village to check for the helpers and also get some candles in case. Other guys had to wait near the guest house.
After 40 min of struggle in getting helpers, getting candles and trying to fix the electric city , We accepted that sleeping in dark is rather the only options left out. We then headed towards the other guys. We just then heard lot of bear chasing story from the watchman. We weren’t surprised to see other guys kind of sprinting towards the village. We casually said the possibility of they stepping on bear or python. With few gasp !they then managed to settle down controlling their heart beat.
Late evening started with casual songs and munching of food. The night was getting stronger and the insects were starting their day. We decided to check the fishermen who were preparing the net for the big catch of the night. They said they usually catch during night as the fish tends to come on the surface during this time. We decided to walk down 480 steps at midnight amidst woods. We had to make sure that were not stepping on any of the reptiles, occasionally ensure we are not chased by a bear.
We reached the falls with brisk walk of 20 min. we found that 6 fishermen were waiting for their turn. They said they would typically go for a run every 2 Hours. The mean time they were using for catching quick naps. Honestly to set a trap for fish in 150 feet cold water at night really needs something. We eagerly waited till the guys did their catch. After some time we heard good smiles and few fishermen emerged from the dark. They said they really had a big catch , they even offered us free fish from their hard work. we would say that after seeing such an struggle we would never take it for free.
After mid night big catch we came back to our temp guest house. By now its was pitch dark , before we could lie down the thought of pythons and bear watching us came into our minds. We also had to manage the cold weather as we didn’t carry enough tenting equipment. We decided to light candle every 30 min , till we see light . While others where trying to catch sleep , Lakshman has taken the resp of lighting next candle when the first one goes off. Finally after much fear we managed to catch some sleep after 5.00 am in the morning.
But we just managed to get an hour sleep as gushing water was inviting us for private water fall bath. We quickly managed to get down the falls having a good morning walk. Early in the morning water flowing amidst the woods was really serene. We enjoyed the private water falls for good amount of time.
We then decided to head towards Basar. Though we were feeling hungry none of us were in the mood to eat breakfast for the forth consecutive time in Neelima Dhaba. We headed towards Nirmal and enjoyed south India breakfast in Sree Krishna Bhavan. Not to mention the hot idlis and wadas were flying off the plates. After a pretty heavy breakfast we were on road again towards basar.
The road to basar from Nirmal was pretty bad as they were under construction. The sun was catching up as the day progressed, We were getting exhausted as sun drained all our energy. With many sodas and lime after we parked our car , we managed to head towards the temple. Basar being Sarawathi temple , we were amidst hundreds of kids varying in all ages practicing their writing or praying for their exams.
After a visit to Basar we decided to head towards Hyderabad via Nizampet. We also thought of a quick plan to visit the Nanded Gurudwara as it was only 70 kms from basar. Return journey is never fun , with sun scorching it was really getting painful . We just stepped on the pedal and headed towards Hyderabab
We took a good break in Highway malgudi, Which proved to be a good option. They also had kids play area and lawn to rest. We managed to stretch our legs a little bit before stepping on the gas again. We reached Hyderabad late in the evening. After the quick shower we ended our trip with Four season’s biryani.
On our next one day trip we managed to meet the security guards and handed over all the photos of his along with the fisherman folks. We started pretty early in the morning from Hyderabad around 4 am. We thought we would get day light as usual but apparently we had to drive slowly in the four lanes as the day light came, late as 6.30 . As it was start of December, the volume of the water flow wasn’t that great as it was in monsoon , but it wasn’t a bad choice to go there. We decided to reach there early as we could enjoy the falls without much crowd . We reached falls around 8.30 and we headed straight down. The serene location was wonderful to enjoy our friend’s singing for good couple of hours. The blend of melodies amidst the woods , we socking in water was really enjoyable. We decided to pick some lunch at nirmal before hitting the road back to Hyderabad.
