Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Long time no post. So thought will update on my life first. New year, new semester, extra work load, and the regular running around for clsses and labs, making to each place before time, not studying for quizzes, mugging late night for the midsems... all the normal life things. Well, midsems got over last week, and Manish, Madho and I went for a trek cum trip to Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a union territory on the boundary of Maharashtra and Gujrat.
The plan for this trip was so sudden, at 2 in the night of friday, that we had no time to inform anyone about our plan, and so only a select few could make the trip. We took the Gujrat Express from Dadar, that leaves Bombay Central at 5.45 AM and leaves Dadar at 5.57 AM. At Rs 50 a ticket, its a 3 hour journey to Vapi, a small city in Gujrat, that is the closest railway connection to DNH, and the famous for cheap alcohol - Daman. Out of the East end of the station, we take a rick on a Rs. 15 per head sharing basis to Dadra, which is our first stop over. Asking around, we make our way to Dadra Resort, a place equipped with a pool, but surely not on our list to check it out. We ask the manager as to where all to look around when in DNH, and the chap, without doing any marketing for his resort makes us draw a map of the place, with all the important locales drawn!
Another auto at Rs. 20 per head (p/h) gets us to Silvassa, the capital of DNH. Little before the chaar rasta - or the four ways, the central point of the city, is the Sai Restaurant, serving some delicious gujju food at just Rs. 40 a person.
Next we make it to the Tourist Reception Centre, on the corner of the chaar rasta. Taking some information about the travel across DNH and accomodation fundaes, we move on to the first place to look out in our list: Tribal Cultural Museum. The museum gives you a feel of what the territory would have been like a few years ago. Apart from its history, the museum also showcases maskes hunting tools, fishing gadgets, musical instruments and life sized statues of the tribes of this UT. Also possible to buy are the picture postcards and bamboo handicrafts at reasonable rates.
The entrance to the museum
The next trip we made was to the Madhuban Dam, a place some 12km of the mainroad. We take a turn at Vasona, travelling in an auto (Rs 15 p/h, shared auto), he drops us some 3km off the main gate to enter the dam permises. Walking on the road ain't our way, so we cross through some green looking fields, but when on the land, we realise how barren it is, with cracks visible from quite a distance if someone wants to notice. It seems strange for a place that is so close to a huge dam. Walking ahead, we see the dam, and are taken a-back by its hugeness and grandness. Climbing to the top of the dam, we walk the top - a 1.75km strech ( as told to us by the security) we are finished with our water supplies, and I almost shout out at Manish for finishing off the water, but then we filled more at the dam, to replenish our supplies :) After an hour long swim in the cold waters of the dam, and watching locals play cricket near the water, we walk back the lonely road to a place we could get an auto to take us to the lion safari.
Manish on the dam
Cricketers in Action
At Rs. 10 p/h we take a ric to the lion safari, and while Madho gets the tickets (Rs. 25 each) Manish and I gulp 2 glasses of sugarcane juice down our throat. In the well fenced jeep, we start our tour of the safari, which the driver promises wont last more than 20 minutes, and true to his word, its precisely 13 minutes (Madho's timing :D) when we locate the lion and his mistress, taking their afternoon stroll in the sun. It sure felt like being cheated, being shown around for less than 15 min for a Rs. 25 ticket.
The king and his mistress
Few of the animals we got to see at the Deer Park
That's me sleeping on the right, and Madho on the left
A small video on the trip from the Deer Park to Khanvel (need windows media player)
The king and his mistress
We move on to the deer park at Samaliya, a 20 minute and Rs. 13 (5+7) p/h a ride from the safari. The sad part is that the Lion Safari ain't a place well serviced with transport, and one might have to wait quite long to get an auto, if not going to Chaar Rasta. From Chaar Rasta one takes a ride ahead to the safari at Rs. 7 p/h, and hence the break up of the Rs. 13 mentioned above. The deer park turns to be a very big let down, specially after we enter it (entry cost: free). At the main gate some 9 animals are spotted, a combination of Cheetal and Chausingha, but after more than a km walk into the 60 acre campus, we dodn't manage to see any, and Madho and I decide to doze off at the resting hut, while Manish prefers to run up and down the place, camera in hand, trying to locate some unseen and shy animal :) He has some luck, and definitely more than that of a family in a Sonata, that come asking us whether we managed to spot any animals! Dude! If you are gonna be in a car, you'll miss most of the animals!!!
Few of the animals we got to see at the Deer Park
That's me sleeping on the right, and Madho on the left
To finish off the day we have to make a choice between Silvassa and Khanvel - a small town, some 20 km ahead of Silvassa on the Vapi-Silvassa road. We pick Khanvel, hoping that we might get a chance to put up at some village near by, and gain an excellent experience of life at a tribal village. Getting off the auto (it cost us Rs. 15 p/h) we have our first and only fight with the driver coz he charged us an extra Rs. 5 for no extra travel. That made us, and mostly Manish decifer "all auto-drivers think that this country is bustling with crore-patis" while ofcourse the very-modest Madho said "nahin... aisa nahin... the chap is asking for his right" !!!
A small video on the trip from the Deer Park to Khanvel (need windows media player)
To our bad luck, we are told at most resorts and dhabhas that entering such a place is full of risks and could be a very bad time. So, we end taking a place at a small guest house at Chauda Khanvel, for just Rs. 300 a night. Dinner, and a little of TV later, we doze off, closing the chapter for day 1.
The second day seems to be a much more exciting one, now that I sit to write the description of the trip. With nothing much to do, we make our way to Dhudhni, a place some 17 km away from Khanvel, and Rs. 10 p/h by the state bus. The alternative is a special auto that cost our pocket a modest Rs. 150. We took the latter option on Madho's behest. Some nice and mostly dry trees and wet views of the land is the major thought to remember of the climb up the hills. The interesting design is the peninsular intrusions of lands, quite often jutting out into the water. At Dhudhni, we bought some drinks at the Govt. Rest House and Restaurant, and then head off into the dam waters on a boat. The boatwallas manage to trick us in not allowing us to take the boat we want with some fundaes about boat-numbers, that doesn't seem to work once we are on the boat.
A scenic view during the journey from Kahnvel to Dhudhni
And there are the peninsular jetting out things i was talking abt.
A hut at the Garden REsort
The second day seems to be a much more exciting one, now that I sit to write the description of the trip. With nothing much to do, we make our way to Dhudhni, a place some 17 km away from Khanvel, and Rs. 10 p/h by the state bus. The alternative is a special auto that cost our pocket a modest Rs. 150. We took the latter option on Madho's behest. Some nice and mostly dry trees and wet views of the land is the major thought to remember of the climb up the hills. The interesting design is the peninsular intrusions of lands, quite often jutting out into the water. At Dhudhni, we bought some drinks at the Govt. Rest House and Restaurant, and then head off into the dam waters on a boat. The boatwallas manage to trick us in not allowing us to take the boat we want with some fundaes about boat-numbers, that doesn't seem to work once we are on the boat.
A scenic view during the journey from Kahnvel to Dhudhni
And there are the peninsular jetting out things i was talking abt.
It takes Rs. 100 for a trip from Dhudhni to a Garden Resort on the opposite bank. We decide to make the trip, and while on the water, the boat walla informs us that the water was more than 70 ft deep, and also that the water levels fell during the rains (FUNDA :D:D - chocolates to the people who guess why!!!). Also, we enjoy the drinks while on the boat, and after reaching ashore, we walk into the garden/resort to reailse what a sorry state it was in. Talking to a caretaker on campus, we are informed that the only season when this place is bustling with activity is just after the rains, when its very green, and not really muddy.
A hut at the Garden REsort
While on the return trip, we ask the boat walla to take us to his village, and he happily agrees. Kauncha, a village, only accessible by water from Dhudhni, is a small place of not more than 200 people. All tribals, they seemed very happy to see some strangers in their land, and while we took in some of the life out there, I managed to take some shots. None turned out so nice though :( Manish's mom always suggested him to have Tadi a drink made from the extract of some trees, which when fermented is very intoxicating. We managed to find a Tadi shop in the village, and for a mere Rs. 10 we were offered a complete litre of the drink. I drank a couple of glasses, while Manish took in gulps directly from the measuing jug!! An hour spent at this place, the boat wala started to get pesky about returning and all, so we went back to Dhudhni. Once at Dhudhni, we took the state bus to Ghodabari (Rs. 5 p/h) a small village, 3 km from Dhudhni, in the lookout of some dance troupe that would do the famous dhol dance that the DNH tribes are famous for. Bad luck, we didn't find the troupe for the dance, and had to come back disheartened.
Kids at the village
Manish and I enjoy Tadi
Kids at the village
Manish and I enjoy Tadi
The final stop was at Luhari, a small village some 7 km off the chaar rasta, but to get to the highlight of this place : the Luhari Garden, we had to shell-out Rs. 100 (to and fro) for a special auto, coz no one generally treaded this unknown path. Not the best garden, we had a nice time killing the afternoon there, and then back in the same auto to chaar rasta, we took another to Vapi.
At the station, we bought a ticket for Ferozepur Junta Express (Rs. 62 p/h) and boarded the train at 6.30 PM, to reach Bombay at 9.30. A dinner at Laxmi - a place outside the main-gate, we were back in our rooms at a little after 11, with enough time to recover for the classes the next day.
Phew!!! That's it!!
This post took me a little over a week to complete, so one can guess how busy I am with other things that I don't get to keep this place active. Hope I'll do better soon!
-aashish
At the station, we bought a ticket for Ferozepur Junta Express (Rs. 62 p/h) and boarded the train at 6.30 PM, to reach Bombay at 9.30. A dinner at Laxmi - a place outside the main-gate, we were back in our rooms at a little after 11, with enough time to recover for the classes the next day.
Phew!!! That's it!!
This post took me a little over a week to complete, so one can guess how busy I am with other things that I don't get to keep this place active. Hope I'll do better soon!
-aashish
posted by vishnoi @ 10:12 am
5 Comments:
Nice Blog. Will be doing this trip in the near future. But is it fine for summer season?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
in the summer... nope. in the rains - perfect.
Wowwwww beautiful pics!! I wish I was on this trip toooooooo. And the best visuals are seen in such road trips .. Traveling on Indian Highways is so good naaa. I have gone on such road trips on the Chennai-Bangalore highway.. every place has some uniqueness na !! :-)
well do u get good alcahol there easily?
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