Srisailam MahaNandi Ahobilam

For the new year holidays we wanted to got to Vizag & visit Araku and Borra Caves. However, I think it was wish of GOD that made us visit temples instead.

My wife (yogita), our friends Geeta Praveen & I planned for some Srisailam and though that we would visit near by places. So, we set out for Srisailam without any further plan. We had booked a Rental Car @ 5.5perkm.

Srisailam is about 200 km from Hyderabad. There is a scenic drive while climbing the mountains where we can take some pictures. However, it is not as great as I had seen near Belgam. May be it is the season which affected the beauty. I am guessing it will be good during rainy season.

We reached the temple around 1:30pm, and there was a long line. We were keen on visiting other places so, we used special darshan by paying Rs 50 each. It was quick and could get good view of the Siva lign.
Buying Prasad is very difficult, we need to pay Rs 5 per laddu, but, the line/queue was very tough. Crowed should get decent is what I feel. There should be non point in pushing others every one will get their turn.

Then we had our lunch in one of the restaurants. Food was ok!

We then proceed towards Shikaram which is about 7 km from Srisailam. It is believed that if the temple is visible from the Nandi on the top of the mountain then we will attain moksa.
Ticket to attain freedom is Rs 2 per head, but only if you are lucky. And if you want to capture the nature from the top of the mountain then you need to shell another Rs 20. I don't think any of us has obtained moksa. You may try your luck!

From there we enquired about the near by scenic places. Turned out that only available place from there was MahaNandi which is 170kms. It may seem long but, it is a scenic drive through the ghats. Very sharp turns and nice place for photos. But, problem in our case was we were driving in the evening and could not get nice photos.

We reached there about 10pm booked a room in the temple sponsored guest house, which are interestingly shaped. Then had dinner in a A/C restaurant. I donnt know, what that "A/C" means, because, there were only fans running. Even the food was not that great. However, we reached back to our room after dinner and had fun.


The room cost us Rs150 - for all four of us. And then we got hot water in the morning for Rs10 per bucket. Room was neat and even the bathroom were tidy. Only problem was with mattress. We had only two so, we had to adjust some how.

Then in the morning we visited MahaNandi. There we have 3 huge swimming pools. I guess we can wash our sins there. Water was very clean. Took darshan and then had prasad in form of Pulihora & Laddu. Proceeded for breakfast in the near by small hotel. I felt that the food was absolutely great there.

Then check for the near by places and found that there are caves near Ahobilam. We then proceded towards it through the short cut route, which snaked through the villages. It was very interesting and good ride. On our way we stopped by Sunflower garden/farm and took pictures. Geeta's Idea.

Then we reached Ahobilam around 2pm and found that there are two temples one upper Ahobilam and 2nd lower Ahobilam. However we could not find what we were looking for CAVES. When inquired, local people said that it is a different place some 70 kilometers away. I need to do some google search in order to know the exact place. I will try to get that.

One other source said that it is 8 km away from the upper Ahobilam. But he said that we need to trek to that point! Sounds exciting!
But, we had no time left as we were supposed to return back that evening to Hyderabad.
This time we took straight root from Karnool. Had dinner in some dhaba near JDmetal. Ok food! and returned around 1am.

Updated on 7th Jan 2008

Found a very good blog/guide to Ahobilam -
http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/2130