A Trip to the Gandikota of India, NOT Grand Canyon




When I was younger, I visited Khajjiar with my parents. One of the many reasons why we included Khajjiar in our itinerary was the tour operators referring to it as mini Switzerland. Well, for unsuspecting travelers like us who hadn’t been to Europe, this sounded very appealing. After listening to the travel agents call it the Switzerland of India, I was very excited. But, upon visiting Khajjiar, I was extremely disappointed. It was too dirty and the lake had no water in it but rather a heap of plastic bottles. Similarly, calling Coorg the Scotland of India is probably one of the reasons which made Coorg so popular. Just like Khajjiar and Coorg, Gandikota is referred to the Grand Canyon of India.


Now there might be different reasons behind the comparison. But, I believe its unfair to compare our Indian destinations with the so called western “counterparts”. Most of the online travel websites have curated at-least one blog post in which they say that ‘Oh, you know what? You don’t need to go to Switzerland! You can just go to Khajjiar’ or ‘Oh, are you planning to go to Scotland? Why don’t you go to Coorg instead!’

Well, I call bull shit on that.

I don’t blame these travel websites though. They have their business goals linked to these blog posts. It’s a sales funnel. You are scrolling down your feed on Facebook and suddenly see an article which talks about 23 Indian places which are similar or even better than their international counterparts. “Oh my God” you’d think “Let me click on this and not miss out”. Yes, they just played you on your fear of missing out. The next thing you know, you are scrolling through their article and being bombarded by ‘Book Now’ Call to action buttons. Out of 100 people, 2 may book. Did you see what just happened? They got business through a click-bait title!

Boom!

So, what’s my point?

Let’s revel in the original beauty of our Indian destinations and not compare them with international counterparts. Frankly speaking, I don’t mind Ooty being called the Queen of Hill stations. Why? Because it’s not pitting Ooty against some European landscape. What I do mind is someone saying ‘Why do you want to go to Grand Canyon?’ Just go to Gandikota instead!

Now in some cases, the international destinations are way too beautiful than our Indian ones. For example, I am pretty sure Switzerland would be way better than Khajjiar.

Did I just call some International destinations better than Indian ones? Well, yes I did because they are! And I am not running a travel website to generate business, but just a blog. Also, I like to call a spade, a spade

But, at the same time some Indian destinations are definitely better than the international ones. I have no doubt that Kerala backwaters are way more beautiful than Venice canals. Also, our Himalayas can definitely give a tough competition to the French Alps.

But, irrespective of which one is better, let’s just stop comparing our Indian destinations with the international ones. Let’s take some pride in our own places, shall we?


My Trip to Gandikota



Frankly speaking, I have started to find destinations in South India very similar to each other. In the last 4 years, I must have been to all these hill stations multiple times. So, when we started to plan a trip to Gandikota, I got really excited.

Gandikota is unique in itself. Even though the landscape is rocky and very similar to Hampi, the gorge view is what sprinkles the unique flavor.

I visited Gandikota for just 2 days with my friends. It was a weekend trip and frankly, Gandikota doesn’t need more than 2 days. It’s a long drive from Bangalore, 282 KM. So, it may feel a bit hectic. However, we had decided to not waste a lot of time on the road and ended up reaching Gandikota around 2 PM, which is pretty decent according to our standards.


Where to stay at Gandikota?



There are very few options when it comes to staying in Gandikota near the Gorge view. Ideally, you should stay at Haritha Resorts, a property by Andhra Pradesh Tourism. The property is very close to the Gorge view of Gandikota and the other attractions. However, as many government resorts, this one also gets fully booked much in advance.

So, the other option you have is booking camps with Freakouts.com.

Now, frankly speaking, I would not recommend camping over resort rooms. The rates are too high! At Haritha Resorts, you will pay Rs 2000 for an AC room on weekends. While in these camps, you will pay Rs 3,500 per head! That’s Rs 7,000 for 2 people.

Now, the camping package includes meals and activities. The meals are very very basic, same as what you get at the resort as they have tied up with them. In activities, you have Kayaking, Rappelling & Rock climbing. Now, Kayaking through the Gorge sounds exciting, doesn’t it? But, they conduct Kayaking at a Dam nearby, not through the gorge. These activities aren’t worth the price and experience. They have bonfire also included in the package. But, because this campfire is lit within the resort area itself, you can enjoy it even though you are staying in the resort.


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