Ride Report: Hyderabad to Kuntala Waterfalls

Ride Report: Hyderabad to Kuntala Waterfalls (25/06/11)

I woke up at 3:30 A.M today after a series of alarms on the phone and a call from my friend who was going to be riding pillion today. After much deliberation and planning, we had decided during the week to ride to Kuntala Waterfalls and we had planned to leave at 4:30 A.M. Google maps showed the distance to be 271.1 km and this was a perfect level up for me after my Nandi Kandi and Bidar rides. I quickly threw the backup camera and batteries into the bag and I was downstairs at 4:20 A.M. My friend had already arrived and after parking his bike we left my home at exactly 4:30 A.M, right on schedule. We started from Khairatabad and proceeded in the direction of Bowenpally to get onto the NH7 towards Adilabad. Shortly out of Bowenpally we stopped at a distance sign hoarding and took a picture just to get a perspective of the distances.









I noticed that Srinagar was 2601 km away; maybe another time. The roads were mostly empty in the morning and the highway was very smooth after Medchal. NH7 is one of the best highways I’ve had the pleasure to ride on and the ride was effortless until Kamareddy. We stopped for a short break to have some tea and relax for a bit.









After Kamareddy, heavy road work was being done and the roads were atrocious at some places. A single lane became a two-way road and it was broken up in many places. I had been cruising at about 85 kmph until this point but I was forced to cut my speed down to 45-50 kmph. After a good amount of riding like this we got back onto the highway and the ride was fun once again. But no sooner had we gone a little distance on the highway we came upon the diversion to our first stop; Nirmal. My pillion rider was suffering from a severe case of saddle soreness and he leapt off the bike the moment I stopped in front of a hotel. We went inside and had some breakfast and discussed our options to get to Kuntala. We could either go back the way we came and get on to the NH7 or we could ride through Nirmal and on the ghat road and join the highway. We ultimately decided to take the ghat route and left shortly after. The road leading up to the ghat route wasn’t that great but I could keep up a speed of 70 kmph so I wasn’t that bothered. It was a bittersweet moment getting onto the ghat road for me.









On one hand the ghat road offered beautiful overcast views of the scenery, but on the other hand, the road was absolutely horrible and had huge potholes. I couldn’t go any faster than 40 kmph and I had to ride really carefully to avoid all holes and broken up parts of the road. We found lots of monkeys on the sides of the road and we got to take a picture of a mom and her baby after much coaxing. Our pain was relatively short lived and after about 22 kilometres we re-joined the main highway and it was happy riding till Neredikonda. I remembered the directions from Google maps and decided to stop and ask for directions and I’m glad we did. There is no sign indicating the way to Kuntala and one needs to get off the highway at Neredikonda and take a right at the underpass to get to the waterfalls. The 13 km long road was narrow and bad and passed through a couple of villages into the forest and finally to the waterfalls. We reached at about 9:45 A.M and found that we were the first and only visitors there apart from a couple of lethargic villagers. Witnessing our arrival one of them quickly hurried up to us and offered to show us to the waterfalls.



We accepted his offer and he took us down the steps to a lookout post and gestured towards the waterfalls with a flourish. Kuntala waterfalls are supposed to be the highest waterfalls in Andhra Pradesh falling from a height of 45 m. It was a great moment of disappointment for us however; when we turned to look we found not waterfalls but merely a thin stream of water flowing down 45 meters of rock. We demanded an explanation and the ‘guide’ told us that the rains hadn’t come and this place would be much better in August after the full flow of the monsoons.



We had planned to spend an hour or two at the falls, but after looking at the stream, we were pretty clueless about whether to turn back or go down the 400+ steps to see the ‘falls’ up close. Eventually cognitive dissonance took over and we decided to go down to find something that would redeem the falls. The guide told us that he had no interest walking down the steps and asked for some money. We gave him a little and began our descent down the steps. The steps are huge and paved in dried leaves, twigs and all manners of cigarette boxes, empty alcohol bottles and gutka wrappers. We made our way down and looked at the little pond and from this spot the height of the waterfall was a little more apparent and we were cursing each other for going this early. The whole atmosphere was very serene however, and we sat there just enjoying the surroundings and listening to an obsessive compulsive bird methodically chirping every 5 seconds.







After about 20 minutes we decided to turn back and head home. Climbing the steps was torture for both of our unfit selves and we were gasping by the time we reached the parking lot. We braced ourselves for the ride back and made our way past the same roads to get back onto the highway. We debated going back to Nirmal to buy some handmade toys but ultimately decided against it and pressed on. After a while both of us noticed a dam in the distance and in my mad search for some sort of water body I decided to get off the highway and go in the direction of the dam. It was the Shri Ram Sagar Dam and it was a sight for sore eyes when we finally got there. The sky was still overcast and a strong wind was blowing and this only served to accentuate the beauty of the Shri Ram Sagar.







There was a lone fisherman fishing out in the lake and we spent some time just looking at the water before heading back to the highway. We stopped at a dhaba along the way and had an extremely tasty and fulfilling meal which cost only Rs. 188; nothing beats dhaba ka khaana! Bracing ourselves for the final (or so we thought) run we clambered onto the bike and rode on. After passing the horrible roads and getting onto the highway I began to get pretty impatient and also wanted to test my 220 a little bit, so I gunned the throttle. The rush of power was incredible and the bike immediately accelerated to 120 kmph. I decided to push things a little bit and after coaxing the throttle I managed to reach 132 kmph, with a pillion ride weighing 70 kilos. I didn’t dare go any faster because I was extremely apprehensive about some person crossing the highway so I settled for cruising in the 100-110 kmph range. About 70 km from Hyderabad, my friend couldn’t bear to sit on the seat any longer and asked me to stop the bike so he could give his butt some long needed relief.



We stopped in a truck lay bye and rested for a while and then left again. The ride was fun till Medchal where we hit some traffic and after Medchal the road was filled with speeding idiots, so I just hung back and rode steadily and we reached my house at about 6:00 P.M. The trip meter reading was 560.9 km and we were absolutely beat. We barely managed it up the stairs and needed a long rest to recover. All in all, the ride was pretty awesome and I’m glad I took it. For the next ride, we’re planning to towards Kurnool and I’m going to try and see if I can do anything about the rock hard seats. I don’t want my gluteus muscles to suffer permanent damage riding the 220 so something will have to be done. Until then, cheers!