Ethipothala Waterfalls - The hidden beauty

It has been over a month since my last vacation at Shivanasamudram, and I was itching for some action. My friend and I decided to go to Nagarjuna Sagar, along with some of our colleagues. I was not too excited about this trip, since I have been to Nagarjuna Sagar more than 4 times before, including once on a bike. Little did I know that this trip would be an experience I wont forget anytime soon!

We took a Qualis, and started late at 8:30 AM from the City. It was almost 11:30 by the time we reached NagarjunaSagar. There were 2 gates open on the dam, which was spectacular. After roaming around at the foot of the dam for an hour, we had our lunch. Unfortunately we realized that the last Ferry to Nagarjuna Konda, an island in the man made lake, leaves at 1:30 leaving no time to catch it. So we decided to go to Ethipotahala waterfalls, about 15 km from the dam.

I have never been to the foot of this waterfall since I were never aware of any path leading there, and due to the warning signs about crocodiles everywhere, we did not venture closeby earlier. However this time a little kid approached us and said that he could take us to the foot of the falls. Initially Raja and Chandra went with the boy, while we stayed back not too excited about it. But they came back and told us that it was a must-see. So we too joined them, and the path was filled with crossing steams with moss covered rocks, making the mini trek very tricky. After about 30 minutes we reached the foot of the waterfall and it was beautiful. The waterfalls falls were filled with water due to the recent monsoon. The scenes were breathtaking. There were huge stones in front of the waterfalls on which we sat, only a couple of meters from the waterfall, with the water spraying on our faces. It was truly breathtaking! We stayed there till 5 PM awed by its beauty. However since this is in a valley, it gets darker much before sunset, so we rushed out of there by going through the same path, which somehow felt little easier on the way back.

We started the long journey back home at 6PM. I had a raging headache at that time. But overall I knew that this was one trip which was well worth it. Some of the pics are available here.