The geographical realm of this sub- continent of ours packs in itself a powerful mix of places, people, events, flora and fauna that leaves even the best of a footloose wonder what to expect next while traversing through the length and breadth of this unique land of ours. Though India has been lucky enough to have been bestowed with one of the best sets of nature’s bounties , the one and only ‘Western Ghats’ zooms above the rest of the natural wonders by miles both in terms of its scenic beauty as well as the sheer variety of wildlife present in it. No wonder they are the proverbial ‘Lungs of west India’ given the wide range of hills of the region full of vegetation and trees that one hardly finds anywhere in India.
A life time spent in the armed forces leaves its rub on your verybeing even after your active engagement well into your retirement, with the urge to explore new and newer places to no end. The same urge took the better of me and my better half when we both packed our bags in the first week of June after having zeroed in our choice of hunt —the ‘Western Ghats’. Though wielding a wide swath of area from India’s southernmost end right till the coastal area of Gujarat,’ Western Ghats have select places which draw instantaneous attention to a tourist’s palate. ‘Dudhsagar water falls’ is one such iconic geographical entity that drew our attention for its exploration in its fullest forms that lies in the thick of western Ghats.
Located about 60Kms from Goa, on the Goa and Karnataka border, Dudhsagar waterfalls is amongst the five highest waterfalls in India. It is one of the few 4 tiered water falls with an imposing drop of around 310m (1017ft) with an equally broad spread of its water channel going to about 100 feet.This water fall encapsulates in itself a tremendous power of nature, creating a sight worth capturing. The glorious waterfall is one of the best places to visit near Goa, owing to its charismatic natural beauty and striking environment. Dudhsagar water fall came into the public psyche of Indians when it featured in the famous Bollywood blockbuster—‘Chennai express’ in 2013 as also its close proximity to the so called tourist’s dream state of Goa.
One of the most famous water fall in Goa, Dudhsagar means the ‘sea of milk’ since its first and subsequent cascades look like a pour of milk before crashing down on the rocky outcrops with a thundering noise. Legend has it that this was one of the most famous places for the princess of that region to have a bath in a lake near the ‘Mandovi’ river every day. After the bath, she would often drink sweetened milk from a golden jug.Once, while having a bath in the lake, she noticed a handsome prince gazing at her. At that moment, she poured the milk from the golden jug to create a white virtual curtain in front of her, obstructing the view through crystal clear water of the lake. Hence according to the myth, the milk still cascades down the mountain slope in the honour of princess’s virtues.
Since our itinerary encompassed primarily scouting around Goa with all its enchanting locales, Dudhsagar was a natural choice for us to focus with all our tourist gusto, before the enthusiasm ebbed to a low as time went by. As mentioned above Dudhsagar water fall is situated in the ‘Western Ghats’ close to the ‘Bhagwan Mahavir’ wildlife sanctuary in Goa. Since we were camping at a place near the famous ‘Benaulim beach’ a distance of about 55 kms from the water fall it entailed upon us to embark quite early for our sojourn with the famous geographical entity. Taking SH-40(State highway-40) we meandered along the narrow road in an easterly direction from our location passing enroute Goan names like ‘Curchorem’ and Karmane etc. If one is travelling to this place from ‘Panjim’-the capital of Goa or any other location in north Goa ,then he would have to go by hired taxis or even private cars that will take a tourist to the entry of ‘Bhagwan Mahavir’ sanctuary near the village –‘Mollem’ on Goa –Karnataka border. From this spot on, you can take the official management’s jeeps to reach the water falls.
In the last few years with a heavy tourist influx a host of private taxi operators numbering a total of about 450 have also joined the bandwagon to make hay while the sun shines on the Western Ghats. The biggest terms of reference in this whole visit to the waterfalls is the time embargo which has been placed on a tourist from the time he or she is dropped at the parking spot, till the time the allocated jeep returns back after ferrying its next load of tourists at the parking lot. Suffice it to say that an avid tourist has just about 90 minutes or one and half hours at his disposal to take the waterfall and its environs in his stride of exploration.
Be that as it may self and wife both girded ourselves with our walking sticks, water bottles, sun screen, and the like from our drop off point which was about 11 kilometers deep inside the Bhagwan Mahavir wild life sanctuary from the nearest road head i.e. SH-40. The way ahead from the drop off point to the exact location of Dudhsagar water fall is all over an undulating terrain full of small rivulets, huge boulders, dense vegetation criss crossed by wild mongoose, langoors, monkeys with steep gradients . The trek to the water fall is one of the best trekking destinations replete with jungle in all its fury and finery. The back breaking trek is full of poisonous snakes like the King Cobra, Russel viper, Krait etc which a trekker has to be wary of.
It takes a perspiring trekker to push his reserves of energy to the last and heave himself to the final hundreds of meters to have a glimpse of the roaring Dudhsagar fall in all its enormity. At the water fall there existed a cacophony of sorts with all trekkers milling away wearing their orange coloured life jackets and having a dip in the big pool of water being made by the fall of the water cascading hundreds of meters from above. It can be a real fun to swim in the pool of waters created by the waterfall and the place is a picture perfect for a picnic camping ground.
As for camping amid the natural wilderness, the location afforded by the name ‘Castle rock adventure camp’ can be explored by an avid trekker. It has a range of facilities including plenty of trekking options on the plate to partake in. As if this is not enough ‘Castel rock adventure camp’ caters to the appetite of a die-hard trekker too when it conducts a 14 kilometer long trek taking about 4 to 5 hours for its completion. The main USP of this trek is that it leads the trekkers to picturesque locales and caters to a wide canvas of natural as well as man-made masterpieces in the form of tunnels and railway crossings which fall all along this trekking route. If a trekker is lucky he can catch a glimpse of train chugging above on the rail line Belgaum-Vasco De Gama from down below the waterfall. As for accessing the waterfall by train, it is advisable to catch the two trains that are available but not directly connected to the location as such. ‘Kulem and Castle rock’ are the nearest railway stations from where trekkers or tourists can trek to Dudhsagar waterfall.
This mode of reaching the water fall is only for the stout hearted and not for the faint hearted or elderly /children who should avoid this risky route. The best time to have a go for this waterfall is during the monsoon season or during the period from July to October. However during the monsoon season one has to be careful about the water levels in the area that can shoot up unexpectedly.Alternatively one can also opt for the time period from October to February after the monsoon season when water levels are moderate and the trekking trail easier on the foot.
A first time visitor to make the most of this journey memorable should try to combine nearby places of interest that include ‘Tambdisurla temple’ which is one of the oldest places in Goa with its old fashioned and intricate designs dedicated to lord Shiva . Made up of grey-black talc chlorite soapstone, giving it a fascinating shine this particular temple is the only existing construction of the ‘Kadambayadava’ dynasty. ‘Devil’s canyon’ also known as ‘Devcharachokond’ is another site which should be on the radars of a tourist to explore. It is a river gorge situated about one kilometer from the Dudhsagar water fall with powerful hitting undercurrents and slippery mould covered rocks all around giving a real errie look to the place as such. One more attraction is the ‘Mollem national park’ which was a game sanctuary earlier but declared a wild life sanctuary in 1969. It is a great place to make your trip to Dudhsagar all the more interesting as the park is teeming with a raft of wild animals to include snakes, variety of birds, such as Golden oriole, fairy bluebird, three toed kingfisher, wagtails, and the great Indian hornbill.
A walk to the famous ‘spice garden’ is a must to make your trip a truly fascinating and replete with host of good memories. Here you can spend the entire day walking around and trying to understand the variety of spices which were once brought from as far as Dutch east indies, Indonesia, Madagascar to name a few. Apart from sauntering around in the spice garden one can even please his or her taste buds with a Goan style buffet lunch provided at the spot.The authentic cuisine prepared with some freshly crushed spices will certainly lift up the sagging morale of a trekker who having borne the brunt of a bone breaking trek can now literally spread his legs in leisure and enjoy to his heart’s content the lavish spread at the spice garden.
Though nowadays there are dime a dozen tourist packages which can offer you a range of mix and match of travel itineraries, I would suggest to do one’s homework and prepare his own itinerary depending upon his pocket, and the will to push the envelope of his physical and mental makeup to take these places in his or her stride without much ado. A sojourn of about 4 days was enough to put all our curiosities to rest with a zest to test yet another set of tourist places with equal gusto. As the famous poet T.S. Elliot had said years ago—‘The journey, not the arrival matters’.
(The writer is a retired army officer and can be approached on his email…[email protected])
