Trip to Belum Caves, Andhra Pradesh

During this year end, we were looking for nearby places to visit in a day or two.  We were planning to travel with a friend and family and this place was suggested by them.  It is surprising that we never heard of this place before.  Belum Caves is the second largest cave in Indian subcontinent and the longest caves in plains of Indian Subcontinent, known for its stalactite and stalagmite formations. It have long passages, spacious chambers, fresh water galleries and siphons. The caves reach its deepest point 120 feet from ground level. Belum Caves derives its name from "Bilum" Sanskrit word for caves. In Telugu language, it is called Belum Guhalu. It has a length of 3229 meters, making it the second largest natural caves in Indian Subcontinent.  The cave was restored by APTDC and was open to public in 2002 for 1.5 km stretch.  Around 3.5km of the cave have been explored so far. (Information from Wikipedia)

We started early morning at 7am from Bangalore in car.  The cave is situated in Belum village in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh.  It is about 300kms from Bangalore.  You have to take NH7 (Bangalore-Hyderabad) highway till Ananthpur and then take diversion to Tadipatri towards Belum/Owk/Nandyal.  The caves is around 85kms from Ananthpur and 30kms from Tadipatri.  Till Ananthpur, it is national highway with four lane road and was a smooth ride.  After Ananthpur it is two lane road without any dividers and in patches the road was bad.  After Tadipatri, we passed through Kadappa area (I guess) and it was visible by the numerous granite shops on either sides of the road.  Even the houses there were completely built with broken black granite slabs (popularly called Kadappa stone) which was amusing to see.  Broken slabs can be seen on either side of the road throughout the stretch.  You can also see the kind of pollution this industry has bought to this area.  There is also the Unitech Cement factory on the way.

Hill and Buddha statue as seen from the road

When you reach near the caves, you can see a hill with “Belum Caves” written on top of it.  There is a huge Buddha statue besides the hill.  The entrance to the cave can be seen from the road (on the left when going from Tadipatri).

We reached the caves around 1pm and had lunch (which we packed from home).  There is a restaurant available here (immediately after the entrance) which serves food and also a snack counter selling cool drinks and snacks (near parking area).  We didn’t try either of them except for a tea at the restaurant while returning, so cannot comment on the quality of the items there.  We took the car to the parking area around 500 meters from the entrance.  There were some tourist buses and other visitors already there.  There are many covered resting places near the parking area where groups can have food.  By the time we finished food, more tourists had come.

Restaurant near entrance

After lunch, we walked further to reach the ticketing office.  Ticketing office is a round circular structure before the caves.  Adult tickets are at Rs.40 and children are charged Rs.25.  There is no charge for cameras.  They have filtered drinking water available here and also rest room nearby.  There are also free guides available to guide you through the caves which is very important to understand and navigate the caves.  You of course have to tip them at the end of the trip.

Ticket Booth

Mouth of the Cave

After taking the tickets we reached the mouth of the cave.  The entrance is covered by circular wall and metal staircases going down to the cave.  These are neatly constructed and we could see there were several additions to the cave to help tourists move around the cave smoothly.  Remember to carry enough water since inside the caves it will be hot and humid and will need lots of water to keep yourselves moving.  They are provided fresh air inside the caves at specific points to help refresh yourselves since airflow inside the caves is minimal.  The air is pulled down from the ground level using tunnels and powerful fans.

Staircase to the cave

Once we entered the cave, it is an 1.5km stretch which we walked looking at the different formations and paths around 100ft below the surface.  The guide told us that the the cave were formed by a pre-historic river which was flowing underneath, but other resources on the internet doesn’t suggest that. Wikipedia article states that the caves were used around 4500BD by Buddhist monks and several relics belonging to that era were discovered from the caves.  But there was nothing inside the caves which indicated human usage.  One good thing was the entire cave is maintained with minimal manmade stuff except for the subtle yellow lighting and the fresh air fans and the bridges and walkways to enable smooth tourist movement.

Different areas of the cave are given names based on its resemblance with other things like meditation hall etc.  The sides of the caves are of limestone with decorative groves all along the path which indicates water flowing through the area.  There is little moisture inside the caves which is in contrast to the other cave I have visited in Lurey, WV (USA) which was said to be formed by an earth quake.

Groves on the limestone rocks

Medication Hall

You can see the cones on top which are reminders of water dripping through limestone at one time

Cavities on the side of the main route

Deep inside the cave, there is an area where we saw a small stream of water which is said to be flowing below the cave for around 2kms.  But there wasn’t much water movement seen.

Water stream under the cave

By the time we finished seeing the cave, we were all exhausted due to lack of oxygen inside the caves and the fresh air vents were definitely a life saver.  We spent around an hour inside the caves.  While returning we stopped by the giant Buddha statue and took some photos.   It was around 5pm when we started our return journey.  We had planned to stay in Ananthpur before continuing the trip to Lepakshi next day.  More about that in the next post.  We stayed in Saptagiri Bella Hotel and it turned out to be a decent hotel.  This is a well known hotel and we came to know afterwards that this is owned by NTR family.

Buddha statue near the entrance