Mar 152013
 

A Visit To Ethipothala Waterfalls near Nagarjuna Sagar

OK, the Doordarshan generations promise me you will not think about the Liril girl while reading this post on Ethipothala Waterfalls near Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, and non-Doordarshan generations please do not Google it. Damn, just you won’t listen to me. Well, I can’t blame you for a generation or two of Indians the waterfalls are synonymous with Liril Girl Karen Lunel, who changed the way we take a bath under the waterfalls or dream about it. In reality, it is not all that glamorous and actually very tough to take a bath under a waterfall with all the algae, leeches, slippery and sharp rocks and a thousand bystanders and their uncles watching you.(this was 30+ years ago).  (A bearded guy with wings and halo suddenly appears behind my shoulders and screams: OYE! Control desi this is a family blog).  Me: OH, OK thanks for reminding that. Focus Focus Focus!

Ethipothala Waterfall Telangana

Ethipothala Waterfalls

 

Should You Swim in The Pool of Ethipothala Waterfalls?

It is actually not a good idea to take a bath in the Ethipothala falls for two reasons

  1. You will have to climb down about 80 Ft, 70 ft the height of the falls and another 10 odd feet as the height of the viewing platform across the small gorge from which you view them
  2. If you are not convinced by the first reason the second will convince you. There are lagoons formed by the waterfall and some of them are used for crocodile breeding both captive on a farm as well as wild. Convinced? Good, let’s move forward 🙂

Good so I am back on writing the post hopefully, you are also out of waterfalls,( remember point no 2 above ?)

 

 

 

 

tourists looking at Ethipothala waterfalls from an observation deck

Tourists looking at Ethipothala waterfalls from an observation deck

Ethipothala Waterfalls School picnic

Teachers from Sri Sai Vidyaniketan Mahabubnagar

How To Reach Ethipothala Falls:  The trip should be combined with Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and nearby places, once you cross the dam coming from Hyderabad side continue on the road towards Macherla, drive slow as it is Ghat road and keep on looking for signs for the Ethipothala Waterfalls. About 6 -7 KM on the Macherla road on the left side you will see a board announcing the falls.  There will be a boom barrier on the small road manned by a shady guy in saffron he will force you to shell out 15 Rs, for some kind of tax. You can choose to pay him and save some time, or you can choose to argue with him for half an hour and then pay, you see life is all about choices. We chose the first option and continued towards the Ethipothala waterfalls. Total distance to Ethipothala Waterfalls from Hyderabad is about 193 KM, and you will have to cross the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam to reach the falls.

Best Time to Visit Ethipothala Waterfalls: During and after the monsoons from July to February when there is ample water in the waterfalls.

Teachers on school trip at Ethipothala waterfalls Mahbubnagar District

Group of teachers from Sri Sai Vidyaniketan Mahabubnagar with Ethipothala waterfalls

Mr. V Suresh, MBA in Center with his colleagues at Ethipothala Water Falls

At the parking lot near the Ethipothala falls some local lads wanted protection money to protect my car from the local langurs ( monkeys) for a ransom of 40 Rs. As the car is still on a loan from the bank and I was pretty sure they will not understand the brotherhood of langurs and local lads so I bargained for Rs 10 (the things I do for peaceful travel) silently wishing in my heart that none of them ever gets a hoor.

The Ethipothala waterfalls are well-managed by APTDC and there is an entry ticket for humans, the langurs could enter free. Wiki Gyan: Ethipothala Falls is 70 feet high river cascade, situated on the Chandravanka river, a tributary of the River Krishna. The waterfall is a combination of three streams namely Chandravanka Vagu, Nakkala Vagu and Tummala Vagu.

Picnic School Kids at Ethipothala Waterfalls

School Kids at Ethipothala Waterfalls

We met some students and teachers from Sri Sai Vidyaniketan Mahabubnagar, who were very excited to see my camera and some of them wanted me to click their photos.  Their teacher Mr. V Suresh, MBA gave me his email address to send the pictures, which I did once I came back to Hyderabad. You can see some of the students and teachers with the Ethipothala waterfalls here in the pictures.

There is a small restaurant and some rooms managed by APTDC next to the falls, where you can stay if you are too keen to move away from civilization for a few days. The waterfalls are illuminated after dark (6:30 pm) but we could not stay for that long and missed the light show of the illuminated waterfalls. There are two temples one of Ranganatha Swamy and another of Dattatreya near the waterfall, which is very popular with locals. We missed them as we were very tired, but not before clicking some pictures of a family that was going to the temple. Though the temple is of Hindu god Ranganath an incarnation of Vishnu, the pilgrims were carrying green flags normally associated with Islam. I think this is another example of what a multicultural melting point this region is.

pilgrims with flags going to Ranganath swamy temple near Ethipothala falls

Pilgrims Going to Ranganath Swamy Temple near Ethipothala Waterfalls

colorful flags visible on top of ranganath swamy temple Ethipothala falls

Flags on top of Ranganath Swamy Temple- Notice Both Green & Saffron Flags

The car was still in its place and I promptly gave 10 Rs to the local lad who now wanted Rs 100 as he felt I have taken more time than he thought to come back. Now I was furious and said let me click your picture and give to police to trouble tourist, this quickly changed the power play and he promptly accepted 10 Rs and vanished along with his cousins.

While coming back just before the barricade where the shady guy in saffron sits, a cowherd was returning home with tens of cows, causing a huge traffic jam with his wealth spread all over the road. So here we were in the middle of a narrow road with cows in front of us and the light from our car and the light from the car in front of the cows creating a very dramatic effect. I had already packed my Nikon but the cell phone did a pretty decent job in catching the mood of the evening in this picture.  What do you say?

Cowherd in Godhuli returning home

Cows and Cowherd returning home in Evening

Overall I would say Ethipothala waterfalls is a must visit if you are going to Nagarjuna Sagar.

Best time to visit Ethipothala Waterfalls is after Monsoons when the falls are overflowing with water. But for some fun family time Hyderabad folks can visit the falls anytime of year.

Other posts in Nagarjuna Sagar visit series are

  1. A Road Trip from Hyderabad to Nagarjuna Sagar
  2. Places to visit near Hyderabad
  3. Boat to Nagarjunakonda Island Museum in Nagarjuna Sagar
  4. Buddhist Museum On Nagarjunakonda Island
  5. Family Fun in Coracles or Round Boats of Nagarjuna Sagar

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  46 Responses to “A Visit To Ethipothala Waterfalls near Nagarjuna Sagar”

Comments (46)
  1. I’m planning for a one day visit to nagarjun sagar dam along with this water fall..but basically i want to have some fun in water is it possible here.

  2. Very well documented blog Mr Prasad. Loved the pictures laced with humour. Being co-located in Hyderabad, perhaps we can meet up sometime. Even do an outing together! God bless.

    • Dear Mr. Bhargava: Thanks a lot for visiting desi Traveler and your kind words…it is a small world & though I am no longer based in HYD you never know when two travelers may meet 🙂

  3. Namaste Desi traveller.. I happened to visit the waterfalls a couple of years ago.. I wanted to revisit it but was unaware of the details to the journey due to my bad memory..so Reading your blog was very helpful.. Apart from that I must admit that your sense of humor just makes your write-up hilarious… I loved the part where you mentioned that the ticket was free only for langoors… ROFL… Keep up the great work… It’s an awesome Blog✌

  4. Is it the place to Just look at the views or can we take shower too ?? Any place nearby for the stay and food ??

    • The answers are in the post.. there are crocodiles in the waters so if you can fight with crocodiles feel free to take a plunge in the waterfalls and yes there is a hotel at the falls and also at Nagarjuna Sagar – Haritha Hotel where you can stay.

  5. Hi Desi Traveller, Nice Discription of Nagarjunasagar Site Seeing. I think 1 day is enough for the trip.

    • A lot of people do it as a day trip, but with kids I suggest you stay there overnight so that they can enjoy otherwise it becomes very hectic for them. Depends you are traveling with friends or kids.

  6. hi There,

    I am planning a 2 day trip in begining of April from Hyderabad. Do you think Ethipothala falls will be a good idea in that season? Also, can you suggest other places for a 2 day trip in this region? Thanks!

  7. Overall the Description about the waterfalls and trip is SUPERB.

    Except for the thing you pointed out about Telangana…….why you people hate seemandhra PEOPLE?????
    i am not going to talk about politicians or Realtors….i am talking about the remaining 99% of the common people in seemandhra…whats wrong they have done to you people????
    If you have anything to hate…just hate politicians,Not the common people.

    • Hi B: Thanks for liking the description of the waterfalls.

      But I am not sure what has offended you as this blog or me are not against anybody or any region. All are welcome to read and I write about places I or my friends have visited. So we have posts about Araku Bamboo Chicken, and Belum Caves also. I am also planning my posts about my visits to Vizag. Trust me I do not hate anybody, and this is just a travel blog with no politics at all. This post has been shared more than 700 times, so I am sure others have found it OK. Please do visit again. Thanks

  8. Wonderfully written!! Loved it!! 🙂 Any idea how the ‘Haritha hotel’ at Ettipotala is? I am planning a one night stay there. Can you also tell me how far is the APTDC haritha hotel from Nagarjuna Sagar dam? Thanks in advance! 🙂

    • Hi Vikas: Thanks for your kind words. The hotel at Ethipothala is very basic with power issues. The one at Nagarjuana Sagar is better and is right at the Dam reservoir. You can see the Nagarjuna Sagar from your hotel room. From the Haritha Vijay Vihar hotel to the Ethipothala Waterfalls it is about 7 KM. I have written a whole series on the same you can check the other articles for more details. Thanks.

  9. Last week we have visited Ethipothala water falls with our college friends. we thought to have fun with our memories and Bachievements. It’s very nice place with low crowd. but it’s a painful trip for us, unfortunately Haritha Vihar made it disaster for us. Haritha is running on 12 hour power cut without generator on summer!!!!!!!! on two days we have slept 3 hours a day due to power cut. very poor maintenance and there is no proper answerable person for inquiries, hospitality is also very poor, I don’t know how many days back they cleaned wash rooms, plumbing work is also very poor. There is no proper purifying system for bathing water, they are just pumping water from water falls!!!!! only wanna inform you that better to stop resort facility or improve maintenance.

  10. I agree – a visit to waterfalls in India would be a totally different experience. We didn’t have to pay anyone to watch our car and the water is sooo cold you wouldn’t want to even stick a toe in it.

  11. amazing photographs and interesting write up..enjoyed reading through it 🙂

  12. Wow! This is one beautiful waterfalls! Never knew AP had such beautiful places to visit!

  13. Natural scene and wonderful snaps….

  14. Wonderful place and good post.

    Travel India

  15. Beautiful lively post overall! The waterfalls is such a spectacular sight! The cowherd picture has come out really well 🙂

  16. Very beautiful!

  17. Lovely post!! Beautiful images and very humorously written!

  18. Wow! a very nice waterfall.

  19. Lovely pictures, topped with nice details. And, crocodile thing seems too exciting. Never been to South, wish one day

  20. Ethipothala Falls is so, sowww gorgeous; looks like water is falling off a natural staircase. 🙂

  21. beautiful waterfall . nice to see locals . beauty is also in villages

  22. the waterfalls are gorgeous.

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