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Destination Coringa

Coringa - A wildlife sanctuary in coastal Andhra, an unknown place in earth for many locals Thanks to Google maps for helping us out :) Got to know that the entire trip would cover around 1500 KM and have just a weekend. As we know most of the time will be spent in the car than seeing places, we are ready for the take... As usual, we left Hyderabad on Friday evening after couple of hours delay - Indian standard delay :) By the time we reached outskirts of the city, it was 8 PM with hell lot of traffic due to trucks. 


We should be reaching Vijayawada by 12 midnight as per the plan but we could reach only by 3 AM. Our bad luck, we did not get a proper accommodation in any good hotels. After spending an hour to search for a decent place to stay, we decided to sleep in the car on roadside. I never slept in a car before, a different experience to remember :)

After few hours of sound sleep, we started to drive and move forward. The drive from Vijayawada to Amalapuram is absolutely fantastic. 
Millions of coconut trees on either side of the road with lush greenery and a lovely weather made us to forget the distance yet to reach. 


I couldn't stop myself from clicking continuously.Gone mad :) Had a lavish South Indian breakfast in a village.  Hand made Chutney with hot Idly and Dosa along with some local dish - Yummy. The drive continued...


A truly different scenery captured along the drive. In the above pic, people live in small huts, one side river and other side dense coconut trees. I would have been the first person to say "yes" if given an option to stay there :)
  
Reached Yanam for lunch, a place that comes under Pondicherry government. Have seen a big Jesus statue, resembling the one in Brazil. 


Reached Coringa in the evening after much trouble to find the sanctuary. I have never seen this kind of a wooden bridge, which is with 5 feet tall and 1 KM long. The sand looks muddy, but hard to believe that one will go down due to watery soil. Amazing experience to walk on the bridge in the rain :-)
At some places, we have to bend or climb a little on the trees to continue walking on the bridge. High chances to see snakes on the bridge or nearby trees :) Truly adventurous to walk. 

As the light was going down, we wanted to complete the boat ride there. This is a place where the Godavari river joins the sea. Also you can see lot of stork bird and catfish living here.

As light was going down, we had to leave this place in a hurry. We stayed that night in Kakindada, around 30 KM from Coringa. Left the next day early to drive all the way back. Visited Undavalli cave near Vijayawada, home for bats :) 


Easily spent an hour there, we had a very good lunch in Vijayawada. Started driving back and reached home before midnight :) Good trip indeed.

4 comments:

Hopeful Indian said...

Lush greenery is certainly the scene here!

Champamarie said...

I just published a book called ¨Coringa Drive¨. I wish I had read your piece before. The street I grew up on in Los Angeles was called Coringa Drive. I didn´t know anything about Coringa in India at the time.

Champamarie said...

Thank you for your post. I just published a book called "Coringa Drive" named after the street I grew up on in Los Angeles. I didn't know about Coringa in India at the time.

Lakshman said...

Good to hear about the place in LA and your book 'Coringa Drive'.