Monday, July 24, 2006

Dudhsagar again...

The main access to the falls is normally closed during the monsoons, as parts of it go under water, but the fall comes into its own during this time of the year. However the only access to the fall is by rail, so that’s how we decided to go there. The train takes you to a Dudhsgar station, which is just under of a km from the main falls; the rest has to be walked. However there are no convenient trains around. So ideally you have to climb on a goods train, which cannot stop at the falls, as a result of which you have to jump of a slow moving train. Its said that if loaded goods train stops in the ghat section, it cannot restart the ascend, so it has to be brought all the way back to Kulem station, where we planned to start our journey.
So after some negotiations in Kanadda (by sachin) we found an entire railway engine to ourselves. Was quiet an experience, until we suddenly got unceremoniously thrown out, after news of some official conducting inspections.
Disappointed and dejected back in the car, we were about to leave when a local came to us asking, if we needed any help to go to the waterfall, so after some more negotiations, we were off, three of us on two bikes, with their respective owners, tightly balancing our asses on the bikes, traversing the narrow gap, where the gravel of the railway track ends and the ditch which acts as a storm drain.
Its roughly a 12km ride to the Sonaulim railway station, from where we had to walk the 4 km or so to the waterfall, and about a km further to the railway station, traversing 5 tunnels on the way.
If you plan to go there during the monsoons (which is a good time to) make sure u are adequately protected from the rain, put on some good footwear, a lot of streams crossing the path, some nice stuff to eat, (nothing to eat out there) and water.

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