Shar, Talakona and Horsley Hills

The SHAR Space Centre is India’s biggest and the only facility dedicated to Space Science and astronomy, and our prime agenda for the weekend trip. The genesis for this trip began about 3 months ago. At that time, our recent trip to Dandeli was still fresh on our minds, and that had been inspiring enough to plan a second one. Unlike other countries, SHAR is not promoted as a tourist attraction, to the contrary-its India’s one of the most closely guarded secrets, which one is allowed to visit only after gaining special entry permission. For us the SHAR tour was made possible by a dear friend’s father, who is a senior and revered member of the SHAR community.

Ours was a big young group, half from Hyderabad and other half from Bangalore. We( The Bangalore trippers) boarded the Chennai express (10:50 PM)and got off at Chennai central at the break of dawn. Took a passengers train to Sullurpeta, which is the nearest town to Sriharikota(SHAR). It took us around 2 and a half hrs by train to reach Sullurpeta. Pre-arranged cabs were waiting for us at the station. The drive was astounding with the Pulicat lake(although dried up at this time of the year) on both sides of the road. The Pulicat Bird Sanctuary is also on the same road, though the best time to visit is around October to March, but luck did permit us to spot some Pelicans.

SHAR
Our trip began with a Pongal-Vada breakfast at the Aryabhatt Canteen, and we were then shuttled to Space Centre's futuristic Rocket Tower by our friend’s father. Our plan was to take an escorted round of launch pad facility for SLVs (Satellite Launch Vehicle), technical centre for rocket testing and assembly, break for lunch, explore a range of other facilities for launch control, satellite tracking and radar sensing ,and be dropped off by the cabs at the guest house. A lofty goal for a day, perhaps, but it did allow us enough space to sneak in a beach bath and time for Dumb shiraz. At the space centre, w
e found ourselves immersed in an awe-inspiring journey, taking in the mightiness of the Launch pad, absorbing in the technical glitches, pondering over the issues with political dependencies, gathering the success stories, seeing amazing space rockets, satellites and capsules and witnessing the latest in audio-visual technology. Through our friend’s father’s eyes we discovered the perils of space and visited sites we only dreamt as children. (Deepti-we cannot thank your father enough).

Talakona Waterfalls
The next day, we started for Talakona Waterfalls, which is a 4 hour drive from Sullurpet. It’s a quaint dreamy little spot in Sri Venteshwara Park in Andra Pradesh. Indeed dreams hav swamped trails. We trekked uphill for about 2 kms to reach the spot.e its price; hence a bath in the fall requires lengthy traverses on monkey Folklore has it that bathing in the falls is therapeutic, not sure about the validity of the statement, but we did have a whale of time bathing under the falls. It’s indeed difficult to stand steady with the water falling above your head from a height of 200 ft! Once done, we ventured ahead to Horseley hills, cramming in the cabs with our wet clothes on!

Horsley Hills
The drive from Talakona to Horseley Hills, took us into the scrubby hills that look like Hyderabad of the past. Some hills had dishevelled forest on them, and others were capped with stony boulders. We crossed a sleepy town of Madanapalle enroute the hill station. The town is hub of activity and the epicentre of transport. From here, one can expect a bus to Bangalore every hour, which I guess is the cheapest way to travel costing just Rs 75/pp. the factoids tell us that Horsley Hills stands tall at 1,265 m from sea level and is a famous summer hill resort in Andhra Pradesh, about 160 km from Bangalore, and 144 km from Tirupati. The major tourist attractions include the Mallamma temple and the Rishi valley school. Horsely Hills is also the departure point for the Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary at a distance of 87 km, but due to paucity of time we decided to stay put there itself.

We reached around 6 PM and checked in at the AP govt, guest house, which is the cheapest and the best (and I guess it’s the only) accommodation in Horseley Hills. The guest house offers a plethora of staying options to suit all budget types. After settling down we decided to take a little walk to explore the place and found a nice quiet viewpoint. It was truly gorgeous and undisturbed, perhaps our most wanted spot on Horsley Hills. By this time we were pretty much tired, so we headed back to the dining area for some much needed beer and ice cream. Whetting our appetites for the big dinner. The place is equipped with a bar and in-house restaurant, albeit being in AP the food is spicy and needs to be pre-ordered to avoid delay. Ours was a big group so the delay was inevitable, but fun indeed. Post that we decided to share our haunted experiences in dim lit cottage. A ghostly end to a mighty adventurous day.

Recap
SHAR:Stay at SHAR. Cost about Rs.100 person/day on a twin sharing basis, food is extra at the canteen at a very nominal cost

Horsley Hills:Stay at Horsley Hills dormitories cost about Rs.100 person/day and cottages at 800 on a twin sharing basis.

Frills extra.

Contact details for Horsley Hills ; Tel: +91 40 2326 2151 / 52 / 53 / 54 / 57
website: http://www.tourisminap.com/tirupathidivision.htm



I would like to say a special thanks to the Hyderabad and Bangalore team making our little trip such a beautiful experience.