Nagalapuram – Nature’s Own Wonder Laa

Have you ever heard of this place called NAGALA, Nagalapuram- nested in between hills, near Tirupathi? It is a small trekking spot in Tamil Nadu Andhra border, about 70 km from Chennai. I must say one of nature’s best wonders in south India. Crystal clear water coming from nowhere at top of the mountains deep in the forest where you can hear only your heartbeat. The path that will be leading you to the beautiful natural pools is a rocky path, taking a route in between long tree, seeing monkeys do gymnastics from one tree to another, listening to songs sung by the best singers of the world ‘birds’, mesmerizing sound of water falling from the top of the hills, leaving my eyes and ears to the forest thinking that I am never gonna get this opportunity again. Indeed it’s very difficult to turn feelings into words.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning as we started off early from Bangalore.It was the best road trip I ever had till now. We were a group of 10 people and within no time we all started cracking jokes and making fun of each other, we played dumb charades, card games, and antakshari along with scenic beauty alongside the road. With adventuresome the hospitality is always at the top level, we had lunch in an authentic Andhra style restaurant. Frankly, these are the trips you would remember for your whole life and it is a thousand times better than tonnes of country stamps on your passports.

The entire climb and descent will take you close to 4 hours, swim time included. This is a 6 km trek (two ways) and is quite a steep and rocky trail. We reached the Arai village at around 4 pm, then we parked our traveler at the parking spot of Nagalapuram and the person looking after the vehicles told us to get back before it gets dark.

We started off walking along a beautiful lake. We then went into the forest by taking the path on side of the lake. It was about 2 km from there till we reached a point where there was a board saying. ”welcome to Nagalapuram waterfall”. We started walking. It was sunny. We had a long way to walk to reach the 1st pool. Finding the path through small trees, taking breaks in between to hydrate, cracking jokes, helping each other by holding hands while climbing tough terrains to show unity, capturing moments where ever required, I must say my travels are always filled with beautiful memories. After 40 mins walk we found one pond which was flowing. Time to refresh yourself with natural mineral water! We took halt and spent some time just to enjoy nature. After an hour and half we reached our 1st pool. Can you take a wild guess what we did? You guessed it right, swimming! The crystal clear water & absolute silence will take your breath away . Here you can easily enjoy natural fish spa , it tickles a bit but if you give it some time , you will get used to it. Interestingly there was natural diving podium from where we all dived into the pool one by one. It was truly something out of this world. We reached the second pool by 5 pm. The pool was very clear, but the place was quite dirty with bottles and oil floating on water surface near the rocks. So the environment was not quite suitable for swimming. This fall is still not very well known among nature lovers but slowly & gradually getting famous as a Picnic spot but there is more to that. We spent 2 to 3 hours in the pool and again started trekking to reach the 3rd pool before it gets dark. We reached the 3rd pool by 6 pm. Few people were already swimming while a few were lying back on the rocks and enjoying the view. It wouldn’t be a mistake if we call this pool the magic pool.it looks like one awesome personal swimming pool. See below a small clip of the activities that we do in the pools.

The pool is deep and carrying a life jacket would be a smart choice. As it was getting dark we started to descend down. By the time we reached the parking spot it was all empty and we were the only group left out there. The local people started waving us to leave as it is not allowed to stay after 7pm there. We grabbed our stuff and threw it in a corner in the traveler as everybody was tired as hell. We drove off to a place nearby and had belated lunch. Trust me it was so soothing that all our tiredness due to trekking went off within a second and we started off again for our next destination Tupilipalem beach.

 

Nature is wonderful. Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine and freedom to get lost in nature’s lap like for forever. It was 11 pm as we rest our stuff on Tupilipalem beach shacks. We enjoyed our packed dinner that we picked up on the way. It was an awesome time having dinner under clear moonlight and soothing cold wind. We played mafia all night and had no idea how our tiredness got converted into enthusiasm. It was around 6:30 in the morning when I peeped out of my tent, the sky had a brilliant reddish blue shade originating somewhere from the East. The sun was about to rise and we could easily hear the birds chirping nearby. The scene was so authentic I almost got goosebumps. Lol no I am just kidding…. But it was awesome. We went to a local guy’s home to get freshen up and then the actual fun began. It was time for breakfast but we decided to go to the beach and eat. That guy had a speedboat and he rowed us through the backwaters to an island where nobody lived. It was so good to see such a place away from hustle and bustle of the city. It looked like one personal island. We all had our breakfast and without wasting time jumped into the sea, we played volleyball and a lot of other games in the water. Everybody was feeling so. alive and jolly that we couldn’t stop ourselves from dancing. Suddenly we found out that we have a passionate dancer in our group…. Whhooooo…. what else could you ask from this trip? We had a DID like performance on the beach. Everybody was so enthralled and filled with zest. This Beach is the best place to seek peace and to rejoice one’s own presence. This place gives you complete and unrestricted access to the beach and has no shacks and shops on the coast. Tupilipalem is also the perfect place to play in the waves or give swimming a try. Everyone agrees you can’t miss this secret beach. There are so many places to explore in this land of surprises that never fails to disappoint you in search of something new. This land packs a lot of fun stuff that a very few people know about. So, make sure you visit these secret beaches during your stay here is an uncrowded, clean and peaceful beach away from hustle bustle of touristy places. The beach makes for a perfect getaway when you just want solitude. The beach is 10km from the town of Kannur, and there is an ample space for parking personal vehicles you can spend your time in the cooler evenings with a pleasant walk along the long and sandy coastline, or gaze at the sunset while relaxing on the beach. Unlike in Goa or at other beach places, this beach will greet you with peace instead of litter and vendors when you walk on the beach Probably the whitest seashells you’d ever place in your peculiar collection, will be found at this Beach. Just loiter the evenings away here. Nightlife in Tupilipalem is not as vibrant as some of the other popular beach destinations in India But it was a once in a lifetime experience for me and I would like to thank adventuresome for this wonderful and adventurous trip.