Mainpat evokes memories of sleepy villages set against a backdrop of green rolling gentle hills and colourful fluttering flags of the Tibetans.The virgin forests,the numerous waterfalls and a unique place where the land shakes under ones feet make mainpat a perfect retreat for the people of Chhattisgarh.I personally found the solitude of the place its biggest draw. It is my favourite place in Chhattisgarh.I visited mainpat last year and heres my post about it.Last week myself along with my work colleagues made another trip there.This time I suggested we stay the night there.We made the required arrangements beforehand and off we started at around 5pm from our place near Tamnar which is 45km from Raigarh,Chhattisgarh.Our group consisted of my seniors Amol,Yashwant,Naveen,Varun,Vinay,pankaj,satya and myself.
We reached Kamleshwarpur, which is where both the staying options of mainpat are available,at around 10 30pm.We chose the private resort Mercury instead of State Tourism's one as it was way cheaper.An arrangement was made with the manager of Mercury for a campfire.By the time we arrived the campfire was ready and our dome tent was yet to be set up.It was very chilly and the warmth of the fire quickly made us settle down around the fire.we started off with the obvious horror stories but an hour into it we couldn't quite get the spooky atmosphere going as every now and then someone cracked a witty reply to a scary situation and the whole tense build up was broken.Vinay sir told a couple of awesome stories but we had nothing much to go on so we changed tracks and launched into a full scale jokes mode.Now amol sir started off a joke that nearly had people falling off their chairs with laughter. He followed it up with another and now my cheeks were paining.One followed another and we had a wonderful night.We stayed near the fire till 1 am and then went inside our dome tent.There were cots and sleeping backs ready for us.The bags were of quechua make and quite good.We tucked in ready to sleep but with the excitement we couldn't quite sleep right away.More round of jokes followed and there was jumping around in sleeping bags.We finally slept around 3am.
The next morning I woke up with a start as Yashwant sir was yelling at the top of his voice waking everyone.It was 6 30am and we all went for a walk in the cool morning breeze to a nearby check dam.We strolled around, took in the views and took some pics.The breeze especially was refreshing.Next in the schedule was an ATV ride.Only satya and Myself were interested in that and we took it.The handle was a bit off to the left and we had some problem negotiating the vehicle.After the ride we headed off for River crossing near a nearby stream.The resort people were very laid back in their attitude and they took their own sweet time in setting up the equipment.They set up a rope across a small stream with a tree on each side.We decided to start with the one who weighed the least and that was me.I got ready with the belts,carabiners and the gloves.The crew put me in position with me hanging with my hands holding the roller.Then they left me and away I went rolling till I reached the mid point.From there I used my hands to roll to the other side of the stream.Having done a 1km zip line and bungee jumping in rishikesh I was mildly excited with this experience.After my turn it was satya's turn and one after the other everyone did it.
Next we moved to Jaljala.This was a bizarre place where the land under our feet moved as we jumped up and down.When I first heard about the place I did not give it much thought.But having reached there and experiencing it first hand was very thrilling.We jumped around here for quite some time and next moved on to a nearby waterfall.These falls are a bit far from jaljala but the route to reach it starts off from the same place.We hiked through the forest and descended down to the falls.The falls were beautiful.Vinay sir,amol sir and yashwant sir couldnt control the excitement and they jumped into the chilly waters.Shivering in the ice cold water they shouted and screamed as they tried to muster some resistance in their bodies.After they could hold on no longer they left the water and after some group pics we moved on to our next place,Fish Point.
There was a huge crowd at Fish Point as it was a sunday.We reached,immediately selected a place and undressing till our undergarments jumped into the ice cold water.We frolicked around in the water for some time and only came out when we couldn't handle the chilly water anymore.Next we moved onto Tiger Point.
It is so named because a Tiger was spotted here a long time ago.This is area is located around 5-10km from Kamleswarpur towards sitapur side.We sat around here,had some bhel and took some pics.It was soon dusk and it was time to go.On our return journey we had an awesome dinner at Tamjeed dhaba.It capped off a wonderful journey to a gem of a hillstation that is Mainpat.
A short video of our trip.
In Brief -
Mainpat is 178km from Raigarh and 80km from Ambikapur.
Best time to visit is in the monsoon season and winter season.
Staying options include the privately owned Mercury Resorts and a Govt owned Resort.
A car can be booked from Raigarh.It costs around Rs3000 - Rs4500.People here genrally charge Rs11 per km here.Buses ply between Ambikapur and Raigarh but they are largely unreliable and not comfortable
Mainpat is truly paradise on earth
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