Maredumilli,Andhra Pradesh

                    Maredumilli is a village situated in the beautiful maredumilli range in the northern area of Andhra Pradesh. Lying at an altitude of  400 MSL Maredumilli lies in the middle of a thick forest all around.It forms a part of the Eastern Ghats.It is just 120km from Bhadrachalam and around 80km from Rajamundary.

                     A few days back owing to a friend's wedding I went to my home in Aswapuram in Khammam Dist. Inevitably,the gathering of our friend's group after a long gap resulted in a trip.We decided to visit the quaint and quiet maredumilli area.We had booked the cottages a few days back and it was to be a 1 night and 1 day trip.We booked a Tata magic for the six of us and off we went.We left our homes at 2pm in the afternoon and reached Maredumilli at around 6pm.It was quiet dark by then.Maredumilli has a Govt Inititave called Vana Vihari.That is where we booked our cottages for the night.

Our cottage for the night.We had booked two of these.

             The next morning we were woken up by the cleaning lady knocking our door.Apparently the staff followed the 8am check out very seriously.On enquiry we found out that a contingent of police officers had booked a number of cottages due to some camp they were having.By 8am a couple of officers were strolling near our cottage waiting for us to get out which we promptly did by 8:05am.

Ordering Bamboo Chicken for dinner

              We walked out casually outside with no set plan in mind.We went to the town centre which is a crossroad to the left of the resort.Here we tried to negotiate a price to hire an auto to the nearby sights but liked none of the offers.So we decided to walk.A couple of friends were reluctant but the rest of us convinced them by saying that this was the best way to get a feel for the place.

In the coffee plantation

              So we started our walk on the main and only road that leads to the various sights around the Village of Maredumilli. This was the main road leading towards Bhadrachalam from where we had come the other day. The walk turned out to be a brilliant idea.The weather was nice.The temperature comfortable and an occasional gust of wind blowing.We walked past murmuring brooks,fallen trees,chattering monkeys,moss covered culverts and butterfly filled clearings in the forest.After an hour we passed by a coffee plantation.It was all fenced but further ahead a gate was open.We strolled in and went a bit ahead.The atmosphere here was just beautiful.It was  a bit dark with branches of trees shading the area.There was a clearing in the branches through which rays of sunlight were falling.And they were falling on a fallen tree.We sat on that log and just monkeyed around.

A beautiful stream

            After spending an half an hour there we resumed our walk.We had walked around 5km when we reached the first of the waterfalls.Here we spent some time chatting and taking pics.The waterfall is nothing spectacular but offers a good spot for a picnic.

The scenery surrounding the road was wonderful

             We also passed a medicinal plants garden and an under progress rest house. At around 1pm we had covered 7km and we decided it was time to end our walk and maybe hitchhike and reach bhadrachalam by evening.But to our growing apprehension no vehicle was stopping and no RTC was bus was in sight too.Our apprehension was due to the fact that we were in a jungle area and we did not want to get stuck there by the time it got dark.

            Around 1 30pm we reached a village which brought huge relief for us.This village was nothing more than a couple of huts strewn along the stretch of the road.We went to a shop and had biscuits and some tea.We enquired about the next RTC bus there and found out that there was a bus after 30mins.But when we spotted an empty auto we hired it immediately and reached the next town chinturu.From here we boarded a RTC bus to reach Bhadrachalam by dusk.After some snacks and a bit of a shopping we reached our homes by 8pm.And thus ended our small trip to Maredumilli.

Info
-You can book cottages at this website-http://www.vanavihari.com/
-There is no problem of food as the whole street has shops lined on both sides of the road selling the local speciality Bamboo Chicken.All shops close by 8 30pm.
-No mobile network works here except BSNL.
-The nearest town on the bhadrachalam side is Chinturu.

My brother recently gave me a waterproof camera.I clicked a few pics with it.

Another one at a wonderful stream which runs along the main road for some distance.