Dudhsagar Waterfalls
It was as if we woke up from a spectacular dream, when we reached Bangalore from the land of the “Sea of Milk” – Dudhsagar. The Dudhsagar waterfall is one amongst the most beautiful waterfalls in the world!
Formed by the River Mandovi, it is located in the Chorla Ghat region, Sanguem Taluk of South Goa, bordering Karnataka, at a distance of 60km from Panaji. Being a seasonal waterfall, the right time to visit would be the monsoons as they transform into a milky white spectacle, cascading from great heights (guess its around 310m).
Reaching the waterfall by train was an experience of its kind! We took the Chennai – Vasco Express on a Friday night at 10:55 from Bangalore. The train experience was amazing! We happen to meet a few foreigners, headed to Goa. They entertained us with Spanish songs/music and a group of people from Chennai sang the latest Tamil numbers :-) The entire compartment was filled in a musical bliss! Sleep took a back seat as we spent the entire night awaiting the glimpse of the Mighty Dudhsagar.
The journey was for 12 hours and we got to travel via most districts of North Karnataka. The view outside the train was lush green and thanks to the monsoons.
The moment we left the Dharwad Station, there was a drastic transformation in the weather, with cloudy skies and a considerable dip in mercury levels. At Castle Rock, the weather had transformed to a misty spectacle! Our journey from Castle Rock to the Dudhsagar Station was an amazing experience as we had to cross small tunnels of approximately 200m long. We could see deep valleys and small waterfalls on either side and the entire journey was in the midst of the magnificent Western Ghats!
We reached the Dudhsagar Station at 10:15AM the next day (Saturday), where the train stopped only for 2mins (as it’s a small station, doesn’t have a platform either!). We quickly got off the train and had to walk 200m through a tunnel on the railway tracks to reach the Dudhsagar Waterfall. The tunnels were dark and gave a spooky feeling. However, It was great adventure as there were trains plying and we had to stand by the side of the tracks until the trains passed and then proceed with our trek :-) A couple of feet, once we crossed a tunnel, we were wonderstruck to see the awe inspiring site of the mighty waterfalls cascading from great heights. We felt completely defeated looking at the magnanimity of the waterfall and realized, man can never beat nature. We felt like ants in front of a Mammoth! The waterfall was so dynamic that we felt it changed its shape every second and never realized that we had spent more than an hour and half, just admiring the waterfall and the surroundings.
We met a few college students from Hubli, who gave us company until it was time for all of us to leave at 5.30PM. We walked back to the Dudhsagar Station to board our train back to Londa Junction (we reached Londa Junction at 6.30PM) and from there the Rani Chennamma Express, back to Bangalore. Again a 12 hour journey, we reached Bangalore on Sunday at 7.30AM. Hailing from Bangalore (Concrete Jungle), where we hardly get to see green, we felt so refreshed and rejuvenated in the green oxygenated surroundings of Dudhsagar, that we fall short of words to explain about this Masterpiece carved by Mother Nature…Hats off!!!
