My Vacation to Vizag (Part 1)

During my Diwali holidays, my family and I booked a trip to Vizag where we would explore nature, coffee plantations and visit beaches. Our journey began on Friday, 21st of October.

DAY 1

We began with a four to five hour car ride (buckle up, this is just the start to our exhausting journey) to Vijaywada from Hyderabad. There, we stayed for a short while before taking a train to Vizag. The train was approximately five hours as well, so this gave us plenty of time to rest and rejuvenate before getting ready for the long day ahead. The train was an interesting experience, especially since the last time I’ve been on one was many years ago. After we reached Vizag, we had ANOTHER car ride to the resort which was two hours away. By the time we reached the resort, we were exhausted and slept for an hour before we continued our journey. We then drove up a mountain trail. It was a beautiful experience, the clear blue skies and enchanting greenery was enough to keep me engrossed throughout the ride. 

We visited a beautiful botanical garden and explored the whole garden on a small train. We saw multiple silver oak trees, bamboo, the maroon hibiscus, purple calibrachoa and pink roses. There were adorable bridges on lakes where we took photos and altogether we spent approximately one and a half hours there. Then we continued our journey and visited a tribal gathering where we saw how indigenous people used to make their food and their traditional clothing. I got the experience to dress up in the traditional clothing and learnt entertaining games they played with guests, such as, catch the rooster. We also ate some tribal lunch and went back on our way to the resort. During our journey we saw a centre with tons of activities like ziplining and canoeing. I decided to go on the zipline once, before finishing our day and coming back to the resort.  

DAY 2

This day was much more relaxed (thankfully no excruciatingly long drives), as we began the day by visiting coffee plantations. I was surprised to discover that coffee beans are green before turning ripe. There were hundreds of the plants scattered around the mountains, each covered with small green beans. After we visited the coffee plantations, we visited a tribal boarding school where we saw children who came from tribal areas, grades 1-11. We were pleasantly suprised how many of the classes used technology as a form of learning which ensured there was a wide variety of pedagogy.  After visiting the school, we returned back to the resort where we had lunch, and visited the Borra Caves. 

The cave was absolutely scintillating and it was lit up with beautiful colors which made it even more brilliant. The tour guide explained how the cave was said to have been found because of a cow grazing above the cave, and accidentally falling through the hole, 60m down to a painful death. The cave was filled with stalagmites and stalactites. Stalagmites form on the cave floor and are formed by mineral deposits that fell by water precipitation from the top of the cave. Stalactites grow from the ceiling cave and are formed by mineral precipitation through the cave ceiling. We also learnt how humic acid combines with the calcium carbonate in the rocks which breaks down the minerals gradually. The guide elucidated how different rock formations resembled different objects like turtles, tigers, human eyes, etc. We finally went on the vistadome train which had giant glass windows, to gaze at the scenery while travelling.