Dudhsagar Jungle Safari and Jeep Tour to Spice Farm in Goa
The Dudhsagar falls is located in Kohl, in the Bhagwan Mahavir Nature Reserve. In translation from Hindi, the title is translated as "milk ocean". You can get to the Dudhsagar Falls in many ways. About our experience of visiting the waterfall, I'll talk below.
To go or not on a trip to the Dudhsagar falls, we did not even think about it - definitely yes. Not because we are big fans of excursions, especially since in Goa it was supposed to be something other than a tourist bus and a nasal guide telling in a microphone, it was simply interesting to look into other corners of the beautiful state, not only to the beaches, although they are beautiful each by -Its.
For us it was so, but the two girls from Kazan, vacationing with us in the same hotel, were categorical: "We will not go to the waterfall, we are not interested" - when we offered to go together. As they say, the owner is a gentleman, and now my husband and I agree on a trip with our already familiar taxi driver named Sam, so that he takes us to the Dudhsagar waterfall. Tour Details can be found on Official Dudhsagar Falls Website (Dudhsagar-falls.com)
A taxi driver has a comfortable Toyota car in white, most often a taxi in Goa. And the car numbers must be necessarily yellow - this is the rule for the transportation of foreign passengers in a taxi. If the police stop a taxi with white numbers, which carries foreigners, everyone can have problems.
Our taxi driver
Sam does not get used to carry tourists on various excursion routes, he himself offers us the scheme "waterfall -" shower with an elephant "- a plantation of spices." Further on, a standard excursion package offered by tour operators or private companies, called "All Goa for One Day", includes another visit to the capital of the state of Panaji, and sometimes also the old capital of Old Goa. We found this trip too tiring, and we planned to go to the capitals on a regular shuttle bus, to get additional new sensations, and simply from economy, because bus tickets in Goa cost a penny.
And then in the morning after breakfast we set out. It was about two hours to go. On the roads now and then there were chains of trucks, because of which we had to go slower, sometimes we created small traffic jams, we were lucky, and we avoided the large ones, which often happen on the Goa in the mornings.
The driver asked for permission to include Indian music in the car. We were just "for". I like it when you can listen to national songs in a foreign country, and not the standard European-American hits of radio stations. Indian songs conquered us, they were melodic, piercing-heartfelt, they tightly connected in our minds with the roads of Goa.
Generally, a taxi is the easiest and most convenient way to do a significant part of the way to the waterfall. But in Goa there are people who come there for the winter, living constantly, and just desperate travelers, free as the wind, for them a taxi is expensive and uninteresting.
The main transport for local residents, as well as many foreigners, especially young ones, is a scooter (bike), less often a motorcycle. Scooters drive everything: teenagers, their mothers, young and self-confident tourists. It's much cheaper than driving a taxi. Gasoline is sold everywhere: in stores, on the roadsides in ordinary plastic bottles. Conveniently. We were not very sure, so the scooter did not take. Seen afterwards several accidents on the roads with the participation of foreigners on scooters.
So, to make the way from North Goa to the village of Kolem (Kulem / Colem) - a kind of transshipment point on the way to the waterfall, in which a relatively normal road ends and mountain, rocky, and motor transport begins. It will take three or four hours, but for dashing travelers it's not a problem.
From Kohlem ride on a motorcycle is very problematic, both because of the bad road and the rivers that meet along the way, and because of the constant flow of overtaking jeeps with tourists. Another way to get to the waterfall is the train. It's long, not very comfortable (the trains in Goa do not differ in their modernity and purity), but for that there is a kind of romance, and it's incredibly cheap. From the north of Goa it is easiest to get to Pernem station first, thence by train to the city of Margao, which is in the south, and there is already a transfer to the required station Kolom. Now I think that if I could visit Goa again, and stay there longer than 10-14 days, then for the trip to the waterfall I would choose the train.
But, alas, our stay in Goa was limited to a standard ten-day tourist package, and we went to the waterfall by taxi. Sam brought us to the parking lot of jeeps in Colem. When you exit the car, you immediately get on some unthinkable bazaar - a lot of people, Indians screaming, waving their hands, tourists are fussing or standing in their tracks, not understanding where they got and what they need to do. Organized tourist groups on the site is simpler, a guide from the tour operator or a private company immediately leads its wards in the right direction and solves all organizational issues.
But Goa, in my opinion, is a bit of a place where it is worth overpaying for such a service, because it's a matter of several minutes to sort things out. Our taxi driver helped us, immediately exchanged a few phrases with the drivers of jeeps, which worked as barkers, after which one of them took us with him. On the way to the jeep, we were overcome by sellers of sets of fruits and vegetables for feeding monkeys. It was necessary, of course, to take everything from our village of Calangute, but we somehow forgot, so we bought a bag with a couple of bananas and tomatoes, although several times more expensive than its price would be in the market.
And here we are in a jeep. Eight people gathered us, the driver collected the fare, and we set off. The distance to be reached is about ten kilometers. To say that it shakes is to say nothing. You have to bounce on every bump, which there are many. In two places the car waded across a small river. In the rains there the depth becomes decent even for jeeps, some are stuck, drivers push each other out, and then we got over quite calmly.
Another nuance of such an excursion to the waterfall - do not wear white clothes, it will turn into red. In Goa, in general, there are often reddish soils from which dust of the same color comes. And when driving in a jeep, when cars race after each other, picking up clouds of dust, and then walking a walk, the clothes are very quickly painted.
In addition to the fare for the jeep, at the checkpoint to enter the territory of the reserve, it is required to pay for the use of a video camera and a camera. We prudently hid our small camera among the things in the backpack and said that "know the photo, know the video." They did not believe us. It is not known how legal this collection of money is, because no one checks anything, does not give any receipts and tickets. That's why we decided to save our blood. The amount was small, but the matter of principle. People at the checkpoint and the driver, when we insisted with naive insistence that we did not pay for anything, became very aggressive, forced to show the bag, in the end, so nothing was found, we missed our car, and we continued on.
When the road for jeeps ends, the drivers land passengers, everyone checks the clock, for a walk at the waterfall takes exactly one hour, at the appointed time the group in the same composition should sit on the jeep in which he came and move back on the way. Therefore, we must remember the double-digit number of the jeep, which is written on the side of the car, and, if possible, the faces of its neighbors in transport.
Immediately near the parking of jeeps, in thickets, tourists are met by monkeys. Some of them are so fed that they do not even take the food they offer. After all, people, only arrived, enthusiastically rush to them, trying to feed all brought supplies. In fact, it is forbidden to feed animals in the reserve if at the checkpoint in the field of view of the checking people packs containing animals are found, they are selected. So it turns out that at the beginning of the excursion people are sold animal feed, and as a result, they can not be fed. But the compassion of tourists conquers all the established prohibitions, and in backpacks and bags are kept from the guards order of fruit for cute animals.
MonkeysFurther expensive to the waterfall passes through the rocks, somewhere there are quite large boulders, some sharp, and some smooth, sometimes slippery, have to cross the streams, so comfortable shoes are just necessary. In some places there are bridges.
Here and there, they jump on rocks and climb the tree branches of the "mistress of the waterfall" - monkeys, receiving their portion of food from those tourists who have not yet had time to feed all the animals that met at the very beginning.
to the WaterfallAnd so we go out to the waterfall. A powerful stream of water breaks from the rocks and, divided into several parts, rushes into a beautiful ice lake. The air is wonderful cool and fresh, after a tiring road it seems divine. We visited the waterfall in March, during the heat, and the water flow was not as large as it is during and after the monsoon season. The height of the dudhsagar falls is about three hundred meters.
According to the legend of this place, in ancient times a beautiful princess was bathing here, and she was taken by surprise by the prince. To cover up her nakedness, the beautiful woman poured a jug of milk into the water, the water around her became white and covered with foam, hiding what the man was forbidden to see. So the waterfall was called "Dudhsagar", which can be translated as "milk ocean".
People around the waterfall take pictures, swim in the lake, just relax on the rocks. Among the bathers there are a lot of Russians, because our compatriots are not afraid of ice water, unlike Europeans, who prefer to contemplate. I, too, did not dare to plunge, but my husband rafted, excellent cheer and was very pleased. In the water you have to be neat, some places there are large stones, from living creatures - leeches, in the air beautiful dragonflies fly. It is also said that in the thickets of the protected area near the waterfall many wild animals such as deer, mongoose, even tigers and panthers, various birds and snakes are found. But, in addition to macaques, it is hardly possible to meet someone on trails laid for tourists. My husband, an inveterate fisherman, at bathing looked like a fish in the lake, it seemed even that something very large was floating. Fishing in the lake is prohibited,
Bathing in the waterfall After swimming, the return trip to the jeep is waiting. Still, one hour is not enough for a more detailed acquaintance with the beauty of the nature of this place. On the way to the parking lot, we again walk along the rocks, bridges, and have time to talk with the already familiar monkeys. Sometimes it even seems that these macaques come here to look at people, and not vice versa
So the excursion ended in a corner of stone and water, again there is a dusty and hot road. Our small group came together, we waited for a while for the driver, who was not so punctual.
By the way, I noticed that this is a distinguishing feature of many drivers in Goa. Our taxi driver Sam, although we talked well, also often was late for us to meet, and some other people with whom we had to travel, and did not come at all, referring to the employment.
The return trip to Kohlme passed almost in silence, while waiting for the driver, we managed to share our impressions with our "friends in a jeep", and now everyone rested as much as possible when driving on bumps.
We were satisfied with the trip to the waterfall, even the tiring road did not cloud the impressions. Book Dudhsagar Waterfalls Trip Online.