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Pictures from my solo drive to Pulicat Lake in the Mahindra Thar

24th September 2024, 18:04 by Rahul Nagaraj

I chose a roundabout route to reach the lake, where I could also explore some hills and rural roads in Andhra Pradesh.

BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hills of Andhra Pradesh and Pulicat Lake in my Thar

Dusty in the Hills of Andhra Pradesh

Variety is the spice of life! Definitely so in the life of a weekend traveler like me.

Therefore, after two heavy duty monsoon drives with my driving buddies (like this one and this one), I decided to do a solo drive away from the rains, and to a different territory than the rain-soaked Western Ghats.

Given that those drives were to the west coast, across the Western Ghats, the naturally opposite drive would be to the east coast, where the weather was also quite different from the heavy monsoon on the west coast. Thus, I decided to visit the east coast of Andhra Pradesh as my next driving destination, for the sake of variety.

And given that those previous drives were group drives, this one was a solo drive, again for the sake of variety. I love solo drives, as evident from my numerous other solo travelogues, and I was absolutely thrilled to do another solo drive after a series of group drives.

So with that idea, I decided to drive to the East. My plan was to visit Pulicat Lake on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh, and drive a roundabout route to reach there, where I could explore some hills and rural roads in Andhra Pradesh.

Note that this was not the best season to visit Pulicat lake; quite the opposite actually. Pulicat lake is famous for the bird sanctuary and the wide variety of migratory birds (especially flamingos) that come there from November-February time-frame. That is the best time to visit Pulicat, not the month of August when it is relatively dry there with not much water nor birds. However, my goal was not the tourist activities there, but just to enjoy this drive and the landscapes, and therefore, this off-season month was good enough for me.

The rough route map was this:

This route was basically a loop starting and ending at Tirupati. Bangalore to Tirupati is anyway a simple 4-lane and 6-lane highway, and that was a routine drive. However, from Tirupati onward, I chose a roundabout loop instead of driving straight to Pulicat Lake. I chose a route that goes through the hills, and has some small local trails and off-the-road points (such as Aare Waterfall that I visited) where I could enjoy the landscapes and the terrain different from the usual monsoon drives.

I did this route exploration purely by searching Google Maps, exploring Street View options, and seeing location photographs. I did not ask my friends from Andhra Pradesh about any route tips, because I wanted this to be a totally solo exploration purely based on my own search and ideas. Anyways, since I was driving my Thar, I can tackle whatever roads I end up driving on, so road condition was not a worry at all.

As I started driving from Tirupati toward Puttur, AP, I had these lovely roads, with hills ahead, but these roads were clearly not meant for a Thar:

Thankfully, that awesome road was only for a short duration, and soon I found a rural road leading to the hills.

The rural roads looked like this, which was just perfect for Dusty:

Beautiful farms on the side of the road:

Also notice the bright sunny conditions and clear blue skies! This was totally different from the non-stop rain and dark skies we had in the monsoon drives (where we hardly every saw the Sun). Thus, my hope of "variety in driving conditions" had already come true when I reached here.

I explored these rustic and rural roads randomly, with no fixed plan. I drove on wherever I saw some nice landscapes or interesting roads.

At many points, there were dirt roads on the side, mostly used by the local 2-wheeler traffic, and an occasional tractor. It looked like these dirt roads connected some very tiny villages to the main road. Many of those roads looked inviting, and I decided to try a couple of such dirt roads.

I started driving on some random dirt road, just to see the landscapes:

These roads went up and down small hills, and offered great views of the landscapes all around. These were public roads, and I could see a two-wheeler passing by on occasion. But other than that, there was nobody around and I had a great time enjoying the lovely weather, the dirt roads, the scenic views, and the solitude.

Dusty on a hill road:

At some points, the trail was very muddy, like this:

At some places these roads went through small villages like these:

Back on tarmac, and a scenic corner for Thar (funny how it is all relative; I love scenic corners of smooth tarmac in my BMW - like this one - and here while driving Thar, this broken road with a lovely tree at the corner was my definition of a scenic corner):

Green fields and hills on the side of lovely rural roads:

Views on the side:

Some more views of the landscapes through the window, as I drove around exploring those roads:

Then I decided to visit a local attraction called "Aare Waterfalls", known to me purely by searching Google Maps. This is a point located on a small off-road trail off the main road, into the hills. This is an official public trail. Anyone can drive there after paying an official entry fee of Rs. 300 for a vehicle, and Rs. 50 for each person, and gain entry into the trail leading to the area of the waterfall. I paid the entry fee of Rs. 300 for Dusty and Rs. 50 for myself.

After about 1km of further trail after the entry point, there is a designated parking lot where you can park your car and hike to the waterfall. I did not do that hike, as I was more interested in that road itself rather than the waterfall. I just explored that area driving around, visited a few interesting locations, and did not visit the waterfall per se.

Trail leading to Aare Waterfalls parking area:

Dusty enjoying the lovely road and the weather:

At some muddy location in that area:

The road leading to the waterfall parking was very nice and scenic:

This was a lake nearby (had to park my car and climb a small hill to see this view):

I just drove around there and explored the trails/roads. And stopped at scenic locations to just step out and breath the fresh air and enjoy the views.

Scenic trail:

Lush green farms on the side of the road:

Some more muddy sections, and here I was praying and hoping I do not get stuck as I have no recovery gear:

Luckily, Dusty managed all those tricky sections quite well in 4H and an occasional 4L.

A parting shot at Aare Waterfalls area:

Back on the tarmac:

I continued avoiding main highways and took smaller roads like these:

At one point I crossed a lake with a nice bridge where Dusty could pose again:

Views of the lake:

Finally back on the main highways toward Sri City, AP, and then to my destination, Tada AP.

My next destination was Pulicat Lake, where I was going to explore the lake in the evening and then stay overnight. There are not many stay options in that area, and certainly no fancy resorts or major hotels. However, based on my Google Maps search, I had identified one hotel called "Ilara Hotels & Spa" (Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/qmQjDn27qm5NziUJ8), in Tada, AP, as the best stay option in that area. The reviews were great, and the photos looked good too. Although this was about 25km away from Pulicat lake, this was still the best option in that area, and that 25km is on a fast four-lane highway with no traffic jams, so that was not a problem at all.

So I checked-in at the Ilara Hotel, Tada, and I did not regret it. This indeed turned out to be a nice hotel, with huge well-appointed rooms, all clean and nice, and they had a nice restaurant too. Overall a very good place to stay in that area. This is not a fancy star hotel by any means, and although nice, it was still a basic hotel. But given the other options in that area, this is still the best option there.

My room at Ilara Hotel - a very spacious and well-appointed room: