Belum Caves is situated in the Kurnool District of Andhra
Pradesh. The caves has a length of 3229 meters and thus it is known to be the
second largest cave in the subcontinent of India. Planning a vacation in these
caves can provide you a unique travel experience. The AP Tourism has developed
and maintained these caves in a beautiful manner. These caves have spacious
chambers and long passages along with siphons and fresh water galleries. The
deepest point of the cave, also known as Pataalaganga is located at 129 feet
from the entrance level.
History:
The Belum Caves is a natural underground cave which has been
formed by the regular flow of underground water. The caves have derived their
name from "Bilum", which is the sanskrit name for caves. The caves
are known as Belum Guhalu in Telegu language. They have their names first
mentioned in the year of 1984 in the expedition report of Robert Bruce Foote.
After that, the caves were overlooked for a longer time. It was almost after a
century when Herbert Daniel Gebauer along with his German team performed
exploration of the caves in details in the year of 1982 and 1983.
The Belum Caves are situated at 30 km distance from the
region of Tadipathri on Banaganapalli route. The nearest village , Kolimigundla
is located at a distance of 3km from the caves. Located in the District of
Kurnool, these caves are 65 km away from Gooty.
How to Reach :
Buses and trains are available to reach these caves. The
nearest bus stand to these caves is Tadipathri , located at a distance of 30
km. Buses are available frequently from Bangalore and Hyderabad to Tadipathri.
Regular trains are also available from Hyderabad to Tadipathri. You can catch
an auto or bus from Tadipathri which goes to Banaganapalli and get down at the
Belum caves. You can also catch an auto going to Kolimigundla . From this
place, you can get an auto for going to belum caves.
Place to Stay:
Tadipathri is the right place to stay if you are planning
for a visit to Belum caves. Tadipathri does not have any luxury hotels though a
resort is run by AP tourism near the caves. However the resort is almost like a
dormitory and hence not recommended for families.
Places to Eat:
APTDC Haritha Hotel , situated in the premises of Belum
Caves offers the best food in the region. Apart from this, there are no other
good places to eat near the caves. You can however find some good restaurants
in the region of Tadipathri. You can find snacks from a shop near the ticket
counter. Do not forget to carry a huge number of water bottles on a visit to
the caves.
Places to visit in Belum Caves:
Banayan Tree, Paatalaganga, Meditation Hall, Saint's bed,
Kotilingalu, Thousand hoods are some of the places to visit in Belum caves. The
beautiful lines along the walls of the cave and the pit holes on the ceiling
are really great to see while visiting these caves.