Wanderlust!
As soon as we had booked our tickets for Vizag, on 2 nd December, 2010, a certain wanderlust gripped me. I did some perfunctory research and decided to book an Andhra Pradesh Tourism package for a trip to Araku Hill-station for Sunday. The Kirandul passenger train is the best way to travel to Araku valley. This train line is built specially to bring iron ore to Visakhapatnam from the mineral reserves of Bailadilla mines in Chattisgad state. This is a broad gauge line, passing through Shimiliguda station which is the highest broad gauge station in India at 996.32 mt above sea level. We had to report at the railway station at 5.30 am. It is another matter that the AP Tourism staff forgot to tell us that their counter opened only at 6 am, the guide who was to take us would arrive at 6.30 am and the train would depart at 7 am. Our guide called Araku valley ‘the Ooty of Andhra Pradesh’. It is a hill station located 120 km from Visakhapatnam on the Eastern Ghats . It is a bea...