Karandagolla

Dad spoke to the lady to ascertain if there was a risk we were all going to die and was convinced that though it may be a bit slippery death was unlikely so we were in! It was a 600m walk into the forest to start before coming to a little camp site where we could take shelter and get our hard hats on and lights installed.

Before we set off the guide took a moment to pray by a little monument then went over to the hole and preyed again. We looked at each other and thought with our lives prayed for we should now be sweet!

Was pretty narrow in some of the early parts but once through that as long as we checked our footing and used our hands to help it was generally all pretty manageable. There was lots of little bugs attracted to the lights, we certainly got a few up the nose and in the mouth! Not tasty at all! Inside there were bats and we saw one spider that was so big we were too scared to take a photo of him!

The guide was a lovely chap, explained all the rocks along the way. Such diverse colour and we had gold (wasn’t so sure about that), iron, calcium, stalactites, images of elephants and old rock drawings.

Highlight of the trip though is the pond that sits at the bottom about 800m down. The water is usually crystal clear and it is an amazing swim. With all the rain though it was a lot higher and not swimmable so we didn’t go in. Apparently you can swim under the rock and come out into a pond on the other side when the water is lower.

The trip back up was tougher and it certainly got hotter as we worked up a sweat. Well worth the visit.Read more