Travel Diary: Gudguda Waterfall, Odisha

Odisha; is the “The soul of incredible India” with the eastern ghats on one side and the 500km coastline of Bay of Bengal on the other, hence it’s not a surprise to have some fabulous beaches. Then come the wildlife sanctuaries, which help in maintaining the bio diversity and preserving the natural environment, in and round the forest area there are a lot of waterfalls and other water bodies. Odisha also has a very rich heritage and culture, which include the wonderful handicraft and a lot of exquisite temples and Buddhist relics. It also has a very prosperous mining and industrial belt in the region like Iron ore, Bauxite, Coal etc.

Gudguda Waterfall

I happened to visit my aunt who stays in the mining belt in Bonai; Dist- Sundargarh, Its 70 kms from Rourkela, the nearest Railway station. Since it was my 1^st visit to this part of Odisha. I was very intrigued and excited. I ended up visiting alot of interesting places, I consider myself lucky to have visited them. One such place is Gudguda waterfall in Sambalpur dist.

Downstream of Gudguda waterfall

Its approx. 70 km from Bonai, we started our journey approx. 11:00 hours and reached there around 13:00 hours. From Bonai to Gudguda the road cuts through dense forest and a lot of mango and litchi orchards. There is hardly any traffic on this stretch except for the occasional truck. The only little complaint I had on this serene drive is that the road is like a patchwork, some places are very smooth and others we had to slow down considerably as it was pretty bad. If food is your priority do carry it from home because we came across only one place for food (it was shut too).

In the midst of the dense forest we reached a clearing which had a board announcing our arrival to the waterfall. The mountain is called Gudguda and hence the name of the waterfall. Once we reached Gudguda we had to walk approx. 200 mtrs. in the forest to reach this beautiful pool formation waterfall, it has another 6 waterfalls above it, it’s also known as the 7 step waterfall. The climb to the other 6 waterfalls looked quite steep and difficult, it would have taken us more than 3 hours to reach and since I was with family I wasn’t allowed to be my adventurous self. However that is the reason I will visit this place again.

We managed to have a dip in the chilly water and managed to curb our hunger by eating the little bit of snacks we carried. Playing in the water increases the appetite by leaps and bounds. That’s why I mention again to carry enough food while on this trip.

Forest around the waterfall

It was a very tranquil place with only our family group (Heard it’s pretty crowded on weekends though) and 3 tribal men, one was catching crabs with his bare hands, he was pretty good at it and the other two were basking in the sun.

Life and its simple pleasures