Goa’s Enchanting Monsoons

I love the monsoons. The landscape is marked by verdant hills, lush green fields and numerous streams. The air is fresh and everything is clean. I know the continuous showers dampen your spirits and keep you indoors for days on end. But if you enjoy playing in the water like children and don’t give a damn to getting wet, the rainy season can be fun. So I decided to explore Goa during this ‘off’ season.

Starting near to home, I went to the Rassaim waterfall following a few days of heavy rains. It involved a trek through some thick vegetation and wading through a fast flowing stream. There are two waterfalls in the vicinity. The first one is a small stream rushing down a steep rock face. The small pond at the foot of the falls feels like a cold water Jacuzzi. The adventurous few can try climbing halfway up the falls. One must exercise caution though, as the rocks can get slippery. The other larger waterfall is formed by stream plunging down about 40 feet. The pool here is larger and more suited for some light splashing around. You can also sit near the falls and enjoy the strong breeze due the waterfall. The thick forest around gives a sense of solitude. An amazing place to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Next I visited the hill at Paroda, Quepem. There is a road leading to the temple at the top of the hill. It was raining very heavily when we arrived. The hill is quite high and we could see the clouds below us. I felt like I was at a hill station. The view point offered a lovely view of the thick forest and green paddy fields below us. On clear weather days, one can see the Arabian Sea far off to the west. A good sunset point!

I also went on a north Goa trip with my friends. We visited the Arambol beach. The beach was deserted except for a few fishermen. We trekked to the top of the adjacent a hill and were treated to an amazing view of the coastline. As we made our way down the other side, we caught sight of the famous fresh water lake of Arambol. It is amazing to have a fresh water lake barely 200 meters from the sea. The lake is one place safe for bathing as there are no underwater currents there. We took a dip in the lake and checked out the stream that fed the lake. The waves slamming against the rocks painted an amazing picture as we walked back along the beach.

In the evening we visted Morjim beach. It was raining heavily. Still we decided to go out and enjoy! We tried hard to play football on the beach. But the strong winds kept blowing the ball of course. Soon the rain and wind subsided and we had great time playing beach football on a totally deserted beach. After a while we saw the rains coming, literally. It quite a sight to see the sheet of rain coming from the sea. We all ran back to our car, as we were not in the mood to get wet again.

The next day we visited Baga beach. Again we were greeted by rain and gale force winds. It was quite astounding and a little disturbing to see people bathing in the sea. I don’t understand how tourists find such a rough sea inviting. We walked around the beach for a while and decided to head off to Aguada fort. There were quite a few tourists here. After checking out the fort we headed to the cliff near the light house. Here the winds were so strong that we just could not face the seaward direction. The rain drops were moving in a horizontal direction. When the winds subsided we climbed down to the sea below. The rocks and the rough white sea against the back drop of a green hill makes up a lovely scenery. I had trekked from Aguada to Sinquerim beach along this hill a couple of years back. One of the best treks I have ever done.

This past Sunday I went to a couple of water falls in Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary. I would have never found these places if YHAI hadn’t organised the trip. The first waterfall was called Kuskem waterfall. It is some distance in the forest from the village. But the trek through thick vegetation was worth it. The waterfall is a treat to watch. The stream falls of vertically from a height of about 100 feet. You can stand right under the falls and have the water beating down you back like numerous hammers! Next we went to Bhamand Pudo. This one is right by the road. The water cascades down in two steps. The pool at the base is ideal for bathing. A cool place to hang out. I’ll give the coordinates of both the water falls. Thanks to Alroy for marking the spots with his Nokia N82. Kuskem coordinates: 15.0075N, 74.2071E. Bhaman Pudo: 15.0598N, 74.1594E


One should also check out the hill at mobor. You get a nice view of the River Sal and its plains. So there you are, there is more to Goa than the common notion of booze, beaches and babes. Hopefully I’ll be back soon to explore the rest of this paradise called Goa.

Netravli Trip – Exploring the verdant Goan hinterland

So then after exploring all the famous places in and around Bangalore, it was time to rediscover the unmatched beauty of Goa. First up was the Netravali wild life sanctuary. As usual I surfed the net for info but couldn’t find anything worthwhile. I sorely miss the loads of info about anything and everything in Bangalore on the internet. I couldn’t get anything useful from the special Goa edition of the Outlook Traveller either.

So we set out from Margao in the morning with some vague info on the route and with the hope that we would meet some friendly locals who would show us the way whenever we felt we were lost. On we went, gliding past green fields and rolling hills. The Goan countryside is really magical in the monsoons. We passed through the towns of Curchorem and Sanguem. We gave lift to a couple of guys and in return got directions to the destination. It was a win win situation to both parties. Finally after riding for 55km we reached Netravalli village. We had a quick snack and collected some supplies for the trek from a small bar, yeah a bar!. If you ever feel that you might be lost and have crossed the border of Goa, just look around. Every village and hamlet in Goa, no matter how remote, has a bar. And Netravali was no different.

We rode on for another 3 km till the road ends at a small hamlet. We asked some locals for directions. After walking through backyards and front yards of small houses, we got a little lost. We came back and found a local who agreed to show us the way till the start of the path. It was fun walking in the forest on a path criss-crossing the stream. After walking for a good half hour the path came to an end abruptly. Soon shoulders and spirits were dropping and there was no waterfall in sight. We decided to walk along the stream.

Then suddenly I saw a speck of white around the bend. Finally we had reached the waterfalls, Savari Falls. It looked quite stunning. Suddenly someone spotted a snake basking in the sun near the edge of the pool. Now this was a wild life sanctuary and the snake had as much right to the stream as any of us. Soon expert comments on snake behaviour were flowing. Whether it was poisonous? Would it enter the water when were bathing, did it have a mate somewhere around? It was decided that one of us keep watch on the snake while the rest of us splashed around the pool. Then we wanted to take some pictures on the rocks near the snake. The snake was in the same position since we first saw it. Was it hibernating? After close examination we saw that its skin was shrivelled and ants were feasting on its body. The snake was dead! To think of all the fear a dead snake managed to instil in us. It was time to head back the way we came.

We wanted to explore the other waterfall. But time was short and we didn’t want to get late to leave for Margao. We decided to visit the other major attraction in the area. The Bubble pond, where bubbles erupt to the surface whenever you clap. But when we were there, bubbles were coming continuously. It is quite a mysterious phenomenon. I had read that such a thing occurs due to release of methane during decay of organic matter at the bottom of the pond. I could not see any decaying matter in this case as the water was crystal clear. And Goa is not known for seismic activity to assume that the gas is coming from the earth’s interior. So, I wonder how those gas bubbles are formed at the bottom of the pond.

That brought an end to our Netravali trip. We reached back to Margao after a serene uninterrupted ride through some lovely rustic scenery. See you at the same place for my next Goan excursion!