Bastar - Part 5 - Official Introduction to Baster Vibes

Today was the much awaited day for us since we were about to be officially introduced to actual Bastar vibes - tribal village walks, trails and tribal feasts. 

We started from Jagdalpur post breakfast to Bodal. Total journey duration is 1 hour, and journey is very amazing as your vehicle passes through the dense forests of Kanger National park along with some views of incredible landscapes.  




We reached Bodal at around 11 am. Here we were welcomed by our esteemed host Shakeel Sir (Shakeel Rizvi), a philanthropist who works for the development of the tribal people in Bastar. He stays amongst the tribal people to understand and help them better.  They have high regards for him and look upon him in taking critical decisions. 

We got down from our vehicle and were surprised to see such an amazing accommodation arranged for us amid rustic village life. This homestay had all the basic amenities that are required for a comfortable stay here. Thanks to Shakeel sir for getting this ready for us. 




We unloaded our bags from vehicle and kept them in the rooms assigned to us. We were asked to put on our hiking shoes since today we would be doing the lengthiest and the most interesting jungle hike of our trip. So overall power packed day and we all set off on our vehicle for the most awaited day of our itinerary. 

En-route Shakeel Sir would stop our vehicle at few places to take us around the village and show us their fields, houses, anganawadi (school), harvest, and off course the medicinal properties of the roots/plants around. 











Women get tattoos done on their hands and these tattoos have their own significance. Few designs depict the crops they row at their homes while few depict the wealth they own(jewelry etc). 

The lady in this picture is the only doctor available in the village. She has been trained in nursing and knows to administer the basic medications to cure malaria, cuts, wounds etc. 

 We then headed to a not on map village called Gudiya Padar and reached there at around 12 PM.


 Shakeel sir took us to a house where we were welcomed with herbal tea and some bananas as energy boosters. 






After a short break of 15 minutes, we set off for our adventurous hike with the Tribesmen of this house as our trip leads for the hike. These tribesmen also carried our lunch with them along the hike. It was very interesting to see them carry the vessels on their shoulder tied to a rope which is balancing on a log on either side.  



We took a break after 1 hour of our hike to savor a local drink called Mahua. You will find this drink very popular amongst the tribal people here and it is considered one of the many indigenous fermented drinks also a part of their rich culinary tradition. Mahua is basically a flower found in the dense jungle of tribal areas and this drink is made from the Mahua flowers. Best part is the serving glass was prepared with leaves. Bastar is basically NO PLASTIC zone. 


Mahua drink

Enroute we got lots of jungle knowledge from tribesmen along with the tribal techniques of survival and maneuvering across the jungles. They told us that this entire trek into the dense jungle realms up to the waterfalls would be around 5 Kms one way. But it doesn’t sound so easy. While plain walks in the jungle seemed easy, in few places there were no paths at all. Even our high class hiking shoes could not give a good grip. In such places we had to slide through slowly and go down. Tribesmen and Shakeel sir were very helpful. They would form human chains with bamboo sticks to give us leg support while descending and help us pass through each patch. 




Finally, we made it to the waterfalls at around 4 PM. This was the most interesting part. While we all soaked our legs in water for relaxation, we noticed that these tribesmen picked some leaves and started preparing our plates for lunch. It was a treat to watch them do this with so much precision and pace. 

Once the plates were ready, they served us Rice, Dal (Lentils) and Aloo Gobi subzi in these plates and the food was simply yummy. 



We hogged to our heart’s content and now comes the tough task – our return journey. 

We relaxed there for some more time and then slowly started our descend at around 5 PM. But midway into the forest, it started getting dark. And it was time now to pull out our torches. 



Walking in a dense jungle in the night was a first time and different experience altogether. We would get scared with any sound we would hear while walking even though it would be of the dried leaves/branches. Tribesmen would cheer us up by saying that there are no wild animals in the forest. But somehow with firm determination we continued walking and reached Gudiya Padar village at around 7:30. We sighed a heave of relief here 😊. 

We were served water and herbal tea here again in the Tribesmen’s house. We thanked them for all the help, support, care, and hospitality they showered on us during our stint in Gudiya Padar, hopped onto our vehicles, and returned to our homestay. 

Delicious dinner was ready for us. Perfect full course meal served in leafy plates. In these tribal villages, they believe in serving the guests. We were asked to sit down and they bring each plate and serve us. We were overwhelmed with the hospitality we were getting here😊.


We freshened up, had dinner, relaxed around the camp fire for sometime and headed to our rooms for a much required sleep after a thrilling hike. 

So, signing off from Bodal with memories of an adventurous and memorable hike of my life. In my next blog, I will be covering how second day at Bodal was spent with some caving explorations and visit to the local colorful Haat (market). 

Bastar - Part 1 - Arrival at Raipur and Half day Sight Seeing








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