Goa - Part 3 - Exploring Hinterland of Rivona and Salaulim Dam

Rivona is a tiny hamlet nestled in the Sanguem taluk, South Goa located approximately 2 km southeast of the main road of Zambaulim. Offlate this has been famous for its Buddhist caves since it is considered to be the birthplace of Indian Civilization where Buddhist legends once thrived. There are two caves here. So we started our journey from Zambaulim as mentioned in my earlier blog (link) at around 8:30 am towards Rivona by marking all these important places in Google Maps.

Enroute we came across Vimleshwar temple in Rivona. Our driver suggested we stop by, seek blessings from Lord Shiva and then start our offbeat exploration.

 

Vimleshwar Temple


Unlike all temples of Goa, this temple also holds its own unique charm with its serene surroundings and divine blessings of Lord Shiva in his form as Vimleshwar.








 

Rivona Buddhist Cave 1 


This one was a bit disappointing since upon reaching the destination we didn’t find any signage about this place neither there was any person with whom we could inquire about this. This place was completely deserted. Piece of advise not to visit this place alone. After around 5 minutes, we saw one priest pass by and he gave us directions to this cave. Again upon reaching the cave, there was no signage explaining anything about this cave. So we just clicked pictures and headed to the second Buddhist cave.






Rivona Buddhist Cave 2 


Google map of this location ends at an empty field. We got down from the car and upon wandering a bit, we spotted a group of cyclists below who were exploring the cave. They guided us to the steps below to reach the cave. Again its too risky to venture alone here since its completely deserted and no one around. So would suggest to be careful.

Based on the discovery of a headless image of Buddha in the vicinity of the cave, many historians believe that this cave was used by Buddhist monks for meditation. 







Usgalimal Rock Engravings


These are located very close to Rivona 2nd Buddhist cave. Google maps stop at one place and from there you will need to walk around to identify this spot. Unfortunately we roamed around for half an hour around this place along the banks of Kushawati river but couldn't find these rock engravings. Might be due to the heavy rains we were not able to spot it. As usual, we didn’t find anyone there to seek for directions too. Hence we thought better to drop this idea of exploring these engravings and head to the next spot.





 Netravali Bubble Lake


As the name speaks for itself, this place is visited by tourists to view the unique phenomenon of concentric bubbles formed in water upon clapping. Goans fondly call this “Budbudyanchi Tali (Bubbling lake)” in Konkani.

This place is easily accessible by road and you will find sign boards by Goa Tourist department along your drive leading to this place. There is Gopinath Lord Krishna temple which overlooks this lake. We couldn’t find a priest here however the temple was open to offer our prayers to Lord. After praying, we stepped out and saw this rectangular shaped lake. Our driver asked me to keep my camera ready to record this – He started clapping and to my surprise we could see bubbles being formed in water. It was so amazing to see this.









We next headed to our last and most awaited spot of the day – Salaulim Dam.

 

Salaulim Dam

The Salaulim Dam is a very uniquely shaped dam compared to other dams across India. This is a dam built on the river Zuari and is probably one of the only dam in India built in Duct bill style where the overflow from the lake passes through a well and then into the dam walls. This cannot be captured in photographs or videos. This has to be merely witnessed to experience it. I had never seen anything like this before. So the drive till here was totally worth it.

There is a huge parking area where you can park your vehicle. At the entrance you need to take an entry fee to the dam. You will also be requested to show Govt Id proof here while issuing the tickets. 



From here, its is a good walk till the steps of the dam. But this walk is very pleasing as you pass through botanical garden. Luckily since it was monsoon time, sun god was hiding which made our walk easy. 









We reached the dam steps and from here you need to climb around 50 steps steep up. Once you are on top and as you start walking, you will find sprinkles splashing your face. As you clean up your face you will be really amazed to see the engineering marvel in front of you.






After this amazing hinterland exploration, we then hopped onto our car and headed back to our peaceful abode of Zambaulim. Our next day’s plan was to check out from Zambaulim and visit our next Kuldevata temple of Shri Mahalaxmi Saunsthan in Ponda. But we had planned a short detour enroute to visit Goa Chitra Museum in Margao. So in my next blog, I will be explaining the religious places I visited in Ponda which is also called the Hindu nerve of Goa. 


Other pages from my Goa travel diary

Goa - Part 1 - Exploring Vasco, Port City of Goa

Goa - Part 2 - Zambaulim, Lord Damodar's Holy Abode 

Goa - Part 4 - Ponda, The Holy Town of Goa

Goa - Part 5 - Exploring the Colonial Monuments of Old Goa

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sandesha - Museum of Communication

Image
Gone are the days when we would send inland letters or post cards to our near and dear ones. This is that era when there were no phones to talk to our loved ones. Post was the only means of communication back then. I am sure people from Gen X, Boomers and some percentage from Gen Y will relate to me on this. But Gen Z also need to know how communication has evolved since ages. So in this blog, I take all my readers to Sandesha – Museum of Communication in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.   We took a metro and got down at M.G.Road Metro station. From here the museum is located on Museum road and its walkable. We followed google map directions, walked along the nice pavements of Church street and finally reached museum at around 10:30 AM. Please note there is no entry fee here.  Sandesha in Kannada means message and hence this is the apt name for this museum.  This museum is completely dedicated to the journey of communication in India. While the security guard went inside to call the gu
Read more

Bellikkal Hills - Your Stint with Nature

Image
Bellikkal – Your Stint with Nature Bellikkal is a less crowded and secluded hill station in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu. This is located on the south east of the Mudumalai forests, 16 km from Ooty and 249 km South of Bengalaru. Located at a high altitude, it is totally isolated from the outside world and is a great place to get rejuvenated and recharged.   There are several vantage points at Bellikkal that provide many beautiful panoramic views of the surrounding mountain peaks. One of the main attraction is the Neelakurinji Flowers. The flower has purplish blue color when aged. It looks light blue in the earlier stage of blooming. When in full bloom, they lend a bluish haze to the area. But these bushes blossom in a clustered manner once in twelve years. And we turned out to be lucky this year. We had planned this trip well ahead and had booked a homestay “Wild Walkers” for a weekend stay in Bellikkal. Day 1: We started from Bangalore at around 6 in the
Read more

Monsoon Series - Dudhsagar Trek with Tambdi Surla

Image
Its monsoon season of the year and time for yet another monsoon trek. And one should not miss visiting the enchanting Dudhsagar falls during this time. So Dudhsagar was in my bucket list right from my college days. But somehow plan did not work out and could not make it. This time of the year, thanks to my travel buddy who instigated me to join her for this trip and we decided to tick this place off from our bucket list. Basically, there are 2 ways you can plan to see Dudhsagar falls – Firstly, the majesty of the Dudhsagar falls can be best viewed from a train as it passes the small Railway station of Dudhsagar but that fun would be for just some fraction of seconds. Secondly, trek through the lush green dense forest to the base of the waterfalls so that you can absorb the view at your heart's content. We chose to do the latter. After a lot of research, my friend had shortlisted Muddie trails since their itinerary had mode of travel as train from Bangalore to Goa and back which we
Read more