As I wrote in my first post about my four day stay in Goa, we booked two day trips. The first one will be described in this post and the next post is dedicated to the second day trip (old churches and temples).

Dudhsagar Falls

Dudhsagar Falls literally means Sea of Milk. It’s a four-tiered waterfall, and it’s among India’s tallest waterfalls (310m). Apparently the view from the Chennai Express train is very spectacular. Our tour would not take us very close to the waterfall, only to a lookout point.

We hardly got any sleep on the first day because our flight was overnight and we couldn’t really nap in the hotel because we could only check in after 2pm. When we chose the Dudhsagar Falls tour we actually wanted to start later than 7am. The tour operator told us that that was risky because in rainy season the trip to Dudhsagar Falls is not organized. Jeeps cannot drive through the jungle to reach the lookout spot because of flooding. So instead, we had to get on the back of motorcycles because they drive by the train tracks. These are not regulated though, which means the earlier you’re there, the better you’re chances finding one and the least crowded it will be on the route.

Long story short, we left at 7am. When we arrived at the starting point there were plenty of motorcycles… We paid our fee and put on our life jackets (yes, life jackets not helmets).

Then we sat down behind our “chauffeurs” for the day and that’s when the adventure started. They weren’t kidding when they said that the tracks were not suitable for cars. They way to the waterfalls weren’t so much tracks, they were rocks and very tight pathways right next to the train tracks. Somehow the motorcycle drivers knew exactly how to drive on these tracks but it was incredibly nerve wrecking because I felt the bike slipping away from under me a couple of times. Even though the driver was wearing flip flops I’m impressed he managed to keep the bike upright at all times.

Can you see the track in the picture below? Like I said, we drove next to the train tracks, because they can use speed when they don’t use the train tracks. I was holding the luggage holder behind me which wasn’t a good idea because after half an hour I had bloody thumbs. I thought it would be steadier than holding the guy in front of me, I was wrong so for the remainder of the trip I held on to him. My experiences with motorcycles/mopeds is limited to the time I drove from Pai to Chiang Mai on my own moped. Different experience altogether!

The motorcycles could not traverse some areas with people on the back, so we had to walk some stretches while the guys either took a detour and met us a few metres further or they drove through whatever was blocking us by themselves.

There were also times when we were in water that reached up to our knees and the guys were pushing the bikes with their feet to get them to move.

As expected, we have some casualties from this adventure. My friend lost one of his flipflops and my shoes were beyond dirty, I still have them but I have a mind to throw them away.

It was scary and I hurt my hands, but when we reached the lookout point I forgot all about the sorrow. This didn’t last long though because the motorcycle guys presented us with a conundrum. They offered to take us all the way to the top of the Dudhsagar Falls if we would pay them a bit more. One of my friends really wanted to do it, the others and myself weren’t too keen to continue onward (I read that the road got worse further up) and then to go all the way back again. So we opted not to do it. Of course, sitting here now writing about it from the safety of my hotel room; I wish we did it…

I heard we could swim at the lookout point, but I don’t think that’s actually true. This was the only body of water I could find in the vicinity. Probably the swimming happens closer to the Falls.

Spice Farm

I will not mention the second stop on the tour, because it was a “free” elephant ride. The poor elephant had to walk around in circles all day with people on his back. I have learned a lot since the Thai Elephant Home so I decided to opt out of this freebie.

The next stop on our tour was slightly more mild than the first one. We stopped at a spice farm to get a tour around the premises . After the tour we got lunch. When I knew we were going to Goa, I had my mind set on a spice plantation tour, but it wasn’t actually as interesting as I thought it would be. The tour guide was excellent and his stories were really nice, but I simply don’t know enough about the different kinds of spices to know what I’m looking at. Also, the spice plantation is active, but we were taken around a “showroom of spices” which makes everything a bit generic. Some of the spices we saw were: Cashew, Areca nut, Star fruit, Jack Fruit, Custard Apple, Bananas, Papayas, Pineapple (and the infamous Monkey Tail, right Kyri? 🙂 ).

I can’t remember what the earth work pots were for, but we spotted quite a few around the premises.

Conclusion

This tour had a little bit of everything: adventure, beautiful views, a moderately interesting and informative tour (and unfortunately some animal abuse). My favourite part was the motorcycle ride through the jungle because it’s one of those things I did and feel happy about that I survived. It wasn’t that extreme but at the time it felt incredibly dangerous (especially the fact we didn’t get any helmets). Next time I’d like to get closer to the Dudhsagar Falls. The look-out point was a bit far away, even though we got an excellent view of the waterfall through the leaves. In terms of the spice plantation, I would’ve liked it to have been an active spice farm not a mock up of the real thing to show tourists around. I’ll stop my nit-picking and end this blog with the message that all-in-all it was a great way to spend a day in Goa.

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