Saraswathi and daughter Aakriti live in Hyderabad, India. Aakriti is in 5th grade at the Hyderabad Public School (Begumpet), and wrote this post about a vacation with her family.

My family and I had gone for a holiday to a valley called Araku valley. This valley is about three hours drive from the famous port ‘Visakapatanam’, also known as Vizag. The drive from Vizag to Araku is full of coffee and pepper plantations, which makes it wonderful. Forty kilometers from Araku valley, there is a huge cave called the ‘Borra Caves’.

It was raining all through our journey, but had just stopped raining when we reached the caves. We got the entry tickets which was one hundred rupees per head for adults and fifty rupees per head for children. The entrance had stalls all around it that made it look like a market place indeed!

We were full of curiosity and excitement when we were allowed to enter the famous ‘Borra caves’ known for its age and various types of natural formations. We saw a lot of monkeys waiting to snatch food from the people, and my sister was quite thrilled watching them. There were plenty of steps that led us to the interior of the caves, and after getting down the last flight of steps, Lo! And Behold! We were inside a most exciting cave that was full of stalactites! (formed when calcium carbonate reacts with water). It was a dark cave with lamps here and there.

There were amazing formations of different shapes and one of them looked like the ‘Shiva lingam’ (considered a Supreme God by the Hindus). The floor was slippery, and there was water dripping from various points. We took a few photographs. My Grandfather decided not to venture deep inside the cave as it was pretty dark and slippery. We saw a funny formation, and one could imagine it to be in the shape of a human brain. The centre of the cave had water falling on the limestone, and with the light of the lamp it was glittering like diamonds!!
As we went deep into the cave, we went down another flight of steps, and were surprised when we saw no pathway – just then we saw someone squeeze through a small gap. That was when we knew that we had to go through the gap and it was fun to creep and crawl holding each others hands.

The worst part was when we had to leave the cave and get back to the resort. It was pouring, and we had not carried our umbrellas. We waited for a while and enjoyed being in the cave for some more time.

The experience inside the cave was so lovely. We had always heard of a cave in a jungle, but we never thought we would go there. The dampness of the cave and darkness makes you feel as if you are in a new world.  I had only read about caves in story books, but when I actually saw this one – it was unbelievable. In some areas inside the cave there were bats which added to the creepy crawly feelings. But this was the best experience I’ve ever had. Hope you will like it too!