10-Jan-2004 -- Our Expedition to the Discovery of 18O N 80O E

Date: Saturday, Jan 10, 2004 at 1130 hours
Visit by: Praveen Goggi and Chandra Dasaka
Place: 0.6km from Timmapur hamlet – a few meters from the foot hills of Peddagutta hills, 6 km from Gundampalli village near Pakala Lake, Warangal District Andhra Pradesh, India
Distance: 180 Kms NE from Hyderabad.
Earlier Visits: Please click on the visitor names for the details.
Expedition dedicated to: Günter Walser, Austria

Hunting confluences has become an addiction for Chandra and me! We set a huge target of 18N80E and 18N81E (this one in Chattisgarh state) in a single day. Chandra did a detailed study of the state and district maps and figured out the best route for our expedition, which summed up to 700+ kms (round-trip).

Picking up all the essentials, we started before the sun break on Saturday Jan 10, 2004. Our first destination was 18N80E (41 Kms East of Warangal). Driving past the state roads, we were in a town called as “Kazipet” by 8am. GPS pointed towards east and we saw a good road leading to Narsampet town on our right, which we took.

We followed this road with a close watch on the GPS. We went through forest area (This area has restricted entry during nights, from 9pm till 6am) to reach the Pakala lake. The GPS showed 5 Kms across the lake and we were struck on how to proceed.

We came across some nice locals, who helped us with proper road directions to the village on the other side of the lake. They have shown lot of interest in the subject. In fact one of them volunteered to accompany us to the point – so that it would be easy for us to identify the bullock cart tracks. But as he is still on duty as forest security guard, he asked us to wait for another half-an-hour till he get a reliever. But we thought, we can not wait any longer as we have to make the 18N 81E also which is definitely a difficult one for us. We thanked him and proceed in the direction he has shown. He has served us with hot and nice tea.

It was a mountainous region and through thick forest, we had to twist and turn thru the hill range to reach to the other side of the lake. We found small interior roads like tracks of bullock carts. (full of mud and dust), which led us to a hamlet called as “Timmapur” where we found our first point of the day. We had to walk just about 436 meters into the fields to find “18N 80E”. We had traveled extra distance of 35 Kms (encircling the hills to avoid the lake).

It is necessary to mention about G Prakash, son of a farmer and a student of fifth grade, whom we met near this confluence point. I was pleasantly surprised when this kid asked me “Uncle, where are u going?”. I and chandra felt great to answer his queries regarding our objective of the expedition. Prakash was smart and inquisitive kid. We patted Prakash on his intelligent queries and spoke to his farmer parents before we left this confluence point for the next.

Contact Info:
Praveen Goggi, +91-98851-98951 or +91-20-295-3090
Chandra Dasaka, +91-40-3090-2105