Bijapur Bastar Chhattisgarh
The south western part of Bastar was carved out in the year 2007 also known as Birjapur earlier. The NH 16 passes through the Bijapur town connecting Nizamabad in Telangana. It is about 90kms south from Dantewada and 145kms from Jagdalpur. Although the area is affected by the Maoists insurgency one can still enjoy the vast and dense forest filled with flowering Palash in the month of March. Indravati River is the main geographival feature while visiting the area. Here tigers and panthers are known as human eaters due to scarcity of natural food supplement. The district is rich in forests but they are dry forest regions comprising of forest range and rock regions. The natives of the district are mostly the tribes who are experts on a lot many aspects.
The details of Bijapur’s major tourist places are described below,
Bhairamdev Temple
The temple is one of the important ones in the Bastar district and requires a lot of investigation to be done to fully discover it. The temple is located in Bhairamgarh in Bijapur and a rock cut Ardhanariswar carved on large boulders. The image belongs to 13-14th century AD. It is an incarnation of Lord Shiva, believed Lord of Maa Danteswari.
Within 500 meters to the temple, several sculptures related to Nag Kings are found which are of historical importance. Rare image of Lord Brahma in the area proves its architectural value. Hence, this excavation proves how old the monument is and requires an urgent attention to improve the condition.
Bhadrakali Temple
The temple in the Bhadrakali village is 20kms from Bhopalpatnam. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Kali. Locals believe that the Kakatiya ruler who was a believer of Goddess Kali installed the picture here first. The place where the temple is located was a cave earlier situated within the dense forests. A large fair is held on the Vasant Panchami day and devotees from far off places of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra visit here. Agni kund is held here where people walk through a bed of red hot coal.
Indravati National Park
The major attraction of the place is the Indravati National Park which has derived its name from the Indravati River and is an IUCN, category 2 national park. The park is a house to many different types of birds like Hill Myanas and wild buffaloes. The park also contains species of barking deer, chital, nilgai, asian buffalo, blackbuck, antelope, sambar, wild dogs, etc.
The flora at the place is rich in forest trees like sal, mahua, tendu, simal, jamun and teak. The best season to visit the park is between Decembers to June.
Bhairamgarh wildlife sanctuary
It is situated in the North eastern part of Bijapur. It is surrounded by two major National parks ie., Indravati National Park and Kanger Valley National Park. The government established the place in 1983 to protect the remaining groups of wild buffalo along with other animals and birds. Birds like darters, wood packers, quails, green pigeons and parrots are found here. Animals like nilgai, sambar, barking deer, sloth bear, etc are also found here.
It is situated 139kms from Jagdalpur, 50kms from Bijapur and 40kms from dantewada. The best time to visit the park is during the Novembers to June.
Pamed wild life sanctuary
The sanctuary was established in 1983 and an area of 260 square kms. The sanctuary is filled with forest trees like sal and teak. The fauna found here includes wild dog, sloth bear, jackal, wolf, hyena, nilgai, bison, leopard and tigers. The sanctuary is filled with variety of birds as well.
Nimbi waterfall
The highest waterfall of the state is around 60kms from Bijapur and deep inside the forest. The water gushes from a height of 500 to 600 feet. It is difficult to access the waterfall due to inaccessible terrain; however, it has a pristine surrounding altogether.
Lankapalli waterfall
The waterfall consists of sever kundas and is formed by river Chintavagu. The waterfall falls from a height of 100 feet. The waterfall can be visited in the rainy seasons and winters. It is named after the river Lankapalli.
Bogtum waterfall
The waterfall is 3kms from Podaspalli village which is 12kms from Bhopalpatnam of Bijapur district. The best time to visit the fall is during winters as the place is inaccessible during the rainy seasons.
Sakal Narayan cave and temple
The Sakalnarayan hills are around 50kms from Bijapur. After crossing the 1km terrain and forest, a cave can be found.
It is opened to the public on Gudi Parva/Ugadi. When one enters the main door of the cave, many other tunnels are opened up where one can notice the statues of Lord Krishna and Sesh Nag.
Usur cave and Usur waterfall along with Shankanpalli caves of Bijapur are very less explored, however, the places are great to visit and require immediate attention.
