On The Road to The Highest Peak of Odisha: Scenic Views to Lessons

Planning and setting for a road trip is always exciting to me, as getting location ideas from Google Maps/ people, looking for the best stay options available, and finally searching for videos and images of the place to have a preliminary idea. My trips have fewer location visits and more experience with the roads and nature, like more quality time over quantity. But one thing is for sure, everyone's road trip experience is unique on its own, as everyone has their own expectations and interests from the trip, and last but not least, the unforeseen. The road trip from Bhubaneswar to Deomali (the highest mountain peak of Odisha) has always been on my list for the past couple of years since my last visit to Koraput. Which was a marriage function in April 2022, and within the rituals and friend reunion, missed the opportunity to witness the beauty of Odisha. But as they say, things happen for the better; in October 2024, I got an opportunity, this time with not just a visit to the mountains but rather something of more firm interest, a road trip. This trip would be my longest drive time with my car and wife, and I hope through this blog, you will experience nature while feeling and enjoying the connection between man and the automobile alongside me.

 

The Deomali mountain peak is part of India's Eastern Ghats mountain range and is located in the Koraput district of Odisha. This road is among the most adventurous in Odisha, comprising smooth highways (NH-16, AH-45), some state highways, and ghats (ghati in Odia). The journey from Bhubaneswar to Deomali is around 500 km, with the fastest route requiring a driving time of 9 hr via Andhra Pradesh and the Sunki Ghati. This was a two-day and two-night trip. We started this trip in the second half of the day, so I decided to stay at Razam, but unfortunately, the resort is no longer listed on hoteling websites, forcing me to stay at Srikakulam city in Andra Pradesh instead. The next morning was Maha Ashtami, and it was the eighth day of the Navaratri festival during Durga puja, a significant day in our culture, so we both woke up early and paid a visit to the nearest temple. After the visit to the temple and breakfast, it was finally time to start the next day's drive and continue our journey. After driving for some time on the AH, we finally took the turn from Chilakapalem towards the Sunki mountain pass. The mountain pass climb starts from Salur, which is 100 m above sea level and continues via Sunki till Pottangi, which is around 1000 m above, and this is where you re-enter Odisha at the Sunki ghat checkpost. This mountain pass is around 30 km and is filled with many V-bends and U-bends while simultaneously gaining altitude and experiencing the view of the valley. After an hour more drive, we reached the Deomali Desia Eco Stays around noon, where we would stay for the night. The cottage had a crude smell of the mud on which it was built and a raw feeling of the place; in short, it was a good blend of history, tradition, and all modern facilities. We both decided to quickly gulp our lunch as we were both hungry, and to our surprise, the food was simple and suited our taste buds well. Until now, it was smooth; we decided to visit the Rani Duduma waterfall near Deomali. This being my first long trip as a solo driver, I had many thoughts and Deomali being a bit off place, made me extra cautious with things, so before heading further to the waterfall, I decided to top up my tank, as I had no idea of the roads and the durations. Then we started following Google Maps towards the waterfall, and somehow, because I was being more cautious, I asked some locals to double-check the route. To my surprise, they all showed a different route than the one suggested by Google Maps. I followed the locals but then got lost in between, and this made me a bit sad, as I was running out of the limited daylight left to see the place and then returned to witness the sunset at Deomali Peak. Finally, I decided to drop the idea of visiting that location and instead visit the HAL Museum, which was a bit nearby and on a known road and even fit into my schedule so as not to miss the sunset. Again, to my dismay, I found the museum to be closed, but some locals suggested waiting, as it opens in the early evening, which made me think twice about whether to stay or leave, but I decided to stay as it was just fifteen minutes wait, as suggested. But as we all know, Indian standard time works on its own time frame. My hopes for witnessing the sunset were diminishing by now, so out of frustration, I decided to wait for the last five minutes or move on. While all these things were happening, I kept the car's blower running so as not to waste fuel during the waiting time, and this would be such a disaster later I had no idea. So when I finally gave up all hopes of visiting the museum and decided to leave, my car didn't crank. At first, I thought it was some error, so I shut everything and tried restarting. The restarting trial failed, and I was assured I was doomed! I just sat down on the seat, and my head was flooded with multiple negative and sad emotions. This is where my wife took up the charge and looked nearby for help, and trust me, it was such an act that made a lot of difference and restored hope and confidence in me. This is even the learning part of the trip: both man and machine can break but hope sustains the ability to keep moving. Even this taught me to be more involved with the machine and be cautious with different car elements, like the battery, electronics, and mechanicals, when on a road trip. So I used this as a learning tool and ordered some jumper cables to jump-start the vehicle in an emergency and some spanners to at least look at basic faults, like the spark plugs, tyres and air filter. Such incidents add to the adventure quotient of the road trip and are a test of the company with you! Finally we found a mechanic who got his car (Lord Alto) and helped us jump-start our TATA Tiago. Had the car been a manual unit, I could have started it without any hassle by simply rolling it on the road; now, because it is an automatic transmission unit, the car needs the battery to operate the gears when the engine is cut off. This car breakdown experience was a food for thought for the mechanical quotient in me. The mechanic guy was even helpful in referring us to a shop to replace the battery, as it was Durga puja time, and many shops remained closed. Although, from experience, he said the battery would get charged and run smoothly ahead, as I had 30 km running left that day, we decided not to take any chance and to be safer. As all visits and events that day were ruined, we decided to have a sunrise view, for which we needed to take the car to the hilltop by 5 am the next morning; this was the primary reason to replace the battery, to not ruin this! Post the battery replacement event, I was still a bit dejected, so I gave it a try and drove to the hilltop; anyway, we were staying in the foothills, but the sunset and it all went dark, so we returned to our cottage. It was only after getting a shower and settling in a bit of the silent environment the star-filled dark contrasting sky and the coolness of the valley chilled my nerves. The next morning, which was actually a pre-morning, we both woke up and got ready to witness the sunrise. As I approached the car, my adrenalin rushed as I put in the keys to crank the engine; due to the previous evening's experience and the place being a foot-hill, the engine had to start in the dew-cold condition. let me take a second to explain this, the engine needs to burn oil to produce power, and in cold temperatures, the heat energy produced by the spark plug (in petrol cars) might not be sufficient to ignite. Just as we face difficulty burning things on winter days. In such a case, the engine might require multiple crankings to become sufficiently heated to start and sustain fuel burning, which consumes high battery power, and we had installed a new one, which hadn't been used much till now. But the stars favoured us, and the engine successfully cranked on a single go. The ascend to the Deomali hilltop was such a pleasant experience; with the early morning stars still visible, we both stayed gazing at them, and camera photographs cannot justify this experience. Finally, we reached the place, parked our vehicle, and set up the tripod to capture the sunrise. Before this, I had experienced sunrise only at beaches, which had never been a well-suited experience due to the clouds, etc. This time, it was a completely different experience, and I feel the same nerve as I pen down my experience here; it is picture-perfect to the brain, hope some photographs below justify my emotions. The sky behind the mountain peaks to the East slowly turned reddish, then reddish-yellow, and the cold dew air around just added to the serenity of this phenomenon.

    

After spending a sufficiently relaxed amount of time enjoying the phenomena and soaking in the views, I clicked some photographs of the Deomali Peak behind where the sun's rays first strike and of the machine, which enabled us to witness this beauty. 

 

Wrapping up everything, we descended the hill to the resort, and the host welcomed us with some tea, and we had some biscuits to fulfil the combination. I enjoyed each sip while gazing at the mountain before me and feeling the sun's radiations slowly warming up the planet and starting the other phenomena on the planet. After such an experience-filled morning, we had no more sleepy feeling, so we planned to get ready and start our return journey. The resort served us our usual breakfast options, and we enjoyed the breakfast similar to the lunch and dinner, which had a very simple and homely feel, as it was cooked by the locals only. The resort staff bid us a warm farewell, singing their traditional folk song with a rawness and an unexplainable vibe. Soaking all these in, I finally cranked the engine, bidding farewell to the Deomali mountains and following the same route back home. "All's well that ends well."

This trip showed me how life is so unpredictable and has its own course of action; as much we try to fit everything in, taking calculated risks, anything can happen at any moment. The moment that feels so stuck up, facing it with courage and hope is important, and definitely, the company plays a critical role in inducing the courage; so many leaders quote, "If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together." So, the amalgam of enthusiasm, patience and hope can lead to something beyond your imagination on this tiny planet in the vast cosmos.