Hyderabad: Unknown to many, the country’s third highest waterfall could be hidden away in a remote corner of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.
According to Dr Dyavanapalli Satyanarayana, explorer, the water falls from an estimated 700 feet at Gaddalasari. If confirmed, this could be India’s third highest after the Nohkalikai falls (1,100 feet in Meghalaya) and Jog falls (Karnataka, 830 feet).
The waterfall can be reached after walking nine km from village Ramachandrapuram on the way to Cherla from Pusuru while crossing the Godavari, he said. There is no proper road leading to the spot.
Mr Satyanarayana recently visited the place in the middle of forests along with local leaders and tribals.
“The waterfall height can be some 700 feet. If it is confirmed by taking measurements, it can be on par with the highest waterfalls of India,” he said.
Stone implements which indicate that the site was over 1.25 lakh years-old.
“It is so high that the water does not fall to the ground directly. The flow of water is affected by the wind so that it appears like a long snake,” Dr Satyanarayana noted.
Another interesting factor of the waterfall was that it gave shelter to prehistoric people over one lakh years ago.
“People constructed floors and bunds on and against the currents flowing from the waterfall. Based on the material like pebbles seen here which belongs to three successive ages Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic it can be said that prehistoric people lived there right from at least 1,25,000 years BP (Before Present) to 20,000 years BP.” he said.
These dates were arrived after collaborating the evidences found here with the evidences found and interpreted by the archaeologist Thakur Raja Ram Singh, Dr Satyanarayana added.
