Day 2 at Hampi – Sai Plaza Cafe and The Coracle Boat Ride in Sanapur Lake
It’s funny when everyone plans to get up early in the morning to catch the sunrise. As every night at a new place involves discussions around hometowns or places we explored lately. Our first night at Hampi was awesome talking on the terrace of our guesthouse sipping the last coffee from the cafe. So this is Day 2 at Hampi – Sai Plaza Cafe and The Coracle Boat Ride in Sanapur Lake read on.
The Morning
We woke up late actually some of us woke up late. As some friends, even went to the other side of Hampi to get some breakfast. Waking up, we quickly freshened up and headed to the place mentioned on our whatsapp “Sai Plaza”. Not knowing much about the place we went to the river where you need to pay 10INR/person for the boat on which you cross the river. And also carry your bikes and scooters on the boat to explore the other side.
You can also walk through the boulders when the water is low. But we took the boat as we were already late to start our day. We also saw some people on a Coracle boat which we wanted to do that day.
Other Side of Hampi
The other side of Hampi was more greener with palm trees surrounded by grasslands. Sai Plaza was not that far from the river. The beautiful cafe cum guest house was covered with trees all over. Inside the cafe you find tables with mattresses on both sides and the view of the Hampi river on the side. It is decorated with lamps, posters and paintings with a guitar for everyone to play.
We drank some coffee and headed for the Coracle Boat ride in Sanapur Lake. It was almost afternoon when we started from the cafe and the sun was at its full. The autowalas charge you very high, so taking cycles while you are, there is really a good option. After reaching the lake we saw a sign which said that the lake had crocodiles and stuff.
The Coracle Boat Ride
There were 2-3 people with their Coracle Boats to give you a ride around the lake. Charges range from 30-60 INR depends on the season times. Coracle is a saucer shaped primitive boat which is rowed with a paddle and made up of reed, saplings and hide. The rower uses the paddle to move it in circles to go from one place to another. Made of thin strips of bamboo from the bottom interwoven into a lattice framework the pattern is followed to raise the sides. To make the bottom of the Coracle stronger and waterproof, they use layers of tar or plastic which makes it even heavier from the sides.
They are famous to carry heavy loads from bikes to luggage including a group of people. We asked the guy giving us the ride about the crocodiles. Which he relieved us saying that it’s a rumour to keep the tourists away from the water as they took dives into the lake from different sides. Which became a problem as many of them hurt themselves in the act.
After the ride we headed towards the trek to the birthplace of Hanuman in Hampi. Will finish up the write up by next week, so don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter and follow us on the below social media accounts.
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I have never been to South India and now I see what all I have missed in all these years. I am taking down the names of the places, thank you Avinash, you have in a way helped me prepare a new “to-do” list”. By the way, beautiful snaps. Keep travelling.
Thanks Amit. Glad to see my words and photos got someone excited to explore South India :). Checkout my youtube channel @youtube.com/wandercrumbs which will tempt you more to come here. Haha 🙂