BHUBANESWAR: Waterfalls have always drawn the adventurous. Two adventure enthusiasts, Deepak Kumar Nayak and Subhasish Dash, visited a lesser-known waterfall in Khandapada Forest Range near Malisahi village in Nayagarh.
The waterfall is locally known as Rajgiri and is located around 15 km from Nayagarh city. Recently, Deepak Kumar Nayak and Subhasish Dash visited Bhubaneswar and Orissa POST interacted with them to know more about their trek.
Talking to Orissa POST, Deepak said that he got the information from one Niranjan Pradhan, a teacher at nearby Gatikesh High School in Malisahi village.
Niranjan arranged one of his students, Subash Ch. Barad, to help the adventure duo to reach the waterfall inside the core area of Khandapada Forest. The distance of Rajagiri from Malisahi is 9 km, of which the first 6 km is accessible to two-wheelers.
Then one has to trek 3 km to climb the hill inside the deep wilderness to reach the hill top where the waterfall originates. At the top of the hill, the villagers of Malisahi had built a small Hanuman temple.
“Rajgiri is actually a three-stepped waterfall. A stream originating from the top of the hills constitutes this beautiful waterfall. It flows around the hill to become a small river called Baghamari,” Deepak said.
“We were able to locate two waterfalls and a bigger one was there under it which was difficult to reach as there was no way to get down there. The huge stream of water rolling over the rocky surface of Rajgiri is a treat to the eyes and it takes away all the pains of the trekking. The huge waterfall is comparable to the famous Khandadhara falls of Sundargarh, but it still remains totally unknown,” Deepakj added.
The people of Malisahi have urged the government to take steps to improve transportation to the waterfalls. This place has a great potential to attract adventure enthusiasts and tourists. If properly managed this can be a very popular destination on the tourism map of Odisha, they said.