The dawn unfolds gradually, and a golden horizon pops into view as the sun rises from the midst of dense, wispy clouds. The morning is cool and crisp, and every sense is heightened as one witnesses the dreamlike cascade of clouds billow like a river. The sun rises over the cleaving of two hills and soon you find yourself standing above a veritable abode of clouds, which float like sea waves would, under the influence. Soon, the mountain tops reveal themselves, leaving you to behold the canvas of a beautiful morning.
Rising 3,400 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL), the Vanjangi Hills are home to one of the most beautiful sunrises. They get their name from a village near Paderu in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, in Visakhapatnam district. Vanjangi is the latest hill station in India to have surfaced and is enjoying quite a moment among mountain lovers.
The majestic views from the Vanjangi hills was something largely unheard of until recently. The place shot to fame recently after trekkers and nature lovers, ecstatic about their discovery, shared their experience on social media.
This newly discovered hill haven has already earned the moniker Megha Samudram, or, the Ocean of Clouds. And the naming seems quite appropriate, too, since never have tourists witnessed an assemblage of clouds at such an altitudes, every beautiful morning. The golden light tinting the cloud cover as it floats endlessly, is actually a sight not to be missed.
The sparsely populated village suddenly saw an incredible increase in the numbers of trekkers and population that flock the hill point to view the resplendence of the clouds, which is something that might also become a concern in the time to come and cause problems such as overcrowding and pollution, something that hill stations in India are already grappling with.
Nevertheless, Vanjangi is fast coming up as a hot new tourist destination, a must-go for people in Visakhapatnam and it's hard to resist the urge to not do so. It takes about a 3-hour drive from Visakhapatnam to reach the vantage point as it is around 100km from the city and 6km from the village Paderu. A five-kilometre walk through the forest in the wee hours of the morning must be done in order to reach the hilltop in time for sunrise.
While uncontrolled footfall and little administrative control can often turn such beautiful destinations into plastic dumps left by irresponsible travellers, the locals are hopeful that government intervention will help with responsible tourism so as to not destroy the place.
