Charre-marre Waterfall
Dense forest, sharp curving valleys, enchanting mountains, the innumerous cascades and rapids, this is what Chhattisgarh is all about. Nature has embraced Chhattisgarh to its extreme. But wait……..you must know why? Nature will convince to adore any place, only when you leave the place untrodden. But it’s a human nature…he always likes to explore new aim, new goal, new places……one such perfect tourist destination is the Charre-marre waterfall of Kanker .
source: www.kanker.gov.in
Where and How to reach?
Charre-marre waterfall is known as the jewel or crown of Kanker district. On National highway no. 30 i.e. between Jagdalpur to Raipur; from Kanker via Bhanupratappur and Antagarh, a metalled road(state highway) goes upto Narayanpur. In this way at Antagarh, just 12 km away from it, lies the beautiful waterfall of Charre-marre. One more alternate is there, you can reach Kondagaon (comes between NH-30, 70 kms from Jagdalpur) and follow the state highway to Antagarh via Narayanpur. Regarding lodging and boarding, rest houses are available in Narayanpur and Antagarh and as Narayanpur is the District Head Quarter, you can easily get necessary materials required for your tour.
source: www.mapsofindia.com
Obviously rainy season is the best season to enjoy any waterfall, whereas October to December is more advisable, as it is a mountainous river and tends to be wild during rains.
Salient Features:
12 kms from Antagarh, towards Amabeda, lies the beautiful valley of “Pinjadin” , the beauty of which is doubled by the leaf shading forest, sharp U and V blind turns of the approach road. This valley has got a beautiful crescent shape which is venerated by giant masses of Granite rock and adored by a river called Antagarh river. Local people name it as “ Kutri nadi”. Due to this slopy turns and depression between the valley, Local people used to call this valley as “Kadaahi Khodra (means the depth of a bowl)”.
Following the stages of underlain rocks, Antagarh river falls from great height and forms Charre- marre waterfall, in addition to which 35m of fall can be seen falling straight to the reservoir(kund) below. Further moving far, it meets Kotri river, which is considered to be the tributary of Indravati and Mahanadi. Its origin is believed to be from a Nala of the Pinjadi fields near around.
One of the unique feature of this marvel is that this is the only waterfall in Bastar division, which can be enjoyed as one complete view, otherwise in other waterfalls like Tirathgarh, Chitrakote e.t.c, you have to come down to the fall depth to enjoy in its extreme. So, Charre-marre is not provided by any watch tower or gallery, in fact, it is beautiful from any view.
On one side of its upper view, there lie two idols of Lord Hanuman…one of which is ruined and kept exposed outside, while the other one is still in better condition, and kept inside a house shaped temple, built by the local bodies. Mostly people used to offer nearby stones or pebbles to Lord Hanuman’s Idols, as the local people believe that clapping and then offering stones (during prayers) will render them blessing when the stone will be accepted. Due to this fact only, people offer stone donation to Lord Hanuman there.
Conclusion:
The fall is so famous in Kanker and the neighbouring districts that tourist start flooding right from the beginning of rains, but as the valley is very slopy, site seeing in winter is most advisable. Inviting forest, beautiful mountainous river, enchanting valley, exotic cascade……what else you want for the best of your tour!!!! In the end, I must suggest that this is an ideal site for tracking.
(Note: A part of this citation is inspired from the facts given by Dr. Suresh Tiwari. I pay my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Suresh Tiwari for inspiring me by writing such a great book- “Bastar-Paryatan, Itihaas aur Sanskriti”.)
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