Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Koraput: A Journey into Another World

1–5 October 2026 | Odisha’s Hidden Tribal Heartland

Deomali • Duduma • Jeypore • Koraput • Tribal Odisha. Treat Kotpad, Kundra and Girla as a separate circuit .

THURSDAY, 1 OCTOBER : Kolkata → Koraput | The Journey Begins 

Some journeys are about reaching a destination. Others are about entering a different world.

This October, we travel to Koraput and the extraordinary tribal belt of southern Odisha—a region of mountains, forests, waterfalls, traditional agriculture, handloom, music and communities whose cultural history is very different from the Odisha most visitors know through Puri, Bhubaneswar and the coastal plains.

Koraput lies in the Eastern Ghats, close to the borders of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. More than half of the district’s population is Scheduled Tribe, with major communities including the Paroja, Kondh, Gadaba, Bhottada/Bhatra, Bhumia and Omanatya, among others. The district administration describes Koraput as the heartland of tribal Odisha.

This is therefore not simply a trip to another Odisha destination. It is a journey into a very different cultural landscape within Odisha itself.

THURSDAY, 1 OCTOBER

22:10 — Howrah Junction

We board Train No. 18005, Samaleswari Express, from Howrah.

The Samaleswari is almost a destination in itself: a long railway journey from eastern India’s great riverine plains into the Eastern Ghats. The train leaves Howrah at 22:10 and reaches Koraput Junction at 19:15 the following evening.

Overnight — On board

As the train travels west and south-west, the landscape gradually changes—from the densely settled plains of Bengal towards the forested and mountainous country of southern Odisha.


FRIDAY, 2 OCTOBER

Arrival in Koraput — The Hills Begin

19:15 — Koraput Junction

After approximately 21 hours 5 minutes from Howrah, we arrive at Koraput.

Koraput stands at about 870 metres above sea level and is surrounded by the Eastern Ghats. Its geographical isolation historically meant that large parts of the region remained relatively distant from the political and cultural centres of coastal Odisha.

The district formed part of several historical kingdoms, including the Satavahana, Nala and Ganga spheres, but its forested hills limited permanent outside control.

19:15–20:00 — Station → accommodation

Check in, freshen up and have dinner.

Night

An early night is advisable. The next two days are going to involve long drives through the Eastern Ghats, rather than conventional urban sightseeing.


SATURDAY, 3 OCTOBER

Jeypore → Deomali → Talamali → Jeypore Lunch → Kenduguda → Festival → Kotpad → Girla → Jeypore




Time                    Programme



6:30 AM              Leave Jeypore

8:45–9:30 AM     Deomali – Odisha's highest peak; views, photographs and short walk

9:30 AM Leave   Deomali

10:00–10:30 AM Talamali – hilltop / landscape views

10:30 AM Leave Talamali for Jeypore

12:00–1:00 PM   Lunch in Jeypore

1:00 PM Leave   Jeypore for Kenduguda

1:30–2:00 PM     Kenduguda – village visit

2:00–3:30 PM     Festival visit

3:30 PM              Leave for Kotpad - Handloom cluster

4:15–5:00 PM    Kotpad – handloom / local market / town

5:00 PM             Leave for Girla - the village of wood carving artists

5:30–6:15 PM    Girla – village and surrounding landscape

6:15 PM             Leave  Girla for Jeypore

7:15–7:30 PM    Back in Jeypore



06:30 AM — Leave Jeypore

Start from Jeypore by car at 6:30 AM. The early departure is important because Deomali is the first major stop and you want to reach there before the day gets too warm.

08:45–09:30 AM — Deomali

Reach Deomali, Odisha's highest peak, after roughly 2–2½ hours of driving.

Spend around 45 minutes here for the mountain scenery, photographs and a short walk. There is no need to attempt a lengthy trek—the objective is to enjoy the landscape and then continue with the day's circuit.

This is the major landscape experience of the morning.

09:30 AM — Leave Deomali

Drive towards Talamali.

10:00–10:30 AM — Talamali

Spend about 30 minutes at Talamali, taking in the hilltop views and surrounding Eastern Ghats landscape.

I would keep this stop relatively short because Deomali has already provided the principal mountain experience of the morning.

10:30 AM — Talamali → Jeypore

Instead of stopping for lunch somewhere on the road, return towards Jeypore.

This adds some backtracking, but gives you a much more predictable lunch break and avoids wasting time searching for food later in the rural part of the circuit.

12:00–1:00 PM — Lunch in Jeypore

Have a proper lunch in Jeypore.

Keep the lunch break to around one hour. The idea is to eat comfortably without allowing lunch to derail the afternoon programme.

Practical approach: choose a restaurant in or close to the town centre so that you can get back on the road quickly.

01:00 PM — Leave Jeypore for Kenduguda

After lunch, leave Jeypore by car for Kenduguda.

The afternoon now becomes the cultural part of the journey rather than another mountain excursion.

01:30–02:00 PM — Kenduguda

Reach Kenduguda and spend a short time looking around the village and its surroundings.

If the festival is being held at or close to Kenduguda, do not spend too much time sightseeing separately here—the festival should be the main experience.

02:00–03:30 PM — Festival Visit

This is the main cultural block of the afternoon.

Allow around 1½ hours to experience the festival rather than simply dropping in for a few photographs.

For your blog, this is likely to be one of the most interesting portions of the day: the people, traditional dress, music, dance, local food, crafts and general atmosphere will provide much more material than a quick roadside stop.

Photography note: ask before photographing individuals, particularly during rituals or community activities.

03:30 PM — Leave for Kotpad

After the festival, start towards Kotpad.

04:15–05:00 PM — Kotpad

Spend around 45 minutes in Kotpad.

Kotpad is particularly interesting for its traditional handloom and naturally dyed textiles. This is a good place to look for local weaving activity and, if available, speak to weavers or visit a cooperative/local outlet.


Deomali's mountains → tribal festival → Kotpad's handloom tradition.

05:00 PM — Leave Kotpad for Girla

Continue towards Girla.

05:30–06:15 PM — Girla

Spend around 45 minutes in Girla.

This should be a quieter village experience after the more active festival and Kotpad visit. Look at the surrounding countryside, village life, houses and agricultural landscape.

Again, be respectful about photographing people and private homes.

06:15 PM — Girla → Jeypore

Start the return journey to Jeypore.

07:15–07:30 PM — Back in Jeypore


The major tribal communities of Koraput

The Paroja are among the largest tribal communities in the district. They are widely distributed across Koraput, Jeypore, Kundra, Borigumma, Boipariguda, Semiliguda and neighbouring areas. Their traditional cultural expressions include Dhemsa dance, Dungdunga and folk songs.

The Kondh/Kandha are another major community of the Eastern Ghats, particularly in the hill blocks around Koraput. Their traditional life is strongly associated with agriculture, forests and hill landscapes.

The Gadaba, concentrated particularly around Lamtaput, Similiguda and Pottangi, are famous for Dhemsa dance and music. They traditionally cultivate millets, pulses and niger seed and have a strong connection with shifting cultivation.

The Bhottada/Bhatra, Bhumia, Omanatya, Dharua, Parenga, Pentia, Kondadora and Saora are among the other communities that contribute to the extraordinary ethnic mosaic of the district. The 2011 Census-based district profile lists Paroja, Kondh, Bhottada, Gadaba, Bhumia and Omanatya among the larger tribal populations.


A NOTE ABOUT KOTPAD

Kotpad is a separate destination, approximately 50 km from Jeypore and roughly 60–70 km from Koraput depending on the road reference.

Kotpad is famous for its vegetable-dyed handloom, produced traditionally by the Mirgan weaving community. The distinctive colours come from natural dyes, particularly the roots of the aul tree and other plant materials. Kotpad Handloom became the first Odisha handloom product to receive a Geographical Indication tag, in 2005.

The textiles were traditionally made for neighbouring tribal communities including the Bhatra, Dharua and Paroja.

SUNDAY, 4 OCTOBER

Jeypore → Lamtaput → Gadaba Music & Dance → Duduma → Gupteswar Shiva temple → Jeypore



TimeProgramme
05:30 AMLeave Jeypore
06:30 AMReach Lamtaput
06:30–07:00Lamtaput / festival venue
07:00–08:30Gadaba tribal music & dance
08:30 AMLeave Lamtaput
10:00–11:30Duduma Waterfall / Machkund
11:30 AMLeave Duduma
01:00–01:45 PMSimple lunch en route
02:00–03:30Gupteswar Shiva Temple & Cave
03:30 PMLeave Gupteswar
05:30–06:00 PMBack in Jeypore




05:30 AM — Leave Jeypore

Start early from Jeypore by car.

Lamtaput is roughly 41 km from Jeypore by road, although online route sources give varying distances depending on the precise starting point and route.

The early start is worthwhile because the day's principal cultural event is the Gadaba tribal music and dance programme, and you don't want to reach Lamtaput late.

06:30–08:30 AM — Lamtaput

Reach Lamtaput and spend the morning around the town and the festival/cultural venue.

Lamtaput is particularly associated with the Gadaba tribal community. The Odisha State Tribal Museum identifies Lamtaput, along with Similiguda, Pottangi and Khairiput, as an important Gadaba area. The Gadaba are known for their music and dance traditions, including Dhemsa, performed particularly during festivals and social occasions.

07:00–08:30 AM — Gadaba Tribal Music & Dance

Make this the main event of the morning.

The Gadaba Dhemsa tradition is particularly visual: women dance in a semi-circle while the men provide the instrumental accompaniment. Traditional instruments include the tamudibaja, madal, tamak and mahuri.

For your blog, this is likely to be one of the strongest cultural experiences of the entire Koraput trip.

Photography: ask permission before photographing individuals, especially during a ritual or community performance.

08:30 AM — Leave Lamtaput

Now begin the drive towards Duduma / Machkund.

10:00–11:30 AM — Duduma Waterfall

Duduma Waterfall

Duduma, also known as Matsya Tirtha, is formed by the Machkund River and lies in the dramatic Eastern Ghats landscape on the Odisha–Andhra Pradesh border. The waterfall is variously described as around 157–175 metres, depending on the source and measurement used.

The Machhkund River plunges through the Eastern Ghats. The waterfall is surrounded by rugged hills and dense greenery and lies close to the tribal belt of southern Koraput and neighbouring Malkangiri

Allow about 1½ hours here.

I would not attempt the full descent to the bottom on this itinerary. The official tourism description notes a roughly 1,000-step staircase to the base; with Gupteswar still to come, the viewpoint is the sensible choice for this particular day.

The Machkund gorge, the waterfall and the forested Eastern Ghats make this your major natural-landscape stop.

11:30 AM — Leave Duduma

Start towards Gupteswar.

This is where the day becomes a little more relaxed: you have already done the major waterfall visit and can use the drive to enjoy the changing hill-and-forest landscape.

01:00–01:45 PM — Lunch en route

Have a simple lunch on the way, rather than returning to Jeypore for lunch.

I would keep this to 45 minutes maximum. The objective is to preserve enough time for Gupteswar.

If the Lamtaput programme runs late, make lunch even simpler—this is not the day for a leisurely restaurant lunch.

02:00–03:30 PM — Gupteswar Shiva Temple

Reach Gupteswar, the famous cave shrine dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The temple is inside a natural limestone cave, reached by a climb of roughly 200 steps.

Allow about 1½ hours for:

  • the climb to the cave;
  • darshan at the Shiva shrine;
  • seeing the cave formations;
  • the surrounding forest landscape.

This is a very different experience from Duduma: waterfall and wilderness in the morning, cave temple and mythology in the afternoon.

03:30 PM — Leave Gupteswar

Start the return journey to Jeypore.

05:30–06:00 PM — Back in Jeypore

Depending on road conditions and the time spent at the stops, aim to reach Jeypore around 5:30–6:00 PM.


WHY THIS PART OF ODISHA FEELS SO DIFFERENT

For a traveller accustomed to Bhubaneswar–Puri–Konark–Cuttack, southern Koraput can feel almost like another geographical and cultural world.

Coastal Odisha is dominated by the great temple cities, deltaic plains, classical Odia culture and long-established urban settlements.

Koraput is an Eastern Ghats landscape: mountains, forests, dispersed settlements, shifting and settled cultivation, weekly markets, oral traditions, tribal languages and community-based cultural practices.

The district administration records more than 50% of Koraput’s population as tribal, with numerous distinct communities.

The difference is therefore not merely scenic. It is historical, linguistic, social and economic.

THE BONDA — ONE OF INDIA’S MOST DISTINCTIVE TRIBES

A special mention must be made of the Bonda (Bondo/Remo)—although strictly speaking their main homeland is in the Bondo Hills of neighbouring Malkangiri district, rather than the Koraput town area.

The Bonda are one of Odisha’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups/PVTGs. Their traditional homeland is a remote mountainous area around Khairput in Malkangiri. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs describes them as speakers of Remo, a Munda/Austro-Asiatic language.

They are particularly famous for the distinctive appearance and traditional dress of Bonda women: shaved heads, colourful bead necklaces, metal ornaments and the traditional ringa garment. Their cultural isolation historically helped preserve distinctive traditions.

Their traditional economy combines cultivation, forest produce, hunting and wage labour. Crops include rice, black gram, maize, minor millets and oilseeds.

Palm wine has traditionally played an important role in Bonda life and is specifically documented in government ethnographic material.

An important clarification about their appearance

The Bonda are an indigenous South Asian tribal community whose language belongs to the Munda branch of the Austro-Asiatic family. Some older ethnographic descriptions have drawn attention to physical characteristics that observers considered distinctive, but resemblance in some physical features should not be confused with African ancestry. They come to visit the Onkadeli marke on Thrusday only. If you are a fan of photography, this is the time to visit the Onkadeli market.

https://maverickbird.com/india/onkadeli-tribal-market/

There is another community in the Koraput area—the Dharua/Durua—for which the Koraput district’s own older ethnographic material uses a comparison with African populations. That terminology is dated and should be treated as an historical ethnographic description, not as a statement of ancestry.

THE FOOD OF TRIBAL SOUTHERN ODISHA

Food is another reason this region feels different.

The traditional diet is closely linked to agriculture and the forest.

Common staples include:

·         Rice

·         Millets

·         Maize

·         Black gram and other pulses

·         Niger seed

·         Seasonal vegetables and leafy greens

·         Forest produce

·         Fish and locally available meat in communities where these form part of the traditional diet

·         Traditional fermented drinks, including mahua/palm-based preparations in different communities

The region also has its own agricultural treasures. Koraput Kalajeera rice, a fragrant black-coloured aromatic rice traditionally cultivated in the district, has received a GI tag.

So this is not merely a place to photograph tribal villages. The food itself tells the story of a mountain agricultural civilisation.

Forest Foraged & Botanical Delicacies

Karadi & Hendua (Fermented Bamboo Shoots): Tender bamboo shoots harvested from Eastern Ghat forests, prepared either fresh (Karadi) into spicy, mustard-infused curries or sun-dried and fermented (Hendua) to add an intense earthy, umami funk to stews.


Wild Indigenous Mushrooms (Boda & Balisiriya Chhatu) : Rare wild mushrooms foraged from termite mounds and forest leaf-litter, cooked over firewood with wild herbs and mustard paste.


Kai Chutney (Red Ant Chutney): A pungent, sharp paste ground with wild red weaver ants and their eggs, crushed together with garlic, ginger, and fiery native green chilies.


Wild Forest Tubers (Mati Alu & Bano Alu): Foraged jungle roots and yam varieties roasted directly in wood embers or slow-cooked into hearty seasonal curries.


Slow-Cooked Meats & Country Preparations

Patrapoda Mangsa (Leaf-Wrapped Roasted Meat): Country chicken (desi kukuda), mutton, or freshwater catch marinated in crushed wild spices, wrapped tightly in sal or banana leaves, and slow-roasted over burning cow-dung cakes or charcoal embers.


Kandula & Jhata Meat Curries: Smoked or fresh meats simmered alongside indigenous hillside pulses like pigeon peas (Kandula) and local lima beans.


Traditional Millet & Rice Staples

Mandia Pej / Mandia Jau: A sour, earthy porridge made from fermented finger millet (ragi) and rice starch water, served in sal-leaf bowls.


Alsi & Mandia Pitha: Traditional steamed or griddled flat cakes made with millet flours and roasted flaxseeds (alsi), traditionally sweetened with wild date palm or sugarcane jaggery.


Machhakanta & Kalajeera Rice: Festive native heirloom aromatic rice cooked with rustic village lentils and leafy forest greens (Muniga and wild water saags).


Traditional Tribal Brews

Salap / Tadi: Freshly tapped, naturally effervescent sap from the Caryota urens (fishtail palm) tree, sweet and mildly bubbly when fresh, turning sour and boozy as the day warms.


Landa: A thick, sour, cloudy beer brewed from fermented ragi (millet) and rice.


Mahulo (Fresh Mahua): Floral, distilled spirit made from fermented sweet mahua blossoms, served universally across community feasts.


Monday, 5 October — 12:30

18006/Samaleswari Exp at 6.20 am


TUESDAY, 6 OCTOBER

06:30 AM— Howrah

Arrival in Kolkata.

This is where the journey formally ends.

Four days in southern Odisha will not reveal everything. In fact, it will probably do the opposite: it will reveal how much there is still to discover.

The great attraction of Koraput is not a single monument. It is the combination of mountains, forests, tribal cultures, food, textiles, music, roads, markets and communities that together create a part of India that feels remarkably distant from the Odisha of the coast.

And perhaps that is the real reason to come here.


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