NELA BILAM, Bandarlapalle
15.008900,78.055600
Description
NOTE 1: Bandarlapalle N15°00'32”: E078°03'20”: 345 m asl (Everest 1830, Survey of India sheet 57-i/04 edition 1983). NOTE 2: Ankireddipalle N15°01'28”: E078°02'55” (Everest 1830, Survey of India 57-i/04 ed. 1983). NOTE 3: Robert Bruce FOOTE (1885: 235) and Henry Bruce Foote »… devoted the Christmas week (1884) to visiting … a deep well-like chasm … of Nela Billam … north-east of Tarpatri« but this –>Nela Bilam (FOOTE 1885) seems to be the other –>Nela Bilam (Talaricheruvu) about 6.3 km in a direct line SSE from Nela Bilam (Bandarlapalle).
A kind of modified natural stepwell, which seems to have been artificially enlarged, is improved with flights of steps and floors covered with flagging, and gives comfortable access to some 60 m of accessible rift cave passage leading (January 1882) to the edge of a pool of water (30.1°C) beneath which laid steps were seen to continue further down. SITUATION: Within the precincts of a small temple at the tiny village of Bandarlapalle (note 1), which is reached by a 2 km long motorable track (in January 1982 past limestone quarries) SSE from Ankireddipalle (note 2), which itself lies lies about 40 km along the road south of Banaganapalle (N15°18'30”: E078°13'30” Everest 1830) and 16 km north of Tadpatri (N14°54'30”: E078°01' Everest 1830). CAVE DESCRIPTION: The artificially improved cave entrance gives access to a flight of steps descending a few metre down to a horizontal cave passage (on average 2 m wide and high) partly illuminated by two daylight windows formed by ceiling collapses where joints interesect the joint guiding the walking sized cave passage. At the second daylight window, a penetrable crawl off the main drag gace on 11th January 1982 access to at least a few metrees of tributary passage (slightly ascending?) containing a floor covered with soil, the skull of a bat (not retrieved) and an unexpectedly emerging king cobra preventing further exploration.About 50 m east of the entrance, a second flight of steps commences descending but soon leads (or had led in January 1982), some 10 m vertically below the entrance, to the edge of an about 1.5 m wide and some 6 m long pool of more than 3 m deep water (30.1°C) beneath which drowned steps were seen to continue further down beneath the surface of the water (30.1°C). CAVE POTENTIAL: In January 1982 the Nela Bilam at Bandarlapalle looked like a promising diving spot. In the meantime, however, industrial development (limestone quarrying for slabs and cement) can be expected to have lowered of the water table in the area. Thus, parts of the cave which had been submerged in January 1982, may have fallen dry. The possibly best time to have a second look at the water level with dry ankles is probably March. Not far away is the suspicious place name –>Nayala Bilamu (new caves).
History
EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1982.10.11: Guided by Ramasubbha Reddy (Belum) and M. Narayana Reddy (Nandyal) to the temple, cave and source of water, H. D. Gebauer and Andre Abele mapped the air-filled 60 m of cave passage leading to water which flooded the ongoing cave passage and prevented descending further across the then drowned steps made from slabs of Narji Limestone (note 3).
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6 | NAYALA BILAMU | ||
| 2.3 | BANDARLAPALLE CAVE | ||
| 3.3 | BUGGA CAVES | ||
| 6.3 | NELA BILAM, Talaricherevu | ||
| 11.8 | CHIRUTIPULLI - VEEPAMANI GUHALU | ||
| 12.0 | BELUM GUHALU | ||
| 12.3 | Belum Caves | ||
| 13.8 | NELA BILAM, Belum village | ||
| 18.4 | ALAGAR CAVERN, Kidampatti |