Borra Caves

The limestone cave system in the Ananthagiri hills of Alluri Sitarama Raju district, Andhra Pradesh, at 705m altitude on the Araku Valley rail route 92 kilometres from Visakhapatnam — one of the oldest cave systems in India with limestone formations dated to approximately 150 million years ago. The caves extend for about 200 metres with stalactite and stalagmite formations in distinct chambers. Local Jatapu, Porja and Konda Dora communities worship a stalactite as a self-manifest Shiva linga; the annual Shivaratri festival each February draws thousands. The caves were documented by William King of the Geological Survey of India in 1807 — among the earliest geological surveys of a southern Indian cave system. The adjoining Araku Valley narrow-gauge railway runs past the caves.