Bhimbetka Rock Shelters – Another spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Site in India!

Short walk into the unexpected…

During one of our visits to Madhya Pradesh, India, our goal was to cover the three UNESCO sites that were there at the time (not including the tentative list).  During our short trip, we started with Khajuraho.  Next, we headed to Sanchi.  Our final destination was Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.

The Bhimbetka Rock shelters are located about an hour and a half away from Bhopal.  Due to our itinerary and the number of days we had available, we did not visit Bhopal.  We reached the rock shelters from Sanchi after an overnight stay there.  On the way, we stopped by the “Tropic of Cancer” marker … yep, something only geography geeks would understand 😊

We reached the rock shelters around 11 am.  We walked up the path and as we turned left to head to the main entrance, our jaws dropped.  The rock formations reminded us of Antelope canyon in the USA, except these were above ground level.  It was amazing to see the formation literally in the middle of nowhere.  We continued to gaze up at the formation as we walked through it.  But yeah, although it was a short walk, it was stunning nonetheless. 

We hired a guide to help us navigate the shelters, which ended up being a smart thing as you would not know where to look to find paintings dating back to the stone age.  The guide asked us to look up and gently diverted our gaze towards paintings.  Simply wow!

After spending a few minutes at the entrance, we started walking down the path to visit the other rock shelters.  The area has been developed well enough so that visitors can walk around easily without impacting the surroundings.  Our guide patiently showed us the different shelters and the different paintings they had.  What was fascinating is that they somewhat depicted the changes that occurred in their lifestyle.  The paintings were so simple and childlike that it was actually surreal.  It really confused our brains. 

Many questions came up during the walk – What possessed people who lived so long ago to make an effort to document their way of living?  Clearly, these paintings survived because of their location within the rock shelters.  Were they really as advanced as depicted in some spots?  Our guide answered all of our questions patiently to the best of his ability.  It took us about two hours to explore the area that was open to the public.  Most of the time of course was spent asking our guide questions and listening to his responses.

Awestruck by the whole experience, we slowly headed back to the entrance and then on to our next destination.