Bhimbetka Rock Shelter (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Madhya Pradesh, an hour and a half drive from the Bhopal airport, is home to 10,000-year-old cave paintings, amazing caves where cavemen lived and a deep understanding of early society who thrived in caves.
A must visit, for amazing visuals and a trip to the past!
We reached Bhimbetka Rock Shelter in the middle of the afternoon and it was scorching! As it turns out, summer afternoon is NOT a good time to travel most parts of India except up north Himalayas. Thank goodness we carried lots of water bottles!
However, we were too excited to let the heat hamper us. We set off to explore the unique landscape of dry, tall trees, huge boulders and rocky, sunbeaten cliffs.
We entered the main entry cave, and found a pretty knowledgeable caretaker who agreed to guide us through the past.
We were given a briefing on our surroundings and the plan for the tour. All the caves were well numbered, the pathways nicely paved, clean and well maintained, dotted with directions and information boards. Quite impressive!!!
We soon arrived at the first cave. We scoured the walls excitedly for cave paintings, and quickly spotted a white elephant, a man sitting on it, and a few other humans holding weapons below it.
The painting was white with a tinge of red, and was very high up; much taller than a normal adult!
Our guide explained that the cavemen were around 7 feet tall, and therefore were able to reach up high to paint on the cave walls. He also told us that the paintings were not made of real paints, but animals fats, stone colours, and plant juices! Wow; how resourceful the cavemen were!
He then began explaining what each of the paintings meant as we moved towards more caves and we listened in fascination as he led us all the way to the cavemen’s meeting place.
It was a huge tunnel-like cave where the cavemen were thought to have set up meetings, with the leader sitting on a raised platform in the centre.
My favourite cave was the Zoo Cave. Full of paintings of various animals, uncle explained what each animal represented. And there were almost 250 different species of animals represented there!!!
We then proceeded to the cavemen’s bedroom. It was only accessible through a large opening, which our guide said they probably covered with a large boulder. What an ingenious way to protect themselves when the cavemen were vulnerable and asleep!
We clambered over the rocks and settled ourselves in a cosy niche, and clicked few marvellous pics!
Caves 5 and 6 were equally fascinating. All the caves had several paintings depicting the life and ways of the cavemen, and I wanted to take the tour all over again!
On our way out, we spotted two Dickinsonia fossils! Dickinsonia was the first animal, and it lived over 555 million years old! I was super excited to see such an ancient chunk of the past.
(However, new studies have shown that the so-called “Dickinsonia fossils” in Bhimbetka Rock Shelter are actually imprints of honeybee hives 
)
We could not thank our guide enough for being with us throughout and giving us a wonderful tour literally taking us into the lives of cavemen; truly mesmerizing experience that I will remember forever!!!
Throughout the tour, I really marvelled at the fact that the 10,000-year-old paintings hadn’t faded over all that time.
I LOVED touching the past.
Enjoy Bhimbetka Caves!
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Touching the past at Bhimbetka Rock Shelters: A UNESCO World Heritage Site with 10,000-year-old cave paintings.
