We had taken up a reasonable offer by the hotel management to hire a driver for a couple of days (the guy who had picked us up from the station) so we were able to make the two hour journey from Aurangabad in our own time, arriving just before midday.  We approached the caves along the river and soon got a glimpse of just how extensive the complex is.  Dense undergrowth had concealed the majority of the caves when the British hunting party stumbled across them – with only a few arches being spotted by one of the men.  Now, however, the cliffs have been stripped of vegetation allowing the caves to be seen in all of their glory.  As we were visiting in the dry season, the scene was very dusty and orange tinted – in the rainy season apparently waterfalls flow over some of the caves and the scene is far greener. 

Unfortunately it soon became clear that we would be sharing the caves with countless groups of school children for the day – though while it was annoying that the caves were all very busy, the kids were really excited to see us westerners and all wanted to talk to us, shake our hands and get photos with us.  One of the school groups actually posed for a class photo with myself and Sergei at the centre, though this was a feeble exercise as the majority of the kids were staring away from the camera – towards us.  I was expecting to see far more tourists – we saw maybe a dozen while we were there and it was very strange to be given the amount of attention that we were.  After seeing the majority of caves we crossed the river towards the viewing point on the inside of the bend which gave a great panorama over the full complex.  It is a really special place and I can’t imagine how exciting it would have been for the British party who discovered them.  Instead of trying to describe them further I will let the photos speak for themselves.