An hour’s drive, south of Bhopal in the Vindhyan Mountains are the 600 rock shelters of Bhimbetka. It’s a peaceful and beautiful area and the natural rock formations – massive sandstone outcrops – must once have been a great place for Stone Age people to live in. The overhanging rock ledges gave them shelter and the forest was full of water and edible plants and fruits.

The rock shelters has been painted from the Mesolithic period right through to the Historical period with different motifs, depicting time and life as it once was, 12.000 years ago. It’s a virtual pre-historic panorama of India, filled with hunting and battle scenes and all kinds of animals such as deer’s, buffalos, rhinoceros, bears and tigers.

Bimbetka is a beautiful area to wander around for an hour or two and definitely not a crowded site. At the time of my visit there was not even an entrance fee charged and less than 10 people on site. Bimbetka is definitely worth a couple of hour’s excursion out of busy Bhopal.