Sunday, March 16, 2008

Brahmagiri Trek Via Thirunelli ( Kerala )

Well this was the trek we had planned to do desperately, as we heard about the place from many trekkers that this place was a beautiful place to trek. We decided to go to Brahmagiri via Thirunelli side thru Wayanad district. After going thru some blogs, we decide to take the Thirunelli side. So it was as usual myself, Santy, Jerry & Clement agreed to go. We managed to rope in Charles. Than at the last moment jerry's college friends Zia & Sedric accompanied us. We planned to leave Bangalore early morning as to avoid the traffic rush as well as the heat. We left Bangalore at 6 in the morn with 4 bikes. We hit the road at a constant speed travelling around 80Kmph. Finally we stopped at Mandya to have our breakfast. After having breakfast we took the Mysore-Nanjangud road. We had a tea break session at Gundulpet. Then we took the deviation at right going toward Sultan Bathery. We could see the landscape changing as were entering the Kerala Border. We entered Wayand, and the place was really good. It was greenery everywhere. Then we crossed Sultan Bathery and at last managed to stop to have our lunch around 3 pm. We had to travel another 90 kms to reach thirunelli. But before that we had to go to the Forest Dept at Manathavady. We managed to speak to the authorities and finally after some smooth talking they gave us the permission to trek. They also gave the contact number for our guides and the permission to stay in the Forest Dept's Guest House at Thirunelli. After securing the permission we managed to reach Thirunelli just before the sunset.

This is the route map that we followed to reach Thirunelli. We saw some beautiful views on our way. We reached and managed to speak to our guide and got the rooms to stay that night. The Guest house was neat and well maintained. We got it for Rs.400/ per day. You can also get the dormitory for Rs. 50/- per head. So we changed our clothes and came back to the town to have dinner. It was crazy walking in the forest with just a torch. Man it was really freaking to go out in that pitch dark forest infested with wild elephants, snakes & other animals. Here is the pic that we took in pitch dark with only the flash light of the camera. Then we managed to hog what ever we found in that hotel. The guides told us that they will come to pick up at 8am. So we had to go to bed early so that we can get up early for tomorrow's trek. Well we were so tired after travelling 350kms. The next day we got up and went to the town to have our breakfast and managed to pack some idlies. We began our trek at 9 in the morn. We started from the jeep track nearby the guest house. This was the starting point for the great adventure that we had on that day. Trek started on a gradual pace, then the humidity started to drag us slowly. We were really going at a slow pace. Good thing was that it wasn't raining, only few days back the entire district was affected by heavy rainfall. Then we had the bloody encounter with those blood-sucking leeches. There were many small streams on our way to the peak. When we came near the stream to collect water those leeches got onto our shoes and started to suck the blood. Infact me & jerry were the blood donors on this trek. We were bitten badly. We had forgotten to apply snuff powder to our legs and forgot to bring while trekking. We slowly reached the Tower At the base of the Brahmagiri peak and finally managed to take some rest & remove all those leeches that were stuck inside our shoes.
After cleaning ourselves with dettol we moved ahead to visit the Pakshipattalam caves ( its also known as Munnikal caves ). The guide told it is somewhere 5-6 kms from the tower. We managed to find a nice place beside the stream to have our lunch. It was already 2pm. We had bought Magi noodles. Our guys ( Clement & jerry) did an excellent job in prepearing delicious noodles. one of our guide made a spoon out of some plant branches, which we used as spoon to stir the noodles. Believe me the noodles were tasting awesome. infact i had never tasted magi noodles that were so delicious. ( maybe because of hunger). After managing our lunch we pulled ourselves to the caves. Before entering the cave all of them except me climbed on top the cave to look at the panoramic view of the ghats of both Karnataka & Kerala side. Well from the point we could see the vast differnce between Karnataka forest & kerala forest. The forest in Kerala very dense, whereas karnataka side had sparse shola forest and partly the grasses. Enterance to the cave was very narrow and once we entered we could feel the eerieness of the cave. It was dark inside. We could not spot a single bird inside the cave, thou the cave is famous for its birds. The guide told that morning is the best time to see some exotic birds. The we managed to find bats enclave. And the worst part was we were all siting on the bat droppings. After spending nearly an hour inside the cave we managed to begin our descent to the town. We never realised the time was almost 5pm when we came out of the cave. Our guides told to hurry fast as we were running out of time to reach our place before the sunset and also of the danger of being confronted with elephants.

We began our descent hastily, then at this point Charles started to have his cramps, as it was his first trek, he had never walked this distance. Finally his bulky body began to show its after-effects. He was struggling to walk. we had to convince him that the town is very close and we had to give him some pep talk. Then our worst fears slowly began to come true. We reached the tower at 6.30pm and the sun was setting quickly. Still there was another 5-6 kms to walk and we were in danger of walking in pitch dark inside the forest. Then our guides decided to walk down the steep sides of the peak. Man it was really scary as were were almost tumbling around and cling onto the tall grass for our support, just when we finished descending from the slope, we saw a herd of 6 elephants crossing the same place where we started to slide down. Incase if we had taken the normal route we surely would have had to face these elephants. Then the sun was setting very quickly and the light was fading fast. Then started our heart in the mouth experience of trekking 6 kms in total dark inside the forest and probaly facing the risk of being attacked by wild animals. We has 2 torches with us, we gave both of them to the guide. One guide was leading us the other was follwing behind us. Then Charles began to feel his cramps again and was limping. He was struggling to walk. We managed to give him some pep talk and making some jokes just to get the fear out of our hearts. Boy it was really dark and scary. Everyone was scared including the guides. Infact they had never trekked this place in the dark and for the dirst time they were trekking late in the night. We could hear some strange noise. All of them managed to switch our mobiles to get light. We were really pushing ourselves to the limit to reach the town as soon as possible. We were saying our prayers inside our hearts. After two hours of night trekking we managed to come to the banks of the Lakshmanteertha streams. The our guide assured that we are safe and after 10 mins we reached the town. By the Grace ogf God we managed to reach safely without any incidents & wild animal attacks. We were so exhausted and tired, just managed to go to local hotel had our dinner & hit the bed. Jerry had to leave early morning to go to work, so he left with his friends Sedric & zia at 3am. So it was Me, santy charles & clement were left behind. We managed to leave guest house at 10am after settling the bill. We had our breakfast in a small hotel near Pookote lake. We wanted to go to the lake but due to time constraints we had drive further. This time we managed to drive thru Bavalli to Mysore road, which passes thru Nagarahole forest, Kabini river lodge & HD.Kote. Never did we imagine the pathetic conditions of the road that we had to travel. Boy the roads were in a horrible conditons filled with stones and potholes. It was a back breaking journey. we were riding slowly. Till 22 kms from Karnataka Border the road conditons are bad and from there it is a smooth journey. After riding 10 kms from the border santy's bike got punctured in the middle of the forest. Somehow managed to remove the wheel. Me & Clement took the tyre to kerala to to fill the air in the tyre. We lost 2 hours due to tyre problem and finally managed to start our drive from there onwards around 2pm. Then on our way we saw many deers & sambars. we managed to find couple of elephants with their calf. Tried to take a snap of them, then suddenly the elephants began charging at us, thou we were on our bikes we just managed to avoid the danger. It chased us for almost 200 meters. Anyhow i managed to click the snap. From there till Mandya we had a smooth ride, then all of the sudden clement's bike got punctured. Again we lost time trying to fix the tyre. We stopped at a dhabba at Kengeri, had our dinner and finally reached home at 10pm.

Highlights of the trek:
* Charles, for without him, the trek would have been an easy one. But becasue of his cramps and never say die attitude we have an scarier & thrilling night trek in the forest. Also we must compliment his willingness to trek, thou he had cramps he managed to pull his bulky body and finish the trek successfully. Also for some funny incidents involving him on the trek.
* Narrowly avoiding the Elephants while descending from the peak.
* Awesome beauty of Brahamagiri peak & its valley. Never to forget about the Wayanad valleys & peaks .
* Pakshipatalam Caves
* Chased by elephants at Kabini Forest.
* Donating blood to leeches
* And Finally the night trek inside the forest without being attacked from wild animals and walking with dim torch ( Only by the grace of GOD we managed to reach safely )
* Not to forget all the members who acompanied this trek to make this one the most memorable and breathtaking trek.

The total expenditure of the trek ------ Rs.6000/-
Total distance covered------- nearly 900Kms
Route : Bangalore------Mysore-----Nanjangud------Gundulpet-----Sultan Bathery--------Mannathavady---------Thirunelli
Date ----- 4th & 5th Nov, 2006
The experience of the trek----- Unbelievable & Breathtaking one.
The Moments ----- PRICELESS
click here for pics

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