Hi Folks,
I am back after quite a big gap, but with a nice trekking experience. I went to Wayanad district in Kerala last week (30th June-1 July) along with friends from IISc. Its been long time i went for a trek/tour and i decided to give myself a break. We were 11 people in total , and we booked a tempo. The plan was to start from iisc on friday night around 11.30 pm. So i left at 8 from house, reached their by 9 ,had my dinner there..and spent some time around in the campus..
I carried along a racksack with 4 pairs of clothes and all basic amenities. We all assembled as planned on time near to the main building.We put all our luggage in the back, and soon settled ourselves as we started to reach the outskirts of Bangalore.
The route to Wayanad is via Mysore -Nanjangud – Gundlupet (Right turn) – Sulthan Bathery – Kalpetta – Vythiri . Vythri is town in wayanad district from where most of the tourist spots are nearby.
We bought all the snacks required along with a carton of water bottles. Soon we started singing songs from various languages, from 60s to 90s and the latest ones too..It was great fun singing out loud in whatever voice u have, not bothering about anything..
We decided we will detour at mysore to check out the bandipur sanctuary as well, though it is an overhead of about 50km, it is a worthy experience. It was about 4 in the morning when we reached bandipur, we tried to the best of abilities of eye to catch any animal...n efforts were awarded when we saw bisons, deers, antelopes ...no tigers thou.(they say its very unlikely to see them even in proper safari during the day)..
It was about 6.30 when we reached the RTO check post and we paid 700 bucks to allow our tempo into Kerala...n thus we entered Gods own country ..(there is a legend behind this..well but the beauty of the state is enough to silent any person who has any doubt).
The state is all plush with greenery, you see all kinds of plantations, ...banana, rubber, coconut, tea, coffee..n not to forget the spices.. There were two keralites sumesh n varun in the group who guided us and explained about the constructions, gardens and estates on the way... It being rainy season ..it was drizzling all the while..wayanad is famous for its incessant rainfall...i saw it an believe me it is only next to chirapunji...though ppl say it is not the correct to time to visit the place, getting drenched and to play in the pouring water is FUN.
Sumesh has a friend Nathal who is localite there-who boarded along with us at Wythri. He took us along to Tushara hotel, where our stay was booked. It was nice cute motel, 1000 bucks for 2 bed room...we checked in, got ourselves fresh. We went to a local small hotel to eat PUTTU as our breakfast.It was yummy and i had three of them with Kadal (the sambar sort of stuff made with chanas). Soon we started our trek.
We reached the base point of EDAKKAL caves . The caves are not very far from basepoint only 2Km altitude..n a decent trek... To reach the top of EDAKKAL hill is definitely a herculean task which we all have achieved with quite a lot of team work...
i like adventures n have done quite many treks, but this one is for sure the toughest of all, as there was no proper track, no slits or hooks to find a grip and above all, its raining n the rocks are god damn slippery..But we were a obstinate junta ourselves n none was had slightest doubt in our minds either about our abilities or the task ahead...It took us a long 1 hr to reach the top ..perhaps around 6000 feet..n we are on the top most point in the region...we could see kerala,karnataka n tamil nadu from the peak..
We stayed ther for sometime n soon started downhill...n this was more tough...just a sight of the valley down you will kill you for sure...we managed the same way very carefully every one helping the other..n slowly reached down...never felt that sense of achievement...n happiness had no bounds when we came down n have just taken a look back at what we just conquered...
we finished whatever snacks we carried n started off to see SUJIPARA waterfalls..we had lunch at 4.30 Pm near the falls..This place was again amazing..the waterfalls are too good n i have never seen water jetting with more force than that..may be because of the rains..soon it was dark n we sped fast to place where our tempo was parked..
soon we retired down to our rooms n had a nice dinner in motel itself..we had one more day ahead n it was not as tough as the first one..we decided to trek nearby hills..n then visit Banasura water dam in the evening.
We started off secondday at 9 AM..we had APPAM as breakfast today and then reached base of a hill..this being rainy season...they were leeches all around...n i alone had removed 5-6 from my shoes n body...u dont even know one is on top of you..though they wont harm you or so..but the idea of something sucking ur blood is scary...we trekkecd two hills n it was a tough task too as it was slippery everywhere n then we had to battle these leeches...as we finally got down covered completely in mud, wet in rain....it was great relief when it started to pour down cats n dogs....
as dat was the only we we could get ourselves clean...otherwise galloons of water was necessary to get rid of mud we had on us...we welcomed the rain n they we played in it on the road, n the way we played water on to the vehicles reminded of childhod days...
we came back to hotel to fresh up... n there was a big leech near my knee..it sucked waht all blood it can for easily n hour...n it was blown up to biggest of the sizes..it was big pain stoppin the blood..as the leech drills a hole,...it is not like any other injury u have..blood takes time to clot...thou it doesnt pain at all...
soon i dressed my wounds n started off to see the last place..ie the banasura dam..This is the largest earth dam in India..It is awesome place surrounded by hills and water that comes down from them...amazing plac e n the cool breeze was too good; we spent around 2 hrs there n started back to our hotel...on the way we purchased few handicrafts at the Pookot lake...
N we got back to hotel .packed our stuff n started by 8.15 back to blr..We dined at Jubilee hotel in sultan batera...it was nice food.. n after eatin in blr, the rates at restaurants in kerala seemed to be negligible...
we started back after dinner at around 11 to blr...reached iisc by 4.30./... it had been a fantastic trek all together n my first ever trip to Kerala...
link to the pics :http://picasaweb.google.com/sumeshnn/WayanadTrip?authkey=2wKfdS3-Oj0
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