Chamrajanagar forest trek (2006 Dec)
The History and Geography:
Most Indian forests are notorious for its notorious occupants. The daakoos of chambal forests. The ULFAs in Assam forests. And who can forget Veerappan who terrorised the 3 state forests (kerala, TN and Karnataka) After his death in 2004, the forest dept has opened the area for trekking. For this they have set up a Eco-Development Committee that is run by locals, who are responsible for the forest management.
If you need more info abt the trek and other activities in the area, please access the following link:
http://www.mysterytrails.com/mysterytrails.htm
And now the plot:
After cooking the plan in my mind for a long time, I managed to do a trek with 3 other friends in Bangalore. My plan was to get down at Bangalore on my way home. spend 2 days trekking in Veerappan land, and then continue journey home. The poor souls who stood by me from the start to the end were
1. Apoorv Badami, my ex-colleague from mumbai.
2. Karunakaran, my collage mate.
3. Sathish, Karan's colleague.
Our meeting point was Majestic bus stand around 6:30 AM. All of us assembled there by 7:15 AM. We took a bus to Mysore and from there another one to Chamraja nagar. From there we had our lunch and met the forest dept officer and took another bus to Bedaguli.
We reached Bedaguli at 5:30 PM. Since we were a bit late, we didnt waste more time and started our trek along with Dasanna our local guide, Kumarappa the cook and another guide Konaara.
Our night halt and dinner was supposed to be at a place called jodigere. Soon after we started the trek, it became dark and we learnt the shocking truth. None of us had a torch with us!
After wandering in the darkness for more than an hour we came out of the jungle. Luckily there was moon and we found the way to jodigere without much poblem. However there was a bigger problem awaiting us in jodigere! It was very cold and on top of that, when we reached the watch tower where we were supposed to spend the night, we realised that there is not even a single mat on the floor! On top of that, piece of the door was missing and wind was blowing so hard through the gap! Even after 1 yr, i still remember the chillness of that night! While the dinner was being prepared, some of the forest gaurds started a campfire in the middle of big rocks. We also joined them and it gave us a bit of relief but not that much! After some time we were literally, sitting on top of the fire, yet it was so cold.
Soon dinner was served and the hot dal-chaawal prepared by our cook tasted heavenly. But how long can we sit there in the the cold? We decided to go in and see if we can beat the cold by sleeping. But sleep had already forsaken us that night! There are some nights in everyones life when it seems the dawn will never come again. That was one such night. The 2 AM - 5 AM was the most terrible time of all our lives. I felt like crushing the forest dept officer who promised we'll get all basic necessity for our night halt! Atlast Apoorv and myself had enough and decided to go out of the watch tower. There was no big difference being inside the tower/outside! It was foggy outside and we walked a bit around the watch tower and took some snaps. Soon others also followed!
We waited till 8:00 AM for the fog to clear. We had a lot of trekking to do through the forest and down the hill that day. So it was not advisable to start before the fog lifts. But we lost there also. The Fog had no intension of going away. By 8:00 we decided we have to start or else we will be late and will miss the bus from Bylore.
Slowly we started our trek through the forest and down the hill. In some places the hill was so steep we had to go around to get down. Byt the time the fog lifted and sun came, we had almost reached half way down the hill. Soon the trees and vegetation grew thicker and it became difficult to pass through it. Our guide had a large sickle using which he started to clear our way. In one place we stopped for a while. Accidently when i looked down, to my horror I saw 100s of (Ok. Ok. not 100s. but definitely there would have been atleast 20/30!) leeches on my shoe and jean! I looked at others legs and there also it was the same case!
We were warned about the leeches earlier itself. However seeing so many leeches on your shoes and jeans (some of them already festing on your blood) made us all hysterical. But what made us more frightened was... the ground around us was full of leeches! They were so tiny like a thread and only if you look closely you'll be able to see them. But once they start drinking your blood, they can grow bigger even upto your thump size! Again our guides came to our rescue. They removed all the leeches from our shoes and pants and told us to move faster.
We walked as fast as we can and came out to a small stream and rocks. Even though they had removed the leeches from our body we couldnt calm down until we checked throughly. Slowly we removed our shoes, socks, and even our jeans and checked for the blood suckers! Still we had so many in the shoes and socks and we removed each one of them! The guides applied Snuff on the wounds to avoid any infection! After resting for some time we were ready to go!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9005821906479677689&hl=en
After the attack of the leeches, our trek became alost 'jogging'! We wanted to get out of the woods as soon as possible. Soon we reached the bottom of the hill. There was a watch tower on a big tree we climbed on it to enjoy the view from there. It was built for the gaurds to sleep in the night and they said they had seen 2 elephants in that place the previous day!
Again we started walking thorough the forest and this time we all were relaxed. Our guides explained many things about the forest and animals on the way. On the way we saw a berry tree full of goose berry. We threw a stick and the berries started raining. We didn't have anything since morning and the berries and water gave us strength. Soon we reached a stream and we decided its time for some lunch. Our cook had made some lemon rice and he gave each of us a packet. We ate it and then took bath in the stream and continued our trek.
Now all of us were very tired and wanted to finish the trek asap. However it was almost 3.00 PM when we reached Bylore. There we had some tea and biscuts and said bye to our friends. We waited for the bus and it came after half an hr. All of us were so tired, we would have missed the bus if two boys hadnt shouted "BUS", 'BUS'! The journey back to Bangalore was insignificant (thank god for that!)
We reached Bangalore around 9:00 PM and I said a quick farewell and thanks to all my friends and took a bus to Magestic Railway station. My friend Nabi was waiting for me with my luggage and I went in and saw the Kurla was ready for departure. I settled down on my berth and after the checking was over, I slept peacefully till I reached my hometown the next morning!
Here's the snaps I took during the mystery trails veerappan trek! Enjoy Maadi!
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/562891870WkZxTR
Checkout Apoorv's collection here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/apoorvbadami/BedaguliJodigereByloreTrekDec2006
Most Indian forests are notorious for its notorious occupants. The daakoos of chambal forests. The ULFAs in Assam forests. And who can forget Veerappan who terrorised the 3 state forests (kerala, TN and Karnataka) After his death in 2004, the forest dept has opened the area for trekking. For this they have set up a Eco-Development Committee that is run by locals, who are responsible for the forest management.
If you need more info abt the trek and other activities in the area, please access the following link:
http://www.mysterytrails.com/mysterytrails.htm
And now the plot:
After cooking the plan in my mind for a long time, I managed to do a trek with 3 other friends in Bangalore. My plan was to get down at Bangalore on my way home. spend 2 days trekking in Veerappan land, and then continue journey home. The poor souls who stood by me from the start to the end were
1. Apoorv Badami, my ex-colleague from mumbai.
2. Karunakaran, my collage mate.
3. Sathish, Karan's colleague.
Our meeting point was Majestic bus stand around 6:30 AM. All of us assembled there by 7:15 AM. We took a bus to Mysore and from there another one to Chamraja nagar. From there we had our lunch and met the forest dept officer and took another bus to Bedaguli.
We reached Bedaguli at 5:30 PM. Since we were a bit late, we didnt waste more time and started our trek along with Dasanna our local guide, Kumarappa the cook and another guide Konaara.
Our night halt and dinner was supposed to be at a place called jodigere. Soon after we started the trek, it became dark and we learnt the shocking truth. None of us had a torch with us!
After wandering in the darkness for more than an hour we came out of the jungle. Luckily there was moon and we found the way to jodigere without much poblem. However there was a bigger problem awaiting us in jodigere! It was very cold and on top of that, when we reached the watch tower where we were supposed to spend the night, we realised that there is not even a single mat on the floor! On top of that, piece of the door was missing and wind was blowing so hard through the gap! Even after 1 yr, i still remember the chillness of that night! While the dinner was being prepared, some of the forest gaurds started a campfire in the middle of big rocks. We also joined them and it gave us a bit of relief but not that much! After some time we were literally, sitting on top of the fire, yet it was so cold.
Soon dinner was served and the hot dal-chaawal prepared by our cook tasted heavenly. But how long can we sit there in the the cold? We decided to go in and see if we can beat the cold by sleeping. But sleep had already forsaken us that night! There are some nights in everyones life when it seems the dawn will never come again. That was one such night. The 2 AM - 5 AM was the most terrible time of all our lives. I felt like crushing the forest dept officer who promised we'll get all basic necessity for our night halt! Atlast Apoorv and myself had enough and decided to go out of the watch tower. There was no big difference being inside the tower/outside! It was foggy outside and we walked a bit around the watch tower and took some snaps. Soon others also followed!
We waited till 8:00 AM for the fog to clear. We had a lot of trekking to do through the forest and down the hill that day. So it was not advisable to start before the fog lifts. But we lost there also. The Fog had no intension of going away. By 8:00 we decided we have to start or else we will be late and will miss the bus from Bylore.
Slowly we started our trek through the forest and down the hill. In some places the hill was so steep we had to go around to get down. Byt the time the fog lifted and sun came, we had almost reached half way down the hill. Soon the trees and vegetation grew thicker and it became difficult to pass through it. Our guide had a large sickle using which he started to clear our way. In one place we stopped for a while. Accidently when i looked down, to my horror I saw 100s of (Ok. Ok. not 100s. but definitely there would have been atleast 20/30!) leeches on my shoe and jean! I looked at others legs and there also it was the same case!
We were warned about the leeches earlier itself. However seeing so many leeches on your shoes and jeans (some of them already festing on your blood) made us all hysterical. But what made us more frightened was... the ground around us was full of leeches! They were so tiny like a thread and only if you look closely you'll be able to see them. But once they start drinking your blood, they can grow bigger even upto your thump size! Again our guides came to our rescue. They removed all the leeches from our shoes and pants and told us to move faster.
We walked as fast as we can and came out to a small stream and rocks. Even though they had removed the leeches from our body we couldnt calm down until we checked throughly. Slowly we removed our shoes, socks, and even our jeans and checked for the blood suckers! Still we had so many in the shoes and socks and we removed each one of them! The guides applied Snuff on the wounds to avoid any infection! After resting for some time we were ready to go!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9005821906479677689&hl=en
After the attack of the leeches, our trek became alost 'jogging'! We wanted to get out of the woods as soon as possible. Soon we reached the bottom of the hill. There was a watch tower on a big tree we climbed on it to enjoy the view from there. It was built for the gaurds to sleep in the night and they said they had seen 2 elephants in that place the previous day!
Again we started walking thorough the forest and this time we all were relaxed. Our guides explained many things about the forest and animals on the way. On the way we saw a berry tree full of goose berry. We threw a stick and the berries started raining. We didn't have anything since morning and the berries and water gave us strength. Soon we reached a stream and we decided its time for some lunch. Our cook had made some lemon rice and he gave each of us a packet. We ate it and then took bath in the stream and continued our trek.
Now all of us were very tired and wanted to finish the trek asap. However it was almost 3.00 PM when we reached Bylore. There we had some tea and biscuts and said bye to our friends. We waited for the bus and it came after half an hr. All of us were so tired, we would have missed the bus if two boys hadnt shouted "BUS", 'BUS'! The journey back to Bangalore was insignificant (thank god for that!)
We reached Bangalore around 9:00 PM and I said a quick farewell and thanks to all my friends and took a bus to Magestic Railway station. My friend Nabi was waiting for me with my luggage and I went in and saw the Kurla was ready for departure. I settled down on my berth and after the checking was over, I slept peacefully till I reached my hometown the next morning!
Here's the snaps I took during the mystery trails veerappan trek! Enjoy Maadi!
http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/562891870WkZxTR
Checkout Apoorv's collection here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/apoorvbadami/BedaguliJodigereByloreTrekDec2006
This guy is someone like John Rambo!
ReplyDeletehey nice write up!
ReplyDeleteIs it viable to take a cab instead of bus??
Sorry for the laaate rplys...
ReplyDeleteThanks Bala. {But i dont think y'd say that if i remove my jacket & t-shirt! :-)}
Yes Sandeep you can take a cab. But i am not sure of the rates.
Praveen