Ebbanad - II
(This is a continuation from Ebbanad - I. Please read that before continuing here)
Our next destination was the forest shack where we were to camp that night. It was a 30 minute downhill trek and we were welcomed there with gracious helpings of veg pulao and curd rice. After rejuvenating ourselves, we began the main part of the trek – through the forests. Ever since our guide had joined us, he had kept telling us stories about their encounters with elephants and tigers. It had raised our hopes of catching a glimpse of a few along the way. But the important thing to remember was that the experience of the guides had been accumulated over decades of years and by calculating the average it was obvious that our chances of seeing any animal in one day was very bleak. Yet a walk through the forest was enough inspiration for me to pick up my stuff and start trekking.
The entire trek lasted around 3 - 4 hrs. In the process we walked through thick jungle completely surrounded on both sides by strange looking trees and tall grasses. Almost constantly, our legs were being bombarded by the leeches. Each one of could be seen with a stick in his or her hand trying to fend of the worm like creatures from our shoes. It was, however, unfortunate that we were so engrossed in making sure that a leech does not hold on, that some of us failed to see the thick foliage of the jungle that we had walked into. We had stopped at two look out points, overlooking a valley. But as expected our patient wait there did not yield any results and our quest of catching sight of some animal continued to be in vain. The only lucky person who made contact with some kind of animal was my roommate G who had 3 leeches on his legs at the second lookout. My other roommate SJ, who by now had literally completed his PhD in leeches helped him get rid of them. Later we found that others in the gang, namely SSh and NR had also become targets and even my dear friend SG became a victim of a leech attack in the evening.
The majority of the initial trek was again downhill and hence none of us felt the brunt, but the last phase, when we started to head out to what the guide called ‘Phantom Rock’, was quite tricky. We had to make our way perpendicularly across the slope of the mountain in slippery soil. Unluckily for us, we had to stop and make our way back because the path that once existed there had overgrown with grass and was impossible to pass. We returned to base camp and it was already 5:30pm and hence dropped any plans of using an alternate route to ‘Phantom Rock’.
We were all tired and exhausted by than and there was a discussion whether to stay overnight there or to return to Ooty. The forest shack was best described as a house with a roof, containing two bedrooms, a kitchen, decent bathrooms and a small verandah. The basic necessities of us city dwellers (Electricity, Television and mobile phone network) were all missing and hence the thought of returning occurred. However, after much deliberation, we decided to stay back and enjoy the campfire that was planned for us there that evening. The fire was lighted at around 6:30pm and burnt till after 11pm. The fire apart from keeping us warm also ensured that no animals think of coming close to the camp. By now, my roommate G was more than convinced to quit his job in Wipro and dedicate his life to the protection of wildlife. He could be seen around the fire with his forest hat and a stick that he had picked up during the trek. He promised to keep the stick as a loving ‘artefact’ of our visit there but I know now that he happily forgot it in the vehicle.
We all gathered round the fire as our guides shared more stories of their encounters and the living habits of tigers and elephants. A touching story they mentioned was of the STF (Special Task Force) and forest guards, who spend days inside the jungle in constant fear of the wild animals whom they ironically protect against poachers. They walk for days and days with limited quantities of food and drinking water and get paid, what can be best described as, ‘peanuts’ for their efforts. All this after the Tamil Nadu government provided extra funding for wildlife protection by declaring the Madumulai Forest as a Natural Tiger Reserve Park.
As we chatted along the fireside, the cook had prepared some rice, curry, rasam and papad for our dinner, which in those conditions was more than a delicious meal for all. It didn’t take long after dinner for our tiredness to take over and we found ourselves in bed by 11:30pm.
I woke up the nest day sometime at 7am. I was probably amongst the last to open my eyes as expected. We had to pack up to make the trek back to Ooty. We were served breakfast consisting of chapattis, curry and strawberry jam. We than made our uphill trek through the toughest of shortcuts, passing thorny bushes and slippery mud to finally reach back to the foothill of the Beermukhu temple.
Enroute to the temple we came across the ‘Sholas’ of the Nilgiris – A group of trees that are known to attract rainfall. The mountains are full of Sholas. The water seeps into the ground and stays there. The streams that run downhill from the Sholas continue to flow through the summer owing to the water that oozes out from the soil.
Soon we were reunited with our vehicle and headed back to the house in Ooty to get refreshed. The entire day was spent in Ooty and the only other memorable part of the day was our stop at the Pykara Waterfalls. My fall at the ‘falls’ is unfortunately still been discussed in an email thread and looks like me and SG (and ofcourse N) will have no respite for quite some time to follow.
Overall, it was an awesome experience. The weekend passed without getting bored for a moment, I made new friends and last but not least, I realized for the umpteenth time that India is as beautiful a place, if not better, than any place abroad. It is vastly unexplored and that makes it more attractive to any visitor. It is a pity that nowadays people prefer destinations in Thailand and Sri Lanka, when heaven is right next door!! I am sure things will change in the future and treks like these will go a long way in changing a persons’ opinion about environment and conservation of wild life and forests.
I need to mention here that we must have made some kinda record by clicking somewhere close to 650 photos in two days. I have consolidated the list, by selfishly including a majority of my photos. The link is provided below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/prasan.sh/Ebannad
For those who have the patience and courage to browse through all 650, the links are provided below – All the Best!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kiran22jan/OotyEbbanadTrek14th15thJune2008KiranSCamera?authkey=rBjo711ctCA
http://picasaweb.google.com/kiran22jan/OotyEbbanandTrek14th15thJune2008SoumyaSCamera?authkey=OZgskYQW38Y
The entire trek lasted around 3 - 4 hrs. In the process we walked through thick jungle completely surrounded on both sides by strange looking trees and tall grasses. Almost constantly, our legs were being bombarded by the leeches. Each one of could be seen with a stick in his or her hand trying to fend of the worm like creatures from our shoes. It was, however, unfortunate that we were so engrossed in making sure that a leech does not hold on, that some of us failed to see the thick foliage of the jungle that we had walked into. We had stopped at two look out points, overlooking a valley. But as expected our patient wait there did not yield any results and our quest of catching sight of some animal continued to be in vain. The only lucky person who made contact with some kind of animal was my roommate G who had 3 leeches on his legs at the second lookout. My other roommate SJ, who by now had literally completed his PhD in leeches helped him get rid of them. Later we found that others in the gang, namely SSh and NR had also become targets and even my dear friend SG became a victim of a leech attack in the evening.
The majority of the initial trek was again downhill and hence none of us felt the brunt, but the last phase, when we started to head out to what the guide called ‘Phantom Rock’, was quite tricky. We had to make our way perpendicularly across the slope of the mountain in slippery soil. Unluckily for us, we had to stop and make our way back because the path that once existed there had overgrown with grass and was impossible to pass. We returned to base camp and it was already 5:30pm and hence dropped any plans of using an alternate route to ‘Phantom Rock’.
We were all tired and exhausted by than and there was a discussion whether to stay overnight there or to return to Ooty. The forest shack was best described as a house with a roof, containing two bedrooms, a kitchen, decent bathrooms and a small verandah. The basic necessities of us city dwellers (Electricity, Television and mobile phone network) were all missing and hence the thought of returning occurred. However, after much deliberation, we decided to stay back and enjoy the campfire that was planned for us there that evening. The fire was lighted at around 6:30pm and burnt till after 11pm. The fire apart from keeping us warm also ensured that no animals think of coming close to the camp. By now, my roommate G was more than convinced to quit his job in Wipro and dedicate his life to the protection of wildlife. He could be seen around the fire with his forest hat and a stick that he had picked up during the trek. He promised to keep the stick as a loving ‘artefact’ of our visit there but I know now that he happily forgot it in the vehicle.
We all gathered round the fire as our guides shared more stories of their encounters and the living habits of tigers and elephants. A touching story they mentioned was of the STF (Special Task Force) and forest guards, who spend days inside the jungle in constant fear of the wild animals whom they ironically protect against poachers. They walk for days and days with limited quantities of food and drinking water and get paid, what can be best described as, ‘peanuts’ for their efforts. All this after the Tamil Nadu government provided extra funding for wildlife protection by declaring the Madumulai Forest as a Natural Tiger Reserve Park.
As we chatted along the fireside, the cook had prepared some rice, curry, rasam and papad for our dinner, which in those conditions was more than a delicious meal for all. It didn’t take long after dinner for our tiredness to take over and we found ourselves in bed by 11:30pm.
I woke up the nest day sometime at 7am. I was probably amongst the last to open my eyes as expected. We had to pack up to make the trek back to Ooty. We were served breakfast consisting of chapattis, curry and strawberry jam. We than made our uphill trek through the toughest of shortcuts, passing thorny bushes and slippery mud to finally reach back to the foothill of the Beermukhu temple.
Enroute to the temple we came across the ‘Sholas’ of the Nilgiris – A group of trees that are known to attract rainfall. The mountains are full of Sholas. The water seeps into the ground and stays there. The streams that run downhill from the Sholas continue to flow through the summer owing to the water that oozes out from the soil.
Soon we were reunited with our vehicle and headed back to the house in Ooty to get refreshed. The entire day was spent in Ooty and the only other memorable part of the day was our stop at the Pykara Waterfalls. My fall at the ‘falls’ is unfortunately still been discussed in an email thread and looks like me and SG (and ofcourse N) will have no respite for quite some time to follow.
Overall, it was an awesome experience. The weekend passed without getting bored for a moment, I made new friends and last but not least, I realized for the umpteenth time that India is as beautiful a place, if not better, than any place abroad. It is vastly unexplored and that makes it more attractive to any visitor. It is a pity that nowadays people prefer destinations in Thailand and Sri Lanka, when heaven is right next door!! I am sure things will change in the future and treks like these will go a long way in changing a persons’ opinion about environment and conservation of wild life and forests.
I need to mention here that we must have made some kinda record by clicking somewhere close to 650 photos in two days. I have consolidated the list, by selfishly including a majority of my photos. The link is provided below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/prasan.sh/Ebannad
For those who have the patience and courage to browse through all 650, the links are provided below – All the Best!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/kiran22jan/OotyEbbanadTrek14th15thJune2008KiranSCamera?authkey=rBjo711ctCA
http://picasaweb.google.com/kiran22jan/OotyEbbanandTrek14th15thJune2008SoumyaSCamera?authkey=OZgskYQW38Y
Comments
About the photos, what did you expect?? You went on a trip with KT. And you were lucky that V and SAG were not on this trip, otherwise the count would have gone up exponentially.
G is that way only. Every trip he decides to do something adventerous, but that feeling dies by the time he reached B'lore.
BTW, you did manage to get in a couple of mistakes this time too
:-)
@Nishat - Don't worry mate. We have a trek planned for you. Its to a peak called Mukurti. The trek is smaller in terms of time but the slope is 90degrees. I am sure you will loose some of you valuable bulk by the time we are done. :)
Well, about the blog size, you have me to beat too. I somehow end up writing big blogs, even though when I start then, I feel that they would be less than 300 words.
Your description of the landscape matched the pictures very well. Sorry to hear about the leaches but to have a great experience you have to go through some hardship right!!!!!
But yeah, it was great fun!!
This is my third trek since coming to bangalore and I hope to cash in as much as possible before oldage sets in