Sunday November 20, 2005
Wayand (Kerala) : Trek cum Drive This is my first trek in Kerala. Now that I may be moving to California US, I decided to do trekking in Kerala. After having done so many treks in KarantakaWestern Ghats, it's now time to see the Nature in Kerala. This weekend (18th Nov 2005), Dipankar and I decided to drive to Wayand. We started from Bangalore at 5.00 pm on Friday (18th Nov) and had crossed Mysore by 7.30 pm. I didn't have plans to drive upto Sultan Bathery on the same day, so we decided to stay in Bandipur National Park. We slept in the car close to a Dabha (small hotel). It was cold and we didn't carry any wollen cloths with us. Anyway somehow we spend the night there and at 4.00 am next day we start our jounery towards Wayand National Park region. As soon as we crossed Gundelpet (60 kms from Mysore), we saw an accident with a lorry and KSRTC bus. It was little scary for Dipankar. At night we were looking for spotting some wild animals and Dipankar did notice a 'dear'. I was driving looking straight on the road. At 6.00 am we were in Sultan Bathery and had tea. Soon after we left of Meenmutty Falls and started the trak at 7.00 am. The trek is about 4 kms but there are many ways and you can easily lose your track. In fact we end up trekking on all the possible routes there and guess what the last track was the actual trail towards the water fall. Anyway the first trail which descends sharply towards the water fall is little tough as the descend and climb will test the leg muscles. The tea estates are also there. In fact on the whole route we noticed coffee estates. We had light breakfast near the water fall and started heading back by 10.15 am. The next point was Soochipara Water falls. This was full with people so we just spend some time there. It's a nice water fall though. The drive from Vadvanchal to Meppadi and then to water falls has many tea estates and driving there was a great fun for me. I had heard that kerala drivers are one of the worest drivers but looks like they too were scared of me :-). Anyway after seeing the water fall we geared for Chembra Peak. We first took the permit from Local forest range officer and them took the car upto the tower. There too we saw beauitful tea gardens. The climb from tower is just 4kms and what you get to see is just amazing. You can see the whole Wayanda Distt. It was a spectacular view point. We got to see the Sunset also. After spending so much time in trekking and driving, it's the time to take rest. We took a lodge in Meppadi
in Rs 100 and had good non-veg good too. I wanted to camp at the peak but looks like it's not allowed.
The next day we got up at 6.00 am and headed towards Edakkal Cave which is on the way to Bathery. Somebody told me that we should be going to Pookede Lake and a small island called Kuruva Island, but we didn't have time. After having great breakfast, we reached Edakkal cave at 8.00 am. The cave is suppose to open at 9.30 am, so I decided to take a walk in the nearby areas. It's a huge cave and you can see lot of paintings being made on the stone. 'Edakkal' means a stone which is stuck between the two rock faces. Dipankar was little lazy, so I started climbing to the peak which is at the top of cave. In fact I used some rock climbing techniques also. It's little difficult but you can make it upto the top somehow if you have courage. You get to see 360 degree view of Wayand Distt. It was simply amazing. The Sun had come out and as a result it's now little hot. But the coffee estates gave good relief. On the way back to Bandipur Forest, we were trying to spot wild animals and again we fell flat. Anyway the trek and drive was great and we enjoyed it a lot. Photographs are on the way...
Last but not least, the Kerala food and roads are just too good. The next treks being planned in Kerala are Silent Valley and Munnar.
(2005-11-20 19:31:00.0)
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