being in the midst of nature has always given me a lot of pleasure. it induces a sense of calmness into my boring life. whenever i get the feeling "ade kittogiro lifeuu", i tend to visit the forests or mountains, either on my bike or go on a trek.
this time around i and pomchi decided to join the trek that was organized by the FCG trekking club. the plan was to trek to bramhagiri from irupu falls. we left the FCG office by 9 PM i guess, on friday. the trekkers were a group of young guys, most of whom were just out of college. spending time with them reminded me of my good old days in college. :-) the ride in the TT to srimangala was very uncomfortable. the seats were cramped and i coud not sleep. after a while it got so bad that i moved around some of the bags to make space on the floor. i then slept on the TT floor for the rest of the journey!!! after a light breakfast we headed out towards the forest to start our trek. the forest officials did not let us go to bramhagiri and instead sent us over to narkani. two forest office guides were to assist us in our endeavour.
before we started smruti asked us to apply the mixture of "nashya + kobbre yenne" to safegaurd ourselves from leeches. i thought that there wont be any leeches in the forest at this time of the year and decided not to bother. this i later realized, was a big mistake. we started our trek by following the guide who led us into the forest. it was dense and very little sunlight could reach the soil. hence, the ground was damp and was covered with moist leaves. this was an early indication of this to come. :) the route was pretty steep and the surroundings were absolutely beautifull. slowly we moved ahead to realize that we could not afford to stop and enjoy the nature. every small stop would mean a few leeches clinging on to our shoes and then slowly moving inside or move up towards our knees!
this time around i and pomchi decided to join the trek that was organized by the FCG trekking club. the plan was to trek to bramhagiri from irupu falls. we left the FCG office by 9 PM i guess, on friday. the trekkers were a group of young guys, most of whom were just out of college. spending time with them reminded me of my good old days in college. :-) the ride in the TT to srimangala was very uncomfortable. the seats were cramped and i coud not sleep. after a while it got so bad that i moved around some of the bags to make space on the floor. i then slept on the TT floor for the rest of the journey!!! after a light breakfast we headed out towards the forest to start our trek. the forest officials did not let us go to bramhagiri and instead sent us over to narkani. two forest office guides were to assist us in our endeavour.
before we started smruti asked us to apply the mixture of "nashya + kobbre yenne" to safegaurd ourselves from leeches. i thought that there wont be any leeches in the forest at this time of the year and decided not to bother. this i later realized, was a big mistake. we started our trek by following the guide who led us into the forest. it was dense and very little sunlight could reach the soil. hence, the ground was damp and was covered with moist leaves. this was an early indication of this to come. :) the route was pretty steep and the surroundings were absolutely beautifull. slowly we moved ahead to realize that we could not afford to stop and enjoy the nature. every small stop would mean a few leeches clinging on to our shoes and then slowly moving inside or move up towards our knees!
this was a first time experience to most of the trekkers and they were naturally freaked out by these blood sucking otherwise harmless creatures. none of us were prepared and most of them would stop after a few paces to check and also pullout the creatures that were clinging on to their legs. it was surprising to see our guides not wearing shoes. they were trekking using hawai chappals!! on hindsight, this seems the best way to tackle leeches. we then moved faster to reach a bright and sunny place where it was safe to rest. the place was very pretty. the low lying clouds and the complete greenery made for a splendid setting. we could feel the clouds moving and also feel it cutting thru us and the betta. 
after the customary leech removal session we moved ahead to the tip of the betta. on the way i and pomchi found a dead and decaying snake!! on the top we joked around about the leeches. our imagination was that would surely be on the "leech news" channel where the leeches would be bragging about their success stories of the day. 30 humans to suck on would surely be breaking news we thought. :-) 
after a small lunch we headed back towards our dorm. on the way we even had a puncture!! a puncture is turnng out to become very common on all my recent trips.
the evening was very colorful and enjoyable with all of us gathering around a pool-side campfire. most of them were in high spirits and this was followed by a session of dancing. all of us had a good night's sleep after a tiring day.
after the customary leech removal session we moved ahead to the tip of the betta. on the way i and pomchi found a dead and decaying snake!! on the top we joked around about the leeches. our imagination was that would surely be on the "leech news" channel where the leeches would be bragging about their success stories of the day. 30 humans to suck on would surely be breaking news we thought. :-) 
after a small lunch we headed back towards our dorm. on the way we even had a puncture!! a puncture is turnng out to become very common on all my recent trips.
the evening was very colorful and enjoyable with all of us gathering around a pool-side campfire. most of them were in high spirits and this was followed by a session of dancing. all of us had a good night's sleep after a tiring day.
the next morning we decided to visit irupu falls before heading back to b'lore. this was my second visit to irupu. once there, i had fond memories of my last visit there with kulla, mulla, sudan and lee boy. once near the falls a few of us decided to venture up further and reach the tip of the falls. so, off we went. it was very narow and steep route. after a while we met a few locals we said we were trespassers and had to get prior permission from the forest officials. even then we went up further and after a while decided to get back. 
on the way back we got to see some natural spectacular scenes. the top-view of the falls was very exciting. bhaskar (venki would lovingly call him duryodhana!!) loved the natural beauty so much that he stood there for a long time and was not ready to get back!!! ;-) we missed charan's binoculars a lot when we were up there. with that we could have had a closer and better view of curvacious rocks and forests down under. nevertheless we managed to have a good time and then also managed to get bhaskar down and back into the cab. the ride back to b'lore was smooth and tiring. all of us were cursing the fact that had to get back to the grind the next morning. but, that is life!!
on the way back we got to see some natural spectacular scenes. the top-view of the falls was very exciting. bhaskar (venki would lovingly call him duryodhana!!) loved the natural beauty so much that he stood there for a long time and was not ready to get back!!! ;-) we missed charan's binoculars a lot when we were up there. with that we could have had a closer and better view of curvacious rocks and forests down under. nevertheless we managed to have a good time and then also managed to get bhaskar down and back into the cab. the ride back to b'lore was smooth and tiring. all of us were cursing the fact that had to get back to the grind the next morning. but, that is life!!
2 comments:
Keep it up.. Excellent blog.
thanks magi!! :)
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