Experiences

Dear Western Ghats Wanderers,
Heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for your generous contribution and unwavering support towards the Anti-Poaching Watchers of the Coimbatore region.
As a token of this support,
🎯 a handy, powerful flashlight and
🎯 a high-quality thermal wear jacket
were presented to each and every APW staff member in this region.
The joy, gratitude, and smiles on their faces said it all. Everyone felt truly supported and deeply thankful.
Thank you, Western Ghats Wanderers, for standing by those who tirelessly protect our forests and wildlife.
Grateful for the opportunity to be part of this meaningful effort.

Kodanadu View Point to Thengumarahada Trek - July 2009

One of the most tiresome, yet thrilling treks destined to test one’s strength and stamina.  A rather steep, dizzying descent of almost 5000 ft from Kodanadu view point (6100 ft) to Thengumarahada village (1230 ft).  Spanning a distance of about 18 kms done in 7 hours.  Four-limb descent mostly.

The presence of veteran tracker Ramasamy and a couple of highly competent antipoaching watchers from forest department allayed our fears boosting our confidence.   Even though we took off late morning, it was still cold.  The sky was overcast with a lot of cloud cover.  With our backpacks brimming with packed lunch, biscuits, chocolates, fruits, water bottle, and what not, we began our march.

The going became so grueling that our body batteries bumped the bottom in no time forcing us to take plenty of unscheduled pitstops along the way.  Our tight-knit band soon became an elastic band stretched to its limit with almost half a km between the leader and the laggard.  Some of us strategically shifted a sizeable burden from our backpacks to our bellies, which of course, backfired necessitating a short but satisfying siesta.

The calf and thigh muscles endured enormous stress and strain during the descent.  At one point, while standing, my calf muscles began to quiver involuntarily and uncontrollably and it was quite a sight to watch.  At the end, battered and bruised, almost all of us were walking stiff like Chitti (Enthiran Rajini) with frozen knees.

There was a sparkling stream awaiting us where we landed, and after a refreshingly rejuvenating bath and decimation of left-out eatables, our posse proceeded to the Thengumarahada trekking shed for a night of sound, snoring slumber.

Upper Bhavani in Southwestern Nilgiris is not just a dam and reservoir place to visit and see.  There are quite a few interesting locales in its vicinity to venture out if you are a little bit adventurous - the weir dam, the bison's swamp,  the drinking water pump house - to name a few.

When you are driving from Korakundah, just a km before the Upper Bhavani inspection bungalow, there is a right branch road, which leads to a transformer yard within a few minutes of careful slow driving.  Be prepared to see the remnants and leftovers from some striped cats and their scats. We used to call it the tigers' dining room.

From the transformer yard, in the deep ravine on your right, you can see a dilapidated red-roofed shed on the bank of a beautiful brook and a small check dam. There are steps, in not so good condition, and a misstep will take you down literally in breakneck speed.

The brook is an inlet to the Upper Bhavani reservoir and a perennial source of inflow from the surrounding shola patches. Inside the shed, there still remains the original equipment made in UK.

The water from the check dam is pumped to a storage tank situated atop a hillock, which is located directly opposite to the interpretation centre of Mukurthi National Park.  The storage tank used to feed the water needs of inspection bungalow and the Upper Bhavani TNEB camp and quarters.

When the camp was functioning, a couple of TNEB staff used to come here about three or four times a week to start the pump and fill the tank, takes about half-day work, an interesting little hike for me with anecdotes and adventures from them keeping me hooked.

And in one instance, the pair sent on water pump duty, after some time, came back running hard, breathing heavily, pale faced, rambling incoherently.  It took more than half an hour for them to say clearly that they had interrupted a tiger on a fresh kill!

Just imagine a tiger with a blood drooling face in close quarters giving a blood curdling growl.  It took more than two days for those poor fellows to regain some sort of normalcy.  And of course, we had to ration the water usage for the next few days, and then a big posse of people making a lot of noise went for the water pump duty.  I prudently remained in the camp.  Thankfully no untoward incident happened.

An old map with pertinent cartographic details of the legendary Mukurthi National Park. As one can see, a lion's share of the Mukurthi National Park area lies between Upper Bhavani reservoir and Kerala's Silent Valley.

And this is the first time I have seen the Upper Bhavani reservoir mentioned as Bakthavatsalam reservoir named after the then Congress Chief Minister of Tamilnadu.

Also, one can see that the only place where a common man will be able to set foot as close as possible to the Mukurthi National Park is the Kolaribetta peak, the second highest peak in Nilgiris (just a few metres less than the Doddabetta peak) which is now accessible for all by trek thanks to the great initiative of Trek Tamilnadu.

Our next multi-batch monsoon trek will be the Kolaribetta trek which is comparatively easier than the Parson Valley-Mukurthi Fishing Hut trek and the view from the peak will be a breathtaking one with a 360-degree spectacular scenic splendor of two great reservoirs of Nilgiris.

Parson Valley Trekking Shed to Mukurthi Fishing Hut, should instead be named Hudson Hut to Mukurthi Fishing Hut.  Just like the Mukurthi Fishing Hut, Hudson Hut also has equal historical importance if not more. However, as the Hudson Hut is now a private property lacking proper maintenance, it is languishing in every aspect.  It is disheartening and painful to see such a legendary structure reduced into a modern day lodging facility.

I was fortunate enough to have stayed there overnight, however, was not able to sleep as I would like.  The moment was overwhelming - Imagining and reconstructing events that had occurred a century before.

Now, fitted with modern day features like electric bulbs and water heaters, I doubt whether anybody would appreciate an overnight stay there.

It was an old fishing and game hunting lodge with the barest amenities.  Now it boasts of a motorable trail, electricity, warm beds and blankets where history has vanished into oblivion...

ஒரு சிறு சிறப்பு தகவல் தொகுப்பு.

தாய்சோலை மற்றும் கேரிங்டன் குழும தேயிலை தோட்டங்கள், நீலகிரி.

1989 ம் ஆண்டு ஜனவரி மாதம் உதகையிலிருந்து அப்பர் பவானிக்கு TCB 1298 பேருந்தில் செல்லும்போது முதன்முறையாக பார்த்தபோதே ஒருவித பரவசத்தையும், பிரமிப்பையும் பளிச்சென்று பதியவைத்தது தாய்சோலை.  அதுவரை நான் இவ்வளவு நேர்த்தியாக வகிடெடுத்து வாரிய, அழகான தேயிலை தோட்டத்தை பார்த்ததில்லை.  ஆங்கிலத்தில் சொன்னால் "magnificently manicured tea garden."  மஞ்சூரிலிருந்து மேற்கே சுமார் 9  கிமீ தொலைவில் உள்ள அமைதியான, அற்புதமான தோட்டம்.  முப்பதாண்டுகளாகியும் மாற்றமில்லாத வனப்பு.  லிப்டன், ஹிந்துஸ்தான் லீவர், யுனி லீவர் என்று அவ்வப்போது நிறுவன மாற்றம் மட்டும் உண்டு.

போகும் வழியில் சின்னஞ்சிறு சோலைகளினூடே சிற்றோடைகளால் சேதமடைந்து குண்டும் குழியுமாக இருந்த சாலை இப்போது paver block கற்கள் மற்றும் இருளில் ஒளிரும் செவ்விளக்குகள் பதிக்கப்பட்டு, வளைவுகளில் மோதல் தடுப்புகளோடும், சாலையின் மையத்திலும், ஓரங்களிலும் வரையப்பட்ட வெள்ளைக்கோடுகளோடும் புது பொலிவோடு பளபளக்கிறது.  முன்பு பகலிலேயே வழுக்கி விழுந்த இரும்பு குதிரைகள் இன்று இரவிலும் சுகமாய் பயணிக்கின்றன.

வழியிலுள்ள கொண்டைஊசி வளைவு சாலையிலிருந்து பார்த்தால் நேரெதிரில் மலைமுகட்டின் ஓரத்தில், மேகக்கூட்டங்களின் நடுவே கம்பீரமாக வீற்றிருக்கும் தாய்சோலை தேயிலை தொழிற்சாலை.  எத்தனை முறை பார்த்தாலும் மீண்டும், மீண்டும் படமெடுக்க தோன்றும்.

அப்புறம் அந்த அழகான கவிதைபோன்ற பேருந்து நிறுத்தம் - ஒரு பாலம், கீழே வற்றாத சிற்றோடை, பெயர் பலகை, சிமிண்டு பெஞ்சுகள், ஓட்டுக்கட்டிட தபால் நிலையம், மரப்பெஞ்சுகளுடன் தேநீர்கடை, சுற்றி மேய்ந்துகொண்டிருக்கும் கருப்பு வெள்ளை பசுக்கள், புசுபுசு நாய்கள் மற்றும் பூனைகள், கொழுகொழு கோழிகள் - எல்லாம் சேர்ந்து James Herriot கதைசூழலை நினைவுக்கு கொண்டு வரும்.

இப்படிப்பட்ட தாய் சோலை தேயிலை தோட்டத்துக்கு ஒரு வரலாற்று சிறப்பும் உண்டு.  இதன் ஒரு பகுதியான கேரிங்டன் தோட்டம் தான் தென்னிந்தியாவின் முதல் தேயிலை தோட்டம்.  சீனாவிலிருந்து கொண்டுவரப்பட்ட போர்கைதிகளை கொண்டுதான் சென்ற நூற்றாண்டில் இங்கு தேயிலை தோட்டம் அமைக்கப்பட்டது.  இன்னும் அந்த பழமையான தேயிலை செடிகள் அங்கு பார்வைக்கு உள்ளன.  "ஜெயில் தோட்டம்" என்று ஒரு பேருந்து நிறுத்தமும் உள்ளது.