Vellarimala

A bouncy last bed in a sleeping coach making sure i am wide awake till past wayanad..then this interesting jeep safari through the remote towns of kerala..only to remind me that i am missing my bike..Mutthappan pulza comes..its the last town in the road before the forest boundary..getting down from the jeep and shaking hands with our guide Josettan. We 3 people..Vijay,myself and Josettan..and we were into this 3 days trek deep into the ever green forests of western ghats..the place called Vellarimala..not known to many, but we got pointers from Sandeep.

I should have stopped Josettan from packing that live chicken..but it had happened like that.Vijay was fully charged and almost running ahead towards the forest..myself taking it in my usual phase. In the last house, we unloaded extra luggage and got inside the forest..there onwards, the time was flying fast..didnt know how we spent 3 full days inside that forest..it just melted.

The forest was dense..signs of elephants everywhere..some really cool water streams..some hardcore climbing with all the luggage..lost count on the number of breaks we took. By 3pm, we were in good altitude when the fog covered us..by 3:30, Josettan declared the end of the day when he found a small dripping water soure..hmm,its not fun sitting inside this bushes
till next morning..pulled him out literally..the next 2 hrs was tough enough to test our endurance skills. It was scenic with fog & cold weather..but we had to cover a distance before it gets dark..by 5:15 we were on Vellarimala top..another 15mins of downhill walk and we were in our camp site.

Every bit of mineral content in my body was squeezed out that day through sweat..reclaimed some energy with a hot MTR soup and a 30 mins break. Josettan who was in a tensed mood for the past 2 hrs came back to normality when we settled down..i know, he wasn’t worried about forest but for the chicken preparation.. :-) he started preparing for dinner briskly. Tent was setup, firewoods gathered and camp fire was on.. peaceful and interesting hours spent in preparing the dinner. Chicken curry cooked with cocunut oil tells Josettan's name loudly!



Josettan is a pretty interesting character..no less for fun..Myself & Vijay fired so many questions towards him on facing animals and situations..fella was totally in enthu mood and replying funny answers all the way..may be he dont know/bother what next?? The place where we had set-up the camp was inside the deep jungle..and right next to the only water source available in a big radius..and animal signs are there all around the camping spot..its obvious that animals have to
visit this place frequently for water..but Josettan didnt seem to be worried at all. After a heavy dinner he & vijay went to sleep.



I was sitting outside the tent for an hour till 10pm..just listening the calmness of the forest and the stream..pushing the fire woods to make big flames..i went to bed by 10pm and immdly got into a very deep sleep..suddenly i was woken by Josettan..i pulled my watch, ohh shit its just 10:30..not even 30 mins, he pulled me out the tent..fella got into various thoughts once the fire was off.. :-) okie..cool..time to make out a plan..i took the first session upto 12:30.. Initially i felt bit sleepy..but soon turned out to be an interesting job..push the fire woods..come back & sit listening the ambiance..time just ran away like that. Later called out Vijay for his turn for another 2 hrs. He too liked the job..My next turn was by 4:30am..when i wokeup, i saw vijay cleared some good amount of woods..i took over from there till the proper sunlight gets in by 6:30..hmmm, it was a pretty interesting night.

The next morning Josettan prepared some nice dry fish fry, fried with coconut oil. We cooked few MTR packs and carried to our next attempt..the peak called Vavval mala is today's target..as per Josettan, people have reached there 3 years back but
i doubt. We went for it anyways. Now the forest was very dense..elephants dungs all over the path..infact the path was not made of human foot steps..its just made of elpehant & bison herds. Soon it turned out to be full of bamboo bushes and impossible to penetrate through. From 10am to 1:30pm we were walking one way towards the peak..covered almost half the distance. But the worry from Josettan was that that 3.5 hrs walk till then itself was in a totally 'no-path' situation..just walking on a guess..if we proceed the same for another 2 hrs, it will be impossible to come back. It is assured that either we would endup staying in the top foodless or come back and get lost in the dark.





Myself & Vijay were playing all sorts of dramas with Josettan to pull him to the top and see what next..we were desperate to face anything just to reach the top.. But Josettan didnt fall in line at all..finally we decided to takeup his decision..afterall its a wise move to stay away from a scary/cold/foodless/shelterless jungle night. May be we should have started early..but then its all fine..nothing to loose there..i mean it when josettan says "there is no medal given in the top..come here & stay for a week and go..dont just run around" his words are true. We city live people try to bring the whole world inside our so called plans..we could have made a better plan to reach the top..but what you get out of it? :-) for me, I am completely interested for another trek out there…may be a leisurely 4days kind to attempt Vavval mala and trek further.

On the way back we took more time in a couple of scenic places..there was this para where the view was stunning..the entire Vellarimala batch of forests under on
feet and the mist playing hide & seek over them..just stunning! By then we spotted another group of local guys going in some wrong direction inside woods at a distant..iinline with the distance between we 2 groups, josettan formed out a nice communication channel to guide those guys...soon we met the guys by around 5:30 pm..they camped next to us which just allowed us for a continuous sleep without watchman job. :-) Before that another round of heavy chicken curry dinner..today the taste was much better and i dont know how much i gulped. A proper sleep throughout the night.

The next day josettan took both the groups to another view point called Masthaka para..thats one stunning view i ever had..dense forests/peaks/clouds everything under our feet. Spent lotsa time around there clicking. Later cleared the camp spot and got down. The downhill was much faster as expected..though we took it slow..the other group went ahead..we spent lotsa time in the streams and reached the human settlement only by dark.

This 3 days trek went past just like that..it is worth & it is hardcore..high chances of runnning into animals. I am sure going back this monsoon when it is considered impossible to venture.