Last Friday when I was asked by my colleague Praveen if I would like to go for some trekking and adventure, I agreed without any hesitation but I had no idea this was going to be such fun. The original destination was Bandipur Forests and places in its vicinity. But it is not very often that things go as planned and it is even rarer that you get more than what you expected. We suddenly decided to make Waynaad our prime destination.
We started off from Bangalore at about midnight on Friday. As I opened my eyes next morning, we were on a misty road in the heart of Kerala. Waynaad is a hilly district in Northern Kerala. Wayanad derives its name from ‘Vayal nadu,’ which means land of paddy fields. With its unique and peculiar geographical position, Wayanad is blessed with mist clad mountains and picturesque valleys. It is situated at an altitude of 700 to 1200 meters above sea level. We had decided to make Kalpeta(which is also the district headquarters for Waynad) our base. As we checked into a hotel we started talking to the owner about the places worth visiting in Waynad. I was really surprised when he handed a district level tourist map/guide for Waynad (I just wish other states gave as much attention to Tourism).
Over a cup of steaming coffee, we short listed the spots that promised to be most exciting and challenging. The first in the list was Edakkal.
The spot is famous for its pre-historic rock engraving but what lured us there was the mention of an exciting trek to the mountain. We were told that the name “Edakkal” literally means “a stone in between”, and this describes how the cave is formed by a heavy boulder sprawling over a fissure in the rock. Inside the cave is on two levels, the lower chamber is the smaller of the two with a small stream tumbling down. A passage opposite the entrance leads upward to a small aperture in the roof through which one climbs up to the next storey whose interior is marked with pre-historic carvings. Light enters the cave through a big gap at the right-hand corner of the roof where the boulder does not touch the facing wall. As we climbed out of this level, Praveen spotted a narrow trail winding up the peak. The next instant we were on our way up. Almost vertical rock faces, narrow foot holds, small slips here and there and breathtaking view at each step marked the exciting climb to the peak. But the view at the peak is more than enough reason for you to take this trouble.
The second spot on our list was Meenmutty falls.
On the way I exclaimed that I had just finished the most difficult trek for the day but two of my more experienced team mates told me not to be too sure. I tried to remember what the map/guide told about Meenmutty. (An interesting 2 km jungle trek off the main Ooty Road, Meenmutty is the largest and most spectacular waterfall in Wayanad. A unique feature is that water drops about 300 meters over three stages.) It was about 1PM when we turned our vehicle onto a kuccha road. Suddenly I saw a localite gesturing wildly asking us to stop. Soon he was joined by a man (who climbed down from a tree nearby!!!) who in broken Tamil and Kannada told us to stop here unless we want to take the risk of having to stay on the top of the hill in the case that it starts raining. One look up the cloudy sky made me feel that the probability of such an eventuality is very high. Anyway the team decided to carry on, in true never say die spirit.
The trek started at the top of the mountain covered with lush green tea gardens.
As we followed the narrow trail brushing against the overgrown bushes fresh after the rains in the preceding week, we got a real view of a virgin forest at its best. At each step the trek started becoming harder, the light started to fade off as we entered the deep undergrowth of the forest, the rain in the preceding week had evened out the footholds and steps dug into the soil and to add to it there were places where you had to cross small ravines, stepping on logs kept over them. But the distant sound of the waterfall kept me going. As we approached the waterfall the path started getting more treacherous. The river had swelled up after the rains and a fine spray of water covered the whole place like mist. We inched on as far as we could on the slippery path towards the base of the waterfall. The sight filled my heart with awe and respect for the might of nature. The continuous spray of water droplet did not let us take any photographs of us in front of the falls. The ones you can see here were taken at a distance of about 75 meters from the falls. I just wanted to sit there and keep gazing at the falls but very soon a light drizzle started. With the warning from the man from the trees still fresh in my mind I started to reluctantly climb my way away from the mighty Meenmutty falls. But by the time we climbed half way through, the drizzling had stopped and I stopped to catch my breath. Just as I started to move off again, there was a big chameleon right in the middle of the path looking straight at me with a majestic pose. I felt as if I was listening to what this one was telling me:"This is my area. I am the boss around here. So its you who's gonna make way." Soon Praveen joined me while I was still in a quandary as to whether I should be behaving as a bad guest. But his majesty decided to give us way by climbing up the nearest tree. When we reached back to our vehicle the man "from the trees" was ready with fresh buttermilk. Believe me it tasted like nectar.
The rain had made us hurry back. There was enough daylight left, so we decided to checkout another place called Soochipara Falls (On the tourist map you will find this one marked as Sentinal rock falls). After a journey through a winding road through the mountains lined by lush green tea gardens, we reached Soochipara. There was a sharp contrast between Meenmutty and Soochipara. While the former was nature at its untamed best, soochipara had been made more accessible by man made steps. The three-tiered waterfalls in Soochipara, cascade down from a height of 100 to 300 feet, offering a breathtaking sight. At the base of tier 1 there is a natural pool where you can take a refreshing bath/swim. After staying there for some time we climbed downward to reach a spot that gave a view of the beautiful mountains that enclose the valley and numerous small streams that join each other at the bottom of the valley. We had almost missed the most beautiful sight at soochipara but for a bit of scouting by Praveen. There was a narrow trail that was almost covered by the undergrowth making it seem like a dead end. But we crawled under it to find that there were steps that lead to the base of second step of the falls. 
This was the most beautiful of the three steps. Overall Soochipura was a beautiful picnic spot where you can leisurely spend a day enjoying the sound of falling water.
This brought us to the end of an exciting day. All the visitors had left when we started our way back. Not a word was spoken till we reached the vehicle. Each one was trying to engrave the sound of solitude and the spirit of the jungle into our memories.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and proceeded towards a place called Kuruva Dweep. Kuruva Dweep is a group of islets in the river Kabini along the northeast border of Wayanad district. Kuruva is only 45 km away from Kalpetta, and has three main islands and a few submergible satellite islands. After asking directions from about a dozen of people on our way, we finally reached it. There is a small office where you buy your tickets for the boat that takes you onto the islands. Once there we took the tickets and asked for guide because we were told that there were several river crossings and the guide can take you to the right spots to cross. Though we had heard that it is a bird sanctuary, there were not many that I could see. As we followed a trail along the bank of the main stream, the greenery and the sounds of the jungle had a wonderful soothing effect. There is spot where you can cross the river using a raft but we decided to cross it right through it. Then we came across the first crossing. Though the water was only upto our knees, the current was really strong and we had to form a chain as we crossed it. The riverbed was covered mostly with jagged rocks and since we had removed our shoes, it really hurt. One after one, we crossed 6 streams and each crossing was unique. Finally we came to spot where our guide told us that it was the final crossing.
The spot was unique in a way. Few meters upstream a huge tree had fallen into the stream almost forming a bridge and a few meters downstream there was a natural hanging bridge formed out of a twine/branch connecting two trees(that must be at least a hundred years old) across the river. This twine 8 inches in diameter was about 7 ft above the water level, which made it 10 ft from the riverbed. We set our mind to climb this one up and the next 45 minutes saw several ingenious ideas being tried out. Finally we did manage to reach it and the photographs will be a wonderful memory for me.
Then we returned back to the first crossing where we had left our shoes. Soon we climbed onto a rock in the middle of the stream and enjoyed the snacks that we had with us while watching futile efforts from other groups trying to cross the stream without getting wet. After a leisurely hour or so we moved back to the vehicle. We came to know that there were several other options available. You can either take permission to set up an overnight camp on your own, else you can book a forest department guest house in the one of the islands, else you can book a tree top house for overnight stay. I kept a note of all this and added it to my list of most desirable holiday spots for a longer programme sometime in future.
On our way back to Bangalore we passed through the Nagerhole Reserve Forest where we were lucky enough to spot a number of deer and peacocks. We huddled inside the Qualis as we tried to keep the windows open even though there was a light drizzle outside. I just did not want to miss even a single a single scenery. As we touched Mysore, we turned towards the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam and the Brindavan Garden. The dancing fountain was nice experience even as I was silently considering what my friend Rahul had just said about the ingenuity of the Vishweswaraiya whose work had made both KRS and this garden possible. We had a nice meal at a Dhaba on the way and finally reached Banglore around 00:45 hrs on Monday.
End of an exciting weekend. Back to work...
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