Have you ever had a feeling of leaving the concrete jungle, the traffic madness, the maddening crowd around, the dirt and unhygienic conditions, the pressure of work, the daily drab routine of life and instead hear the chirping of birds, enjoy the greenery of the jungle with the forest breeze swaying you plus with fear in the mind that you can come face to face with a wild cat or a bison or a wild elephant at the next turn of the trail. This wandering through the hills is trekking, a stress buster which adds adventure to exercise. It’s a new high and can be experienced by young and old and it leads one to some amazing and awesome places. It also creates a bondage between fellow trekkers and new friendship is in the offing even amongst the staunchest of enemies as one holds the other hand in negotiating a steep step, overcome the difficult terrains or an emergency in the wilderness.
One of the most memorable, scenic and enchanting among the many treks undergone was in place in Valparai, 104 KMs from Coimbatore, in the Anamalai Hills of Western Ghats of Tamilnadu, India known as Grass Hills. Three of us drove down from Coimbatore early in the morning enjoying the surrounds and the environs, with high on adrenaline on the thoughts of trekking in the unknown place. Before long, we hit the foothills of Valparai, a place called as Azhiyar, where the Aliyar Reservoir is located. The Dam offers a ideal picnic spot including a park, a aquarium, a play area and a mini theme park maintained by the Tamilnadu Fisheries Corporation. The Temple of Consciousness, a meditation centre is also located at Azhiyar. As we commenced our climb up towards Valparai, we passed the Monkey Falls, a must visit destination in this area, especially during monsoons. There were 40 hair pin bends to negotiate between Azhiyar to Valparai and with the passing of each bend, the view of the Aliyar reservoir looked spectacular with the greenery all around adding to the beauty of the 6.48 sq KM reservoir, three quarters of which is surrounded by mountains.
Valparai declared as the Seventh Heaven, is a pollution free land and a green spread plateau located in the southern part of The Niligiris Biosphere Reserve in the Anamalai Hills. It is contiguous to The Indira Gandhi National Park, The Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, The Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary and The Eravikulam National Park.
Grass Hills National Park
is a protected area in the Western Ghats, India, and a part of the Anamalai
Tiger Reserve, forming its boundary with Eravikulam National Park in neighboring
Kerala state. The landscape is a combination of peaks and high plateaus above
2000m MSL, composed of montane shola-grassland ecosystem that is unique to the
higher ranges of the Western Ghats of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Grass hills, as the name
suggests, is a huge swathe of grasslands across miles and miles of mountain range. This out of bounds for common
tourists and only conservationists, wildlife enthusiasts, with permission from
the Forest department or those with access to the officials of the forest
department are allowed access into this wild terrain. The Valparai range is a
habitat of the Niligiri Tahr, an endemic wild goat. These mountain goats
inhabit the high ranges and prefer open terrain cliffs and green covered hills
largely confining to altitudes from 1200 to 2700 M in the southern western
ghats. Their territory extended far and wide all along the hills in the past
but because of hunting and large scale habitat destinations they now only exist
in a few isolated sites like the Anaimala Hills. Efforts are being undertaken
by the Government to preserve the flora and fauna of this location. Apart from
the Nilgiri Tahr, elephants, bison, Indian
Gaur, Bear, Nilgiri Langurs and wide
variety of birds including Hornbills are a part of the environs of Grass Hills.
Access to Grass Hills is two pronged . The first is a
combination of 4x 4 ride for about an hour and a half on a non existent bumpy
track and then trek a couple of kilometers The other is to trek from the gates of Akkamalai tea estate. As
the road track was closed due to landslides, the only option left for us was to
trek.
We assembled at gate of the
tea estate , where we were joined by the forest guards and three persons assisting us to carry our provisions, for a
three days trek. After a quick lunch and a bit of rest we commenced our trek but not before we have sprayed ourselves with repellents from our knee
downwards and especially our socks and shoes. The reason being that Grass Hills
is a leech prone area and the probability of leech getting under your skin is
very high especially during monsoons.
The group commenced the
trek and most of us were short of breadth by the time we negotiated the climb
of the first hill. We realized that the terrains will become more difficult as
we made our progress into the mountains. Added to it, soon the trail lead us to narrow single hill track where
it might have been difficult for a mountain mule to cross. We maneuvered it, in single file realizing that one false step
and we will reach the bottom of the hill. After all these years, we yet
remembered our legs shaking and the whole body shivering in fear, none daring
to look down. At times we were almost on a crawling position, holding to the
available grass or rocks projections or the ever helping hands of our
colleagues.
The first sight of the Grass hill surrounded by a green grass environment was awesomesauce, a sight of high green grasses with ever green
unique Shola Forest on the mountain slopes. From then on all the tiredness of
the trek undertaken was gone and with added energy and adrenaline flowing, we trekked through, enjoying the flora and
fauna in one of the finest trails.. At times we were walking with only grassland
around and at times through the thick jungles of the Shola forest. The
quietness, the gurgling sound of the mountain streams, with Niligiris langurs
keeping us company, sighting a Hornbill now and then, the picturesque
surrounds was as if we were in a dreamland and found Mother Nature at its best.
Did we discover The God’s own backyard.
It was sundown by
the time we reached our destination and our steps hurried on the last leg of
our day’s trek , as we made our way in
almost darkness. We culminated our trek for the Day One at the Konnalar
(twisted river in Tamil) hut built in 1920 for English Officers of Konnalar
Fishing Association who came fish trout. The Konnalar stream runs close by and
used to be a fishing camp for the British. The English are well known to have their
establishment at the right location and the hut was no exception. The hut was built at the
lowest part of the valley by the side of the
Konnalar stream. All around the hut, a deep trench has been built so
that the wild animals cannot enter the hut. We heard the story from one of the guards, how
a herd of wild elephants had strayed towards the hut and one of the baby
elephant had fallen into the trench. The
herd of elephants got to work by filling up the trench with mud so that the baby
elephant could automatically be lifted, what intelligence! After the baby
elephant was brought to safety, the herd of elephants went brusque and damaged a part of the Konnalar hut.
The Konnalar hut is
the only shelter available amidst a vast expanse of carpeted grass. It has a
couple of rooms with cots and sleeping bags and a fire place to keep the
room warm. The kitchen was neat with well stocked firewood. The rooms were lit
with the solar lamps but what baffled us was that the washroom had a flush and it was only in the next morning
when we found out the technique of operating the flush was through water
flowing through gravity from the upper reaches of the hill. Thanks to the
person who came out with the idea because during treks a washroom with a flush
is a boon.
There was chill in the air
and the fireplace was a welcome place to be by. We opened our shoes which were wet
by the dew in the grass but found our socks were soaked in blood as leeches had
beaten the repellents sprayed during the
course of the day. A hot bath was
refreshing for the tired limbs and after having chicken and rice for dinner, we
had a wonderful night sleep irrespective of the fact that we had to rough it
out in the Konnalar hut.
We woke up to a bright and
sunny morning. The first sight of the greens grassland all around was amazing.
There was no inhabitants in sight in for miles and miles from the Konnalar hut. Our
mobiles were out of range, and there was no connect with the outside world. We
were the only souls in this awesome vast land with only the sound of the Konnalar
river keeping us company. The crystal clear water was inviting for a dip in the
open. The experience was electrifying as
the cold mountain water soaked our
bodies refreshing us to the hilt. Am' very sure that the spot might be a favorite watering hole for the wild animals.
After a sumptuous
breakfast, we went out on a trek. This time there were no trails to follow but
only our instincts lead our way. The surrounds were lush green with no Shola
forest around as if it was a well maintained Golf course . As we walked on the
upper reaches of the hills, we sighted the Niligris Tahr basking in the sun in the steep cliffs of the
mountains. We did not try to approach
them but had a close look through our binoculars.
The environs were so
attractive that we kept moving from one peak to another and it took a good
couple of hours to reach the highest of the
green grassland hills and what an
amazing view on the other side of the hill. There were miles and miles of
grassland with patches of shola forest. We sat on the top of the hill for a
long, long time and letting our senses soak in the pristine beauty of the
surrounds knowing that it’s once in a lifetime opportunity to be sighting
Nature at its best.
The evening turned out to
be chilly and cold with the wind wailing with a gale force and sweeping over the grassy slopes. We had
made an attempt to take a walk along the Konnalar River, but had to retreat since
we could not sustain the tempest. The fire place seems to be the best of places
to be and to rewind our memories of the day and hear jungle stories from the
forest guards.
The sun shone with clear blue skies on the morning of Day 3. With a hurried breakfast, we cleaned up the Konnalar Hut, put the house in order, packed our bags and it was time to leave The God's Own Backyard and trek back to reality.
