Grass Hills, Valparai, God's Own Backyard.

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.