Room No 8

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Solo trek to somvarpet-kumaraparvat-kukkesubramanya

Desire to get lost in the wilderness, to push the body and mind to the limits and surging adrenaline was the things which pushed me for this trek.

Thus my journey began on 25^th night bus to somvarpet. As I slept the bus stopped 6kms after somvarpet so I walked back to bus stop at 5am in 10 degree chill wind,

waited in the bus stop for 2.30hrs just to miss the bus to bidali bcos of some stupid locals, finaly I took auto to bidali,

from here my actual trek started at 9am after hiking for an hr I reached the forest check post, where the guard refused to send me further as they had strict orders from dfo not to allow single person inside the forest, this had come in to force from 2006 due to some stupid phd student who ventured into the forest in rainy season and was lost hopelessly and forest dept rushed in rescue team which took 9days to find this guy, luckily he was alive,

my percieve for permission went on till 2.30, finaly the guard agreed to allow me into the forest. I paid him 100 bucks and ventured into the forest,

the forest was theming with green and height defying trees it wasnt the same when I was here in 2000, the stream which was rock dry in 2000 was now filled with running water, I crossed the stream and hiked further, took some snaps of beautiful butterflies,

no humans were sighted for rest of my trek nor any signs of civilisation,

I could only hear sound of the blowing wind cutting thru the trees, birds vocal and my heart beat, trek at kp is very challenging as its just the steep climbing on forest path of dry leaves, gravels and small boulders, when you are trekking alone you cant affort a slightest injury are an joint sprain, so every step should be placed carefully, for next 3hrs my trek continued in the dense evergreen forest with cramps and pain setting in, my path opened up into the sola forest which I was in eager to come to. Just before me unwrapping from the dense forest there was commotion on the trees, this commotion was from 2 gaint malabar squireel was very quick I was not able to document a shot.

My trek in shola began, next 3.30hrs was most gruling experience I ever had.

There was absolutely no shade for next 3kms of climb down, and path was uneven with gravels and loose soil, the nearest shade was 3kms away and it took 2hrs to reach the shaded area due to the terrain.

Dettermined I continued to trek only to know that this place is frequented by elephants, which was confirmed by the presence of the dung. Took few snaps of sheshaparvata and the shola range in the golden hour, and not to forget the mantapa where I had planned to spend my night but due to the signs of elephant presence I changed my plan and shifted my staying place to forest check post,

it was getting dark and I had lot of distance to cover,

as I was nearing the first dense patch of the forest I heard the human voice, I stood and watched around me, but no signs of human, thought I was halucinating and trekked further after around 100mtr I once again heard the human voice towards the left side of the patch, making up the couraged I walked into the dense patch and here I found the forest chk post, asusual guard whr shocked to see a lone person trekking, bit of enquiry and I freshend up to leave to bhattas place which is 500mtrs away frm the check post.

BRT sanctuary

It was 9^th of February. I was posted to BRT sanctuary for my SPM postings for which I was waiting eagerly. The wildlife sanctuary is 120kms from Bangalore. BRhills lies at 11”30’N 12”0’N-76”50’E 77”15’E and 1500mts above sea level covered with thick thorny deciduous forest with lantana and silver oak trees where abundant flora and fauna wander undisturbed. With tribal hamlets scattered through the sanctuary.

The morning of 9^th February I left Bangalore at 7 am and reached BRT sanctuary entrance at 1:30afternoon on my bike. It was beginning of summer in south India with temperatures rising up to 33 degrees in noon. Resting for a while at entrance, I entered the park at around 2 pm after having a few words with forest guard. My bike she never troubled me and kept her noise low so as to cooperate with me not to disturb wildlife and moved stealthily. The guard had informed me that I will not be able to spot any wildlife at this time of the day which was very obvious with scorching heat of the summer sun. My eyes were searching for any signs of wild life alongside of the road. Just then my eyes spotted large grey creatures to the right side of the road near a water hole. I brought my bike to a halt which stopped with a squeak by which the elephants were disturbed. Wasting no more time I switched off the engine. By this time elephants were alert and they stood still with absolutely no movement. I too stood rock still; there were six elephants of which a calf appeared to be a year old and four females around it and a matriarch in front descending to the water hole, after a few seconds the matriarch lifted her trunk and sniff the air unable to detect any smell as the wind was in opposite direction, dropped her trunk.

Slowly I got off my bike and removed my pentax camera which my friend had given me in hope of capturing some wildlife. Keeping low stealthily I reached the lantana bushes on left of the water hole to keep out of sight of the elephants.

The guard had said that this pond did not attract elephants as it was near to road, but this did not really matter. The herd was there quenching their thirst.

I cautiously moved further to take cover behind a hillock in front of the water hole but failed in cheating elephant’s eye which were on opposite side of the water hole. Now they were agitated the matriarch held her head high with ears spread and lifted her trunk to smell the air, making a low rumbling sound whose vibrations I felt, the other elephants moved close to the calf in response to the rumble, calf amused with the act stood still between the legs of her mother and other female elephants. There was a pause for a few seconds after which the matriarch sprayed her back with mud and sending a rumbling sound stood diagonally while the other elephants slowly retreat to the cover, matriarch having a good view of me slowly climbed back with one fore foot flexed and taking the support of the trunk and disappeared in the bushes. I was really amazed by the maneuverability displayed by the largest living land mammal.

I had a great experience watching the herd protecting the calf and reassuring one another. The threat display and the amazing flexibility the elephant had all this in its natural habitat. Thanking my luck I reached VGKK at 3:30pm. Spent rest of the day narrating the experience to my friends.

Day 2

Still excited about yesterday’s event I woke at around 6.00 in the morning, with the idea of visiting nearby waterhole but my laziness overpowered my idea which put me back to sleep. Few minutes had passed I was waken by the chirping of seven sisters and few drongos. Even though drongos don’t chirp I’m not able to find the word which explains it’s choral. Finally I got out of the bed and was ready for the clinic which opens at 8.00.

It’s really exhilarating to work in middle of the forest, where you are bounded by songs of birds with cool breeze passing through your hair always refreshing to keep you at your optimum. Thus the day passed till 4.00pm looking after the patients.

I was waiting for this hour of the day and got ready to leave into the jungle. Evening is the best time to watch wildlife. It’s the time when animals come to waterhole after their days feeding.

But as usual there was a different idea among my friends, they wanted to visit view point which is south to the Biligiri Ranganatha temple.

It’s a vantage point in BRhills to watch sunset. We were there till 7.00pm and returned to our rooms had our dinner at 8.30pm and we all gathered in the open field at 9.15pm to gaze the stars. My friends knew quite a lot about star constellation which I learnt that night unfortunately no one knew how to differentiate between North Star and Venus. When you are lost in the forest at night and u don’t have a compass, if you are able to find North Star you can trek in one direction with out going in circles till you exhaust, as one gets to go in circles when they are lost in forest.

At 10.30 I went to bed.

Day 3

From this day for another few days it was routine attending hospital, watching sunset and star gazing. It’s a lovely place to work.

From 15/2/04 onwards my adventure began.

It was Sunday and we took off from hospital, As planned we trekked to Doddasampige which is around 15 kms from BRT on the way except drongos, wablers and common langur (hanuman langur) we didn’t encounter any animals. Hanuman langur is a macaque which is common in Indian jungles, its face is black, body covered with silvery white hairs and a long tail which helps them to maneuver. These macaques are more encountered in northern India.

Doddasampige means giant champaka tree, it is believed to be 2000 years old and its huge I have never seen a champaka tree of this size. It flowers during april-july months that’s during pre monsoon. Its fragrance spreads around 500 meters. Flowers are yellow in color with five petals.

Tribal worship this tree on Mondays of every week. There will be lots of offerings, dance and cultural flaunt.

According to mythology it is said lord Shiva (the creator) and his wife Parvathi while passing to lanka presently Srilanka took bath in the stream here and planted champaka sapling.

After relaxing in the stream near foot of Doddasampige Mara we trek cross country another 4 kms towards south and reached foot of another champaka tree which is know as Chikkasampige. Here also tribals perform pujas.

Here the stream flows to the left of the champaka tree continuing further down the same stream flows to the right of the Doddasampige tree.

After having our food we visited tribal hamlet which is diagonal to Chikkasampige tree. This hamlet is recognized as Gombegal podu which translates to stone doll podu. Podu means hamlet, this hamlet gets it name because of the boulder in this area which resembles human doll.

Here we saw few huts whose roof is built with hay and roof is only 5 feet high. And the door height is 3 ½ feet.

Alongside of this huts there were still smaller huts in which these tribals use fire to keep them warm during winters. I was amazed to see solar panels on these huts. I appreciate the government effort which has provided solar panels to these tribals.

We trek back to Doddasampige; from there another 5 kms towards north in game road to reach a bungalow know as Burude bangale.which was built by British in 1940. We appreciate the architecture eminence of British. We also came to know from the locals, veerapan a local poacher had kidnapped nine persons of forest department and held hostages for 3 months from this place.

We reached BRT at 5.30 in evening not yet tired at 6.00pm we left to nearby waterhole. Walking stealthily we were trying to interpret jungle signs. Just then I noticed foot marks on the soft ground for about 2 yards which appeared to be of ungulates which were fresh, may be an hour before a mujtang (kakar in Hindi and kadu kuri in kannada) had passed ahead of us which I confirmed by the smell, which resembles to that of horses urine and later by its alarm call few feet away. By the mark of the foot print I made out the barking deer had walked leisurely. We trekked for an hour watching drongos, seven sisters, wablers, magpies and parakeets (there are no parrots in India) and listening to their vocal. It was getting dark, we forgot to get our torch so we decided to trek back. In forest it grows dark early we hurried back, while we were few yards away from nearby hamlet we heard a sound of twigs break to our right in the undergrowth which was thick cover with lantana and few bamboo clusters unable to make out what it was all of us stood still, a tribal kid who was 15 feet ahead of us had spotted something which I recognized from his dismayed look and he started shouting anne anne and ran. Unable to execute any plan I too ran and asked my companions to do the same. Anne is Kannada name for elephant. It was a rogue elephant I believe it had just separated from the herd. It was around 8 feet at its shoulder which I found out the next day by measuring the foot print. Elephant ran parallel to us for some distance and gave up the chase, believe elephant can run at 40kms per hour speed. We ran for few meters and stopped only at the hamlet, thanking ourselves for saving our souls we returned to VGKK.

I then felt ashamed of my cowardice but glad to be safe on ground to narrate the story to my friends. Thus the great day came to an end with nightmares to some of my companions.

16/2/04

It was routine clinic till 5.30 pm at six I reached the same place where we were chased by the rogue elephant the previous day. This time I was alone, my friends didn’t dare accompanying me. At dusk Indian jungles are spectacular. It’s a treat to your eyes with sun setting jungle comes out wearing a different look altogether and cool breeze append to it are the songs of the birds.

I stealthily walked through the nulla to the left was a huge silk cotton tree whose bark covered with thorns and to the right was lantana bush and in front of me a narrow path leading to a water hole which takes a sharp curve to left into the thicket. This path was covered on both sides with lantana bushes, silver oak trees and few java plum trees. At snails pace I moseyed few minutes later I heard muntjak bark a yard away and suddenly wild boar dashed across the bush 20 feet in front of me. I crouched and waited for few minutes in hope of some carnivore coming that way but nothing happened for another 15 minutes. It was growing dark I had a torch which didn’t even lit a small area in front of me. Understanding the peril I was in, I left the place and reached my room at 7.30 pm.

Today the night was unusual, the moon had not made her appearance till 10.30. Now she slowly emerged behind the hills in North West direction and the whole forest was lit, the night was magnificent, we were enjoying the cool breeze and sight. The java plum tree in front of the huge moon appeared great adding to the spectacle was lengthy silver oak tress reminding me of Jim Corbett jungle lore. Just then the silence of the night was broke by the shriek call of the kakar at the distance coupled by alarm call of langurs. They have revealed the presence of the predator to the jungle. Minutes passed by and jungle fell back to silence of the night. Night was growing brighter, my eyes were giving up and I surrendered to my bed.

17/2/04

The next day started with the excitement as a tribal kid woke me up and took me to a near by tree to show me the cluster of eggs of yellow eye babbler, the nest was beautifully built with perfect camouflage, I ran back to my room to get the camera only to know that I had ran out of films.

The day at the clinic began with a case of acute diarrhea, a kid of tribal couple was brought to the clinic in a state of stupor, and you need not be shaken at the stage the couple got the kid to the clinic, in Indian villages the people consults the doctor at the end stage after performing all types of rituals as they believe that disease are curse of the gods. Baby was put on drips for half of the day and was under constant care of the house surgeons.

And the day at the clinic ended with couple of the cases.