A trekking trip to Korangini

A trekking trip to Korangini.

We the team started from cochin to munnar at around 5pm. Munnar is hardly a 3.5 hours drive unless  you rest here and there by the captivating sceneries and sighseeing spots. Just 115 km from kochin, the road goes through Muvattupuzha, Kothamangalam, Neriamangalam, Adimali and munnar. After Neriamangalam, the geography changes, by crossing the Neriamangalam Bridge, we can feel the freshness in the air, i will advice people to lower their glasses as we can breathe the fresh air. For those Michael Schumacher’s, be careful, ghat road begins from Neriamangalam. Only 1 hairpin bend, but the experienced jeep drivers plying local trips, is dangerous opponents.

  Forgot to mention the foodies, there is small shop at Nellimattom, (don’t worry about the names of the places as it is written in white, in green backgrounds all aver the highway, an initiative by kerala tourism department) which is open from 4 pm to 4 am, (a help for late night travelers like me) we get all the kerala cuisine ranging from appam,(freshly made, in front of you, hot and inviting, you won’t need a side dish to gulp it down) puttu, kappa biriyani (cooked tapioca mixed with beef curry and egg, yummy !) you won’t easily forget this chettan and chechi because they will remind someone from your family, pleading you with love to taste more dishes until they feel that we are full. By that time we will be in a state where we will have to adjust our seats to make more space for our tummy. Any ways the food is good and natural except that it is hot and spicy, typical of that area, idukki.

Moving ahead, before reaching munnar, we have sightseeing places, namely two waterfalls, valara and cheeyappara falls. The water which flows over the road during monsoon times, dries up and leave no traces of a water fall during feb - may. Lot of our ancestors (monkeys) can be seen here, a piece of advice don’t feed them, may become furious.

We reached munnar at 8pm. Top station is 34 km from here, taking the mattuppetti route. It's ghat route again, so be careful. If you are coming by bus, we could always get a jeep to go to topstation, by paying 500 -800 depending on your negotiating capabilities.

munnar is cold..at day time the temp varies from 32 -35 during summer and by 3pm, drops down to 19 degrees. During winter, we have temperatures dropping below, freezing points, where even 4 pegs of stiff vodka shots wont help you from shivering, so take your sweaters for the season.

We reached topstation by 10 pm, raja was asleep, a few knocks at his door, he is fresh again, discussing about the next days trek. we wanted to start early but as raja had some personal commitments we had changed our timing to 0930.

Day one : we woke up at 8 am, break fast is available in his shop, idlis with sambar and chutney. Mentioning about the taste of tea in munnar, it's always special.

Top station has a hotel with rooms to stay, apart from few home stays run by the locals. Tamil is the speaking language, but don’t worry they do understand English and some people speaks a bit too.

                As planned by raja we were supposed to start by 0930 hrs but got it delayed till 0945. We had 3 bags. One our camera bag, second one with the dress to change overnight and the last one packed with food and water for afternoon, carried by raja. The road where we started was a katcha road with stone pavements, gutters formed by time. Still better for a walk. After about 850 meters, raja stopped to show us a camping site, with toilet facility, yes toilet facility (it’s a luxury in camping sites. most of the sites the natures call is being handled in nature only, behind the stones and bushes etc). These are being built for the tourists who arrive top-station by afternoon and taken there by evening to start their trekking trip next day. The road (can I call that way) ahead was bit tougher, only traces of pavements were left. After 200 meteres we took a walkway cut through the chest of a hill. It was a one way, as it can be called because at a time only one of your foot can be placed, it has only that much width. Bushes grown all around, more of grass which has been lit fire by the local people, For fertilizing better grass to grow next time, as this is the raw material for brooms. this walkway was for about half of our path, we never knew until we reached on top of a rock where we rested for a while, sorry no shadows but any ways has to take rest. There we saw a snake, brown in colour and typically found in rocky areas, is a poisonous one as told by raja, so beware. Always wear full cover clothing as it may help you from getting wounded from the bushes rubbing against you. After a short break of 10 minutes we started again, an advice when you rest never lie down in the middle of trekking, that will increase your fatigue, instead stand and rest. One more thing I learned from raja, always take short, uniform steps in walking, don’t walk too fast or too slow, a mid pace will help.

Our next destination was a tribal settlement, called muthuva kudi, muthuvas are tribal people who were the original inhabitants of the area. as a measure of upliftment, government has made two bedroom houses for them, around 30 of them can be seen from where we started walking, like match boxes been kept. Forgot to mention the scenic beauty here, you are being surrounded by just green, only green hills all around. With the orchestra delivered by the birds as background music, you will forget to even catch a snap of that beauty.  It was a tedious 4 km walk through hard rocks, steep walk ways & bushes. Every one was hurt either their hands or neck. Lakshmi and shali has been badly hurt their feet, their nails came off after hitting with a rock while, walking. A word of caution always cut your toe nails, before you start for the trekking. We reached there by 1215 hrs, unpacked the lunch which was just bread and jam with bananas and plenty of water. We rested there for around 45 minutes and started walking again, this time through road built for jeeps to come to the settlement. Only four wheel jeeps ply there, that too with expert drivers.

This road was difficult to walk as big rocks are there on the way, we met the muthuva people jumping like tarzan and jane from one rock to another, talking between them of their homely chores, while we were fully concentrating , where to keep our next foot. We also met some forest officials on the way, whom raja greeted, and had some small chats between them, later he told us that, so many terrorists are making forest their safest hideout, and any strangers who are not accompanied with authorized guides are being caught and questioned. So always seek the help of an agency or authorized guides when you get into the forest area. Entering a forest area without a proper guide is always risky, because you never know the flora and fauna of that area and what awaits you where. Even though costly it is always better to seek professional help in entering especially, protected forests as being caught in such protected forests even with identity proofs is non-bail able offence.

Walking, stralling, jumping for another 4 Km, we reached a tarred road, seeing it for the first time, since we left top station. Everyone was happy as if seeing an albatross in the middle of the sea, indicating that our shelter is near. Another 2 km walk through the road we reached Korangini. The time was 1530 hrs. A small typical tamil village, with around 100 families. A church, and temple is there and no coverage for cell phones. Only source for communication, A PCO at the village. We drank tea with vada and proceeded to our hut, which reminds of the igloo with a thatched roof. It didn’t had any doors, only curtain. As a city dweller, our safety is what we think is behind locked doors and almirahs. Raja assured and re-assured that no one will run with our valuables as everyone in the village knows each other and that’s the safety they believe in.

The hut has a table and 5 chairs laid for us and we were looking each other, where is the bed, where are we going to sleep? A stair with five steps (bamboo, eco-friendly or cheap?) and some acrobatic skills as a rope is hung from the ceiling for support, led us to the ceiling of the hut which has a cot and few spreading sheets and some woolen sheets. Alas! It looks tidy and safe as the entrance can be closed like a lid. Dinner was arranged from a tea shop nearby, chappathis and rice for our hearts content and tasty too. By this time I was suffering from severe ear ache because of the altitude problem and of the bath I took in a river nearby. Apart from that we were certified by raja as average trekkers and briefed about the next days trek which is up hill, remember we came down from an altitude of 1853 Mts ASL. To 400 mts ASL. Even the thought of climbing that height next day, increased the pain on my otherwise conditioned legs. I secretly asked raja is there any other mode of transportation and he washed his hands off and told my co-trekkers about my enquiry, who questioned my stamina and built.