It was just another day in office, a coffee break and some mundane talk when Aravind and me started discussing on how it was quite a while since we had gone on a trek. Ofcourse that immediately led to a quick plan to go on a trek the following weekend. Aravind suggested trekking to the Chembra peak, the highest peak in the Wayanad region of Kerela. Gathering information about it was not difficult. Google search yields a number of websites, but one neatly written piece is at
http://usandeep.com/trekking/chembra.html
Destination decided! The next step was to get a gang of like-minded people. We made the offer to our immediate group in office and the response was quite overwhelming. Within 2 days, we had 12 nominations! However as the d-day neared, there were the expected dropouts and finally we were left with 6 confirmed participants. Not a bad count for a hearty trek! Aravind, the most avid trekker among all of us, did the planning. The idea was to trek up Chembra on Saturday morning, camp somewhere in the wilderness there and trek back the following morning. We also decided to visit a couple of waterfalls in the nearby region before driving back to Bangalore.
Planning done! Manju, Raghu and me were the early birds and we started off from office on Friday, 16th of Dec 2005 on a Qualis at 10:00 in the night. Malli and his friend Avinash joined us at BHEL circle and finally Aravind at Rajarajeshwari Nagar. The drive itself was quite nice with the Bangalore - Mysore road tarred to perfection. The route to Chembra would take us through Mysore – Nanjangud – Gundlupet - Sultan batheri – Kalpetta – Meppady. This is mainly on NH212, which is a pretty well maintained road.
We reached Kalpetta at 4:00 in the following morning after quite some navigation by Aravind (read as asking strangers for the way in broken Malayalam!). It was too ungodly a time to do anything and we decided to sleep off in the cab till 6:30 in the morning. We awoke to a beautiful morning in the sleepy town of Kalpetta and the immediate need was to get a lodge to freshen up and have breakfast. We found all these within 20m of where we stopped! The breakfast consisted of delicious Valappams while some chose to have the more predictable Idlis.
We headed for Chembra at 8:00 am and our first stop was at Meppady forest office where we needed to take a permit for allowing us to pass through some private tea estate to reach the peak. It was no problem with a perfect gentleman doing the needful in a jiffy. The drive to Chembra from Meppady took us through some real picturesque locales – tea gardens jostled for space in every available slope. It would have definitely been a shutterbugs delight with the morning sun giving the right hue to the serene beauty.
We drove up the Chembra tea estate and reached the summit of the estate from which the trek normally begins. The resident caretakers of the place wouldn’t allow us to pitch tent in the peak and insisted that we come down and pitch the tent only in the estate area! We identified a beautiful spot, bordered by a flowing cascade as the place suitable for our night sojourn and so didn’t have to lug our tents along for the trek.
We left the cab and our camping gear in it and started the challenging trek at 10:30 in the morning. Our driver, Pradeep was equally enthusiastic and decided to accompany us to the top. We took an initial detour to catch a glimpse of the tea estate from a Watch Tower located close to the place where we parked. The sight was majestic!
The trek to Chembra peak was challenging right from the beginning. The steepness of the slope was something we didn’t anticipate and our initial progress was slow. The sun beating down our heads also didn’t help. However, after a while, our legs got accustomed to what was expected of them and we made steady progress. After numerous photo-shoots on the way and glucose gulping, we reached the beautiful heart shaped lake midway to the top. The shape doesn’t dawn on you until you climb further up and have a look back at the lake. A wide rock at the top end of the lake gives it the necessary curve at the top of the heart. It surely was created with love, naturally!
We trudged further along, our legs giving us the necessary signals to rest from time to time. The way to the Chembra peak passes through multiple hilltops and every time we surmounted one cliff, there was another one in front! It required quite some motivation at these preliminary summits to continue the trek. However, the group continued and we made it to the top after a grueling 4 hours of trekking. The experience was exhilarating and the site from the peak, heavenly.
After some rest and some snacking, we started our decent and made quite rapid progress. The trek down was completed in no time and we had to stop ourselves from reaching our base camp too early! This we did by choosing viewpoints to take breaks and contemplate on life’s glory. We finally reached the foothill at 4:30 pm and started setting up the tents. We had carried a 4-man tent and another 2-man tent. Setting up the tent was an eagerly anticipated activity for most of the gang, it being the very first time for them. Aravind and me were the only ones with prior experience. The tents were set up in no time and so was the “kitchen” (a wood burner with 3 stones!). We had tea, started a campfire, cooked the ready-to-eats and had fun around the fire in a moonlit night, surrounded by silent tea shrubs watching the rituals of us city dwellers.
We awoke to a misty morning. Aravind and Manju went about preparing the tea while Malli busied himself preparing Maggi. We all had a hearty breakfast and after some picture sessions and camp dismantling were ready to leave this little piece of heaven at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. We were not finished yet! The next destination was Suchippara falls, some 7 kms from Meppady. No trek is complete without a refreshing bath in a waterfall and we believed in that adage.
Suchippara falls is in a well-marked route and we didn’t have to struggle to find it. It is definitely in the must-visit list of every tourist to Wayanad. The cab needed to be parked almost 500m away from the falls and we had to trek down a well-cobbled path that led right up to the falls. We were the 1st visitors to it on that lovely morning and we wasted no time getting into the water. The falls itself is not very huge, but the rocky surrounding gave it a majestic look. Some of us braved the cold waters and stood below the falls in a show of bravado! However, after the numbing sensation, sense prevailed and we soon climbed back to the rocks, dried ourselves and headed back to the cab as other tourists started trickling in. A small roadside shack selling pickled pineapple, salted nuts and other such goodies near the falls made for a quick stop for some memorable bites.
Finally it was time to head back to Bangalore. We started driving down the gentle slopes dotted with tea shrubs and the Chembra peak gradually started to fade away in the backdrop. However the memories of this refreshing break from the rigors of city life were just getting etched more deeply into our joyous minds. After a lunch stopover at Mysore and some stops to sip coconut water on the roadside, we were back into the bristling evening life of Bangalore at 7:00 pm. It was definitely a memorable weekend that all of us will cherish for some more time to come. Mission accomplished!
