Ulakkaiaruvi : A walk on the wild side

Ulakkaiaruvi: also a botany lesson, says SOMA BASU

THICK-SET FORESTS, rocky tracts, hidden pathways, an effusive waterfall, a three-km trek on an abandoned forest pathway. Ulakkaiaruvi is impossible to do alone. If it wasn't for the help of the Forest Department staff, this RLT wouldn't have seen the light of day.

Locals know the area but don't venture out much. But if you manage to find someone from the village or, better still, the Forest Department, the journey could become more than just a walk on the wild side — also an interesting lesson in botany.

Nestling in the deciduous Asambu forests in Kanyakumari district in the southernmost tip of the Western Ghats, Ulakkaiaruvi is about 30 minutes drive from Nagercoil. We walk our way up through a patchwork of lemon grass, under the shade of teak and rosewood and wild coconut and on a pathway along which keezhanelli and other medicinal plants abound, a live pharmacy with cures or palliatives for everything from jaundice and diabetes to chest pain.

I am shown a bilva tree. A medicinal plant whose oblong leaves form the stem too making a beautiful rangoli-like pattern. There's a mahabilva too, whose leaves are offered to Lord Siva. My companions, Sreevalsan and Ramdas, give me an interesting demonstration. They cut a branch of a tree called pullani ("vedanintholan" in Tamil meaning a hunter's friend). To my surprise, it oozes crystal clear water. We quickly fill our empty bottles and the replenishment is truly refreshing.

The area is an "active ecological habitat." More than 2,500 species of plants are estimated to grow here. The place, besides being a delight to botanists, is also an ornithologist's paradise with 150 types of listed birds found here. Plus: it is home to elephants, sambar, chital, Nilgiri tahr, langur, mouse deer and wild boar.

When we reached the base of the falls — which cascade from a height of 100 ft in a single long column of water resembling a pounder (and so the name olakkai) — my friends egg me on to climb up to the top.

The view from there is unforgettable. The shifting play of colour, the deep gurgle of water and a peppermint-like breeze contribute to the sylvan setting.

It is believed that the area may be declared a sanctuary. At the same time, the district administration has a project in the pipeline to make Ulakkaiaruvi more tourist friendly by laying paths, creating resting zones and perhaps introducing a winch to ferry people to the waterfall. But all this is still very much at the conceptual stage.

The way down is every bit as tough as the three-hour journey up and so this RLT is recommended only for the hardy.

Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/08/21/stories/2004082100290100.htm

Chinnampathy - Vettu Maduvu Aruvi : Oh, What a fall it was!

A tryst with Nature, writes PANKAJA SRINIVASAN

PHOTOS: K. ANANTHAN

ADVENTUROUS TREK The waterfall

"Don't let go of my hand, no matter what," he says to me. "Not till death do us part, pal," I mutter under my breath as I tighten my grip. And the end seems to be a very real possibility as I sway and teeter and desperately try not to go over the edge, in more ways than one...

After a long gap, the prospect of an RLT into the great outdoors to a waterfall seemed lovely. So our photographer Ananthan and I set out to discover the beauties of Vettu Maduvu Aruvi — a day's trip no more. The start was propitious enough, with our car speeding away from the heat and dust towards the beautiful green hills of the Coimbatore range.

At the railway gate, I watch idly as the guard plucks a pavakkai growing wild, examines it and puts it away — a surprise for the wife no doubt. The Shoranur-Coimbatore train hurtles past and the silence is overwhelming.

Forest guard C. Renganathan awaits us at the check post. A sense of importance as an escort comprising one milkman, two anti-poaching personnel and, of course, the forest guard is provided.

Jumbo walk

This is elephant terrain. The halo diminishes somewhat as one watches the team arming themselves with small explosives and scythes, the former to scare away the elephants and the latter to cut a path through the jungles.

"Totally out, madam," says one of the escorts as he recounts with relish how his compatriot had been trampled to death by an elephant, just where we were headed, and he does a little stomping dance to better illustrate how the deed was done.

A last longing look at our car and we start our march. Hardly a short walk away and we stop to remove our shoes. It is a grove of trees with bells hanging from them — offerings to the residing deity Muniappan. Tribals pray before they enter the jungle. Just beyond is the Walayar river and we cautiously step into the waters to get across. In my heart, I am longing to suggest that this itself could be a great RLT, why go further? But, it is too late and we are now climbing, climbing, climbing, and then some more...

Enter the jungle

This is a perfect habitat for elephants as there is plenty of food, water and minimal human intervention. As I clutch my side and gasp my way onwards and upwards, every rock looks like a baleful elephant and every rustle of leaves sounds like an imminent charge. At this juncture, Sivamani the milkman enlightens us about the malaipaambu that also make their home here. So, now, I also have to watch out for pythons.

Breathtaking

Everything looks freshly painted in shades of green. Every time we stop to catch our breath, there is an impromptu botany class — it is amazing what a treasure trove of information the `simple folks' have and in contrast how little we know about nature, enveloped as we are by smoke, stink and squalor of city life.

It is time to catch our breath again, this time for another reason — a spectacular view of a waterfall in the distance. That is where we are headed. We quicken our steps as we know that a treat awaits us. And, reach a good two hours later.

The forest

For a want of a better adjective, it is awesome. A cascade of water crashes down and splashes up again. We reach the spot. On one side a quiet river, flanked by trees with overhanging branches, bubbles and gurgles over friendly round rocks and then suddenly, as if realising it is late for an appointment, it gathers speed and rushes off in a hurry to the spot where it metamorphoses into a great big waterfall.

Footloose

It is the best pedicure anywhere in the world, as you dip your feet into the water. It is freezing cold at first and then pure bliss. Silky water washes over your poor urban feet and with only a grasshopper overseeing the take off and landing of hovercraft-like insects, one could stay there forever.

But return we have to and once again we cross the stream and this time we have to go down the hill all the way, negotiating forest, thorny bushes, red ants, elephants and god knows what other perils. If I live to tell the tale, my odyssey would be the subject matter of my next RLT.

How to go

Permission of the DFO has to be sought before visiting Vettu Maduvu Aruvi. Call the DFO's office at 0422-2302925. It lies off the Coimbatore-Palakkad Road. Just before the Walayar Bridge, take the road going right towards Chinnampathy. Drive on till you reach the forest check post (approximately one km from the main road). From this point, the foothills are about six km.

Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/12/16/stories/2006121600190200.htm

Kookal : Stunning sholas

Kookal: a scenic conjunction of verdant hills, wooden slopes and water, writes SOMA BASU

AS I set out on this week's RLT, I wasn't sure whether I would make it to my destination. It turned out to be an assignment where, but for my attire, I donned the role of a forester. With paraphernalia such as ropes, hooks, torch and sticks, not to mention the usual pen and notebook, I sat inside the jeep cruising at a painfully slow 20 km an hour on something that hardly resembled a road.

The vehicle forced its way through endless puddles of water and manoeuvred around fallen trees as the tyres jerked in and out of potholes. Heavy rain and thick fog made things only worse. As if this was not enough, the stench of an animal kill added strength to the rumours that a female panther was on the prowl. I cursed myself for choosing Kookal in the Poombarai forest range of Kodaikanal division, particularly during the rainy season.

But then assurances about beautiful, unheard and unexplored places emerge only after terrifying travel. And this is perhaps what sends the team on difficult RLTs. But I hadn't bargained for this when setting out for Kookal (also spelt Kukkal); after all, it is on the route to one of the State's most popular tourist destinations, Kodaikanal.

The zero visibility 46-km journey from the hill station, thanks to a thick blanket of mist, seemed to take ages. To break the silence, my companions — the (real) forester Mr. Hanifa and the scientist Dr. Kandhavel — exchanged information about the Kookal sholas.

Disappearing wildlife

Apparently, the sholas are shrinking and the wildlife population reportedly disappearing due to the monoculture of imported pine, eucalyptus and wattle. Along with the encroaching trees, the ground ferns are also eating into the grasslands, affecting both the flora and the fauna of the area which holds four types of ecosystems — swamp, grassland, freshwater and shola.

However, this Southern Montane Wet Temperate Forest has some unique features too. An 800-year-old tree with an enormous girth, and which bears fruit, said to be useful for patients suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, is found here. Now under the care of the Forest Department, it is all fenced up. Very rare single fern trees, jamun and rudraksha trees, 26 species of cinnamon and the shenbagam flower tree constitute the plant biodiversity. The Kookal sholas are also famous for its 165 species of butterflies, and a number of relatively uncommon birds such as the wood pigeon, Nilgiri pipit, 15 types of dabchicks besides the commonly sighted bison, Indian gaur, mouse and barking deer.

Great camping site

Suddenly, we reached a scenic conjunction of verdant hills, wooded slopes and water. The Kookal lake runs through the middle of the sholas and boasts a healthy otter population. The surrounding grasslands indeed make a wonderful camping site for adventurous holidayers.

There are two trekking routes. One, a 13-km stretch to the Kudiraiyar Dam with pleasing waterfalls and deciduous forests. The other is an eight-km route to the Kookal natural rock cave formations on a hill top. These caves are made up of different types of metamorphic rocks called charconite and granulite and believed to be home to the descendants of the leaf-clad Paliyan tribes. Till the mid-Eighties, 30-odd families resided on the hill top, where a small temple is located. This stretch is, however, leech-infested and best avoided during the monsoon. I was forced to give up after a kilometre.

In brighter, drier months, Kookal would be a trekker's delight. Day picnickers too can have a good time in this peaceful locale. Permission of the Forest Department, good boots, camera and binoculars are a must if you plan to include Kookal in the itinerary during one of the trips to Kodaikanal.

Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/10/02/stories/2004100200590100.htm

Kodiveri Dam : WaterWorld

Kodiveri Where you can just be, writes SUBHA J RAO

Hold your breath! It's the Kodiveri dam. Photo: K. Ananthan

The entrance to the anicut at Kodiveri is a study in stunning contrast. On one side of the bridge, water flows without as much as a ripple. The other side, it gushes with bottled fury. Walk a little further to reach a vast expanse of water, and see it force itself through a layered surface hewn out of a rock face, taking on the shape of two frothy mini waterfalls (thanks to the 4.6 metre drop down stream). Waiting bathers shout with joy under the spray. Onlookers cannot help get wet too, the misty spray enveloping you in chillness.

Time has almost stood still in the breathtaking anicut, built in the 17th Century by a Mysore king who harnessed the strength of his prisoners and elephants to carve through a 20-foot mass of cyclopean stones. The stones have been interlocked with iron-bars and clamps and mortared with lead, none of which you can see when water is in full flow during the monsoons. The anicut was intended to channel the water from the Bhavani Sagar Dam into two canals and irrigate fields. During British rule, some improvements were carried out without tampering the original design. Water from the dam is let into the anicut in the summer months, when the depth can reach as much as 10 feet. During the rest of the year, rainwater feeds it.

It is only recently that people seem to have woken up to the temptations of Kodiveri. Once it was regarded as little more than a great place to eat fresh fried fish and possibly lounge about with friends. Now, it seems pregnant with possibilities. Bobbing in the water on a coracle is one option, though the rate for a ride will depend on your capacity to bargain. The lake is 150 metres long and you can sit back enjoying the grass scented breeze. A nungu-laden palm tree that has decided to make the water its retirement home is an interesting sight and flying fish shoot up as if to sneak a look at the land ever so often.

Coax the boatman into taking you a little farther and you can catch fisherfolk in action, laying nets for the next morning's catch. Go near Akkarai Kodiveri (or the other bank) and you'll be tempted to snap off delicious looking green mangoes that hang tantalisingly close. The fear of an upturned coracle or the possibility of provoking an angry farmer keeps me honest.

How to go there?

Kodiveri Dam is about 10 km from Gobichettipalayam and 55 km from Erode. If driving down from Coimbatore, go up to Sathyamangalam and take the Gobi Road.

Thirteen kilometres later, Kodiveri greets you.

Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/04/16/stories/2005041601570100.htm

Kalrayan Hills : Destination Cool

Kalrayan Hills: if you have an open mind and can set your own pace, says PRINCE FREDERICK

As I take the lonely steps that lead towards the Gomukhi Dam, the dim silhouette of the Kalrayan hills is visible against an inky black sky. The rippling waters are lit only by a thin crescent moon and a couple of winking stars. I am not really sure why I chose to visit the dam site at dead of night. RLTs after all are for day-trippers. But the effect the stillness of the dark has on me is puzzling — an enigmatic mix of calm and fear.

I take the bus to Kallakuruchi, a bustling town that lies 20 km from the dam and do what I should perhaps have done in the first place — find a lodge to spend the night.

Another bus to Vellimalai the next morning on a road that runs uphill like a coiled cable. On someone's advice, I check out the Periyar Falls first, which lies just short of the village. But all there is, is a disappointing trickle of water; apparently, this becomes a veritable flood during the monsoon season. The assurance that walking another few kilometres would take me to the Pudur Megan Falls and make up for this non-show keep my spirits up. But the narrow 4-km pathway and warnings that it would be foolish to venture alone dissuade me from making the journey.

At an altitude that ranges from 315 metres to 1190 metres, the Kalrayan hills roll out like an uneven carpet across Villupuram and Salem districts. Covering an area of 600 sq. km, these hills provide an expansive space for wandering about. However, there are not many places of tourist interest in this area, the few hamlets being far from appealing. This leaves any tourist who wants to come to these parts with only one option — exploring the area with an open mind and at his or her own pace. There are forested patches here which are unspoilt and good for trekking, the weather is invariably pleasant and there are a great many dormant waterfalls that spring to life in the monsoon months.

How to get there From Chennai, you may take a direct bus to Kallakurichi or via Villupuram. From Kallakurichi, there are buses that will take you all over the hills but these are infrequent. Hiring a cab from Kallakurichi is a better option, though the best bet would be to set out in your own conveyance from Chennai.

Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/08/28/stories/2004082800310100.htm