Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary Trek

Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary was the setting for 2 day trek / stay in the forests with cousins. With my brother Vishnu's return to India after 1.5 years, the 2 day break was a great bonding / thrilling / interesting experience for all of us.

Stats from the trek into the forest.

Most of the trek was on flat terrain, except for day 2. The steep incline can be seen from this map. Thanks to my garmin , for the stats :)


Route we followed : Coimbatore - Pollachi - Top Slip - Parambikulam. Except for 10-12 km just before top slip, the rest of the roads were in top condition, especially, the road between top slip and parambikulam.

Vishnu and Niranjan on the long straight section on the hills.

At a place we stopped by to have lunch..

Car parked, it is time to head into the forest...

Went past this dam, a km into the trek...

On our way to the forest stay..

Scenic, wooded pathway .. had elephant dung all over the route

It was an easy stroll all the way - the guide kept enthralling us with the stories of the forest

Tiger's pug mark that we came across , on the trek - apparently,28 tigers are found in the Parambikulam sanctuary. The place we were staying at night, was in the home territory of 2 tigers.

The Samba deer that we spotted on our trek in..

A massive tree that was on the way ..

Some more deer on the grasslands..

In front of the place we stayed at night - 6 km into the forest.

The view from the house...

Stay at the house was the scarriest experience in a long time - as the night enveloped all around us, with the guide taking us through the stories of the forest, we got increasingly nervous about staying outside the house.

With every movement around us being keenly observed by us, the wild cat droppings from the top of the tree was enough to get us running inside the house :)

With the doors closed tight, we had our dinner ( cooked by the guide , at a place with basic facilities ) and we resigned for the night.

Crossing a river, early next day, to reach a grassland..

We then returned to the base and drove 15 km to the parambikulam dam, to start the trek on day 2. We set out to climb the peak seen below , enveloped by the clouds ..

Thick wooded route -

There was thick vegetation all over and it was quite steep, going up the mountain ..

That was the steepest section - all of us struggling to go up...!!

A wild elephant had passed though this bush!!

And more climb!! There were leeches all over the place !!

Vishnu "skating" down - it was the best option given the steep inclines! All of us were struggling for foothold and stability. Coming downhill took almost twice the time of going uphill.

A leech on Ram - we burned the leech ( and his leg! )

Jam in the tubes came in very handy!!

More deer that we spotted on our drive back to the base camp.

This was the most thrilling moment during the entire trek - it was worth all the money and more. Vishnu was at the wheels and when we took a turn, we came right in front of a wild elephant crossing the road. After taking a few steps to cross the road, the elephant stopped and came charging at us.

I was sitting next to driver's seat and my heart almost skipped a few beats. Vishnu kept his cool and kept the car still. He switched to reverse but kept the car still / idle. Elephant took a long, hard look at us. That was probably the longest / scariest 5 minutes!!! No lights / flashes or anything to distract the elephant

Elephant slowly decided to move on - took a few steps to cross the road and waited to see our reaction. We stood still and the elephant moved into the forest and we went our way...

An awesome 2 day break - i hope to return to this place again and explore more. Next time, we will spot the tiger :)

Senji Fort Hike

Went hiking today and explored the 2 forts at Ginjee - Raja and Rani Forts ( Senji Forts). I almost wanted to skip it - Had "work" to do . But the good weather and thought of hiking up the fort enticed me into the plan. I am glad i did the hike!

The drive to the fort was quite scenic and smooth - An experience that is not expected in a drive out of Chennai. The fort is a 3 hour drive away from Chennai that took us through NH 45 speed way till Dindivanam. From Dindivanam, we were on the much smaller and less traffic country-side road to Thiruvannamalai which took us to the Fort, 15 km into the road! For someone who has driven a bit in India, the NH 45 speedway from Chennai to Dindivanam was a pleasant experience. Roads were wide ( 3 lanes each way ) and small hillocks by the road side were green topped. Driver had the "driver's" high on the drive and the passengers had a high on the visuals. Its a tribute to the roads and the scenic roadside that we went on driving and missed the turn towards thiruvannamalai at Dindivanam!! The road from Dindivanam to the Fort ( on the way to Thiruvannamalai ) passed through the small villages and was thickly tree lined. These trees had a "hood" formation on top of the road. Reminded me of my days in Coimbatore and the million road trips through the villages that dad has taken us through! ( Pic below is my first ever "click" using a pro cam! and am hooked!! )

We eventually reached Senji fort ( There are 2 forts - Raja's and Rani's and am not sure why they both lived seperately!!! ). We decided to go up the Rani's fort first. Rani's is a shorter climb to the summit and probably has an elevation of 600 feet from the base to the top.

We climbed up at a slow and a steady pace, hiking through the beaten steps and also through off beat path over the rocks. Sometimes we were on all fours, trying to climb up a steep rock.

It took us 20 mins to reach the summit. The view from the top was fantastic. We explored the fort at the summit. The climb down took a longer time since the steps were not broad and we had to slow down the pace and watch our foot placement. In all, we took and an hour and 10 mins from the car park to the summit and back.

It was 2 pm and we drove back to Ginjee town for lunch . After spending time to hunt for a "decent" place to eat, we realised the restaurant had a long queue of hungry people. We decided to have a "fruit-lunch" and got apples, grapes and bananas to have them on the way up the Raja's fort.

Raja's fort is a longer climb to the top - 4 km and about 1500 feet elevation from the base. The base was a long walk from the car park and we guys enjoyed the conversation and the fruits. It was 3 pm when we reached the base and were informed that the fort closes at 4:45 pm. We were tired by then but decided to tread along for the next 30 mins and turn back.

This place is filled with monkeys and you are advised not to carry any eatables with you. As Karthik realised later, he literally had to wrestle with the monkeys to carry the fruits safely ( Yes, made sense to give the fruits away to the monkeys but Karthik had a logic - Monkeys just "learnt" to scare the humans into giving up the eatables).

At this point Karthik and I decided to run up the steps ( that made up for my morning run-miss). Both of us were panting hard in a short while . We managed a clean run for 8 mins and waited for the other guys to join us. At this point , we finally called the hiking quits, some distance from the summit and turned back.

We were exhausted. Sat at a "view point" for a while soaking in the view and the conversation. The bunch was largely enthusiastic and pushed each other to move out of our comfort zones, though the exhaustion was clear. Thanks guys, for a fabulous day!

We were famished by now and wanted to drive to the nearest "decent" restaurant. But decided to keep the hunger at bay and drive to the SRM hotel which was an hour's drive away. No prizes for guessing that we finished off the plates clean at the restaurant!!

After a great day outdoors, all of us drove back to chennai with tons of pleasant memories... if only we had completed the second climb as well, the day would've been complete. The unfinished climb will surely make me go back very soon...

Planning a run here sometime. If you are keen to do a run ( 2 laps of 8 km, a clean 16 km of climb) do get in touch with me. This pic sure is inviting for a runner. Thanks to Manu for the snaps. He is a pro photographer works magic his Nikkon D70 and really got me hooked to photography. Some day soon, will get my hands on a Nikkon D80.

Dashboard

Place : Senji Fort

Route : Chennai - Dindivanam - (15 mins on the Dindivanam - Thiruvannamalai road ). 3 hour drive away from Chennai.

Infrastructure : There is none at the fort. Please carry water along and leave behind any eatables in the car.

Rating : A for the roads to the fort , B for the climb and the view from the top!

P.S. "Kid" if you are reading this, don't kill me ! Will surely plan a hike there soon!