my first adventure camp

My first Adventure Camp
Ramya Bhagirathi S
Poorna Pragna School
6th Std

My first adventure camp was a memorable one because it was filled with games, treks and of course adventurous. The camp was for 3 days at Bhagavathi Nature Camp in Kudremukh from 10.04.2008 to 14.04.2008 organised by Bakpackers. Bhagavathi Nature Camp has set up so many interesting things.

We left Bangalore around 10.30pm and no one did sleep in the bus. Everyone’s eyes were wide open. Each one were telling his or her story and chattering and laughing. We all slept around 1.30 or 2.00 the next morning. We reached the campsite at 11.30am. The tents were so cool and neat. We freshened up and had our breakfast. At 2.00 we went for a nature trail around the camp site. We were taught about the Leave No Trace (LNT) principle. We saw many insects like Leeches, spiders and tiny crawlies. We waded through a stream which was so clean and pure that the stones and fishes in water were seen. Many of us got leech bites. The forest was so nice and very quite, but we were the noisy ones. We heard many sounds of birds and insects. The water was so cool that while wading through most of us had ourselves were half wet. It was an hours trek.


We were back in the campsite and cleaned ourselves and ate lunch. At 5.00 we did tight rope walking which gave us a lot of fun. It started to drizzle at 6.30, but we still stayed out. Later we were divided into our teams and moved on to different tents. We had fun after dinner and went to bed at 10.00pm.


The next day was so cool that we did climb a hill called kurinjal. We did an African tribal dance named “Jiguja” and did some stretching exercise, had our breakfast and set off for the trek at 9.00 am. Our trek was very long and came back to the camp site at 2.30pm.We walked about 15 kms. We then had our lunch at 3.30 and then rested. AT 5.30 we had a team activity. The activities were to change a nursery rhyme to a film song. The second was a war cry. The third was to make a name for the team.


At 4.00pm we did river crossing which was very fun. We had dinner at 8.00 and played anthakshari. The next day was a sad day as we were leaving. We did some stretching exercise, ‘Jiguja’- the African dance, had breakfast. Then we did Jummaring which was fun. Later we did Ladder climbing. It was also fun. We also learnt about First Aid. After Dinner we went for a moon lit trek where we saw owls and some sounds of different animals and insects.


After Lunch we packed our bags and got ready to leave. We played Tug of War and the result was announced and were issued participation certificate.


We departed from the campsite at 6.00pm and reached Bangalore at 5.00 am. It was a fun filled camp. The food given was very nice. Every participant was given equal importance. I hope many more children come to the camp every year.

TREK TO KUMARA PARVATHA

Kumara Parvatha (KP) is one of the most beautiful peaks in the Western Ghats at a height of 1719mtrs MSL. It is considered to be a trekker’s paradise and is graded as a tedious trek. KP is also known as Pushpagiri.
There are 2 routes to KP
From Kukke Subrahmanya.
From Somvarpet
We started through Somvarpet route and completed the trek in Subrahmanya.
As per the plan we left Bangalore on the 23rd of december’2006 it was a night journey n quiet a bumpy one with a pit stop at the café coffee day. We reached BIDAHALLI on 24th at around 5.30 am and unloaded our sacks from the tempo and had the second briefing about the trek. Each one had to introduce themselves and the team consisted of 16 members with our 2 captains Anand and Deepak totally 18 of us were heading towards KP. We started off at 6.30am and we reached a view point where we did little rock climbing to view the magnificent Mallalli Falls.

Rock climbing

The view from the rock we climbed
From here we descended to top of the falls to freshen up and to have our break fast being bread and jam and mainly to fill our water cans as this trek always has shown a deficit of water in the midst of the jungle and the trek. You have very few water points in this whole trek and this was our first and best water point. After refueling ourselves and never to forget the photo sessions, we resumed to the tracks and it was from here the actual trek started, we had to climb through the jungle and a patch of vegetation.

There’s a temple [shantha mallikarjuna] en route to KP but that’s a longer one, so we decided to take shorter route which bypasses the temple. After a continuous stretch of trekking my stomach began to grumble and so was others. We rested for a while at Lingada hole and took our next break for lunch at a small stream [which was our last water point]. We had rotti, chapatti and sabji. Due to exhaustion a few were napping and were forcibly awakened to continue our quest to rest at KP.
But how much ever we had trekked was just a sample and the sample itself was making us see stars, something more was awaiting for us. In other words u can say that what u trek till that stream is for the acclimatization and the route from there is the core of KP. It was steep climbing. It was no easy but was great fun.
We had to climb over 3 rock patches to reach the peak of KP and this surely was very dog-tiring but it was condensed by Anand’s cigarette jokes and affable talks and pinky’s shoots mainly. We always would be the last ones to reach Deepak who would run away in the front and so would others. Only me, Pinky, Harish, Kiran, Kallesh and Anand would be at the back and a few paces in the front would be Satya, Umesh, Jagadeesh and Anand(2) and further would be Sujaya, Smitha, Rashmi and way ahead than us was Deepak, Harsha, Sweety, Preethi and Shyamala. I must say they would actually run.

We reached the peak at 5 in the evening and all being buggered just leaned over our sacks and rested and silently viewed the setting of the sun which looked like a cherubic.

Sun setting-view from the peak of KP

The twilight hour
Later the tents were pitched and it was getting colder on the top so we got into our tents and set it right so that we could rest for a while before the dinner and since we had ran out of water and there’s just no availability of water on the top. Anand, Deepak, Kiran and Kallesh had to go down and fill our water cans. KP usually gets very foggy but unfortunately it was very clear that night and not that windy too. There were many other trekkers who had camped on KP for the night. A group from infosys was there to celebrate Christmas it was wonderful for having decorated a wild plant as the pine [Christmas tree] and the camp fire which we could not light as its against the association rules [ I suppose].
After equipping ourselves with the warm clothing we came out of our nests to feel the chill winds and the main topic of discussion was the food joints in bangalore I must say the group had quiet a many foodies in it. While a few were fast asleep and they even missed their dinner. we were served with chapathi rotti and MTR’s ready to eat sabjis cooking there was a tough task as you have no water on top but we managed with what ever was available and we all slumbered, by midnight.t I virtually was comatose.
At 6 am Anand woke us all to have a look at the sun rise , as soon as I stepped out from the tent my mouth was agape and we moved a little downwards to have a better view of the rising it was simply mesmerizing. The clouds seemed like a fluffy bed of cotton and waves kind too.

Sun rise on KP
After seeing sunrise we came to south end of KP to see Parvathagiri. The view was awesome. Clouds were falling into deep valley seeming like water falls.

After sun rise –clouds seeming like water falls
After gaining our knocked out senses, we packed our sacks, cleared our tents and shot pictures and marched downwards towards Kukke Subrahmanya. We left the peak at 8.30am on the 25th and we stopped near a small stream for our break fast which consisted of bread jam and buns and our chef cum captain Anand whipped up a wild burger for himself [he played safe as it would be risky if served to us]
We just had to descend the whole day and I felt it difficult as it was straining my knees and my ankle and upon this I had to trek with slippers as my shoes gave up in the first day only and I had to desert it on KP.
Our first destination was BATTARA mane [house] and you can say that his house serves like an oasis to all the trekkers we reached his place at 1.30. I never have had such a scrumptious food elsewhere it was simple and the regular rice, orange water [rasam] and butter milk but it was more than enough to satisfy the monster in us. We rested for a while and left towards Kukke.
While ascending you pant but while descending u need to watch your step. Its not tiring but your legs may give up. We had to pass the jungle to reach the jeep track and from there kukke subramanya was just a quarter of an hour away.
Kukke was celebrating shashti festival and we celebrated our goodtimes.

Celebrating with kukke for completing the trek
We poured into us fruit juices and ice creams and we made a room to freshen up and to change over and we had nice dinner in one of the hotels and packed our sacks and fled to the tempo which was waiting for us rather which we were waiting to board and flee to Bangalore.
After boarding the tempo each one of us had to share their experiences about the trek, team and the captains. The food just about everything. It was a pleasant exchange of thoughts. And all of us snored in our seats and woke up only when we reached Bangalore early in the morning at 5 took everyone’s contact numbers and bid bye and cherished the thoughts.

The KP trope
AUTHOR
POOJA

TREK TO BHAGATI ( EXPLORING A NEW ROUTE FROM BHAGATI TO KUKKE SUBRAMANYA)

Almost 30 kms 2 days......... 18 member team......some first timers....... thick green jungle......blood savy leeches ......beautiful background of mountain peeks..... With all these it’s a pleasure writing the beautiful experience of our Trek to Bhagati..........HEAVEN ON EARTH.

Trek to Bhagati (Exploring a new route) was organized by Anand & Deepak . As per the plan we were informed to assemble at the KSRTC bus stand enquiry counter by 10 PM on 17th Nov 2006..... The Rajahamsa bus was to somvarpet was at 11.PM. By 10.30 the army was ready in front of the counter 16 guys and 2 girls.........the journey to the jungle started at 11.PM every body got to their seats thinking of good sleep..........but thanks to anand and sandeep who kept everyone awake with there war of words...........and entertained all of us with the topic of Sandeep, s Party wear shirt and anand giving missed call to everyone.
The bus reached somvarpet at around 5.PM......... As all got down and started searching for place to spread our sleeping bags and take another round of rest since our travel to the next destination was to begin at 7.30 AM............... In the mean time Deepak and Anand started distributing the sharable to the team though I was amazed to see Deepak, Anand, Malik, Sandeep......... carrying the weight.......g reat weight lifters. Some of us went in search of breakfast in that small town at 6.AM to come back only having coffee....... it was 7 every one went again in search of breakfast. This time we were quite lucky to find friend’s restaurant........ Nice hot idly, khara bath and kesri bath. So the bus came right on dot........ At 7.30 we boarded the private bus at somarpet to leave to Bidahalli.Which was to be our starting point of our trek....where we had to start our original journey to jungle..... It was a 40 min drive from somarapet to Bidahalli.
The journey was indeed pleasing for the senses. The early morning cool breeze could take you for a nap any moment. But the greeneries and landscapes around kept us awake. We got a feel of kodagu culture as we met many people who kept on boarding the bus making it “overcrowded” which would be an understatement. We found the people of kodagu never short of words and smiles wishing us ahead of an adventurous trek at stake.
We got down at Bidahalli Though all of us knew every other person of the army by then, we formally introduced ourselves to others. Anand gave us a small briefing on taking care of plastic and on other aspect it was a sight indeed as the battalion with each soldier loaded with a trek bag, which weighed not less than 20 kilos in all earnest to conquer the land of “Bhagati”. Ever-reliable “Gorge of the jungle” Deepak headed the troop. This guy amazes with his knowledge about these deep forests and mountains, which he is ready to share any moment. Anand was always high on energy letting his enthusiasm ooze into other members. May be he knew what this journey expects out of a trekker and he was always there providing the much needed enthusiasm. The battalion marched forward chatting all the way on the rocky terrain surrounded by dense vegetation. How can a trek be complete without some tough rock climbing? We were given a taste of rock climbing which was more than worth the effort as we were awestruck by the sight of the majestic malalli falls from the top of the rock. Anand & Sandeep the “macho man” was helping us to climb and get down of the rocks, which is surprisingly a very difficult task. The cameras were out in fraction of a second and flashes all around capturing the nature’s ballet on display. We were so unwilling to leave the place but the fact that we had covered only one third of the distance (around 4 km) to reach our destination forced us to leave the place by having the panorama etched in our memories. We were all drained though the whether was fine most of the time the ragged terrain caught us as even waking on the craggy rocks and pits required caution.
We came across a silent stream (Back water of Malalli falls) on our way where we decided to have our pit stop to recharge and refuel. Mallikarjun was the chief cook in charge and every one of us lend a helping hand. Mallikarjun did his reputation no harm by preparing lemon rice, which we felt the tastiest we ever ate. Arun with his lovely tea pepped every one of us to resume our journey.
Once again we started the march with so much of flora around fauna had to be found in all probabilities. And we did manage to find some crabs, beetles, snakes (All credit to the daring Harun Basheer) and last but never the least lots and lots of slimy leaches. Leaches were here there n everywhere. The leaches indeed had a great feast and all our efforts to ward them off turned hostile. We resigned to the fate and receded attention on these leaches as reaching our destination loomed large in all of our minds. When are we going to reach it we never knew? “Within half an hour” had become a niche. We put our heads down and moved. It was such an energy sapping experience. Some passing showers had made the terrain slippery demanding more attention. We pushed one another, sang songs, kept on chatting… all in all did everything to keep the spirits high. And at last to the relief of every trekker out there we set foot on the valley “Bhagathi” surrounded by peaks at around 6 pm which had become so sacred to all of us by now. We were all on our knees, cleaning the mess the leaches had created and we all had a sigh of relief as our endeavor of close to 15 km had ended for the day.
Four tents were pitched closed to one another and Mallikarjun was again in his elements preparing palav. Everyone were so eager to rest their heads on pillows it dint take much time before all of us moved into the tents which was such a cozy place to be. It was a moonless night with lots of bright shining stars spread all over giving us sense of the vastness of nature. We were all right in the cradle of nature hoping for a safer and enjoyable tomorrow.
As sun rose in between the mountains the trekkers came out of their tents to experience the early morning freshness savoring a cup of rich tea prepared by Ravikanth. The cameras captured the wonderful view of clouds passing the hilltops, the dew giving a glassy appearance to the rocks and the flowing stream, which was a yard away. Puliogre was the cuisine of the morning. We were all set to climb __________(view point), which was 1250 mtrs above the ground. Once we were on top of the mountain we were greeted by an overwhelming sight of surrounding mountains via pushpagiri, kumara parvatha, shesha parvatha and Kolkallu betta, Parvathagiri which without any speck of doubt became the highlight of our trek.
We came down the mountain only to start our return journey, which seemed even more adventurous as it was unexplored but one comforting thing was that it was a short route. And there we went all trekkers fresh after a bath in the stream on a return journey into the deep jungles. It was a green galore with varied types of vegetation to be found in all sizes, lengths, shapes and structures. Some itched, some scratched but we were not ready to let go our morale. Some were injured, some were dehydrated but our journey dint lose track. We kept on pegging up, we persisted to the core. Chapati with jam kept us going in the afternoon session. We crossed streams, hopped across logs, darted on the rocks, strolled on plains and finally reached a house in kumbara gadige. We were overhauled by the hospitality of the whole family as they served us with cucumbers and tea. Bidding farewell to such a gem of a family we moved on and our now long awaiting view of a tarred road was just few minutes away.
At around 5:30 pm we set foot on the road, unloaded our bags, stretched each part of our body which had taken a real beating. It was time for group photos. We as a team had a sense of achievement, a sense of pride of completing one of the toughest treks on a joyous note. Deepak, Anand, Sandeep, Mallikarjun deserves all the applause. Hats off to these guys. They were relentless in their effort to make this trek as safe as possible and to their credit they did just exactly that.
We boarded the bus to Samavarpet at around 6:45pm and took the connecting bus to Bangalore at around 9pm.We all wounded soldiers with nil casualties reached Bangalore at around 5 am the next day. All in all it was a trek to remember for each member of the army, which was more of a family by now. Thumbs up to Anand and Deepak on yet another successful trek and we as a team thank you whole heartedly for getting us so close to the nature and drilling in us a sense of responsibility of safeguarding it. (It was very much visible as the junks (plastic papers…) were all cleared in the places we had put up…plastic free is the norm). Long lives Mother Nature.
(AUTHOR)
YASH & SHWETHA