Well.. out i flew on an adventure by myself, to one of my most favourite place in Coorg... Honey Valley estate! This was in August 2007, right after my birthday... a few things happened.. and i had this strong urge to get the hell outta Bangalore and spend some time with myself. With the many many days i have spent at HoneyValley as part of the adventure programs, the number of times i have walked up and down those trekking paths and not to forget the Chengappa's, the loving hosts of the estate, makes me feel at home! So, i guess it was an easy pick for me to run to. And also, 'Tadiandamol' was still haunting my thoughts... ever since my first camp at Coorg.Am still amazed with what made me book that bus ticket and take off on a journey alone! However, it is one thing that i would never-ever have any regrets about! Am so glad i did it...
So.. it was just me, my binocs, my sketchbook, bird-guide, a little camera and a borrowed back-pack! Turned out to be quite a trip! Met a few amazing back-packers, did a whole lot of birding and scribbled in my sketch book every now and then. The best of all...walked past the leeches, brushing against the green grassland, through the dense shola forests, along steep slopes and mountain ridges, inbetween light showers to keep me going.... i trekked up all the way to the peak Tadiandamol with a local tribal guide, Chhata. It was a great feeling to reach the peak! A 21 kilometer trek that got me back to the estate completely drained out, hungry, thirsty ,but at the same time ... with the widest smile that felt like i had just conquered as empire !
However, there was an extra bonus on the trip... just when i was all set to close my sleeeepy eyes that night... i discover that a sleak, long creature happens to be sharing the room with me in the middle of the night! A Common Wolf Snake, it was !
Here is the link to 'Out of the sketchbook'... what i wrote in 2007, about the same trip.
