Well that was an awesome, adventurous trekk "Mankayam - Brimore -
Ponmudi" with Tree Club. We 18 people started at 9:00am from Mankayam
Checkpost via Nedumangad - Palode route. Then to Brimore estate via car,
reached there at 9:30am and started trekking at 10:00am from Brimore
Estate. There were 2 guards accompanying us. Wow there was too much ups
in the start and of course leeches. Damn! As a precaution we carried
salt water and it helped a lot during the walk. There was 100's
and 1000's of leeches on the way, if we stand still anywhere for
at-least 1sec then the leech will enter our shoes. We saw footprints of
an elephant throughout the way and we feared about its encounter. It was
an adventurous walk through sun and slippery rocks, steep climbs etc.
And I was just about to sit over a snake, later I came to know that it
was a super poisonous snake thanks to my friend Ameer for the perfect alert
timing. After traveling through grass lands, we reached the top of #Ponmudi
at 1:30 AM. Just checked my legs, wow full of leechs, blooding
non-stop. Salt water helped us. Then we had lunch and started the return
trip at 2:30 am. By that time it was total fog, and very poor
visibility and suddenly rain started, just mild rain. The return trip
had 2 options (1) Travel through normal route but time consuming and its
raining (2) Traveling via shortcuts but through the kingdom of leeches
but. We choose option 2 as the raining went a bit heavy and cloudy also
an elephant is somewhere nearby. We went through bushes and steep ups
and downs. The glucose in my hand was very effective than water. Walking
through the bushes, as we walked forward the heights of the bushes is
coming to raise, and finally we end up in the road. Travelled back to
Mankayam falls, had a sighting of the 3 stage waterfalls and then we
returned. It was a pleasure and adventurous trip. Total trek length was
14-16kms in around 7hrs. Hope every body enjoyed the journey. I'm not a
blog writer, I just want to share my experience. Thank you all.
