Reaching the sky....Night trek to Kalavantin Durg

Kalavatin Durg perched atop the height of 2300 ft. Alone, lonely and abandoned, but still looking down at its subjects as if they are at its mercy...the feeling that buzzed me, when I had my first peek at the fort from the Mumbai-Pune highway. 

Though no one knows much about the history of this fort, but locals say that it was built for a queen Kalavatin around 530 BC. Looking closely at the fort and its strategic location looks as if the fort was built as a lookout point, as it gives a perfect view of surrounding areas.  But honestly, am not sure of the history and there is no written document which can help us to substantiate the claim. 
 Whatever said and done the fort has something which keeps calling out to the nature lovers who love to trek this beautiful fort. 

Being a part of some club always helps when you want to go for such treks. These clubs get all the like-minded people together for such adventurous trip, where you are away from the luxury of life and have to really live like an early man. Three friends from the previous trips were also joining for this trip and was super excited as I was meeting them after a long time. Though we had not met in between our other treks, but we have been in touch some or the other way. Just a day before the actual day of the trip, one of my friend met with an accident and he was not able to make it. That made us little sad, but we couldn't do anything, just hoping that we would go together in another such trip.

Though the trek was planned almost three months before the scheduled departure, so it had us counting our days for the trip. The organizers had planned everything, basic details had been shared with us.  The final details of the trek, along with ticket details where shared a week before the trip, along with the instructions for all the trekkers. 

From the time, I got the list from the group, I added few of mine own things that I felt was required. My haversack had fruits, cucumbers, and eatables which would be required, and apart from that I had my first aid kit, sleeping bag, small notepad and of course an extra pair of clothes.  Now, another important thing was, we were told that each one of us have to carry 3 litres of water for the trek. If required, we could buy some more water at Thakurwadi. Before the start of the trek we were informed that there is a water shortage at Kalavantin Durg, and chances of getting water is almost nil, so we had to use the water judiciously. The luggage, sleeping bag and water...wooh!! this was huge luggage, but we all managed.

 The D-day finally came and some of us boarded the train at Nampally, some at Begumpet, but majority of us were at Lingampally. We all met at platform 1, introduced ourselves to the new ones in the group. The introduction got us going and we were yapping away to glory, about each other’s experience on various treks. Once we all boarded our train, settled ourselves comfortably, one of us pulled out a pack of cards that had some of us going, some with books and some just chatted. Most of all, I just went off to sleep as I could not keep my eyes open. Next day saw us, getting up at the leisurely, having tea and of course the famous vada pav as breakfast.  We were all fascinated by the scenery outside our window…. as the train just chugged along. 

Reaching Karjat was just the start of the trip, from there we had to take a bus to Shedung Phata. We walked towards the state run bus depot and got into the bus, which took us to Shedung Phata. We got down at Shedung Phata and from there we needed to go to Thakurwadi. To reach Thakurwadi, we could either wait for the state bus or take an auto. Since we did not know the bus timings and also none of us wanted to wait for the bus, we collectively decided that auto was the best means to reach the place. We hired two autos, which could seat 7 people at a time. We all adjusted ourselves into the auto and reached the Thakurwadi village.

From Thakurwadi village, we could see the Kalavantin Durg more clearly, my thoughts were like...it looks spooky...:-). From the Thakurwadi bus stop, we all started to walk towards the Durg. The people who had been to this place earlier, set the GPS on and we followed the lead.  After going few meters, we came to dead end and there was no way we could go.  We found that it was a private gated community and we have to trace our route back to get to starting point so that we can start all over again to reach our destination - Kalavantin Durg. Most of us literally got bugged as we were feeling down as we had lost our way, above us the Sun God was blazing fires, it was scorching hot and we literally zapped out after walking few meters. We had to do some maneuvering, so that we are back on right direction. Once we got things right, we had to walk all the way back again to the place from we started, and that has us in. But, the sight of the Durg had us calling and we started walking again. The trek was slow as the heat was killing us and whatever amount of water that we carried was slowing getting exhausted. But still the team kept moving.  
 

 We had few villagers from the nearby tribal areas, who had setup lemonade stands and serving the trekkers. That was a welcome break for us. Honestly speaking, at a certain point I was like gone case as I started having severe headache. But some of my co-trekkers had been real support for me as they cheered me and ensured that they were with me the whole way up to the base camp.  At the base camp, we found a small eat out that was run by a family. They served food, poha, and tea.  We had quick tea and rested for some time and then we decided to trek up the Durg.   

The sun was setting and we had a beautiful view of it from the base camp.  We set out for the trek up. 
Switching on the GPS as our guide, we set out to trek the spooky and lonely mountain range to reach the Durg. Each one of us carried our water bottle, torch and few things to munch. The climb was steep and top it all, we were informed that the tigers do prowl in the night. So the people at the base camp requested us to come back by 8 PM, whether we completed the trek or not.  Off we went slowly climbing through rocks and cliffs. Midway, we reached the cave, which is man-made. The entrance of cave is small and elongated. We had to crawl in to see the cave. The inside of the cave could happily accommodate 12 adults with ease.  

 It was moonless night and we had to climb the trek the whole lot of the mountain side to reach our destination. As we walked up, we found that the steeper the climb was. The climb was real crazy as the route would change from rocky to loose rocky and mud, then back to rocks.  This continued, till we reached the 300 and odd steps that we needed to cover to reach the notch. The steps were narrow and broken at lot of places and higher we went, steeper was the climb.  After every few steps, we had to move either towards the right or left side to keep ourselves close to the rock wall.  Anil was leading the trek up and he was giving us warnings, so we could move accordingly. Hats off to him!! These stone steps did not have any railings which would stop our fall in case we did slip.  Thankfully, we did not…Honestly speaking, the proverb that comes to mind, as I write the article is “Looks can be deceptive”. Very true, this entire trek proved it in every sense of the word. Though our trek was in the night, so we were somehow saved from the scorching sun.  But the trek from Thakurwadi to the base valley had literally burned us and we were thinking it was wrong time to trek this peak, but when I look back and think I feel that this trek was about the test of endurance and stamina for all of us.

We reached the top and were astounded looking at the beauty…the moonless night was blazing with man-made lights….the beauty cannot be defined.  To reach the top, one needed rock climbing experience to reach there.  Once you reach there, it was nothing just the sheer beauty of nature, wind, and moonless night and lights surrounding the top. At the top, it was nothing just the flurry of cameras that went whirling to capture the beauty of things in and around. We stayed there for quite a while, enjoying the breeze, silence, and solitude.  Though, we were in a group, but everyone was busy with their thoughts and enjoying the precious time that we hardly get in our day-to-day life.

We did not realize the time spent there, then suddenly one of us gave us wakeup call from our solitude. We began our descending process…Climbing down was more dangerous than climbing up. We were partially sitting and getting down…as it was dark and we already had a taste of broken steps and changing sides.  We had to do the same while getting down. 

Finally, we reached base camp and refreshed ourselves.  Time for dinner...though we had trekked up and down, but we did not feel like eating much. After dinner, we set up the campfire and had fun talking, singing, discussing and laughing to our heart’s content. 

Before going to bed, we poured water on the fire and then slid back into our sleeping bags to call it a day. Sleeping under the stars….awesome feeling.  Next day morning, we took our time to get up and refresh ourselves. We had breakfast of poha and sweet tea. We cleared our due with those lovely people who ensured that we did not go hungry. Then we started our trek back. Few places, there was loose rock and sand, and nothing to hold on. We literally slipped while walking back, but still we made it. We all assembled at Thakurwadi to board the bus to karjat, from where we had our train scheduled back to our Hyderabad.

Another one of the beautiful forts covered and it was it indeed climb to heavens in the moonless night…

Photo Credit: Tanuj, Bharat, & Rahul

Enjoying the Essence of Mallela Theertham

Going to Mallela Theertham has been my dream for a long time, but due to some or the other reasons, it would just get postponed. Having the travel bug caught on to me, I do browse a lot and try to find out locations that I can visit with my friends over weekends, or if not, then on my own.  During one such event, I came across one of the clubs organizing a day’s trekking trip to Mallela Theertham.  In that spur of the moment, I decided that I would go ahead with this trip. I spoke to one of friends, who readily agreed to join. We discussed and decided that he would pick me up from my residence and from there we would jointly go to the meetup location.  As the proverb goes, “Man proposes, god disposes”, my friend called me a week before the trip and informed that he would not be able to make this trip as he would be traveling to Bangalore on an official trip.  I saw my dream of going to this place going up in smoke right in front of my eyes, and it did not take much time for me to drown my mood in a sad state. 

 

My friend must have sensed the change in my mood, as he immediately told me that some of his other friends are also going and he would request them to pick me up.  Viola, I was back in good mood and all my planning started moving in gear 2. One could literally hear all the clogs of mind working overtime….

Finally, the day came, and I was up before the alarm went off at 3 AM.  The meetup time scheduled at 5:30 AM as we all had to board the bus and leave Hyderabad by 6:15 AM. My friend’s friend came and picked me up by 5 AM and we were on the way to Hyderabad Central, Punjagutta. We reached there bang on time and we got to meet other people who had joined us on this trip.  Believe it or not, the group set a kind of record by reaching the meetup place, well before the said time.  Finally, the organizer turned up with the vehicle and we all boarded the bus to make a journey of 170 or so kms.

Before we set out for this trip, I browsed the net for some information on this place. Since, I like to learn and understand the history of the places that I visit, I started to dig in and devour whatever information that I could lay hands on.  While browsing, I got know that “Nallamala” word is derived from Tamil word, which is equivalent to “Good Hills”, which stretches from through Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Guntur, Prakasham and Cuddapah districts of  the state of Andhra Pradesh and runs parallel to the Coromandel Coast for about 430 kms. The forest stretch is between the Rivers Krishna and Pennar. The hills are between the range of 520 metres and 1100 metres above sea level. The height of the waterfall is 150 feet and is really an awesome sight to behold as it falls.  

 The rocks found here are ages old and attributed to volcanic activities many hundreds of millions of years ago. During monsoons, rainwater does not percolate because of these volcanic rocks and generally run off the mountains in to the Gundlakamma River which is the largest river to originate from these mountains. Since the water does not percolate down into the soil nor they are stagnated, the forest is filled with dry shrubs, bushes, and dwarf trees, but the flora near the waterfall are lush, dense and green bushes and trees.

Though we did not see any wild animals, but it is believed that one can see the tigers near these waterfalls during the summer months. Apart from these, one can spot leopards and some small wild animals.  Since these forest is away from human habitation, one can see various birds, which come to roost during winters.

The Nallamala forest is a treasure trove of legends and folklores. The folklores state that these forest were the places where sages used to come and meditate and is believed that Lord Shiva had appeared before his devotees. It is believed that these waterfall has healing properties for skin ailments.

 The cold January morning, had us wrapping up our jackets around ourselves. We decided that we would stop for breakfast on the way and also pack our lunch from the same location. With the decision made, we all decided we would have a quick sleep, since it was quite early and dark. Though, most of us went back to sleep, but few us could not resist opening up the windows and enjoying the feel of chillness on our faces, and ofcourse the cameras were on clicking sphere. 

We reached our breakfast location, and we all parked ourselves in our respective chairs. Breakfast orders were given, though we had limited choices, still we went ahead. With that job done, introductions were made by each of us.  We had people from varied backgrounds and each had some or the other experience to share with us.  Over the laugh and chatter, we had our breakfast and garama garam chai with ginger ka tadka. Also, we packed our lunch, picked up water bottles as we were told that we will not be able to get fresh water to drink. Feeling energized and fresh, we all got back into the bus. Since we all had some rest, we started to play antakshari. No one bothered who was singing nicely or not, it was mixture of beautiful singers, bathroom singers and even hummers also joined in.  The language was not the concern, we had songs in Hindi, Tamil & Telugu. What a fun it was…songs ranging from 1950 till date….

On the way, we decided to break our journey to check out Dindi reservoir. The beauty of the place cannot be defined.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth thousand words, here it comes.

 We spent about 30 minutes there, enjoying the beauty of the place. We had a quick photography sessions. As an individual, I felt that 30 minutes was not enough to do justice to the place.  

But our destination was Mallela Theertham, so we did not have much choice there.  So we came down from the top of reservoir, and got into the bus to proceed to our decided destination. Our bus took the left at the Vatavarlapalli village and then we drove through the village.  The village with its own atmosphere of mud roads, small school, electrical poles, but not all houses having electrical connections, small shops selling some or the other sweetmeats. The drive through the village brought back the nostalgic memories of my ancestors’ village which I had visited about a year back. Finally, our bus reached Mallela Theertham. 

We all jumped out of the bus as school kids who have come for a picnic. We took few minutes to get attuned to the environment and then we all decided to have some warm up session, before starting the trek. We invented a game where each one of us have to introduce yourself and do five steps of exercise which would be followed by everyone.  But, there was a condition attached to it…no one can repeat any of the exercise steps, which was done by someone else.  It was such a fun that we had great time playing this game. We were about 20 people, and imagine the 20 exercise steps done.

Once done, we all started towards the falls. To reach the first waterfalls, which has proper fencing, where most of the visitors spend their time can be reached after you cross some 350 steps or so. Apart from this, we have 7 small waterfall inside the forest, which we had planned to trek. These falls are located inside the Nallamala forest, which is quite enchanting.
Walking down the 350 steps towards the forest gave us a view of the forest from the top. But, the beauty of the forest astounded us as soon as step down from the last step and walked towards the forest.   

The lush green forest gave me a peek of Robert Forst’s words - ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep’ and its actual sense of understanding. Since it was the month of January, the walk through the walk was too good. There are no set path through the forest, we had to find our way. The criss-cross routes through the trees and suddenly coming to stop to view the cascading waterfall cannot be defined in words.

We walked the forest, climbed the rocks, waded through water, fell in water just to reach the last of the waterfall. Once we reached there, we decided it was time for us to take a quick lunch break and get wet time.  Lunch over, then we had fun under the water. After spending ample amount of time under the waterfall and letting the camera do the job, we had to head back.  Soaked with the water and beauty of place had all of us in entranced mood, but we had to sweat ourselves back to reach our bus stop. Climbing back those 350 steps felt like tedious tasks for us.  But somehow we made.  The trip had literally snapped our energy levels and as soon as we got back into our bus, we all dropped dead and dozed off. On the Srisailam highway, about 7 PM, we stopped to have tea and hot chilli pakoras.  They felt awesome after the grueling walk up.  We reached Hyderabad Central at about 10 PM. Though the trip ended at 10 PM, but I made some great friends and the day was well spent for me.

The group that trekked through the Mallela Theertham forest