May 09, 2007 07:48 PM
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For those of you who are bugged up with this monotonous, dog eat dog - city life, Yelagiri would be the ideal weekend getaway and is a **sheer stress buster spot.
Fast facts:
*Yelagiri is a relatively smaller hill station in the Eastern ghats compared to their western counterparts Yercaud and Ooty and the big brother Kodaikanal.
The weather here is pleasant most of the year( about 27 to 32 degrees) and is not expected to send tingling chillness on your body.
It is about 240 km from Chennai, a good 4 hour drive from there and is near Vaniyambadi which is a popular town worth mentioning as landmark. For those coming from Bangalore, Jolarpet would be the landmark
It has about 14 hairpin bends named after ancient Tamil poets and prominents and is at an altitude of about 1050 m.
*Whats in store for you:
There is **not much of sight seeing to be done at Yelagiri. That shouldnt hold you back as there are many other good things to do at this place that can keep your trip purposeful.
One unique thing that you might observe here is the naive nature of the inhabitants of this place. I still remember the incident where me and my comrades had to disturb those villagers at athanavur at unearthly hours for logs of wood( for campfire ofcourse!) and they were more than happy to help us out.
What you might want to do here is go for a boating at the Punganur lake or have a lazy stroll around the place and or just lay flat on a nearby park and relax yourself.
For adventure enthusiasts though, this is a dream come true as there are quite a lot of trekking routes which might help you burn a few calories and a cramp in your thighs and calf shouldnt be surprising. I had a sore leg once I completed my trek to Swami malai.
Diehard trekkers and daredevils can go for a Jungle Safari in the night. Rainbow resorts is a good place that you might have as an option for accomodation and they do arrange for Jungle Safari upon prior request. It is best advised not to try these Jungle Safaris out on self and professional guidance is very much recommended as without that, there is a lot of possibility to get lost in wilderness of the jungle.
You might also want to check out the Kavalur observatory and Bhima falls near if you have time. These places are not very much within the Yelagiri hills and they actually form a part of Javadhi hills nearby.
Trekking at Karadi malai:
I had been to this place a couple of times and on the first occasion, we trekked our way to Bear hills or " Karadi malai " as it is called by the locals. It is closeby to YMCA accomodation past Mangalam village. This doesnt have well laid tracks for trekkers; It is not like a jungle and it is very unlikely that you get lost here unless you suffer from amnesia. It was a nice trek that we had there and is recommended for people below 40 only. Due regards to the steepness of this hill and its uncouth paths.Please remember to carry plenty of water once you decide to venture for this place.
Jalagamparai Waterfalls:
We had also been to Jalagamparai falls which is can be covered once you are off the Yelagiri hills and reach the bottom. It can also be covered on trek from Mangalam village with some help from the locals. But please do inquire from locals if there is any water in the falls before you go there. This was a wonderful place too and we had excellent time bathing there and we had sever pounding from the water falling from the top. There is also a temple nearby which was really beautiful.
A trek to Swami malai:
On the other occasion, we had been to another more famous trek zone called Swami malai.
This place on the contrary had comparitively better tracks for trekking. We started for the trek by 6:40 in the morning and we were on top by about 8'O clock with adequate pauses inbetween.On top of the hill was a quaint little temple which is open only on weekends. There is also a "kind of" view point where we took some snaps as a sign of having achieved "great heights in life". The view from there was really good from the top( see attached pic)
This time also we had limited logistics( water, biscuits, fruits) and our group of guys devoured it in no time even as we were climbing. Little did my guys know that we were going to take a different route for the descent which proved to be very treacherous and excruciating - courtesy Krishna, our 80 year old guide who was the master brain behind this unconventional route. He walked ahead of us with effortless ease finding most of us way behind, with wobbly legs, gasping for breath.
Subsequently, we had nothing save some bananas which were already decaying. It was very very very strenous downhill against gravity and through the toughest paths and poor guys requested me to arrange for a helicopter for a pick up from there even if it cost their fortune. Mobile phones never show any hint of signals here and you are at the mercy of mother nature. You cant even call people on an emergency. We started off from the top by about 8:30 am and we hit the ghat road only by 11:00 am! Our guys were completely worn out by the time we got down. Our innocent guide couldnt hold it any longer as he ultimately disclosed to a few of us in whispers that he forgot the way back as it was 20 years since he traversed this route last time! We spared him as he brought us all safe to our quarters:-)
Overall it was a wonderful experience both times and it definitely was worth travelling to this place. I would strongly recommend this place to those who just want to unwind yourself on weekends. I would like to reiterate on the point that there is not much sight seeing to be done here and probably this is the best part about this place.
