Chembara Trekkkk !!!!!

After a successful attempt over the Mullayanagiri our next target was the CHEMBARA peak, this peak is from where our trekking fantasy took its shape as it is now. But we were never able to make a clear attempt for this one. As we had a long vacation in the May we ought for this. Actually May is definitely not the right month for planning a trek, Anyway we planned up the for the May trip with CHEMBARA Trek and few other sight seeing option around wayanad.

As usual myself and Harish was part of the squad and we missed our regular buddy rakesh for this trek, and the new team included vijay bhaskar,umesh,siva,murali,prem. We took the Mangalore mail and reached Calicut and from there it was a 3 hrs journey to reach WAYANAD.Day 1 went ahead with few sight seeing and then came the much awaited Day 2 the Trek Day. We Packed our backpacks took a jeep towards the Chembara.

It was a 9 km jeep travel to reach the chembara estate. Actually u will be traveling thru a privately owned tea estate to reach the forest office, and u have to pay for the trek and the authorities will allot a guide. After completing the formalities with the forest authorities it is another 3 to 4 kms travel in the jeep for us to reach the trekking trail.

Initial trek path was a well maintained jeep track thru the tea estate after covering a half Km , there is a watch tower from where the actual trek starts. There is small path into the jungle from the watch tower, from which it is a gradual ascent towards the peak.we heard from our guide Ranjith that there are totally seven levels in completing the trek.
Small Path leading to the Trek

Into the small path it was full of thick bushes thru which you have to hike, as we hiked thru this trail we were able to feel the gradual increase in the elevation. It was almost 1 km thru this lush green bush we had a small stream of water where filled our bottles for the rest of the trek.The natures pure water really gave us a heavenly delight.
Jungle Path

That's Ranjith fetching some water

After a solid hike for another 45 minutes we entered the shola forest region from where the peak was very much visible far away, where we were now is only the level 2 and we are yet to cross 5 levels to reach the peak. And the chembara peak special the “heart shaped lake” is just another 45 minutes away.

From level 2 the trek really started to kill our energy but the nourishing factor for us was only the nature almighty, as it was hard for us to believe that we were trekking in summer.

We reached the heart shaped lake as always ppl say it never dry even in summer and we witnessed that to be a truth. And also the lake was full of life and u can see lots and lots of fish jumping at you .We took a long break near the lake, finished our food and took some nice rest.Most of the ppl were totally exhausted at this point itself, but to be honest the trek has not yet reached its full momentum yet. With this we completed 3 levels and 4 more to go
Shola Forest

Heart Shaped LakeAfter crossing the lake the trek was getting more and more steeper and also it grew to be more demanding
we needed to climb carefully and also assure our new trekking friends that “its fine the trek will be over by another 10 minutes”. This dialogue was the only driving factor for few to reach uphill.

Altogether the path was little bit slippery due to the loose mud which was very dry, thanks to the sunlord.
Steep and green Path

Everytime you complete trekking a ridge you end up only to identify a new horizon to be climbed. After completing 5 levels the trek path was unfolding to be too steep and the trek is now becoming more strenuous.just before the final level there is a small resting place, there we took our final break kept all our back packs and started towards the summit.

Heart shaped lake view from top

Totally exhausted but fully determined we pushed ourself hard towards the summit, the final strech was little bit scary but the view from there was worth the risk. Yes!!! Atlast we were on the summit having the full view from the top.The splendid view from top made us all completely forget the tiredness.

Tired but Desperate

After clicking few shots and celebrating the victory . we started to detrek. And the fun part started only there coz the steepness and slippery path really scared us. And the steepness was completely visible only when you detrek. So we needed to be extra careful considering the steepness. It took us 2 hrs for coming down and 4 hrs for reaching up. When we came down it started to rain heavily.

It was really steep

Altogether this successful trek has only boosted our trek interest and I have identified a few more trek enthusiastic members from our team. A special mention is required on Mr Umesh Kumar as we all considered he may lag back and will not complete the trek but he did it with determination.

That's the group on TOP

Note
-Permission is mandatory
-Guide is mandatory
-Plenty of water on the trek path.
-No camping is allowed.
-The water in the lake is not drinkable.

Contact Mr Pramod 09448813835 for the trek permission.