1 week Western Ghats trek in Coorg

Traveling is like a bug. The way Pete becomes spiderman after the spider bite, you become someone else after the travel bug bites. I became that someone else recently and since then I feel I have truly started living.  Because my mind now has bigger boundaries with more space to explore places, when my friend proposed the 8 days western ghat trek I agreed without thinking twice.

Even though we booked the tickets months ahead of the final show, I hardly put in any time to prepare. Finally, the lazy ass moved and listed down of all the things to be taken. A day before I had to leave, I managed to dump everything into a small 30lt trek bag that I had borrowed from my sister. I had zero preparation but somewhere had a shameless belief on my fitness that I will go through without any problem. So did I. Sometimes all you need to do is just 'BELIEVE' shamelessly..

It was an amazing 1 week trek with YHAI association in the remote forests of Coorg/Madikeri of Karnataka which falls into the western ghat belt. December is not the best time to visit the green ghats as the grass would have already started turning into brown patches at the highest peaks. nevertheless, the ghats at any time would have its own caste spell on the visitors.

I wrote a short poem after I came back from the trek which goes like this :

"I walked through the deep valleys,
I listened to the gushing rivers,
I was awed at the rugged mountains, 
I saw vast stretched green grasslands kissing the sky into the horizon,
I listened to the musical birds,
I walked through the thick forests,
I was delighted at the colorful butterflies,
I was wondered at the weird insects,
I pierced through the cold chilly nights
and made some awesome friends...

Western ghats - soul captivating !!"

Once a while, all you have to do is, just take off the boundaries and let yourself try doing things which you have never done before. What started as as an experiment by taking up one trek, now I believe is just the first step in the long journey of the trek that is awaiting for me in my life.

Other Information :

1. Rao family home stay : 9483419712
2. YHAI hostels is in Talathmane, app 7km from Madikeri town. Clean, very affordable
3.  Coorg cuisine, a must try restaurant for the local food

At the first home stay : Rai family

With the friend who lured me into this trek ! :D 

At the peak of Doddabetta, which offers 360 deg view of the western ghats

this is the 360deg view of the hills, I am so small !!

Some of my clicks from the trek

Clicks continued ... :-) 

"stay strong, grow smart, explore and never stop"

~Sindhu Bijjal