In the month of October, my work place organized another trek. I was one of first to register. We trekked in the Aralam Wildlife sanctuary, in the Kannur district, near Irrity in the state of Kerala. It was a monsoon trek, and there were lots of incidents that I'll remember.
We started on a pleasant Saturday Morning, 41 of us including 4 ladies and our guide. The Trek was flagged of by the head of our organization.
We left Mysore at around 8 in the morning. We went via Virajpet. On the way we halted for breakfast, Idily, vada sambar, chutney and something else that was sweet , can't recollect the name. It was delicious. We crossed into Kerala by around 1300hrs and we had Lunch. We then continued with our Journey and reached Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary by around 1600hrs. It was drizzling.
A lot of people were talking about Leeches. I've heard of them, only when someone describes someone else. But now I think I have to take the literal meaning.
We took a walk to the bank of the river nearby and the path, it seem had leeches. I was wearing my trekking shoes and a pant and a raincoat. I didn't think a leech could cross all those lines of defense. But when we reached, I just casually lifted my pant a bit, to my shock there were three black things just above my sock. I was now donating blood to the nature. I tried yanking them off, but they wouldn't budge. Then a veteran trekker taught me to remove them by their suckers and then roll and toss them. I was now on the lookout, I kept looking down and walking. When I reached the dormitory, our abode for the night, I changed. On the table I saw a packet of salt. It seems that leeches don't take salt. In fact they seem to burst when in contact with salt. While I was just sitting and talking with my friends, one of them pointed out that there were not one but two leeches sucking blood from between my toes. Then the salt experiment was carried out and the leeches were killed and some blood saved and some sprayed.
The night I slept well, though initially I had a fear of leeches coming for a midnight snack.
The next morning, someone suggested that I wear shorts. The reason being that leeches can at least be seen climbing the leg. So I decided that I wear shorts.
It was a 14 km uphill trek to a waterfall.
We also rubbed some solution, a concoction of some jungle friendly anti leech elements. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.
After about 2km, I yanked a leech from the back of my knee. As I kept walking I saw that many leeches were waiting on the leaves on the ground in vertical position to jump onto our shoes. While I trekked I kept removing Leeches from my shoes, before they get get to flesh using small twigs.
I noticed that while I stop at a place to remove two or three leeches, another 3 would climb up.
After dusting of leeches and walking for about 8 Km the gradient became steep. To make matters worse, it was humid and my DSLR was also heavy. After a while it started to rain. I took out my raincoat, I was now sweating inside.
After a while I didn't bother about the leeches, I was too tired.
We finally reached the top and then we could see the mesmerizing waterfall.
We had lunch there, and then we went back to the base camp in jeeps. The jeeps had a lot of leeches too. One bit my neck, one bit my elbow. Before things got worse we reached the dormitory.
I took a bath in the river nearby, another first for me.
We then headed for Mysore, I reached home at around 1 in the morning.
I had a very good time and now I can say that I can take on leeches (real ones) anywhere.
We started on a pleasant Saturday Morning, 41 of us including 4 ladies and our guide. The Trek was flagged of by the head of our organization.
We left Mysore at around 8 in the morning. We went via Virajpet. On the way we halted for breakfast, Idily, vada sambar, chutney and something else that was sweet , can't recollect the name. It was delicious. We crossed into Kerala by around 1300hrs and we had Lunch. We then continued with our Journey and reached Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary by around 1600hrs. It was drizzling.
A lot of people were talking about Leeches. I've heard of them, only when someone describes someone else. But now I think I have to take the literal meaning.
We took a walk to the bank of the river nearby and the path, it seem had leeches. I was wearing my trekking shoes and a pant and a raincoat. I didn't think a leech could cross all those lines of defense. But when we reached, I just casually lifted my pant a bit, to my shock there were three black things just above my sock. I was now donating blood to the nature. I tried yanking them off, but they wouldn't budge. Then a veteran trekker taught me to remove them by their suckers and then roll and toss them. I was now on the lookout, I kept looking down and walking. When I reached the dormitory, our abode for the night, I changed. On the table I saw a packet of salt. It seems that leeches don't take salt. In fact they seem to burst when in contact with salt. While I was just sitting and talking with my friends, one of them pointed out that there were not one but two leeches sucking blood from between my toes. Then the salt experiment was carried out and the leeches were killed and some blood saved and some sprayed.
The night I slept well, though initially I had a fear of leeches coming for a midnight snack.
The next morning, someone suggested that I wear shorts. The reason being that leeches can at least be seen climbing the leg. So I decided that I wear shorts.
It was a 14 km uphill trek to a waterfall.
We also rubbed some solution, a concoction of some jungle friendly anti leech elements. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.
After about 2km, I yanked a leech from the back of my knee. As I kept walking I saw that many leeches were waiting on the leaves on the ground in vertical position to jump onto our shoes. While I trekked I kept removing Leeches from my shoes, before they get get to flesh using small twigs.
I noticed that while I stop at a place to remove two or three leeches, another 3 would climb up.
After dusting of leeches and walking for about 8 Km the gradient became steep. To make matters worse, it was humid and my DSLR was also heavy. After a while it started to rain. I took out my raincoat, I was now sweating inside.
After a while I didn't bother about the leeches, I was too tired.
We finally reached the top and then we could see the mesmerizing waterfall.
We had lunch there, and then we went back to the base camp in jeeps. The jeeps had a lot of leeches too. One bit my neck, one bit my elbow. Before things got worse we reached the dormitory.
I took a bath in the river nearby, another first for me.
We then headed for Mysore, I reached home at around 1 in the morning.
I had a very good time and now I can say that I can take on leeches (real ones) anywhere.
