Date with Leeches!

I had gone for a trek in July and was eagerly waiting for a challenging trek then I saw a trek put up on site by a man whose name I had heard but never got a chance to meet. It was a 4 days trek to Chandoli. Sreenath whose reputation was very high for conducting unique treks had put up this trek and I was sure for some ass whooping adventure.

28th August we had Pre-Meet fot the trek at Cafe coffee day near Nagarjuna circle, every one except Kirru (Kiran) turned up.Sreenath had everything planned with Google earth and he suggested couple of trails we could trek spread over 3 days.At end of the Pre-meet I was sure that Sreenath had done lots of Home work and that we were in safe hands.

1st September 2010 8:15 PM I left my home for Secunderabad station, I though I was going to miss the train but reached on time.I met Shanker who was well before me, after some time all arrived and we put down our backpacks as some still had to have dinner, Goutham had got us Led Tourches which could be attached to the head. As usual the announcement came at 9:30 PM that train was late and would arrive on platform 6 instead of 1 so we all ran to platform 6, train arrived at 10:30 PM by then our patience had worn out. We boarded the train and had some small talk which helped us to familiarize with each other.

We Reached Pune around 10:30AM next day and we took bus to Karad Junction which is 160KM from Pune, from there we took a jeep to Helvark Village which was 60KM away.
we reached Helvark around 3:00 PM, we needed some guide to take us to our first pit stop Bhairavgadh . Our plan was to reach the Temple at Bhairavgadh by Dusk and have good rest so that we can trek more next day.we inquired at a local shop to see if we can find some local guide who could help us, shop keeper introduced us to a man named Vittal who was a local villager and could speak Marathi and little hindi. This was the place where our Legendary Journey of 6 Explorers began.


Initial climb was uphill but very pleasant one and we could see many surrounding mountains and Koyna Dam once we reached on top. On thing I had noticed here was that all the villagers were very scared of Jalau(Leeches) and all warned us not to go in rainy season as they are very common in this region. Just before entering the Jungle we were advised by the wise guide to remove the socks and wear shorts as they are more effective against leeches, in fact he suggested that going naked was the most effective way of fighting the leeches. I did not listen to his heed and tucked my pants in my socks, while Sena changed to shorts and removed his socks, Prashant and Sreenath folded their pants and Shanker used Castor oil and tobacco, I realy dont remember what Kiran did but my guess is he too tucked his pants in socks.

As we began climbing and going deep in the jungle we started seeing more of leeches and less of anything else, it was getting dark and we were in middle of jungle. everyone had put on their torch light and for some reason I was not able to find mine.It was getting dark I mean really really dark and all I could do is walk behind some one who had torch, but in such jungle with such uneven terrain it was difficult to find footing and I slipped many times, another problem was that the light from the torch of person behind me was creating my shadow which added to my problem. we reached a point where we had to get down a steep slope and then walk parallel to the ledge, since it was dark we could not see how far down it was. while getting down the ledge Sena got a muscle pull and we had to take a small stop. I never had a muscle pull so I cannot judge the pain he was in but prashant says that it was very gutsy for him to get up and start walking immediately probably that is what we call courage. we walked and walked and walked.... there was no end luckily we had come across some arrows probably marked by forest officials. When we saw a series of arrows pass by we got confident that we were very near.

It was 10PM, pitch dark and in such dense forest being separated by 10 feet could get us scattered. Sena had been walking despite his muscle pull but he needed to rest as path was too steep, so our group seperated and I, shanker and Sreenath with Vittal were 20 feets ahead and waited for them to catch up, believe me even though they could see our lights figuring out how to get to that light in that jungle at night was very very difficult. while trying to catch up prashant and Kiran shouted in unison that there was a arrow pointing in other direction, eventually we decided to trust guide as he said he was confident of the path and that he had been living in those parts since 3o years.

After walking for 10 more minutes we felt we were going in rounds and stopped Vittal and asked him if he was sure of path, his answer was negative he had forgotten the path and blamed us for confusing him. Now we were confident that we should have followed that arrow and not the guide so we found a small clearing where we placed all our luggage. Sreenath and Kiran asked us to stay with luggage mean while they used GPS to track back to that arrow but efforts were futile.As it was already 12:30 in the night we abandoned searching for arrow and started putting up tents to sleep. we had walked for hours in leech infested forest and were sure to get many leech bites, to our surprise the most leech bites were on Sena . Since it was so late in night no one was in mood to eat and all we wanted was for night to end so that we could start searching for the temple.


September 3rd 6:30 AM

We packed up the tents and were ready to start our search for the temple, Sreenath and Kiran were our navigators for the day we no more trusted our guide, after 10 minutes we were at the arrow we had missed yesterday. After following the arrow for 10 minutes amidst the fog was a open hall which could have easily housed 35 people. At end of the hall was a small door which was gateway to the main temple, that small hall felt like a palace. At back of the Temple there was a small room which had fire wood and Utensils to cook.we knew what we have missed last night.


After spending 1 hour at Temple we started towards Patharpunj Village which was our next destination.We reached Patharpunj around 12PM where we took shelter in shed of a small school. One of the villagers made some red tea for us and heated ready to eat packets that we had brought with us.we knew that Sena was exhausted bcoz of muscle pull and sleeping on forest floor and when Sena said that he will be staying at village we all agreed with his decision.





Our next destination was old fort at Prachitgadh, it was already 1PM and we had to leave early to reach before dusk, we started to see if any villager was ready to guide us to prachitgadh but all villagers were very scared and told us that they would not come with us even if we offered them hundred thousand rupees. We had no choice and had to rely on Sreenath's Navigation skill and GPS. we started around 1:00PM from village, the path was fairly simple but marshy we found many snakes and red crabs on the way. After walking for 2 hours we came across an awesome View from where we could see the valley and waterfalls .



After crossing the stream we entered the Jungle which was dense, scary and full of you know what (Leeches). Every time we stopped to flick leeches off the shoes other got stuck and we were having very hard time getting rid of them.The path in jungle was very slippery with lots of ups and downs, the jungle was so dense that we could only hear rains falling. some times we felt we were on right path but we had been walking for 3 hours without sight of a single arrow.
It was 4PM and we were in third forest and at last we saw our first arrow which instilled confidence in us after passing few arrows we had to take a sharp right turn, we marked a tree for return journey with two horizontal lines (This was Prashant's idea).
after walking for another hour we reached a plain ground and beyond the plain ground we could see a stream. The visibility was already bad and because of the fog light was diminishing very quickly.we had two options one was to go to a Sada and then take a straight path to the fort or try a short cut through the forest, as it was already getting dark we opted to go through the forest. After walking for 30 minutes in the forest we decided that we will try the path to sada as it was getting dark very quickly and we wanted to be out of the forest.

5:45 PM we knew we were very near to the Fort and all we had to do was to find Sada and the way to the fort from there would be relatively easy, light was diminishing very quickly we had to take a decision neither did we want to trek in night in this dense forest where there were animals nor we wanted to camp in forest.After some discussion we decided to camp in the open ground near the shrubs as it was already 6PM and we had to put tents before it gets dark. we had 2 tents one was a four men tent and other was a 2 men tent, we decided to put all our bags in two men tent and we all would adjust in the four men tent.One by one we all started changing, no sooner had we got into the tent it started raining very heavily.

we all were in the tent by 7PM tired and hungry but most important thing was that we all were dry. we started playing cards but I got too sleepy and crept in my sleeping bag and dozed off, I was eagerly waiting for the night to get over and would open my eyes after every interval, I remember Sreenath telling in hush voice to turn off the torch as he had herd some grunting noise but it soon passed away and lights were back on. I was in no mood to eat or talk I was just worried about our way back as the path back was very difficult and I was not sure if we could make it back.whole night winds were gushing the sides of the tents making me imagine if it was some animal.

7:30AM Sreenath was first to get up and surprisingly it was already 7:30 we had planned to start early but guess all got a good night's sleep, we all had not washed in 2 days hence we spent an hour or so in the near by stream and were ready to head back by 9AM, as they say new day brings new hope and my hope was high indeed.Sreenath and Kiran were GPS experts and they started back tracking using GPS and our way back seemed way faster than I had imagined we came across the tree which we had marked and we knew we were on course, it was way too foggy that morning to see anything beyond 10 feet and probably we had already passed the valley after walking for 2 hours we came back to the marshes and we knew we were very close to the village.

At last we saw the bridge which led to the village, kiran started shouting Sena Sena...as if he was calling for a long lost friend and sena came out of a hut hugging kiran.....yeah I know what you might be thinking but I am not exaggerating. Sena has amazing presence; In a day he had made friends with the school teacher, old couple and nearly whole village. He had got some milk from nearby village and asked the old couple to make tea and prepare lunch for us.






we had two options, one was to go to the ramgali caves and stay there or to go to Helvark and take a room, most of us were tired hence we decided to go to Helvar. we started around 4PM for Helvark, the trail was fairly easy as it was a jeep road, after walking for 3 hours we reached to another village around 7 PM and we were told that it was another 3o minutes walk.It was 8PM still there was no sight of village, we saw a small house and went in to inquire as we were too tired to walk anymore, the man in the house told us that it was another 7 KM of walk to village and we lost all hopes, but man said he can arrange a jeep for us till the next town Koyna.
After 15 minutes drive we reached Koyna where we started looking for lodge to stay, all we wanted was hot water and a bed, I was in no state to stay outside as I was not able to walk and was shivering madly, after some lodge searching at last we got a room with hot water to bath. we had ready to eat food for dinner which seemed like most fulfilling food of my life and it felt like heaven to sleep on bed, this is what trek does it make you realize how lucky you are with all comforts at home. By the time trek was over I had rashes on my ass and had to sit on a pillow for 2 days. This was the most difficult trek for me and probably for everyone in the group.

we all work for satisfaction for a sense of achievement but end up working for money, treks such as these gives us opportunity to regain sense of achievement. The walk through leech infested forest, getting lost at 12 PM in night in thick jungle, sleeping in tents in forest, eating food in a hut and a life time of memories that is what I have got from this trek.

Shanker, Kiran, Sena, Prashant and Sreenath thanks to all for such a wonderful company.