Silent Valley National Park recently launched a
monsoon package to Keerippara. A day trekking to Keerippara was available for a long time, in between it was off-limits for sometime due to Maoist trouble. Earlier i had tried unsuccessfully (twice) to go on the Keerippara trek, but this time successfully booked the new package (we were the fourth to take it since launch).
We started around 3 p.m. from Mukkali. Shibu (a 21 year veteran Watcher) and Sudheesh our guides for the trek, purchased provisions for our food at a local grocery and we're on our way. The trek route starts on the Mukkali-Anaikatty highway close to the bus stop. It was a kucha road, fully motorable and was easy to climb. The mist had also descended and it was a pleasant start.
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| Keerippara Trek Route |
Slowly it started drizzling and later became a bit heavy. We stopped in between to wear rain protection and unwittingly became easy targets for the leeches. Before we realised, they were all over our shoes. We put snuff powder on our shoes and pants, and then resumed.
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| Keerippara Trek Route |
The dense foliage protected us from getting completely wet and we covered the 4 KM's to the camp shed in an hour and a half without a break. Only after we reached, we realised that we were late applying the leech protection and ended up with bloody legs.
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| Keerippara Trekking Route |
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| Keerippara Trekking - Last Stretch |
The camp shed was a one storey building, with more creature comforts than we had imagined. It had a solar power panel, colour TV with Airtel DTH. A decent sized kitchen and quarters for the staff were on the ground floor and the first floor had one room with two cots.
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| Keerippara Camp Shed |
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| Keerippara Camp Shed |
Within a short time we were served tea and maggi. While we were lost in our maggi, shibu shouted from below that the mist had cleared. We rushed out with cameras to capture the spectacular view.
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| View From Keerippara Camp Shed |
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| View From Keerippara Camp Shed |
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| View From Keerippara Camp Shed |
The wind picked up and the mist set in again in no time. As there was not enough sunlight during the day, the power went off, with nothing much to do we had an early dinner and slept.
In the morning there was visibility only upto a few metres, there was no scope for any animal sightings(Keerippara has the best possibility of sighting in Silent Valley) and it was risky to venture out too. Started getting ready after the breakfast(superb puttu and kadala curry). This time we applied the snuff powder before we started and regularly checked for leeches on the way.
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| Mist Cover- Keerippara |
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| Camera Trap - Keerippara Trekking Route |
As most of the journey back was a descent, we didn't take any break and reached mukkali in an hour. From there we headed to Bhavani river , flowing behind the forest office. The River Hut(new package accommodation) and Inspection bungalow are on the banks of Bhavani and offer very good views. As the flow was not heavy it gave a wonderful opportunity for a dip. I really enjoyed as i was getting into a river after a long time and as that the water was not very cold was an added benefit.
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| Bhavani River- Silent Valley national Park, Mukkali |
After a refreshing bath and buying a few forest produce from the eco shop we said our good byes and started for our next destination. Overall Keerippara was a very nice trek and i'm sure i'll go back for a day trek during winter or early summer for better sightings.
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