Kerala Trekking and Hiking (TREE Club): 011-Braemore Estate to Ponmudi Hills with Trekking Tree Club

The blog was wrote by Aysha Joyce

Braemore Estate to Ponmudi Hills Trekking _07-March-2015

At 10:00 am we started our trekking. We were guided by two guides, Anuraj and Shibu. Both are great experts on forest and wildlife

We passed by some old, abandoned sheds for estate workers (“layam” in Malayalam) which looked like haunted houses (to me)

At first we had steep hills and people soon started holding into long sticks.

We were walking through a forest and I must say, everywhere it was green. There were trees; brown leaf covered the forest floor. There were also trees with really thick, huge trunk. You just want to go and hug the tree (that’s what I felt).

Trekking before the exam - Aysha Joyce, 2015 March

Trekking is something I thought I would never be able to do…...Says the person who went for trekking on Saturday. And I walked 16 km!

On Saturday (5:30 am), I rolled out of my bed and got ready. I wore a red hoodie shirt, green ¾ pants, socks and sports shoes. Indeed, very sporty.

We waited for my father’s friend, M.P. Babu. He was the one who suggested us to go trekking with him. He picked us up and along with Shaji Jos and Ratheesh.

Now the odd thing is that my father’s name is Shaji Jose and M.P. Babu’s friend’s name is also Shaji Jos. And even more weird is that, Shaji Jos (Babu’s friend) also has a daughter who is the same age as me. So weird (and for some reason I feel like Alice, from Wonderland)

I must say, the ride to Braemore estate was not so…… nature like. Most the places were packed with grey or white buildings. But I didn’t say it’s ugly, because even man-made things have beauty right?

On our way we grabbed some quick, before-breakfast snacks.

After a small ride, we reached Breamore estate where we met other members of Tree club (Travancore Research and Eco friendly Environmental Club.) They were from Techno Park. People call them ‘Techies.’ (The name ‘techies’ is kinda cool)

There was Bibin, Sobha, Vishnu, Suchithra, Rafi, Basil, Abishek, Vivek……etc etc.) Now we were a team of 20 trekkers -17 gentlemen and 3 ladies (including me).

I had my breakfast near a waterfall.

We also ate some granny apples with salt. Yep, with salt. And it was tasty. Try it.

The waterfall’s beautiful. I could say that I fell in love with it. I ran around like a crazy kid, jumping and climbing rocks; kept my feet in the water, sometimes splashing water with my feet.

Until, I found a cigarette packet and a small glass piece left by somebody earlier. You could say I was disappointed because:

· The person whoever smoked may have high chances of getting cancer. And if that person is really young, ‘why do you want to kill yourself?’

And even if the person is not young, ‘you have reached this much. In your life you achieved something or many things but why do want to kill yourself after you have reached this much?’

· I couldn’t run around like a crazy kid anymore because of the glass piece.

So I decided to climb the rocks. After we ate our breakfast, we kept the plastic and paper covers in a bag and kept it in our bag. What’s the use if we litter nature? It’s beauty will disappear with a ‘poof’.

We reached our starting point and took some pictures with Tree Club. And I was the youngest member in this trek. That was new for me because I was never the youngest member.

The native Malayalam names of some of the trees are: Karimaram, Kambakam, Yelavu, Payyan, Poomaruthu, Muttal, Vitti Maram, Kunthirikkam, Olamaruthu, Venga Maram, Venmizhavu, Vallabham Charu Maram, Thanni and Ilippa Maram etc.

After sometimes, I found a small thin, jumpy worm like thing. So I asked Ratheesh, who was the organizer of the Tree club, and he said it was a leech. Leech!

Soon enough, leeches started leaving ‘blood mark’ on people’s hands and leg. Some leeches even kissed my shoe. When one of the Tree club members told me that I had a leech on my shoe, I froze. I glanced at the leech and froze again. He helped me to remove the leech and I was like, ‘Oh my God, a leech was kissing my shoe’

But I didn’t get bitten by a leech.

We again continued our walk. We walked through a stone paved area, a small area where there was monoculture of Eucalyptus and Acasia trees and hairpin roads. My father explained to everybody about the disadvantages of monoculture. And the harm done by “Social Forestry” in Kerala.

We rested near a big rock and even took some photos.

When we were going through a hairpin road, we decided to take a deviation. So instead of going through the hairpin turn, we went straight up. I almost stepped on a small snake. Almost. I didn’t even look at the snake because I was scared. Good thing Ratheesh was with me. He was the one who warned me about the snake. Thank you!

Around 10:45, we reached Braemore boundary. Me and my father took some elephant dung in a sample packet and kept it in our bag.

My family’s weird.

After some walking and taking pictures, we reached Ponmudi.

When we reached Ponmudi, we saw a long road to Ponmudi Upper Sanatorium.

My father and me stood like statues near the road and made ‘peace’ sign at the passengers. A car stopped to look at us. The people in the car definitely thought we were statues. We took some photos of me and my father looking like statues.

I waved at random people passing by the road. Some people waved back.

If you just look to your left, you could see the forest. One of the mountain looked like a grandpa’s face. And everything was green. I love the color green. Forest dark and light green.

Me, Sobha and my father walked up a grass covered hill and on the way I almost twisted my ankle. We sat under a tree with the Tree club members and ate our lunch which was dosa and egg curry.

While we were eating one of our members, slipped and fell down from a rock. No no no! Nothing bad happened it was only a small rock.

I could say, ‘He fell down on the ground with a loud ‘thud’ on his butt.’

After we ate, one of our members, Sujin, who is 6’ 4”……..yep he is 6’ 4” and I am only 4’ 9” only (I could just jump right into his arms. Hehe)

Anyways, he was lying on top of a huge rock so what I do? I did the same thing, except that I used my beanie as a pillow and kept my cowboy hat on top of my already tanned skin. I don’t want to get more tanned. I am not being racist.

· Because If I come house looking like a black coal, my mother will point that out and you what happens. She will say I look like a dry fish. Because she is worried that I exhausted myself out.

· Also because of ultraviolet rays.

Then I noticed the other members climbing another big rock, near a big, tall tree whose branches were hovering over the rock. Me and my father went there and sat with them.

One of our members finally noticed that my father had ‘blood mark’ on his leg. And the leech was not even there; my father said that he didn’t feel anything when the leech removed its grip from him.

My father’s a man who feels no pain. Muahahaha! ........... No actually, he does fell pain inside and outside. If not, my father no human!

I didn’t know what to do afterwards, so I and my father climbed down the rock and we climbed another hill and soon afterwards, we reached the top:

The TREE Club and Its Committee Members Really Appreciate Aysha Joyce who wrote this Blog