Amirthi Forest, Vellore

Wow. Venture-Pals rocks.

We decided to go for the second trek. This time, we looked for some more far from chennai.
Got "Amirthi Forest" near vellore.

It is around 130 km from chennai. It is near kannamangalam, vellore Dist.


Travel Date : Sep 5, 2009

Trek/Hike effort - Easy

Total members : 8

Transport : 2 cars

Total one way distance : around 130 km from chennai

Main stops : Sriperumbuthur, Ocheri, Kaveripakkam, Walajapet, Ranipet, Arcot, Kannamangalam

Distance between main stops : to be filled

ATM/Cash points on the route : Sriperumbuthur, Ranipet, Arcot, Vellore

Restaurants / Hotels on the Route : Arcot, Vellore saravanabhavan

Hospital / Emergency : Vellore - CMC

Map :



We started early morning from chennai in 2 cars.

The roads are lengthy and lonely. We went to Vellore. Had breakfast at Saravanabhvan.
Then, we drove to Amirthi Forest. We can ask the local people for the path.

Amirthi forest has a falls, a river and a mini zoo. First zoo comes.
As this is not much popular, there is no crowd.

Zoo has some creatures. After zoo, we walked to the falls.

Oh Nooooooo.

There is no water. :-(
This is the situation in most of the hill stations in tamilnadu.

We stole all the treasures of nature. To see the empty falls is so sad.
We climbed the falls and started to find the root of the falls.

It was a nice walk to go on the stones and sand. But, some local people told that it is
too far to reach the root of the falls and there is no water in the root too.

:-(

So, we returned to the zoo and found that there is river, right side to the zoo.

cool :-)

We went aside to the stream and found a small pond of the river.

It was not so nice and clear water as Tada. but, this is also a face of nature.
Why not to explore it?

We played a lot in the muddy water.

Raji and Raghav brought delicious food for us. Finished lunch and returned to cars.
started back to chennai. Returned at 7.00 pm.

Some snaps:

 

 

 

 

Our First Trek - Tada Falls

Tada Falls - a nice place to hang out for trekking near chennai.

It is around 90 km from chennai. It is in nellore district, andra.

Travel Date : Have to Fill

Trek/Hike effort - Medium

Total members : 7

Transport : car and a bike

Total one way distance : to be filled

Main stops : to be filled

Distance between main stops : to be filled

ATM/Cash points on the route : to be filled

Restaurants / Hotels on the Route : to be filled

Hospital / Emergency : to be filled

Map :




We see the first stream very near to the car parking.

First stream is very cool to walk and play. There is a small bridge to cross it.
After some walk, there comes the "Royal Tub".

That is a nice place to play. We had a lot of fun there.
The chill water, the cool place, the biting fish...

Then, the road ends and the real trek starts.
Yes. we have small rocks to climb.

Rocks lead to small streams and ponds.

If we cross those ponds, A small falls come there.

Mostly, this is the final place for many people. In rainy days, this will be filled with loads of water.
As we went on sunny day, there is no harm to cross it.

We climbed the rocks to explore more.

It was little tough for some of us to climb. But with help of the team, all 7 climbed.

Again, rocks and rocks. Atlast, Wow. We found a very beautiful pond.
It is so great to see that beautiful place.

The Nature showed all its beauty there.

We spent some great moments there.

Then, started back. We took some vessels and food to cook.
Eventhough we forget to bring matchboxes, we found some firesticks there.

We got fire and cooked some magie and soup.Had delicious food with sweet water.

Came back through the same way and returned to chennai around 7.

Some snaps:

   

   

   

 

Venture Pals

In the last week of August 2009, We were talking about doing something useful and fun in the weekends.

As IT people, we never move ourself to anywhere than home and office, mostly. We wanted something different to do.

What about Trekking?

Trekking? Where to do?

We are at the heart of the Chennai city. Where can we find the hills and mountains to climb?

Hahaha. Climb up to the office by stairs? hmmm?

We searched in google to find the nearer hills to chennai. Wow. Chennai has hills to see, to go, to climb, to trek.
And there are some waterfalls too.

Tada, Aare, Nagalapuram, Amirithi...

Yep.Then what? Let us go there.
Who know the places? Oh no. they are the places to explore. Not a touring spot. we only have to go and find them.

We felt this would be a great fun for for us. Started a group called "Venture Pals". That seemed good.

We plan to go trek on every possible weekends. Here, we share our experiences.

General Rules During Hiking

** DO NOT Leave Behind Plastics ***



Hike/Trek is all a mind game. Believe in the possibility & you will definitely be able to do it. Its all in your mind. Tune your mind to carry on thought your legs might drag your back & Say to your self "I can DO it & I will carry on" & you will see that the pain in the legs will vanish as soon as you see the beautiful sights.


The Lead/Sweeper:

The lead will take you on the best possible route & will asses for the apt path & for any dangers ahead. keeping up with the lead is safe for you. & will ensure ontime fun.

The sweeper will ensure the whole pack is keeping apace. He will be the tail of the trek group.

Pay heed to the leads & sweeper's request to keep pace.

The Pace:

The trail might be beautiful with awes & ahs that you can never see in city life, but its only one of the many & if you stop for your photo talent more than few seconds, you would be behind the lead which will result in you losing the leads recommended path & best track to follow.

Be vigil, do not set foot on dark places or hallow logs. try not to grab branches for support without the lead instructing thus.

Water:

Use water to optimal level, I prefer using it scarce & keeping it for the finale. Asking other person water puts the person on a spot, its his preservation/survival technique which is jeopardised. If you usually dehydrate faster then carry additional water & avoid asking fellow hikers for their bottle.


About snakes/ insects in the forest/mountains[**Not an Expert adivice**].

Not all snakes bites are fatal. Some are Dry bites, Some Are partial. First aid knowledge will definitely help.

If you see a snake in front, without truning your whole body take a quick look to your back to check if the track is clear for other snakes or insects. Then walk backwards while facing the snake & wait for it to move away. generally snakes hate vibrations of human foot, they move away from it.

Always look down before you step; never reach into holes in the ground, trees, and bushes.

First Aid for snake bites:
If you or you member is bitten, lie don keeping the bitten part below heart level. Do not panic. Make the bitten place immobile . Rush to the hospital.

If you have bruise or cut in the mouth do not do oral suction of the poison. Generally sucking the venom from the puncture within 5 minutes reduces 20-30% of the venom & is harmless for the person doing the first aid, but must keep in mind that he should not have any oral wound.

Insect bite in the wild are generally harmless, unless you have some type of allergy. Some bite have very low percentage toxi which can cause anywhere between to bumps to fatigue.

To be Continued...

Venture Pals Groups - Born!!

With couple of eager Hike/Trek enthusiasts, the groups venture pals was born in the month of august 09.

**Why a new group when we have several trekking groups already all over the map ?

-We thought all groups already existing has over flowing membership & need a break from high voltage enthus like us

** What would we do different ?
- Not sure, we definitely will explore as many places as we can & will try to document on how to get there & plans to ensure others can do it own their own

You can sure anticipate blogs on places we go how to get there & things the pla, which we feel is missing in most of the blogs to help other groups to plan

We plan to start with one day trip & upgrade to camping trips

as of Aug we have 5 active members, Eager to see us how we grow


-Mohan