NEELAKURINJI TREK

Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) is a shrub found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in South India. This incredible blooming event will occur once in 12 years. It’s a long weekend & started planning for the trip as usual. Everyone came up with their own suggestions & finally landed with the common idea of witnessing Neelakurinji flower bloom.

           We planned in such a way that a day full trek to visualize the flower bloom & return back. But in the end everyone dropped the plan, still I was fixed to the plan. I started my journey from Chennai on 28^th Sep 2018 night & reached Theni by next day noon. 

                 From there I got a bus & went to Suryanelli, a resort settlement in the Chinnakanal village in Idukki district, Kerala. I reached HML tea factory & next comes the real adventure i.e. off roading in jeep until campsite. After half an hour of adventurous journey, I reached the campsite place.

               By evening, all the camp members started coming & checked in our respective tents which had been laid in the midst of tea estate. Then we got mingled easily by sharing our travel stories. 

Camping amidst Tea estate

               Then comes the fun part, bonfire with songs sung by organizer & we joined with him. The wonderful bonfire followed by scrumptious dinner under million stars with no electricity & no cellular network.

Bonfire

Sun rise view point, Suryanelli

              On the next day, we started our early morning trek to witness the Sun rise & were pumped up to see such an awe inspiring view.

After spending our time for the mesmerized sun rise, we came back to camp site for having breakfast.

Then we started our enthusiastic trek towards the hill where Neelakurinji bloomed. On the way, we had crossed the Kolukkumalai tea estate (World’s highest organic tea estate at a height of 7900ft above sea level).

Kolukkumalai Tea factory

After an exhilarating trek into misty & muddy way, we finally reached a place which felt like a heaven. Yeah finally we had witnessed the phenomenal flower which blooms once in 12 years & felt like splendiferous.

The flower which made me craze enough to travel all the way to Kolukkumalai to witness it & made many new friends who pampered me in an unknown place. Also I would like to thank my friends who induced a spark for this trip.

             “   We have nothing to lose; a world to explore.”

Prakash Ramasamy.

EXPLORE THE UNEXPLORED

          Generally what will people do on weekends? Some will spend their time leisurely by reading books, watching movies, spending time with their family etc. But as a crazy freaks, we did an exciting exploration to the nearby hill at Venkatapuram, Chengalpattu.

          We started our journey by around 6.00 am on 29^th Sep 2018 towards our destination with a group of around five to six people.

          Basically we started this hike to do our regular fitness activities like jogging which finally become an interesting & some thrilling exploration of the unknown place, which fulfilled our weekend morning.

          We jogged almost 3 km & had a break below the wonderful tree which gave us a lot of energy & a refreshing serene songs of the birds.

          After a small break, we started our exploration by walking towards the hill & finally reached the foot hills.

From there our journey started towards the peak with more enthusiasm & eagerness.

We have crossed some beautiful flowers & passed through grass which looked like a green carpet was laid to welcome us.

Though our journey went well, there comes a twist in the tale. Yes, we lost our path & we headed towards a dead end. From there, we could able to see only the magnificent view of the huge lake & it’s really worth spending time there by throwing stones into it.

After spending our time by throwing stones into the lake, hanging out with many stories, we started our next path the most interesting part i.e., climbing the hill through slippery stones.

At one point of time, we thought of returning back. But without losing our self-confidence, we climbed slowly & reached the peak by helping each other to visualize the majestic view from the top.

We were mesmerized to visualize the view from top & finally we achieved with the help of team work & self-confidence.

After spending enormous time at the peak, we started returning back due to scorching sunlight. Then we had our breakfast & waved a good bye to each other with lot of memories by an amazing exploration.

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.”

Prakash Ramasamy.