Trip to sathyamangalam

This is about my trip to sathyamangalam

   Let me introduce myself before starting to write about my trip, I am Dr.Navin, assistant professor in salem , I am no author this is my first try, I love adventures ,travelling and exploring places. As my work demands me to be around 24/7, and never gives me time for anything else so planning a trip was a big deal. I have never dreamt I would write but some gut made me, fingers crossed.

   It was a pre-planned trip which was being delayed for various reason and at last we made it, A weekend trip to sathyamangalam,Once the trip kick started it was lots of fun ,Started from my college around 2.30 pm (122 km from Salem), We got all things packed mainly water bottle of 5 litre (from Bannari Amman temple to thalavadi there would be no shop), and  tank full of gasoline (every guys dream ) very essential for road trips.

   

    Started our road trip with exciting speed, we reached Bhavani river –erode district Tamil Nadu, Bhavani sagar dam was the first major irrigation project initiated in India after independence in 1948, we went along Bhavani towards Gobichettipalayam and reached Bannari Amman temple -one of the most famous Amman temples in Tamil Nadu and it is in Bannari on Nh 209, near sathyamangalam, Erode district. We decided to visit the temple as the temple holds the history of guarding the mountains for centuries. It’s famous for the fire walk (kundam) which is believed to wipe out all the sins, rumours have been widely spread around that one of the greatest rebel "you know who" used to visit this temple and perform this pooja every year. The sculptures and architecture of the temple is very pleasing, the prasadam of the temple is in the form of sand (external application).

  Next we rode into sathyamangalam forest reserve, as we rode we saw deer’s running around ,huge mountains, clean black road in-between the dense calm forest. It's also known as the tiger reserve area, array of check points where present.

   There are lots of small town all the way from sathyamangalam.

Dhimbam which is one of the steepest curves having 27 hairpin bends. Really very steep that it test your car ability and your driving skills. As we went up in 27/26th hairpin has a fearsome story, that is while they laid the roads, workers built a cave like storage to pile up the cements and other constructive materials to safe guard them from the rain, and at that time the cave became a shelter to leopards, which will freaked us out, its best to be careful in that hairpin bend.

   Next, the junction the view was breath taking, covered with clouds, roads where covered with mist, the view will make you feel top of the world. Only hurdle is the lorry traffic, if a lorry breaks down in this bend, you have no alternative route to divert the traffic. This route leads to Thalavadi gate which leads to Karnataka. The only short cut from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka. There are lots of RTO check points so please avoid any hot beverages here.

   At last we reached our resort, a private property fenced with electric wires, wide space on top of the mountain. The next cottage to ours was the owner’s, they offered us a welcome tea, a pretty decent cottage. We had already given our night’s menu and took a small nap.

              

  We got up refreshed our self getting ready for the adventurous night ride into the forest.

At 7pm we took off for our forest adventure, packed with fear as we heard the story that happened the previous night, they had installed electric fence today due to the disaster happened the previous night, elephant and forest pig attacked the owners cottage for food, as they live in sugarcane and corn they come out for the night hunt to collect /store their food.

  The story sent chills through our spine as we rode into the forest. The mesmerizing view of the forest took us up to 14 km without fear and then started the fear to tick in. some random sounds came through the woods, constant sound from the car, we started to stare at each other in fear, I broke the silence saying, lets continue our trip without showing my fear but secretly praying inside for someone to tell let’s get back to cottage.

   At last the voice came “let’s get back to cottage and come back tomorrow morning, but before that we halted in middle of nowhere to check the noise coming from the car. We played inky pinky ponky to select the person going to get out of the car and check the sound .the brave one got down and found a twig stuck to the bumper, near the tire, that made sound of a jumping monkey. Thank god we had mobile flash light,

note: please take a flash light with you for these type of adventure.

  Suddenly we saw horses running, our imagination creped us, what if the horse was chased by wild beast? We halted for a minute to check to make it clear, thank god it was just our imagination, and then finally reached the cottage with a sign of relief.

  It was almost 10 pm our stomach started to growl for food, and our food arrived on right time , we had some hot soup that was soothing for the climate, then pallipalayam chicken ,omelette and rice which was served in huge vessels . Felt heavenly with the refreshing meal, we ate like gluttons.

  We lit the fireplace to keep us warm and started watching movie, and we dosed off at 1 am for next day adventure.

   Next day morning my car was covered with mist, at 6 am the view was very misty to even see the person standing next to us. Went out to see the scenic beauty, decided to call my friends out to enjoy the scenery (difficult job that too in this climate) any-ways the tea arrived just at the perfect moment.. Hot tea on a cold day is bliss...

  Everyone got ready for our morning trip, misty morning, got down to click some pics on a restricted area (due to wandering animals), we saw a white monkey with long tail which is called lagoon which uses its tail to great extent, next we saw forest pig, porcupine, forest cock, different kind of birds, rats, some more wild animals that I haven’t seen before. Interesting isn't it?

  And as we went on we had RTO check point, we dint know we were crossing the border to other state so what? New adventure, new experience so we showed our ID proof and entered Karnataka, but for 4 km the path didn’t belong to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka unincorporated area.

   As soon as we crossed the border we saw tree house which was so cool, after enquiring we came to know that they are built for Guards –to prevent wild animal entering and damaging the crops. Leopards hunt cows and take them to top of the tree and hang them, we could see the nail marks left behind.

  It was fascinating to see the beauty of nature as we travel, along we saw monastery and Tibetan settlement, it’s a place which   Dalai lama  visited, different type of cultural  style, spend few hours and started back to our destination, on the way we tried to drink water from a well,water was so clean n cool. 

An adventurous, relaxing trip it was.

Great place for adventure with your friends.

It’s a journey to remember.

Thank you for reading !!