Into the forest

It was very unexpected that I would be asked by my friend to go with him for a trip into the forest near his place. It all happened very fast that without thinking about it I told him that I would go with him. Today I will tell you about that day.

I had to take a bike which was with a friend of my friend. To take that bike from him we had to go to his home. 

A trip to his house was itself an adventure! Two guys on a bike, through narrow roads which at some places have fences and concrete barricades to protect the travellers from falling into the deep canyons on both sides and some places just bamboo poles. And in these roads I saw the steepest climbs and hardest descents. I found out why my friend had his bike's break problem fixed!

By 2.45 PM we reached that guy's home. But he wasn't there. His mother told us he went to the deep forest with some guys who used to be in the college with him. They had gone to visit a temple in the forest. Also he took their jeep and asked his mother to give me the bike's key when we arrive there. So I took the key, thanked her for the fruit juice she gave us and began the journey back.

Anyway, when we got out from there my friend asked me if I would like to go for a trip into the forest. And with out any hesitation, I accorded with him. And we began to climb the mountain on our bikes.

The start-up check

First we had to check if we had enough fuel to make the climb and to come back. We decided to switch of the bikes and ride on neutral while making the descent, as long as possible so that we could save some fuel. There are no petrol bunks in that area and to refill the tanks we would have to come back to the town area which is about 50 KMs from where we were then. We also decided if his bike runs out of petrol we would use some petrol in my bike. We were safe as long as my bike runs on the main tank. We had to be pretty much sure about that as my friend's bike drinks up petrol twice the rate than mine.

The Climb - Stage 1

Since we knew they went to a temple and in the forest there are not much temples, we could find the way by asking the people who were there in the first junction we saw. They clearly told us about the steep climbs that are to come and the possibility of seeing an elephant in the way.

For some length the road was tarred and though broke at most of the stretch was comfortable compared to the rest of the way. And then came the steeper climbs. And the inroad? Please imagine this, you are walking on stone paved road. And the stones are floating on water! It was almost the same.

We had to be extra careful on the rocks. There were no barricades to prevent us from getting thrown from the edge! And every now and then me and my friend felt like we were losing control on our bikes! But we kept on going as we both love adventure.

This is the maximum I could snap while on the bike. I had to have both my hands on the handle for the bike to be stable. And that is my friend on his bike, in the distance. Also I took this picture while descending.

The Temple

There were many side roads from the main one. There are nobody in the jungle to ask for directions. We continued on our way trusting our instincts and we looked for tyre marks of the jeep. It was the tyre markings which helped us to decide on which way to move, when we reached a 3-way joint. And we saw it - The Temple.

This temple is of Lord Shiva. There is also a place where the people keep betel leaves and areca nuts for the mountain for its help in finding way in and way out, with out any problems. It is believed, if a person gets into the forest with out giving offerings to the mountain God will have a hard time inside the forest.

There they were, the guy whom we went to meet and his friends, with the Jeep. We decided to travel on the Jeep for the rest of the stretch as we were not sure about how far we would be able to ride on the bikes with the available fuel. We had to save the fuel for the trip back, at least until we could refill.

The Climb - Stage 2

So we got into the jeep with the rest of the guys and continued on the trip. The road was much better than the stretch we climbed. We were told that some people had cleared the road with a proclainer. My friend kept watch in anticipation to find an animal. We expected to see elephants or deer or wild buffalo. But with no luck. So we decided to go on with climbing the mountain. 

By 'climbing the mountain' I don't mean that there were only climbs. The road was twisting with sharp turns and quicksands where the tyres could get stuck and if not careful even we could get caught in that.

The boys got on top of the jeep so that they could have a better view of the woods. I still can't make out how they managed to hold on while we were having a rough time travelling through that road.

On Foot

Finally, we reached a point from where the jeep could not be used. The road had mounts of mud and sand in the road which were formed by the JCB which passed earlier some day through there. So, we left the jeep and began to trek. We trekked for almost 5 Kms. We were looking for a small river which we had heard about.

The Leeches 

While we were walking we noticed some things crawling on our feet. We took a closer look and saw the leeches: scores of them! We ran from there to a log we found lying on the side and sitting on it we began to remove the leeches. We removed the leeches from our legs, but more of them began to climb. We decided to move till we found solid ground or rocks, to remove the leeches.

It is very hard to see where the leeches have bitten or where they found room. When they bite you, they inject some kind of a local anaesthetic which numbs the portion and they begin to fill themselves with the blood oozing from the tiny wound. We won't notice it unless we look for it. So, we thoroughly checked our body so that later we wont have to find a leech bulging with blood!

Gradually we lost our hope in finding the river. We couldn't hear the stream. Anyway, we kept on walking, with the leeches on our feet.

The Stream

After a hike for about 3 hours we found the stream, or a skeleton of a stream. With only a little amount of water in puddles, we identified it as a stream by the rock pattern. Its dried up. Also we found some remains of burnt logs which might have been used for brewing the local flavour of alcohol! We climbed the rocks and continued to walk along the stream.

After sometime we got tired and decided to head back. We couldn't see any animals and it was almost dark. We thought it would be best if head back as we haven't taken any precautionary measures against rain or animals as it was a completely unexpected trip.

The Descent

Climbing a mountain is much easier compared to the descent, through a steep slope, with stones rolling under your bike's tyres. We couldn't idle the engine and descent on neutral gear as we needed to employ the 'engine break' to keep the bike on the road, rather than fly down the slope! But once the rocky slopes were over we could continue our downward journey on neutral gear.

I was not able to take pictures of rocky slopes through which we travelled, because as I said earlier I needed my two hands to hold my bike on track, and I was hoping if I had two more hands!

We were very excited to have made this trip on our bikes. We were very tired. I was fighting hard for breath after the climb back on foot. While climbing back I was running as I didn't want much of those leeches to get on to my feet!

Even though we were tired, in the end of the day, we were happy! After all, I got a story to tell!