Anakkulam (Elephant pond)and Meeshappulimala (Hill of the mustached leopard), Idukki-  amazing experiences

From 24th to 26th January 2019- I along with my husband and son went to two lovely places in God's own Country, 'Anakkulam' and 'Meeshappulimala' in Idukki District to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. We had been to Munnar several times before and places like 'Muniyara' (Caves of the rishis) near Marayur had enthralled me with its wonder and beauty, but it was the first time that I was hearing of these 2 places, Anakkulam- means the pond of Elephants and Meeshappulimala, means the mountain of whiskered tigers. Both names are associated with wild animals and being a nature lover, I opted to go and visit these two places over the other suggestions that came up.

ANAKKULAM

We started from Kochi on 24th morning and reached Mankulam, a place around 18 kilometers ahead of Munnar. We have to go a little interior from 'Kallar', a major junction en-route Munnar. The home stays and resorts are located at Mankulam. We stayed at a beautiful resort named "Heaven Valley" at Mankulam. From there we went in the evening to Anakkulam. The time to visit this place is after 5.30 every evening. 

"If you are lucky, you will see the elephants. They don't come out every day though. During my last trip with guests, we waited for 4 hours till 9.30 PM and no elephants came, so the guests had to go back disappointed," Jomon, one of the resort owners told us. 

"Oh, don't worry. I am lucky," I replied, feeling very optimistic about glimpsing some wild elephants. 

We set out from the resort by 5 PM and reached the place in 40 minutes. The ride was bumpy. On reaching Anakkulam, a shallow and narrow stream with plenty of rocks and boulders jutting out of it confronted us, bordering the forest across a large ground in which a volley ball court was roughly set up. A very bad idea to have a volley ball court there, it sort of marred the natural beauty, I thought. On the border of the ground and the road, a concrete half wall  stretched along till the  stream disappeared into the forest. I saw electric fencing on one side, probably to prevent the wild animals from trespassing into human settlement areas. There was a lot of elephant poo on the grounds and even on the roads which appeared fresh. So, there will be elephants today too, I felt hopeful.

"Sometimes, they come up to the road. A week back, they came till that shop." A local man replied to my query. When I asked him about the electric fence he said that there are banana cultivation on that side and elephants love to destroy banana plantations. 

We climbed down some steps to the ground and walked towards the stream. I saw some bubbles coming out and bursting on the surface of the stream. Jomon, who accompanied us from Heaven Valley said, "There are some underground minerals in this area. The water is a little warm, sweet and salty to taste here. Elephants love the flavors and these minerals have medicinal properties too. That is why they come in huge groups." 
 
We saw some ducks on the side of the stream too. When we walked towards them, they got into the water and swam off. There was a special charm in the place and the water, when we took it in our hands was indeed warm. We dared not to taste it though!
We stayed by the bank of the stream, enjoying the cool wind and ambience for sometime. Knowing that people are not generally allowed to be there at that time of the day, we went back to the road. On one side was a small tea shop from where we ordered coffee and cakes. A girl in school uniform took Rs 100 more than the bill amount from us, which Jomon brought us back later.  The time was past 6 PM when we went back and sat on the parapet facing the ground and stream beyond.  "I hope they come before sun set. The pictures will not be good if clicked in the dark." I mused. "Don't worry, there are lights in the area. You can still see them clearly after dark," Jomon pointed out the high mast lights on the road side. A few local people had gathered on our sides by then. Two vehicles full of guests too landed near where we were sitting. Then a full jeep of tourists too came later.
"Elephants do not go to the water if there are ducks there. They are scared of the white color. Last time, a crane landed on the water while some elephants were drinking water. They panicked and scattered to all sides." An old man standing beside me commented. "The ducks need to get out of water." He repeated.
 
It was past 6.30 PM when we saw the first elephant come out of the forest. Excitement mounted all around us, shrill voices rose. "Look, here they come! Chase off those ducks! See, there is a herd! Baby elephants too! Look, look!" 




After some slow deliberations, pushing at each other and observing the surroundings, they began to walk towards the water. From the bushes poured out elephant after elephant that after a few I lost count. I think there were more than thirty elephants!

 

We gazed at the scene in wonder. They were of a lighter shade than those I have seen so far. Even after some of them immersed themselves fully into the water, they came out in a brown shade. However a few black elephants came from the forest later on, but they were not allowed to come anywhere near the water by the brown ones. The ducks were still there are the elephants appeared least bothered. There were very tiny baby elephants in the group which were being fed by their mothers, but I could not see any male tuskers. It was interesting to see how they put their trunks straight into the water base as if to suck out the minerals from the bed of the stream. All of them closed their eyes in ecstasy as they drank the water, it must be very tasty to them! One baby started playing in the water and fell on one side with a whoop.  It was mesmerizing to watch it.
We spent over an hour clicking pictures and shooting videos and soon it became dark. When the sun set, the high mast lights came on, but it did not illuminate the stream. The elephants continued to drink and play unabated. "This stream is their Beverage Corporation," said the local old man in the crowd. All of us laughed. I looked up at the lights which shone on the people rather than on the elephants and wondered whether it was installed to inform the elephants that humans are still around.  When finally we were ready to leave, the old local man had already left, probably to find his own Beverages! On the ride back, we couldn't stop talking about this amazing experience.

MEESHAPPULIMALA

Next day morning after breakfast we proceeded to Munnar. Since our rooms at the Rhodo Mansion at Meeshappulimala will be available only after 2 PM, we thought of seeing the Botanical gardens and having lunch from somewhere there before further journey. As usual, the garden and flowers were a feast to the eye. I purchased Kerala Sandal soaps and tea from the garden shop. We had lunch at Silvertips hotel which was themed after the Indian/International Cinema.  There was a wild/forest movie festival going on there. The lunch was okay, but the hotel itself was something different. The rooms are named after famous movies and on our request, a room named Sholay was opened for us to see. Huge posters of the film Sholay decorated the walls. I saw the bed runner shaped after a film reel, but other than that, I did not find any train, jail, dessert themes or Sholay style furniture in the room. We walked around the corridors and clicked a few pictures.
We started from Munnar around 1.30 PM and reached the base camp of Silent Valley by 3.15 PM. We halted here for tea and biscuits and walked around the tents feeling excited about the impending trek. It was a beautiful place with multi colored tents hitched up all around the valley, surrounded by ponds full of water lilies and lovely flower bearing plants around the area.
 
We could have spent an entire day at the place, but soon it was time to go to the Rhodo Mansion, which is at around 8300 feet above sea level on Meeshappulimala.

It took another hour to get to the Rhodo valley and to the Mansion. The building, belonging to Kerala Forest Development Corporation was openeded in 2013 with eight rooms. The temperature had dropped to around 4 degrees and there was a chilly wind nipping at us. An officer of  Forest Department, Sanid accompanied us from Munnar, explaining the scenery around. At the Mansion, another officer, Jithin was detailed to take us for the trek. "Usually, we start in the early morning by around 5.45. Then we can see the sunrise at the mountain top. We return to reach back by 10 AM for breakfast." He said. "But if you want to see sunset now, there is a place 400 meters from here. We need to start only after 5.30 PM." 
We relaxed, sat on the benches outside and walked around having hot black coffee till the time came to climb up to the sunset point. There was a small pretty metal bridge at the starting point of the trek. Exactly at 5.30, Jithin came and bade us to follow. We started our climb. I was amazed to find the pretty and colorful flowers on both sides of the path. Bright gold flowers tipped silver haired stems of a shrub, magenta flowers danced on long stems of another plant, tiny bright white flowers with yellow centers abounded and a shrub sprouted wine red flowers. "Oh, they planted a beautiful garden around the walk way here. See?" I was excited to see such beauty and bright, lively colors. Jithin stared at me as if I was crazy and replied in a cold tone, "They are wild ones, madam." I couldn't believe it. But such is nature's bounty!  
On the way we saw a few people coming down, panting and holding huge walking sticks. "Do these sticks help?" I asked. The climb up was pretty steep, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was finding it very exciting. "Oh yes," the man replied, "Even better to carry two sticks." He grinned and I thought he was making fun of us. After this however, my husband promptly accepted the stick offered by Aneesh, our driver. At the sunset point a scene of absolute beauty greeted us. 
I sat down with my son on a rock overlooking a steep mountain side and watched the sky, distant snowy hills and the butterflies around us. My husband walked around, clicking pictures. After some time, I lay down on the ground, looking up at the sky and feeling the earth with my hands. When I saw some others joining us, I stood up. They identified me and wanted some selfies with me! 
After sun set, we walked down, back to the Rhodo Mansions. My son was playing music on his iphone which was so befitting with the beauty around us. "Tomorrow morning, we start at 5.45 AM," Jithin  reminded us as we came back to the base. When darkness spread around us, the weather dropped to minus two degrees. We saw smoke rising up from the area near the dining hall. "We have lit a fire. Do come & sit near it," said the care taker of the place. There is a steep walk down to the dining hall. On the ground, huge wooden logs were piled up and a fire was raging high up. Some people, staying at the Mansion in the other rooms were sitting in the benches placed around it. At times, the wooden logs would burst and crumble, throwing sparks all around. We sat down on a bench, feeling the warmth. The smoke was thick.
"This is crazy. Didn't we come here for the cold weather?" my son asked us and he curtly went back to his room. I was struck by what he said. We traveled for over eight hours to reach the mountain ranges with cold weather and then, to fight the cold, we are lighting fires and sitting close to them, inhaling all the smoke! "I am also going," I told my husband who also agreed with me. We went back to our room to relax and play cards and Uno which we carried with us.
At 8 PM, a sumptuous dinner was served to us. After dinner we again sat down and talked about various things including deep philosophical matters. Strangely, we talked about the self, perceptions, ego and Bhagawat Gita! We were in deep discussions till 11 PM, so we decided not to wake up at 5 in the morning and trek to the top. 
The next day, I woke up by 6 AM. The tap water was too cold, still I brushed my teeth and walked down to the kitchen for some hot black coffee. I saw snow sticking to the plants as I walked down and the roof of the dining hall dripping melted snow to the ground. By the time I finished coffee, my husband and son joined me. At 7 we saw a group leaving for trekking. "I am not trekking to the top. You both go, I will relax here," my husband said. The evening trek to sunset point itself was tough for him.
"There is a valley a little further down. We can see snow there. It snowed yesterday night," Sanid informed us. "Let us go before the sun comes up and melt the snow," I suggested. "We can go by jeep. If we walk, it will take half an hour." He replied much to our happiness. We all bundled on the jeep and proceeded through a beautiful road which had heavy trees on both sides. When the jeep stopped, a most fabulous scenery lay in front of us. There was a lake on the right side of a walkway and an expansive land on the left. The land was covered in snow flakes. The grass, barks, few tents and the fire place all were crusted in snow. There were calming and beautiful ripples on the top of the lake. "Will there be any fish in this cold weather?" I asked without thinking. "Antarctica is world's largest producer of fish, do you know?" My son mocked me. We were hesitant to leave that place. Sun's first rays came out and each particle of snow reflected sun's light like little diamonds!
Since the trek was supposed to take over 4 hours, we had light breakfast and my son and I started from the Mansion by 9.30 AM. The trek up to the sunset point was quite alright, but the heat of the sun made it not as enjoyable as last evening. We stopped for a bit under the leafless tree which  was the landmark on that point. 
"We go through this way", Jithin said as he pointed downhill. "Once we descend, we can not come back. So, please decide whether to go or not. It is impossible to climb up back this way. From Meeshappulimala, we have to get back through another route." This last minute info was disturbing. I looked at my son. He was staring at me. "Shall we go?" I asked him. He shrugged. "Let's go. Anyway, we came to this place to go up to the mountains. So, let us complete it."  I said and he nodded. "My shoes are coming out at the heels. I don't know how long it will last," he pointed out. Those shoes were old and I had carried it from Trivandrum for him since he, like his father hardly wear shoes. Anyway, we started our descend. Before that, I happily took the rough stick offered to me since both my knees have arthritis problems. I found it easier to walk with the stick. My son however refused both stick and helping hands.
The climb down was steep and rough. The grip was difficult since there were rolling stones all over the path. After 30 minutes and a few slides, realizing to my horror that a little slip can throw me down a steep incline and break my neck. I happily held the hand of Aneesh who is an expert trekker at tricky places. In the beginning, all of us were laughing, clicking pictures and cracking jokes. "Why is it called Meeshapulimala? Are there huge mustached tigers there?" I asked. Sanid answered, "It is a misnomer, madam. There is some grass growing in abundance there which looks like bushy mustache called 'meesha pullu'. Later it became meesha puli, that's all." He clarified. I was a little sad that there will not be tigers there!
I had to pause a lot in between to catch my breath as we progressed.  An hour had passed and we were climbing up the third mountain. "Are we half way up?" I asked. "Yes," Jithin replied promptly as if to console me. "That is the summit." He pointed to a mountain top quite far away. God, so far? I was sure that it would take more than two hours to get there. We walked on after drinking water and eating bananas for energy. I could see a beautiful blue bit of water in a valley amidst the hills from where I stood.

 
The more we progressed, the more tired and silent everyone became. One step at a time, careful, one step after the other... I remember repeating it as the trek became tougher and harder. When I halted frequently on the hills panting, I pulled out my mobile phone and clicked pictures at random not because the scene was picture worthy but to make the others believe so! I didn't want them to realize that my stamina was so flimsy! There was a long stretch in a plain field between two hillocks, walking which was not too tiring, but the glaring sun made that long walk also strenuous. I took off my woolen shawl and opened the sweater buttons to allow the wind to caress off the sweat. After some time, we crossed over a narrow stream with a fast current of gushing water which rose in a flurry among some bushes, flowed in great merriment and vanished in an undergrowth far away. The water was cool to touch and crystal clear. 



At last we came to the foot of meeshappulimala. "This will be the final and the toughest climb," warned Jithin as we started. It can't be any tougher than the earlier ones, I thought. But I was mistaken. The mountain was very steep and at certain points your feet will have to be placed higher than your waist level for the next step up. Naturally, I was the last one to reach the summit. On reaching and looking around, I felt a bit disappointed. Is this all? I asked in dismay. Is this really the second highest peak in Western Ghats after Anamudi?
It was a narrow, long strip of the mountain top that accosted us. On one side, the mist blanketed the view entirely.  I could only see the mountains we crossed at the back. Kannan Devan Tea estates, Mattuppetti dam and Anamudi were visible. So also a few settlement areas in Tamil Nadu, another dam and unending wilderness. I saw some tiny birds hopping here and there, quite unafraid of humans. "If not tigers, at least some birds are here," I said. "It's the pippet, a bird which existed centuries before humans existed on earth." Sanid remarked. I clicked some pictures which all came out blurred since they never sat still.



After relaxing on the summit and eating a few oranges, waiting for the mist to clear up, we decided to descent since the mist was still thick. "The first climb down is tricky. Please be careful," Jithin warned as we started down. As we walked down, the mist slowly cleared and we could see a little bit of the other side which was just steep mountain side and nothingness. I slipped on some stones and my ankle got a twist. "Ouch! Now the left ankle hurts too along with both my knees," I complained. Seeing no sympathy I bit my lips and walked down again, this time my eyes glued to the ground. Enough of scenic beauty and clicking pictures, I just wanted to get down alive. I heaved a huge sigh of relied after getting down the steep mountain summit. "Six more mountains to go," my son reminded me as one of his shoe's heels came off and he threw it deep into the forest with irritation. 
Silently we followed Jithin and Sanid who disappeared from our view. The rest of the trek was a mix of misery, pronounced pain on the feet, hot sun shining on us, hand hurting from holding the stick too tight, sweat, fatigue and a sense of 'enoughness'! I felt that the reason why I felt disappointment at the summit was because of this tiredness. There was indeed a wild beauty in that place, but when you are drained out, you hardly see any beauty. Besides, I expected it to be a huge flat area with amazing views on all sides instead of  a narrow strip with one side blocked in a blanket of mist! The trek down was through an area of less greenery. The grass and hills appeared yellow and brown with few shrubs in between. 
My son's second shoe's sole too came off as he swore and threw it off too. As I climbed up my head hit against a low branch of a tree eliciting another 'ouch' from me. Now the head hurts too, I murmured as my son gave me an understanding smile. I was sure he was hurting in places too. As we climbed up another mountain we saw Jithin pulling out some leaves from a plant. "This is the real eucalyptus, from which they make oil. Smell it madam," He offered them to me. It smelled strong. "Back at the Mansion, you can add it to the water when you take bath. It will ease the pain," He said. 
We continued our trek back. After another hour I asked Sanid, "How far to go?"
"Three more mountains and we will reach by the side of the lake where we went in the morning to see snow today." He replied.
"Oh, can you bring the jeep there?" I limped a step. He nodded and went off in earnest as we resumed our quiet and slow trek back. After some time we saw a few people trekking up that way. "It is possible to go up to the summit by this route also. People who occupy tents in the snow valley use this route. It is easier." Jithin answered when I asked him. 
We came to the foot of the last mountain. "The lake is once we climb up and down this one," Jithin said. We got a new burst of strength knowing that it is coming to an end and started to climb up after a brief rest. At last, it was over. A few steps from the last mountain and to the right, down below I could see the sparkling water of the lake. "Yippee, we reached!" I shouted in glee. I threw the walking stick to the side, thanking it for immensely helping my trek and almost ran towards the lake. My wide smile was greeted by the jeep and Sanid standing near it! I jumped into the jeep. We reached the Mansion by 1.45 PM. As I limped to the room, I saw my husband in a t-shirt, talking to some men. "How was it?" He asked me looking suspiciously at my leg. "Tough. I need a bath." I replied. "The room is open. Use the right tap for hot water. Be careful, it is very hot." He said as I ran towards the room. I had consumed a lot of water and all of it had not gone out as sweat.
In the bucket, I took off the Eucaly leaves and put it before opening the right tap which was connected to the solar water heater. The care taker had told us that hot water will come only after 11 AM. But no water came! I waited for over 10 minutes for hot water and since it was not coming, I bathed in ice cold water. As I was toweling myself dry, hot water started to sprout through the right tap! 
Back in the open outside the Mansion, I examined my swollen ankle. The men who were talking with my husband came over to me with suggestions galore about healing swelling and pain. "Did you really climb to the summit?" One person asked me. "Yes. With out climbing to the top, we can't come back, can we?" I replied, a little angry at the silliness of the question. "Oh, I couldn't climb the last big one. We can go round it to the return path, there is a way." He said to my amazement. Why didn't these forest people tell me, I wondered. "Forest officials here told me that you are the first IPS officer to climb the summit." He extended his hand to me to shake it. "And great that you climbed all the way! Great to meet a strong woman!" He said as we shook hands. 
Suddenly my weakness, tiredness and pains vanished. My chest swelled with pride and a sense of achievement. It is truly amazing what words can do to lift up our spirits. I felt very happy and satisfied to have trekked to Meeshappulimala at last!