Nagala - East

Long awaited trek comes true when Vinay sent a mail inviting interested people for the trek to Nagala East. It was my first trek with this team. Vinay initiated this trekking, by seeing number of people who registered for this trek I got shocked. It was a group of 21 people (Last minute couple of people backed out, that’s different). Vinay booked ticket for all of us, Sayeesha and Ajita arranged for guide.

We were intimated to gather near Mejestic bus stop to catch bus to Puttur (Andra Pradesh). Funniest part was, in the message which we received when we booked ticket its mentioned as Platform number 15, which does not exists…:P   

Our bus was about to leave at 10.45Pm from Mejestic, every one reached Mejestic on time and most of the members in this group were new to me, but after talking to them I never felt first time I am meeting them.

Started our journey on time, thank god after we boarded bus rain started otherwise it would have been difficult to get into bus in rain. Puttur is around 240 Kms from Bangalore and it was about 5 hour’s journey. Reached Puttur by 4.30AM and again we were about to travel to Nagalapuram which is around 40 Kms from Puttur. By the time we got down from Puttur bus, bus to Nagalapuram was ready and it was about to Leave. Reached Nagalapuram around 5.30AM before expected time.  As per the communication with our guide he was about to join us at 6.30AM.

Waited near Nagalapuram Bus stop for guide, by the time he joined us got fresh up in nearby chourtray and had breakfast in Nagalapuram only. Got parcel from same hotel for our lunch and by the time we started our journey it was around 8.30 AM. From Nagalapuram Village to Forest its around 17 Kms which we need to travel in private vehicle we won’t get public transport to that place. Guide only arranged vehicle for us in which all of us dumped our luggage’s and in the same vehicle 18 of us got in…!!! 

Finally reached near base camp of Nagala East around 9.30 AM and unloaded all our luggage’s from vehicle and without wasting any time tightened up our back packs and we were all set to start our trekking. Vinay briefed us couple of things to follow while trekking to avoid unnecessary issues…J  

Our guide Chinna leaded the group and one more guide Giri and Vinay were coming at last just to ensure no one left behind. Plan for the day was to cross 2 major pools and camp near Picnic Pool.  Trekking started crossing the backwaters of the Dam.

In this trek need to cross many streams, since humidity is more at this place you will enjoy crossing the streams. One more group started trekking at the same time, so we decided to maintain a gap between that group & our group and spend some time for quick photo session again… J 

Till we reach first pool route is not tough and no need to cross many streams easily we can reach first pool without much struggle. Because of humidity we were badly waiting to get into water, by the time we reached first pool already one group playing in water, so we decided to just move forward. But we thought of take a small break at this point and went other side of the pool to check if we can get into water or not. View was awesome; beauty of this place is where ever you go, you will get nice view. 

It was time to get into water and have fun. People were waiting to jump into water... J Really this place is paradise for swimmers; they can try all their swimming skills here.

Few diving pics… J

Spent more than one hour near this pool and we were supposed to cross 2 more pools for the day before it gets dark, continued our trekking towards next pool ‘Dead End Pool’. After 1 hour walk from the first pool we reached Dead End Pool. 

As mentioned by the name it is a dead end pool, we have to swim through this pool to continue our trekking towards Picnic pool. (Not sure who gave names for this pools…!!!). We were already prepared for this with all necessary things like life jackets, Ropes, swimming tubes and swimming mats (to pass our luggage’s). 

Vinay gave some instruction before we started. People who know swimming first crossed this pool and went ahead and helped rest of the team to cross this pool. We took almost 2 hours to cross this pool along with our luggage’s. 

We took more than expected time to cross this dead end pool, once we crossed dead end pool stopped for lunch break. Time was already 3.30 when we stopped for lunch. Had lunch we took parcel from Nagalapuram.

Plan was to reach picnic pool by end of day and do camp near picnic pool, but problem was none of us know the route to the picnic pool. Even guides were not aware of this route. Vinay was coming here for the second time and he had some idea about the route. From picnic pool we took left turn and Vinay leaded our group from here onwards. It was getting darker and we were not sure about the route, we were supposed to find place for our camping also, we found the dead end of the route!!! From that point onwards we could not go further.  We missed our destination picnic pool and camped in middle of the forest.

Vinay MP and Vinay singh prepared delicious Veg Palav for dinner, filled our hungry tummies and it was time to sleep in middle of the forest after long day. We should be very thankful to our guides, whole night they were awake for our safety. 

This is how we rested at night.

Day 2:

Though we missed picnic pool, as per the plan we were about to cover 2 more pools. Got fresh up and we were ready to our trekking. By the time everyone get ready thought of one more photo session. 

Finished our breakfast near our camp and started our trekking. We took same way back till dead end pool. Once we reached dead end pool stopped for a quick break (mean while did one round of photo session as well :P)

This time we did not crossed dead end pool, instead of that from dead end pool took left turn and climbed the hill to reach as our guide suggested. Almost 1 Kms it was uphill climb once we cross that we will get flat surface. By the time we reached top it was too hot and humidity in this place was bit more. 

Finally around 11.30AM reached near one more pool not sure about the pool name. Every one of us eagerly waiting to jump into water. It was time to do some sliding near the pool J. Our guide Giri showed us how they jump into shallow pool from good height..   

Sliding Time J

As per the plan covered both the pools, initially we were not knowing that those two pools are next to each other. Since we covered both pools which we planned for the day, we had enough time to play in water. Most of our group members were playing in water. Meanwhile Vinay Square :P (Vinay MP and Vinay Singh) started preparing lunch for us.

They didn’t took long time to prepare lunch, but in cycle gap Vinayak, Sagar and Santosh had sound sleep… :D even Dogs which followed us from long time :P

Finished our lunch and it was time to wind up our trekking. Time was already crossed 3.00PM, after almost 2 hours walk we reached back base camp. Just before reaching base camp decided to click one group pic… J

Our group J

By the time we reached our base camp, vehicle was waiting for us to drop us back to Nagalapuram. While coming back to Nagalapuram it started raining, we were traveling in open vehicle, thankfully tarpaulin was handy we reached it easily and pulled it over our heads. It was a totally different experience for all of us.

Reached Nagalapuram around 6.00PM and freshened up in Nagalapuram, we had enough time to reach Puttur; our bus to Bangalore was at 9.30PM. Reached Puttur around 8.00PM and finished our dinner.  Finally we reached bus stop on time, by the time we reached bus stop, bus to Bangalore was ready.

One thing I would like to tell about this trip, this group was bunch of fantastic people. There were many whom I met for the first time, but never felt like it was our first meet. Special thanks to organizing committee and thank you everyone for making this an amazing trek to remember for life time. Hope to see you in the future events!!!

For more pics CLICK HERE