Wednesday, December 30, 2015

A picturesque, pristine & peaceable place in Kerala which hardly shows any sign of human intervention

Coffee shops, malls and restaurants have become the most sought-after meeting place for friends. This is largely because these are found in plenty, as against quiet and organic settings. Yet, the time spent in a perfectly beautiful natural environment is something all together different; an experience that is unbeatable. This article is about one such experience.
A 40 km travel from Palakkad town towards Nenmara will take one to Karimpara, a small village with considerable tribal population. Pothundi Dam, considered as an entry to the Nelliyampathy hill station, is just 6 km away from this water-self-sufficient village.
Karimpara is royally picturesque and has a small, perennial stream passing through it, the origin of which is from the mountains of Nelliyampathy. During the non-rainy season, the stream is quite narrow and shallow; one can walk through its knee-deep waters. Originating from the hills and passing through dense forests, the water is cold, crystal clear, and sweet.

A walk through the stream is an experience in itself. All through its course, the stream is surrounded by lush green shrubs and trees which makes one ecstatic; and the cold water makes the legs numb. But one cannot walk carefree, for there are high chances that one might stumble. The stream bed is made up of rounded rocks, over which, because it is completely undisturbed, there is algae in abundance, making it very slippery. Probability that one can walk the entire stream till its end point without falling at least once is minimal! Though big trees have bordered the stream they do let the sun rays fall on the water. This enables one to see the entire depth of water clearly. Fishes and other smaller marine insects can also be spotted easily.
All though the water-walk to the end point is more than a kilometre, one will not find it stressful. Rather it is thoroughly enjoyable. What makes it even more pleasurable is that at the end one finds the deepest point of the stream, and the most beautiful. There is a huge rock at that point, and it is over it that the water coming from the mountains makes its fall into the stream, which has, therefore, made the point the deepest. Though during monsoons the water gets to 12-15 feet high here and the entire stream itself becomes unapproachable, other times it is just neck deep. The depth isn’t sudden, but gradual, and thus one can very safely stand there and enjoy the pristine nature at her best. One can swim around that point. Once tired, nature has provided nice rounded stones at the borders where one can rest.

The most wonderful part is that all through this wonderful journey through the stream and its surroundings there is not a single trace of any plastic! Usually such beautiful and less populated places are used by people to sit and consume alcohol, and thus one finds liquor bottles and plastic cups. But here that doesn’t happen. One isn’t that safe! Nature has provided her own security guards, and they are wild boars and elephants! During summers when water in the high forests get depleted they come down from the forest to the stream. Early mornings and evenings are the times when these come down. Maybe it is because of this risk factor that people do not come here for consuming alcohol. Even otherwise, the place shows hardly any trace of human intervention. Perhaps, this is one of those few places on earth that is yet to be exploited by man.
For anyone wanting to visit, there is good road facility till Karimpara. One can park the vehicle and then take a half an hour walk through the forest to reach the stream. Walking further inside the forest, one reaches the place where the tribal community lives. There they have a pond which never gets dried up, from which they get all the water they need.
(The post first appeared in The Yatra Diaries)