The first group left while we were still getting up from our sleep. Then the third group took a break while we moved on. Again it was an irritating job to take off our shoes, cross the river and again wear them. Although the river was flowing calmly, there was a very strong under current which could have thrown us off balance. But, somehow we managed to cross it safely and move ahead.
All this while the trail was relatively flat and there was no significant gain in altitude. Now came the tough part. The actual climb was to start from here. The trail which was visible clearly till now would not be the same from here onwards. Soon after we left the river we entered a bamboo thicket with plenty of elephant dung. It was getting pretty hot and the midday sun was sapping the energy out of us. Although we were walking in the shade, the humidity made us tired. Breaks were more frequent now. It did not help that we were gaining altitude slowly.
In the bamboo thicket.
Coming out of the bamboo thicket, the trail led us back next to the Addahole River. The trail on the map showed that we were supposed to keep going parallel to the river and divert at a point where another huge stream joins it.
Along the river
If you observe closely, you can see temporary sheds erected by forest produce gatherers.
Apparently, contractors take a contract with the forest department to collect forest produce from the reserve forests by paying a royalty to them. These contractors in turn hire other people to collect the produce. These people stay for months together and collect the produce. Although there was no one at the place when we went, I must say that these people have excellent knowledge about the forest and can easily identify their locations even in the densest of forests. I say this from personal experience with such a person when I went on another trek in March this year.
We moved ahead from this site and found a confluence of a big stream and the river. Now, we were confused. Was this the stream shown in the map?? No idea. We stopped and looked for trails around the place, but could not find any. Now, what do we do? We thought of going a bit ahead and checking. We then remembered that we were among the first people to have trekked to this place this season and the trail would have been overgrown. We went a little bit ahead and found something which looked like a trail. A little more probing and we found a good path. We were still not sure if this was the right path, but it was a start and we would have to find out whether it was right. The first group too was not to be seen anywhere. So, we headed out on that path.
The path then started to climb and the gradient increased as we went along. It was tiring to say the least. So, we needed to stop every now and then.
Then, it happened. As suddenly as we found the path, it disappeared. Every place looked the same. We had no idea where we were. The time was around 2.30 in the afternoon. We pressed ahead along the heading shown in the compass and the GPS cutting down bushes to make our way. For half an hour we were just going in the general direction of the peak without any path in front of us. We were checking our maps often to see if we could identify any landmark in it. At one point we identified that the actual trail (on the map) climbed up a small hill (which was along the river) and got down ahead. I checked my GPS for elevation and coordinates and supposedly we were just below this small hill. There was no way of confirming this as we can just guess the location on the map. While checking coordinates even a ‘minute’ will mean a difference of 100-200 meters (or maybe even more). So, we decide to take chance and climb that hill.
So we stumbled and moved through the bushes and thorns and reached the top of the hill and Surprise Surprise!!! We found the path. And what’s more we found the third group just ahead of us. They had found the right path and had gone ahead of us.
This was the path we found. Notice the dense vegetation around it. We had to cut through it to get to this place.
From the other group, one of them had fallen down and had sprained his ankle. He was struggling to walk and had to take help from one of his friends. Due to this, they had decided to stop their trek at the next available camping spot and return back the next day. We moved a bit ahead and found a flat rocky place by the river. The other group had already started setting up camp. The time was 3 pm and we too had to find a suitable camping place before it got too dark. We then said our goodbyes and left them behind. The path continued for a while and then we started climbing again. This time the path took us further away from the river.
Taking rest
A huge tree in the middle of the forest.
Continued....