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-   -   Heat, Humidity, a Tortoise & a Stove – March 20-21, 2010 – A Trekkalog (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/79517-heat-humidity-tortoise-stove-march-20-21-2010-trekkalog-3.html)

Excellent log of your trip. The sudden fog is really something one would want to experience in person.

Hey,

I must agree the trek looks damn cool to attempt. Loved the pictures lately.

Did you really had to take a picture of this?

What if it was not a Tiger's Scat :D

Also, could you mention a few details too?
Things to carry:
How to contact the guide including his 'Pay package':
Duration of trek:

Would be helpful in case I plan to go, which looks very positive seeing the pictures.

Yeah, how do you know that a tiger did it? It could be the handiwork of a fat trekker who was there before you.

5 star from my side Addy. That chinese device is a must buy. Can you get me some info where I can grab one? And great trek you had under extreme conditions. Man. you guys "ROCK".

Thanks guys! I got the altimeter from an auction on ebay. The listed price was 3k, but I paid 1.5k for it in the auction. After receiving it, I felt it was not even worth 1.5k. The quality was just flimsy. But somehow it did the job. I received it just a day before I left the trek.

Check the link for details on that product
http://cgi.ebay.in/Altimeter-Thermom...item4aa0799cac


And yeah, we were totally 'Rocking' once we reached the peak!!!

It sure is. It was suddenly spooky seeing so many dark clouds within just a few seconds. We thought it would rain, but luckily it did not. We did not carry any rain protection gear like rain coats or a tent. If it had rained, we would have been miserable. The only place where we could taken shelter was an hour's descent on the route which we came up.


Things to carry:will put it in my next post

In case you want the guides no: Pls PM me. He charges Rs.300 per day.

Duration: depends on the fitness levels. I am by no means, a very fit person, but we started at 9 am exactly and reached the campsite at 3.30 IIRC. We took numerous breaks in between. The guide said the distance one way was around 9kms. He said this distance was told to him by a group of trekkers who had a GPS.

What is the next best thing after sighting a tiger in the wild?

Ans: Sighting it's scatlol:. It is ample proof that I walked the road a tiger had once walked even if it was its toilet that I was walking upon

Actually, I did not believe that it was a tiger scat at first glance. But upon closer observation and dissection (not with our hands FYI :D), my friend & the guide told me that it was indeed tiger scat. My friend had been to the Tiger census held in Bandipur in January this year and he had been trained in identifying scat of different animals.

I will see where I can get that altimeter cheaper. It's a must have as it showed clouds and things like that! I love such equipment. Compass+altimeter+barometer+thermometer+sphygomoma nometer+ammeter+auto meter... Any meter, I dig in!
Anyway, my slr comes with an inbuilt light meter. :D

MODS: Why is my 5 star rating now shown on this thread?

Kudos Addyhemmige! Nice travelogue, you covered quite some good amount of information with the aid of beautiful and breath taking photographs. clap:

Any wild guess on the age of Tiger scat? Just out of curiosity to understand how close you guys were to the beast.

Guys, you slept without a tent? I cant believe it!

By the way Addy, I sent that post about that instrument, I googled and saw the price on ebay. But what I am surprised is that, I never such instruments in the market. They are rare. Even in Amazon, I could not find many !

addyhemmige, this is easily one of the best travelogues I have come across in TBHP...the route highlighted by the red mark explains the effort it requires..definitely as mentioned in the first part of your signature.."There are somethings money can't buy' :)

Actually, I wanted to buy a GPS receiver. I guess that has all the required 'meters' in it. But it was way too expensive. A basic version costs 8k (as seen on ebay) and that is way over my budget. So, I guess I'll have to stick to maps now.

Thanks jacs,

My friend said the scat could be as old as 15 days (not sure though), but easily older than a week.

We did consider taking a tent, but then in this kind of weather, you never need one. It would be just an extra weight. Luckily no snake wanted to keep us company by the heat of the fire. We had sleeping bags though.

I tried to check in major stores like landmark for cheaper versions of the altimeter. But they did not have it. Checked on ebay a couple of times, but it was expensive. A week before the trek, this altimeter was put up for auction at half the listed price. I bid exactly 1.5k and nobody else outbid me:D

These type of devices are generally used by adventurers only, hence limited visibility in the market. I guess if we check in National Market here in Bangalore, we might find a few.

You said it Surprise.clap:Thanks a lot

Excellent travelogue.clap: Really enjoyed going through it. I too enjoy trekking, but now friends are no more game for it. :Frustrati

Having said that a tiger passed nearby a week or two before, can't imagine you slept peacefully in a forest mount without any basic safety gears.

You guys had a sound sleep? :confused:

When we stayed in a resort in Masinagudi, I could hardly sleep becase of the sounds from forest lol:.

Addy/ SmartCAT. Guess we should plan on a trek. If we can come with an epic like this, I'd love to drive down from Pune to be a part of it. But I prefer the monsoon times.

Hi Addy,

I have been following this thread since you started it, but never posted.

i must confess, after my NCC days during my 8th-10th class, i have never been on a trek, i realized that i have lost some great opportunities all these years.

i intend to re-start some day soon.

Thanks Hemanth, It was quite a while before I found a friend who loved trekking. All the others think I'm crazy.:D My policy is 'Do it while you can'. So, I try to go trekking whenever I find time.

Actually, I would have been happy to come face to face with a tiger, but then where are they?:Frustrati

We did not exactly have a sound sleep, but it was more due to the place where we were sleeping. We were sleeping horizontally on a slope.

The sounds of the forest are just lovely. I feel you should experience it without any fear. Anyway, we had a fire running all night just in case we had unwelcome visitors.

@Star: Thanks a lot. I'm sure you will not regret it if you re-start

@MX6/Smartcat: Why not? We can plan a good one when everybody is free. Monsoon is a lovely time actually.