I can’t end the hunt just here…. Got a long way to go with Anaikatti and far west that could connect Attapadi and Mannarkad…….Anaikatti; yeah a place that possibly offers everything a trekker wants…. You’ll notice wild animals to herbs that heal with wider species of birds to watch… A few miles west to Anaikatti, all you can see is the Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and natural history… it’s the place where ornithologists and conservationists research on birds and rare animal species… The university is bordered by both the Nilgiris and the hills of attapadi; to what lies exactly behind the Attapadi Hill range is something that you should be familiar with… Guess what the range connects Siruvani Dam- Velliangiri Hills and the Silent valley… I’ve heard a lot of trekkers saying jaw dropping routes in the hill range… The Western Ghats have a unique feature where it never appears broken and continues to nest vivid routes from end to end…
So all you need to do is kick start the journey by moving from kanuvai and taking a steep left… When you continue, something that possibly fills your eyes could be houses on the left and brick baking factories on the right… Further west, the hills get thicker and less distant… So it means you are almost near Mankarai… the forest department check post… You’ll hear settlements telling you scary stories about elephants ravaging their farms… So this could incorporate some kind of fear inside you; nevertheless there are many trekking this place every year… wash your fears and get ready to bathe in the beauty of Anaikatti …
Yeah…The best place to trek and hike through the year with best support from the forest guides… Well one vital thing you need to be cautious about is the elephants… Just those… They won’t harm you where they don’t possess a natural instinct to trouble humans… So once you reach mankarai, its almost done.. Say a big gud bye to the city cos it ends just there… You’ll feel the warm welcome from the people in the Ashram and tribes at the foothills…Don't forget to visit the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Anaikatti.. Its an Ashram that was first started by Swami Dayananda Saraswti; A lot of children study there because the school masters in teaching vedic cults and almost every best Sanskrit scholar would be one coming out of this school...
If you’re moving further west, then I bet it needs a seriously brave mindset… SACON or Salim Ali center comes next… its in the tip of the inter state border with fine air transforming into howling winds in the monsoons;such a nature friendly area…Remember you can't visit the area easily..Yeah its of course a core reserve... After all, it has the richest forests... You’ll feel like you’re wrapped in the hands of mother nature… Quite apt for bird watching, trekking, wildlife inventions and what not…Well, hopefully clear with all information here, I am done...
I am writing about Attapadi in the next post with a lot neater elaboration that could be even more interesting...
