Visiting Nagalapuram – Queen of waterfalls

This past weekend I took part in another trek organized by the awesome folks at Nature Walkers. This one was to the Nagalapuram Waterfalls and was a little bit easier than the last trek I had done with them (Tadiandamol). From the trek summary:

Nagalapuram is one of the beautiful hill station situated in Chittur District, southern part of Andra Pradesh, around 280 km from Bengaluru. Normally known for the various water falls situated in the hill station. We say Nagalapuram is “Queen of Water Falls“, to see why you should come with us to explore

The trek started off on Friday night and was a bit of a crazy start for me as I had to rush home from Whitefield to make it to the pickup point on time. We were a group of 22 folks from different backgrounds and personalities who got together to experience a totally amazing trek. The group was quite diverse with lot of first time trekkers and a few regulars. Unfortunately due to the size of the group and the ridiculous cost of travel permits for large buses we had to break the group into two TT (Tempo Travellers) with 11 passengers in each. That kind of sucked because the group got divided into two and the folks in one TT didn’t get to interact with the people in the other TT as much as I would have wanted. It was an overnight drive to the falls and a few of us (Me, Jani and Shahrukh) were up till late catching up and then talking about jobs and interviews etc. I am sure after a point folks around us were wishing that we would just go to sleep.

We got to the Homestay around 7am and went in to freshen up. The homestay was run by the Andhra govt and more than anything it reminded me of the haunted houses in horror movies because of the look and the surrounding forests. The rooms were fairly basic but since we were planning on staying in tents it didn’t really matter. The rooms were just there so that we had a place to freshen up.

The not so haunted Homestay

We were welcomed by a whole bunch of monkeys and dogs and we offered them tea as a gesture of friendship which was accepted. After tea a few of us decided to go hang out with the monkeys in their native environment and ended up in the branches of a nice and comfortable tree. All this time the remaining normal folks were getting ready and waiting for breakfast.

The Three musketeers monkeys.

Waiting for breakfast.

After a little while the food arrived and we had to climb down since no one was willing to feed us in the tree. 🙁 During breakfast we were fortunate enough to witness the declaration of true love and managed to get a photo of the happy occasion 🙂

True Love!

After food we started off to the base camp to begin the trek in the TT as it was about 30 mins away from where we were staying. On the way we entertained ourselves by dancing (trying to dance in my case) and singing.

Starting the trek

By the time we got to the starting point the sun was up and it was really really hot. In this trek the first half hour is on a plain with no shade so it was like being on a flat plate getting roasted slowly. To pass time and distract ourselves from the heat me, Shahrukh and Anupam started singing and continued to sing till we reached the first stream. I am actually surprised that the others didn’t strangle us after the first 10 mins to get us to shut up. Once we crossed the plains and entered the forest the heat became a lot more bearable. The path was pretty smooth during this part of the trek. After about an hour we reached a stream and all of us took a break. Honestly none of us wanted to continue without a long break to relax and cool down but Manoj convinced us that the first waterfall was just a few mins away and a whole lot better than this small stream so we packed up and started the second stage of the trek.

Recovering from being roasted in the heat

This second portion was a lot more challenging with us entering hillier terrain and narrower trails, but it wasn’t too tough so we made good time to the first falls and reached it fairly quickly. It shows how well organized the Nature Walkers team is and how much they care about safety that they had ensured all the members of the trek had life jackets so that we could enjoy the water without taking undue risks. (This is in addition to banning all alcohol and smoking during the trek) We wasted no time in changing and jumped into the cold waters of the fall. Trust me the water was really cold and it felt amazing after the heat. We all swam around, climbed up the falls and basically had a blast. All too soon we we summoned out of the water so that we could head out to the second waterfall and we did so with a whole lot of grumbling as we were having a ball in the water.

Having a blast in the water

The path to the second fall was even more hilly and the trail was challenging with really steep climbs in parts. There were portions where we had to climb around a rock on the trail by stepping on a ledge that was not more than 2-3 inches wide. Then there was this rock chimney which was interesting to climb.

Unfortunately this is when the trip took a darker turn as we found out that one of the trekkers from another group had gotten injured in the next fall and was being carried back to the head of the trail. On speaking with the members of that group we found out that the guy had jumped in the water and for some reason failed to surface after going under. After 5-6 minutes his body surfaced and that’s when the rest of the group realized that something was wrong and rushed to help him. They did manage to get a lot of water out from his lungs but failed to get all of it out so he was still unconscious and they had to carry him through the hilly terrain back to the start of the trail.

One thing that I felt really proud of while watching and helping them was that *every single person* in the area pitched in to help when they found out about the accident. Not one person refused or ignored them. Its not everyday you see people helping so selflessly. However by the time they had reached where we were it had already been more than an hour. The kid had started bleeding from his nose and his pulse was really thready so we weren’t sure if he would make it or not. After helping them down from a chimney in the trail we continued on to the second pool but it was a much more subdued group that reached the second pool. We broke there for lunch but didn’t get into the water as no one was in the mood.

After a brief rest break the group started off for the third pool but a few of us decided against continuing to the third fall as we were still a bit upset/saddened by the accident. So 6-7 of us stayed back while the remaining folks continued to the last pool which apparently had a really good view along with a place where you could dive into the water safely. The folks who stayed back watched some idiots trying to prove how brave and macho they were by drinking and performing idiotic stunts to impress the girls. Its a miracle someone else didn’t get hurt as well.

The remainder of the group got back with just enough time remaining to allow us to make it out of the forest before dark. By this time we all had recovered our sense of adventure so we had a blast singing, chatting, and getting to know our fellow group members. When we boarded the TT our driver told us that the injured guy was pronounced DOA (Dead on Arrival) by the ambulance and that this was about the 10th death in the past 3 months in that region. It just shows that trekking and alcohol don’t mix. There are calculated risks that are ok to take and then there is being an idiot. At times the line between the two is extremely thin and once drinks are involved, it is non-existent. But there was nothing we could do so we started back

After stopping for Tea on the way we reached the homestay and there was almost a stampede for the bathrooms as everyone wanted to shower and change. By the time we all freshened up dinner was ready and we fell on the food like starving people. Since they gave us the food in buckets along with Pattals instead of plates, we all ate in the traditional style with a few people serving the food and the rest sitting on the floor to eat. Then the order was reversed and the folks serving in the first set sat down for dinner and the rest served food to them.

Having dinner the traditional way

After dinner a majority of the folks decided to crash from the night while a few brave souls stayed up to chat. Initially we had planned to have a bonfire but soon realized that it was too hot for it so just sat out in the open and talked. After a while we wanted to crash but found that the tents were doing a credible impersonation of being an oven. So we came back and slept in the open which was amazing as the moon was full (or near enough) and the the cool breeze made it quite pleasant to be outside.

In the morning we were woken up by monkeys who came over expecting morning tea like the day before and got really upset when they didn’t get any. Like any sensible people we decided that Discretion is the better part of valor and retreated in the face of their anger to the guest house to freshen up. Once all the folks got ready we broke our fast at this small shop where they made fresh dosa’s and puri’s and served them to us piping hot. Post breakfast we all visited Kone Falls and the Temple which was nearby and a few of the folks had a dip in the falls. We had to depart from the location a lot sooner that we wanted to but unfortunately we didn’t have any option as we were anyways way over the checkout time at the homestay.

Group photo taken just before we left

The drive back was again a lot of fun (and more interactive than the drive to the place) as it was daytime and everyone was awake. We played a bunch of games and sang (yes we do seem to sing a lot) quite a bit. All too soon we were back in Bangalore and had to head back home. With heavy hearts we said our goodbyes and went home.

I really enjoyed the trip and like always ended up making a whole new set of friends and am definitely looking forward to the next adventure/trip.
Special thanks to Manoj and Pavan for organizing the trip and managing it so well that all we had to do was focus on having fun.

This is all for now. Will post more later.

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