Nishani motte to Kurudi – The Less-Explored Paradise

I never thought that I would do this trek because my name was not in the BTC shortlist and the reason being a woman. Silly, isn’t it? Since very few girls registered and those few backed out in the last minute, I was forced to drop out. While I was planning to head home over the weekend, Ameer called me on Thursday afternoon and gave a green signal to join the trek as another female had registered. With full excitement, I was waiting for Friday evening. As usual, I had researched about the place in advance, but every blog pointed to a common word - LEECHES!

Nishani motte is a beautiful hillock in Coorg lying in the borders of Karnataka and Kerala. As you might be aware, Coorg is very close to Bangalore, you will reach this Scotland in 3 - 4 hours. After meeting our fellow trekkers in Shanthala, we were killing time to start little late. That was the first time I met the trending photographer in BTC - Saroj Baniya! Of course, who would tell NO if someone captures your beautiful moments and gets good dp and I'm no exception to it😉 The intro session to the group of 10 was not required as we started to mingle in no time. While our organiser briefed the group through the plan, a sub-group realised that they didn't get their food packets as described in the mail and they bought all the Maggi from a nearby shop. While few planned to not to sleep throughout the night, we started our mission to the leech paradise by 11pm. 

Reached Bhagmandala by 6 AM and it was freaking cold when I stepped outside. The place was covered with mist and the long fought Kaveri was flowing in front of us. There was also a beautiful temple structured differently next to the Triveni Sangama, the small pond filled with the pure Kaveri where the devotees take a dip here before entering the temple. Few from the group also dived into the cold water. Once all were set for the expedition, we headed to a small restaurant near the temple for a quick breakfast and packed our lunch. Dosa was too yummy that we kept ordering for more.

Once our forest guard was here, we packed our food items. The TT rode in the muddy routes and dropped us in the middle of a village. Our trekking expedition started by 9.30 which wasn't a bad start, but the forest guard told that we were running late by an hour as we had to cover longer distance by 6 PM. Since we had an amazing group of enthusiastic people, the trek wasn't tiring at any point. Our first pitstop was the anti-poaching camp, beyond which we will not see any village. Basically it means that we were entering the forest zone which is prone to encounter any animal. On reaching APC only, we realized the probability of leeches that are going to attack us in the two days. As Prasanna was wearing his sandals, he was the first one to get attacked quickly, however we were no exceptions. The forest guard quickly gave a leech remedy by mixing tobacco and some random oil. Hoping that this would reduce the probability, we applied the smelly oil to our legs. Bidding goodbye to APC, we started our expedition to Nishani motte.

The path wasn't steep, but the backpacks came as a burden as we had to carry our tents and sleeping bags. Although I didn't hold the tents, thanks to the guys who carried it all the way throughout the trek. The route to Nishani was the same as any green mountain in Karnataka with tall grasses spread across the top, but this one had few dense forests in the middle which we didn't enter.

It was just 11am and hunger panic began as I didn't have proper breakfast in the name of diet. Suresh helped me to survive with multiple chocolates coming out of his bag everytime I complained. We were in the top of the mountain in no time with Karnataka on one side and Kerala on the other. While Karnataka had grassy mountains, Kerala was filled with dense forests.

After a quick lollipop break (thank you Prasanna!) We left our bags and headed to the tall Nishani motte. Even though the hill seemed to look a little far away, we reached the peak in no time.

As the sun was scorching bright on our faces, Ameer gave a fake hope that we would enter the forest in 30 minutes and then have our lunch. Half hour came to 1.5 hours and we stepped into the dense Kurudi forest at 2 PM. The path was no joke as we were descending continuously and a slip can lead you into the dense forest. We heard a sound of a small valley as we entered the greens and it became a pit stop to enjoy our lunch. And the mobiles started to vibrate – ‘Welcome to Kerala!’

Hunger and tiredness made us to quickly grab a seat either on the broken tree branch or on some giant stone and the packed biriyani tasted the best in the entire world. I have never asked for more food, but this time, I just hoped if we had some extra rice. We rested for some time as it was entertaining to hear the BOSCHians discuss about the popular things (not to be disclosed! :P ) in their company. Then the forest guards pushed us to vacate the place as we had to reach our homestay before dusk, else we might encounter unexpected creatures. Lunch gave us an unlimited amount of energy and we walked in full enthusiasm inside the deep jungle.

As we were the first batch of people to explore the Kurudi forest after this year’s monsoon, there was no trail and we walked across the trees and broken branches and wild animal’s huge lumps of dung. The forest guard at the front cleared the trail at certain areas which made us to escape the scratches from thorny plants. At times we had to cling to the branches as the path was slippery. The adventure didn’t end there. The trail was filled with bloody creatures, popularly called as LEECHES! Yes, you heard it right! I don’t remember how many leeches climbed on me, but they have definitely left marks on my body and memories for a lifetime to share with everyone, because they weren’t normal leeches.

We kept moving at a faster pace as the leeches might attack you in an exponential rate if you stop even for a second. If you stop somewhere to remove the leeches which succeeded to climb on you, then you will encounter 5 more new leeches on removing one. What would you prefer – let the one leech to suck your blood completely or attract 5 new leeches and keep repeating it? I stuck to the former option, but people in the group also clung to the latter option. At the end of the day, it depends on your fate. If you had to get leech bites, you will end up getting them, irrespective of the option that you choose. There were occasions where you might get those leeches sticking to your fingers when you remove them and you need special forces to let them go away. It is the worst feeling in the world to stay calm when you know that there are dozens of creatures in your body crawling for food and you still keep walking. I was happy and proud at the end of the day that I conquered my fear of leeches and made my mind to stand strong in front of elephants too (of course I am kidding!).

We halted near two streams which mostly ended up being our leech clearing areas. We climbed up and down and moved across flat surfaces without knowing what was happening outside this dense forest. Disconnected from our phones, we lived every moment to ourselves, removing the leeches now and then. It was getting darker and the beautiful homestay is out of our sight. We were walking swiftly, yet consciously, as the path was slippery. I realized this only after falling twice on the wet ground. We were in a dilemma if we need to take our torches out, as Ameer started giving fake hopes again that we were closer to the homestay. At last, around 6PM, we saw a beautiful haunted house in front of us.

Covered by trees around, the 2BHK house stood strong in front of a valley. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the 2BHK had only two multi-purpose rooms, which could be considered as bedroom or hall or kitchen at the same time. We didn’t bother about any of these after finishing our trek, as the creepy creatures were sucking almost all the blood out of our body. The fun started as we removed our socks and shoes, just to find a family of leeches sucking blood in groups everywhere. At the first sight, my legs looked yuck with black ugly things everywhere. A big thanks to Naveen and Ameer, who removed the leeches patiently out of my legs. The salt did its magic and the worms rolled out of my legs, but they left strong marks that blood kept flowing uncontrollably. As we knew that it would take some time for the blood to clot and considering the multiple bites in my legs, I knew I had to be mentally prepared to let the blood flow out of my body.

While the rest of the group survived with fewer marks, I became the proud winner to get the maximum leech bites. The innocent Hari stood second, who also let leeches to suck his blood. We were thoroughly checked for any leeches in our body before entering the house, as we didn’t want them to suck the blood during our sleep. Even after everyone got their approval to get inside the house, my blood kept pouring continuously. Thank you Saroj for being my doctor at the right time, as he used small bits of tissues to stop the flow. The tissues worked like a magic, reducing the flow immediately, yet certain spots remained uncontrollable. Saroj constantly checked my legs and changed the tissues and saved my blood :D. Lucky him, he survived without any leech marks, apart from one mark at his head, which climbed unexpectedly after we entered the house.

It was dinner time and our cooks (Bala, Prasanna and Ameer) burnt the stove to make hot water for us (of course a difficult item :P ) We finished our cup noodles and conversations followed in the dark night. There were lizards and rats moving around, yet we weren’t scared to sleep, because we were so tired after the 18KM trek. None of us wished to step outside this house, as we were in the middle of a forest where elephants and other animals could come and greet us anytime. We wrapped ourselves inside the sleeping bag and went to sound sleep, hoping the doors will not be knocked in the middle of the night ;)

It was a bright morning when I woke up at 6AM to sounds of people who didn’t sleep due to few people’s sound sleep :D Being a morning person, I ran outside to enjoy the beauty of the nature. It was freezing, yet it was beautiful. There was no one, just me and the nature. The birds were singing enjoying this morning and yet, the leeches were also having fun trying to attack our legs. Mornings are incomplete without a hot chai and we were fortunate to enjoy them too in the middle of the forest. Haseena and Naveen took the extra effort to prepare amazing tea and the rest of us filled our stomach with bread & jam to fill our stomach in the name of breakfast. We packed our things and bade goodbye to the haunted house and the ghosts, if there were any, and started our expedition. The path became even more dangerous as we were walking across the edge and it was too slippery after the morning fog.

With everyone’s help, I managed to cross the steep descend without breaking my legs, special mention to Bala! Amidst all these, I admired Haseena as she kept walking confidently without anyone’s help in front of me. In no time, we reached another unoccupied camp and quickly moved forward. Then the path became normal and we started to hear some sounds of the flowing water. Hoooo… We removed our shoes and threw the bags and jumped into the pure water. The water was so clean that we were able to see through it, like a glass, with fishes moving around and attacking our legs. We had the best time of the trek, splashing water and playing like little kids and got free massages sitting on the fast-flowing water.

Bidding goodbye to the waters, we hurried to get out of the jungle, to enter Kerala and eat a good stomach-filling lunch. We were not spared of leeches during our return journey too, yet these were of different kind than the previous day. Also, Bala’s idea of applying the leech repellent to the shoes worked like a magic, in getting lesser bites. It was around 1PM when we reached Kerala’s APC and this marked the end of our expedition and the end to the bloody leeches.

After removing all the leeches, we moved forward to enter the beautiful villages of Kerala. Grabbed fresh lemon juice in a small shop and hopped into a jeep to reach the Kerala-Karnataka border, where our TT was waiting for us. We halted for lunch in a non-veg restaurant and filled ourselves with everything that we wished to eat.

On my return travel to the TT, I got to talk to Saroj about his passion towards photography and realized that it is not an easy profession at the end of the day even if you are passionate about it :D Best part about treks is meeting people and getting inspired from their them and this trek was no exception to it. We settled in our TT and tried to get into a deep sleep, but the van driver was against our wish as he rode the vehicle in zig-zag manner. Despite the multiple warnings, his harsh driving didn’t end but we reached Madikeri safe and sound. It was 8PM and we wandered around the streets of Madikeri aimlessly killing time as we planned to leave late so that we could reach Bangalore around 5AM, considering the driver’s amazing skills. After finishing our dinner followed by the feedback session, we started around 11PM and an enthusiastic weekend came to an end as we bade goodbye to each other on Monday morning, with the hope that we will meet again.

A special mention to the man who led the team single-handed, thank you Ameer for introducing us to this amazing paradise and bringing us back safe and secured. The long trek wouldn’t have been possible without the energetic group, as everyone contributed to its success. The trek ended and the blog might end here, but the leech marks are going to remind us about this place forever. Nishani motte to Kurudi – A journey less taken and not only a paradise for leeches, but heaven for all the trek enthusiasts. If you were one, don’t miss this place!

Total Expense including travel, stay, tent & sleeping bag (rent) - Rs.3000/-

People in the group : Ameer, Bala. Prasanna, Hari, Saroj, Naveen * 2, Haseena, Suresh and me :D