Ombattu Gudde - Lucky to be Alive

That was Friday evening and a quick mail from Nachu my previous OG-3 trekker, How about a trek to Ombattu Gudde this weekend?? few calls exchanged, tickets booked and soon all set to conquer Ombattu again ....................Ravi (me) Nachu, Gautam and Vishnu all met each other at Majestic and started in a bus to Dharmasthala, which would drop us at the Addahole bridge, our starting point of the trek. Since it was the start of "Mungaru Male" the monsoon rains we readied our rain gear.Goutam had got his GPS and Nachu got CTC's OG-1 trail. Will there be leaches? How are we going to make to Ombattu? Do we have enough food? How many treks have you done before this? Questions flew and all of them answered................. Guys soon dozed in to sleep keeping in mind the trek ahead.

Day 1 - a test to my survival skills

Woke up at 5AM at the fresh cool breeze of Addahole, the stream that will guide us to our destiny the Ombattu Gudde. Addahole Bridge, five minute drive from the Gundiya check post, is ourl starting point. A right after the bridge will take us through the village and to the trail to Ombattu. The lush green pristine forests, and the crystal clear water is too much a temptation for a trekker. Nachu the organiser soon threw the food away at us, we packed them and soon our backpacks were ready. After a small nap we started our "Journey of our lives" realizing little of what we will undergo in the next two days. Rain gods welcomed us in the forest and soon we picked pace along the addahole stream. Leeeeeech was the scream and being a leechophilic, was excited to catch leeches on me. 1,2,3,4.... I soon made a Quick Fire 64 by the time we reached the river crossing, our breakfast point. Ravi, Nachu, Goutam and Vishnu are busy plucking the blood suckers, and Nachu is the winner, he almost made an ANACONDA Leech. Vishnu and Goutam caught leeches at the least expected places (the hip) regularly. After De-parasiting our bodies we had a nice Upma with coconut chutney. The misty hills and the lively streams raked our trekking passions. After we resumed our journey to the mystic hills, the intensity of the rains and the density of leeches got higher and higher. Soon stopped counting the leeches, since my patience and counting skills were put to severe irreparable test. Following the GPS further deep in to the jungles, the torrent rains and leech infected forest made the paths almost untraceable, and crippled the pace of our trek. We had to halt every 10 minutes to pluck the leeches of our legs, hands body and all over. To our astonishment we hit a block and there was no further trail. The Rain GODS showed no mercy, all 4 of us bore the brunt. We stood motionless and got drenched in the rains on the stream boulder for about an hour, like the Wilder beasts, Wild buffaloes, the zebras do it on the Animal Planet. May be we are beginning to understand the TRUE sense of life in jungles.

It was noon time when the rains subsided, we kept moving, after little struggle traced the trail along the stream and proceeded further. The jungle got denser and denser and the thanks to the rain and the clouds, sighting Ombattu were a distant dream. So we kept on following the trail that the GPS showed us, the "We Could Never Get Lost" path. Soon the trail started vanishing, and our only hope the GPS, was guiding us along the path full of thorns, steep mountains offering us the Ultimate trek. Out there in jungle everything wants to suck blood, the leeches headed the chart, followed by the thorny plants, and the razor sharp stones. Goutam was finding it tough to get directions from the GPS; it would show us all the paths except pointing along the right direction in the MAP. A small experiment by each one of us on the GPS concluded that None of us knew to use the GPS properly <> The GPS is malfunctioning in the deep jungles.

Idea 1> Vishnu the experienced trekker of the Ombattu Gudde came to the rescue. The last time he had the similar kind of experience and he was able to catch the glimpse of the Ombattu on the clear sky day. So as we gained altitude and the forest cleared all of us tried to sight the Gudde with naked eye. To our utter disappointment the skies never cleared and the continuous rains made line of sight curbed to barely 10 meters. So this idea got mopped down. The thought of getting lost in the Western Ghats was getting to our nerves. Signs of despair all around.

Idea 2> Goutam was the first to open up and he suggested that we go back along the same path to the stream and back to Gundiya. Vishnu, Ravi suggested Goutam that such an idea was not feasible, "We never followed a trail, and not finding the right way means as good that we can’t even trace the way back". So this idea too was knocked off. The thoughts got intense and intense, it was almost 4PM and we are losing light fast. We should at any cost find the trail to Ombattu!!

Idea 3> All the blogs mention to blindly follow North-East from Gundiya to hit the Ombattu hills. This is a fool proof idea, if only we had a compass :( The luxury of the Garmin GPS made us not to carry a simple compass and a topographic map .We now have to find out which is Geographic north and geographic South to figure out the North-East. Sun, is one way. The Sun GOD never showed himself all day. We formed shadow from the little light through the clouds, so made brief directions. To our Astonishment in just a few seconds, the shadow reversed directions. Oooooh ghory..... Ravi and Nachu also climbed a big tree 30 feet high to see if the Gudde is visible(Like Bear Grylls did it in MAN Vs WILD on Discovery). Alaaas the mist would never give up. Our hopes of figuring the directions with the help of Sun, fast faded with the fading light in the Jungle.

Idea 4> A quick browse of the GPS showed that it had Compass in it oooooh GOD what a relief. We soon started following North-East in the compass of GPS. After a berserk walk we stop again to see the directions and walk a few yards again. We kept on doing this until we realized that we were in fact going in a circle around the mountain. Nachu had got his knife out and started marking the trees so that we don’t trail the same path again. Damm the GPS, we were once again directionless........................

Will we get lost in this jungle? Will the sky never clear to see Ombattu Gudde? Do we have enough food to sustain, if at all we keep wandering in these Jungles? What happens if we don’t turn out on time in Bangalore? Will our friends and family panic and start a search party in Ombattu? Are we going to die here???

All these Tensions made us forget our Lunch and not to care the Leeches who were sucking life out of us, and the continuous rains which laid a slippery path for us. All we wanted at that moment was "I WANNA GO HOME” Our direction less trail continued and we had to get down steep mountains, we made sure not to drop altitude. We went hill to hill to avoid the deep valley in the middle. Emotions ran high, after every 10 minutes of trek we had lengthy discussions of what’s RIGHT and what’s WRONG. Suggestions, Proofs, Experiences, Emotions, Judgements.............. What not. We are now down to a snail’s pace following the superficial North-East of our own. None of us were confident of making back to a civilization, at least not without a Miracle. Vishnu the experienced trekker was solid enough to guide us all in a direction. We had to camp somewhere before it gets dark...................some place clear from leeches and wild animals. Gudde would have been an ideal place but since we cannot find any grass lands we had to quickly race against clock to find a decent place.

To summarize the situation, Nachu was not talking at all and Goutam had this Question mark on his face, Vishnu's confidence seemingly fading and Ravi's Guts getting shattered by the thought of getting lost in the thick of the jungles. When all the luck was running out "like a insect caught in the SPIDER's web" we struck GOLD, a dry stream running straight down the mountain. This would be our last hope to make it back to civilization. "Have seen BEAR GRYLLS do it umpteen number of times, follow downstream to the civilization” This idea did not go well in the group and we were divided as to stay back on the mountain not to lose altitude or follow the stream. Instincts prevailed and all of us followed the stream, although it doesn’t have a clear North-South written on it, OG-3 by Peter Van taught us one lesson "Follow the stream and you will never get lost". So some hope of light at the end dark tunnel. The stream took us through turns and twists, a few stream crossings for an hour or so. Hurraaaaaaaaaaaaah "Orange coloured arrow pointing up the hill" this was the first trail we hit for about 6 hours approximately. Increased pace from here took us along the stream straight in to the forest floors. With the heavy backpacks weighing on us and light fading we had to find some camping place.


After zigzagging the stream for a good time, we decided to HALT our adventurous and breathtaking trek for that day, and a big flat boulder in the middle of the stream pitched a perfect camping place. After ending the Blood-donation camp,Nachu had a dip in the stream after that Ravi, Nachu, Goutam and Vishnu sat down to have our LINNER ( Lunch cum Dinner ) at about 20:00 after one long tiring and exciting day Soon the tent of capacity 2 is pitched and all four of us jammed in to it. To the tunes of the stream and added Rain, and with thoughts of "‘what’s in store for the II day??? “We slipped in to sleep. OOOOOH GOD this is the most dreadful day in my entire life.

Day 2 - finding a way out

.“Gud Morning Ombattu Gudde “Another morning in the Sabinal jungles. After answering all the calls , having breakfast, wrapping up the backpacks the big question still looms large "Where the HELL are we ?? " GPS the deserter showed that we were some 800ms to the River crossing point of day 1. Do we still have to believe the damn GPS.......................? Started rolling along the stream, and the distance in the GPS to the breakfast point on day 1 was fast approaching zero. After an hour of morning trek we finally reached the Breakfast point of day 1, the happiest moment. "We are going HOME hurrah” Wasting no time we walked briskly to cover the last 7 kms of our MAJILI. Reached the Addahole Bridge by about 11:30 after hot hot tea at the Tattekada and changing to dry clothes, we enquired of the busses to Bangalore. Lucky day II, for all the pains, we caught a Volvo back to Bangalore. After bidding bye byes and recalling the dreadful moments, Ravi Nachu Vishnu and Goutam had nice laughs. One more Important chapter in the trekking book "Ombattu Gudde: Lucky to be Alive " starring Ravi, Nachu, Vishnu, Goutam takes existence. Oooh I loved it...............................

Hope this experience helps Ombattu Gudde trekkers.