KODAI-TREKKINGS

Treks from Kodai
I with two other people did two days of trekking. We trekked on two routes staring from Kodai. We had essentially planned the trek according to the information provided on a website. And as we went along, we realised that a lot of info was incomplete/inaccurate. Here are some facts for those who plan to trek. For those who wish see how much we freaked out, go see the album...Facts:The distances mentioned in km on any site seem unreliable. We too don't have exact estimates of distances in km, I would rather mention time needed. (One of us was an experienced trekker. As a whole, we would rate our group as medium paced trekkers.)Trek route 1: Kodai - Dolphin's nose - Vellagavi - Kumbakkarai(from kumbakkarai we came back by road).started at 11:00 amtotal time: four and a half hourstoughness: lowroad type: essentially a descent, winding narrow road, no loose stonescautions: trek ends in a waterfall, enquire before hand about the water level of this waterfalltips: vellagavi village has water supply (good spot to refill water),description:Dolphin's nose is a famous tourist spot. Any taxi can take you here. (Rs 100/-)Dolphin's nose to Vellagavi: 60-70 minutesWe took a lunch break just after Vellagavi. (abt 30 minutes). We had carried food along Vellagavi to Kumbakkarai: 170-180 minutesFrom Kumbakkarai there is a bus to Periyakulam leaving every 2 hours. We took the 4 O'clock bus. 15 minutes by bus, ticket Rs 4.50/-From Periyakulam to Vathalakund connecting bus. 30 minutes. ticket Rs. 7/-Vathalakund to Kodai bus every half an hour. But was too crowded. A tempo took us up to kodai in two and an half hours, charged us Rs 30/- per person.(If you happen to miss the 4 O'clock bus, you may get accordingly delayed to reach Kodai by more than couple of hours. So try to be there at 4 O'clock, come what may).Trek route 2: Kodai - Koyalpatty - Ganesapuram - Palanistarted at 9:00 amtotal time: five to five and a half hourstoughness: mediumroad type: essentially a descent, winding narrow road through thick forest, occasionally loose stones and slippery stones.cautions:elephants and bison may cross,road is not at all obvious, better to take a guide the first timeriver crosses the road many times, in heavy rains the water may risetips: ask for a guide in koyalpatty villagedescription:We took a taxi down to koyalpatty village (abt 7-8 km, 15 minutes, Rs 300/- (rip off))In Koyalpatty, locals were discouraging about a trek. One of the locals agreed to guide us after getting turned down by many. Paid him Rs. 700/- You may try to bargain here. It surely could have gone down to 600/- (They started with 1000/-)Started from here at 10:00From Koyalpatty to Ganeshpuram: 55-65 minutes (we walked with higher speed than what we did for trek on day 1)From Ganeshpuram till the waterfall: multiple confusing paths, about 20 minutes.From the waterfall to the end of the plateau: 250-260 minutes, thick forest, many birds and monkeys can be spotted, we saw many traces of elephants, if you are lucky(?) you might even see them.From where the trek ends, there are buses to palani every few minutes. Takes about 15 minutes, ticket Rs 3/-.