6 THRILLS INC MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010

TOP OF THE L
ike trekking? An explorer by Kalaripayattu too) says the

World
nature? Get adrenaline
rushes dreaming of
adventure and excitement in the
great outdoors? Fawes Nature
Club (FAWES: F-Fire, A-Air, W-
Water, E-Earth, S-Space) might
just be your cup of tea. Founded
by Dayalakshmi and her husband
Viswanathan, popularly known as
Daya and Ganesh, this club covers
a wide gamut of activities, from
"Such a feeling's weekend outings to nearby
pristine spots right up to summer
coming over me" - camps in the Himalayas. The
director couple are mountaineers
there's no feeling trained at the Nehru Institute of
Mountaineering, the Indian
Institute of Skiing and
quite like romancing Mountaineering and the
Himalayan Mountaineering
the mountains, and a Institute.
Ask Daya how it all began,
local club has been and this versatile woman
(she does
Bharatnatyam
doing it with panache and
every summer, follow-
company came about thanks to
their continuous urge for
exploration. With a modus
operandi of small intimate groups
of friends, they began with
wildlife outings over weekends to
Yelagiri and Yercaud, National
Parks like Venkateswara,
Bandipur, Mudumalai and the
Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger
Reserve.
Their early trips included
ornithology and observational
astronomy camps, not to mention
rock climbing. Today, with
activities spanning everything
from high-altitude trekking to
skiing, Fawes is a haunt of
daredevilry. Daya is quick to
dispel any concerns about safety,
"We do pre-monsoon and post-
monsoon treks in the Himalayas.
All our contacts in the north for
the Himalayan treks are Trained
mountaineers and not just tour
operators, so our camps are very
safe. We have also done
expeditions in the
Himalayas in Uttarakhand and Kanchendzonga National Park,
Himachal Pradesh." With Ganesh followed by high-altitude meadows
specialising in architectural and and utterly rocky terrain. Kuari Pass
advertising photography, many a takes one through oak, birch and
happy, thrilling moment has been coniferous forests. This 4,265m pass
captured in the process. offers a vision sweeping a fantastic
With the couple having trekked arc from the gorges of Trishul in the
widely in the Himalayas, Fawes east to the peaks of Kedarnath in the
offers a chance for small groups to west. Since Lord Curzon's 1905
join them for summer camps, with expedition, the route mapped in
numbers hovering around a dozen this trek is known as Curzon's
per batch. One option this May is the
fortnight-long Goecha-la trek, with
trail.
There’s more we could
the following itinerary: Darjeeling - say, but wouldn’t you
Yuksom - Siachen - Phedang - rather find out on
Dzongri - Thansing - Lamune - your own?
Goecha-la - Koktsurung - Tshoka -
Yuksom - New Jalpaiguri, costing
around Rs15,000. And while it isn't
quite certain yet, there might be an
ascent to Nanda Devi planned too.
Each of their treks this year
has its own charms. Goecha-la,
at 4,940m, is in the Sikkim
Himalayas and gives a view
of the K2 peak, the only
8,000m peak in India. The
trek features a dense
forest cover in the

ing the mystical lure.

Direction SIDDHARTH SAREEN

Thrills DAYA AND GANESH
Location THE HIMALAYAS

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THE WILDERNESS
rr

Shankari Direction PETER VAN GEIT Steep mountains, deep valleys, lush green forests and a
Script RADHIKA RAMASWAMY panoramic view... The founder of the Chennai Trekking
Location VENKATESWARA WILDLIFE RESERVE Club shares with us one of his most unforgettable
Stills NAVEEN SHUNMUGANATHAN
expeditions...

L
ast year, in December, we went on a trek to the
Venkateswara Wildlife Reserve Forest located in
Tirumala Hills in Andhra Pradesh. We called it
Mission Dead For Sure, owing to the sheer nature of
the trip. It was a ten-day-long trip through dense
forests, parched woods, river beds and narrow gorges atop
3
• Suction Capacity - 1110 m /h mountains. We were a group of around 20 trekkers, of which
only six of us stayed throughout the trip while the remaining
quit and joined us a little later. Cut off from the clamour of the
outside world, the forest provided the perfect milieu for us to
Stilt + 4 Floors 580 to 1500 sq.ft. Area: 36.1 acres rejuvenate and explore. We had fun making our own food,
Amenities 12 Lavishly spacious club houses I Badminton court I Tabletennis ELEGANT strolling and camping in the woods. We trekked along the grassy
I Basketball post I Separate gym for ladies and gents I Jogging track mountain tops, descended into the valley through side streams
I Shopping space I Ove r 6 Kms of driveways I Swimm ing pool with attached • Two T p1e Crown Burner and were treated to a breathtaking view of the landscape from
toddlers pool I Children ’ s playarea I Drivers ’ rest rooms I Agreen borderof 5 • Ignition - Auto • Finish - Glass atop the mountains.
to 40 feet around the residential blocks I Processor -controlled longer life ii We started the trek by proceeding through the side streams
solar-powered lighting systems for outdoor lighting I Rainwater harvesting and then reaching a valley where we camped out for the rest of
I RO plants Optional Amenities I Piped gas I DTH I Foamywater the day. We then discovered a large pool with sliding falls and
Offer Price Rs. 28,990//-- caves close to it. We followed the trail and trekked 500 metres
Iru - Of Maes woo

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with two parallel, vertical falls, the Talakona Water Falls. We
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nice campsite with flat rocks along the stream surrounded by
• Cauvery Build Tech: 9840290888 • Metro Kitchen: 9884062612 were stuck several times during the trek. Every time we decided
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where the more you lose your way, the more you want to explore.
Climbing the rocks and roots was tiresome. But whether it was
walking over river boulders, following side streams or getting
for
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Satish Kumar 9884558679 way out of the jungle to the bottom of the valley and reached a lost in the wild, the entire experience was just out of the world.