February 20, 2007

For reckless trekkers

Today's TOI carried a news item - "Trekkers' bodies found". The bodies of three trekkers were found nine months after they ventured into the Manibitthi forest near Sakleshpur and went missing since May 28th. Sad to hear that. Sakleshpur offers a wonderful trekking range. The experience can be a good one ONLY for the less reckless folks. Venturing into dense forest and hoping to get back in one piece is recklessness. Not adventure.

Reminds me of something similar that happened in Kumaraparvata. An IISC guy who went for a trek decided to find a 'new path' in the forest. This was during the monsoon season when the rich-flora-growth makes it tough to recognize even the normal route. As anyone would expect, he went missing. The forest dept had to carry out a search and rescue operation to find him. Luckily he was found after nine days... alive! I have no clue how he survived OR how he satisfied his hunger in the leach and reptile (including king cobra) ridden forest. I guess he got the experience of his life... at the cost of others' trekking pleasure - After this incident, the Karnataka forest dept. banned trekking during monsoon in the Kumaraparvata range! Thanks to the foolhardiness of the IISC guy. Hope the forest dept. won't take similar measures in Sakleshpur.

Sometime back I watched this programme in NatGeo channel. It was about a Chinese team that ventured into the Amazon forest in search of a particular tarantula. They went missing for a few years... but returned in one piece. Wonder how they survived? On Tarantula flesh. It is rich in protein!


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