Honnemaradu

Excerpts from the Book – Cultural Diaries 

(4) ABUNDANT BLISS

HONNEMARADU – WESTERN GHATS

The Western ghats lie on the western coast of peninsular India. This range covers an area of 1,60,000 sq kms and boasts of a unique biological diverseness, from the Tapti valley in the southern part of Gujarat to Marunthu vazh malai75 (mountain of medicines) in southern tip of Tamil Nadu. The mountain chain runs from north to south in western India, covering the six states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

One of the richest biodiversity tracts in India, the region is exclusively home to a range of species, with new variants being discovered even to this day. In 2012, the United Nations declared the Western ghats to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it has ‘outstanding examples representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals’………

FIRST VISIT

One day, during a casual conversation with my cousin, he talked about a place where one could experience island camping. Being aware of my love for travelling and exploring different places, he told me it was a nature-oriented outdoor camp. This was way back in the year 2009. Intrigued, I searched on the internet and got the contact details of the organisers. A quick call later, they invited me to meet them at their residence-office at Rajajinagar in Bengaluru. I got a brief idea of their outdoor camping programme during the phone call. It is a team activity of a minimum of eight people. I roped in three other travel friends who would love to explore this offshoot experience. We wanted to take part in the nature camp, but it would be only four of us. I requested alternate solutions. An option was to combine with another group. We were glad to take up the offer and joined a team of 12 members. A weekend in August 2009 was scheduled for the camp……….