Tango 5: Nature's Calling

I’ve just returned from a week’s trekking with Tango 5, and what a privilege it was, beautiful scenery and fantastic company. Disappointingly my camera ran out of battery on day three so my images are limited until the rest of the group returns at changeover.

Last Saturday I set off with Tango 5 on our day and a half’s drive down to the southern western ghats of Kerala to where the trek begins. The journey down took us from the paddy fields of Karnataka, through the plains of Tamil Nadu into the lush forestry and mountains of Kerala. We were even lucky enough to spot an Elephant whilst passing through Chinnar wildlife sanctuary.

The first challenge we had was a day’s hike up and over Misappuli Mala, India’s second highest peak outside the Himalayas. It was an early start as we set off at 5am in the dark but we were rewarded with a beautiful and enchanting sunrise. 

The scenery was stunning and our guides, Eldhose and Abeet, informed us that we were in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The area has rich and diverse flora and fauna including Shola forests (high altitude evergreen forests, unique to Southern India) and Nilgiri Tahr (Mountain Goats) that are endemic to this area. We were lucky enough to spy a herd running down the mountainside.

Reaching the summit of Misappuli Mala we were enveloped in thick cloud but then suddenly the clouds parted to reveal the awe-inspiring drop to the valley below, to quote Lynne, ‘it was truly mystical’. From here it was a steep incline down off the Mountain but we were rewarded with a delicious cup of chai at Kolukkumalai Tea Estate, the world’s highest tea plantation. Tea enthusiast, Robbie, was in his element!

The next two days were ‘Survival’, as the group were stripped of the luxuries in their backpacks including food rations, mess tins, tents, sleeping bags and aqua tabs. The challenge was to live off the land for 36 hours, boiling any water we wanted to drink, building our shelter for the night and only a bag of vegetables and two live chickens to feed us.

It was a long and cold night in which no one got a lot of sleep but I’ll never forget waking up around the fire the next morning. We’d each individually migrated up there throughout the night when the cold had got too much. So we awoke covered in ash and exhausted but all bonded and humbled by the experience of braving out the night.

The second Survival day was taken up with building our rafts to use the following day, followed by a big feast to celebrate the completion of Survival – food has never tasted so good!

On Thursday it was an early start to raft across the lake and then we set off on a 15km trek. The scenery was really diverse this day as we hiked up through a tea plantation and down into forestry with a few welcome chai shop stops along the way. It was this day that the group discovered Tapioca Bondas (a deep fried Indian snack). Beth, with her love of all things bread like, was a particular fan.

The special moments of this day were walking in silence, single file through the forests on elephant watch. A roof of cardamom plant leaves overhead and the noises of the jungle sounding like a ‘relaxation tape’ in our ears. Our adrenaline was pumping from a mix of excitement and nerves at the possibility of spotting a herd of elephants, but sadly to no avail.

My last day with the group was Friday where after another early start we had a 15km trek. As one of the only members of the group with an alarm clock, Arthur has the job of ‘Morning Motivator’– a hard task at 4am with a bunch of exhausted trekkers. But Arthur’s positivity manages to awaken even the grumpiest members of the group with a smile!

Friday’s main challenge came in the form of the windiest mountain in India*! The group gave each other incredible support, holding hands to get everyone up and over. As we gripped onto each other for dear life fearing being blown over the Mountain edge, Eldhose, our lead guide was running up and down our human chain offering support and steadying where need, sturdy as a mountain goat – what a legend!

There to greet the group at the campsite on Friday afternoon was The Loop delivering Del and the very welcome tuck shop and also Denise, the eleventh member of Tango 5 who’d had an ankle injury that stopped her from deploying with the group initially.

Then all too soon, on Saturday morning I bid farewell to Tango 5. I’ve had an amazing experience with them with some funny, illuminating, educational and at times surreal conversations that went on amongst the group.

I’ve no doubt they’ll go on to have many more fantastic experiences over the next couple of weeks out there in amongst India’s beautiful nature, and to coin Tango 5’s tag line: Nature’s Calling!

* Please note this may not actually be fact!

All text and photos by Polly Carpenter (unless stated otherwise).