If you are going to walk one thing at Nelliyampathy, walk this one. Kesavan Para is about four and a half kilometres from the settlement by road — call it eight minutes in a vehicle — and then the path.
The path
It is red earth, wide enough for one person comfortably and two at a squeeze, and it climbs under a closed canopy of wet evergreen forest. The light comes down green. Undergrowth crowds both edges and the trunks are wrapped in moss and creeper, because this is forest that gets rain for half the year. It is a steady climb rather than a scramble, and it is short.
The rock
Then the trees stop. What they stop at is a single sheet of bare granite running away downhill and out into the air — hundreds of metres of it, scoured smooth, with shallow pools standing on it after rain. The ridges open beyond, layer behind layer, and the cloud comes up the slope from below and pours over the lip of the rock. Standing on it in mist is a strange experience: you can hear the valley and see about twenty metres of it.
What to know before going
- Morning. By afternoon the ridge is usually in cloud and there is nothing to see.
- Boots. The rock is slick when wet and there is nothing at the edges of it.
- Long trousers — the scrub at the top is thorny, and the forest holds leeches in and after the rain.
- Take a local guide. The path is not waymarked and the ground around it is estate and forest.
- November to May is the season. The monsoon closes it in practice.
Where it sits
Kesavan Para is one of a set of bald rock shoulders on this side of the range, and Seetharkundu, Palagapandy, Kesavan Para and Karappara are joined to one another by small paths through the forest and over the hills. Those connections are the part of Nelliyampathy that almost nobody sees, because they appear on no signboard and cross ground that belongs to somebody. Ask at the forest office in the settlement before you take any of them.
Frequently asked questions
How far is Kesavan Para from Nelliyampathy?
About four and a half kilometres by road from the settlement, then the footpath.
Is it hard?
No. It is a short steady climb on an earth path under forest canopy. The care needed is at the top, where the rock is slippery when wet and unfenced at the edges.
Do I need a guide?
Take one. The path is not waymarked and the surrounding ground is a mixture of private estate and reserve forest.