Tada Hills & Waterfalls - Trekking in Chennai (Nellore - Andhra Pradesh) | My Travelogue - Indian Travel Blogger, Heritage enthusiast & UNESCO hunter!

My good old readers might have seen this good old post in this blog on Tada! Its been in my wish list for a super long time and just recently it got off it and how???!!!!!!!!!!

When I saw Tada in the CTC mail, I instantly applied and somehow got selected. It was called an Easy+ and it was a one night, one day trek. 23 of us left to Tada in 4 cars (no, u need not get confused! 1 was a SUV!!!) We left at about 10:30 and reached the base hills at about 12 midnight. With some sleeping bags, blankets and shared tarps, the night was well spent beneath the moon.

We started with the trek at about 6:30 am. In about half an hour of plain trek, we reached the 1st water source, a stream. Further uphill trek and at about 10:30 we halted for breakfast. I should say, bread never tasted that good and I've never seen such a competition for bread!!!! Well, it was a couple hours of uphill trek that did that magic.

There was a wall constructed most probably by the British (or Dutch, coz Pulicat close to here belonged to Dutch). This may have been their watch tower. A similar wall was also there in Parappalaru. It does amaze me that the people who came to colonize us, managed to find all these places and also managed to build some walls there!!!!

After breakfast, we went on further and by noon we were at the waterfalls. Water wasn't falling much but the depth was about 10 ft and it was super chill. The beginner swimmer in me, had to get in only with my swim tube! But, soon my both my calves got cramped with the sudden temparature change. I got out and my friends helped me to ease out those cramps.

Usually that's the point till which most people venture. However with some experienced trekkers in the group who knew the track very well, we ventured further more and that was indeed the awesome part. The trek got 'not-so-easy' from this point when the climbs at some places were just vertical upwards or downwards!!!

At some places I had to throw my bag down and then climb down, so was the terrain. At some places there were several varieties of wild ferns that the terrain looked right out of a tropical rain forest!!!

At some places we had to walk through water and streams and finally we did reach the top. The lunch of our packed, cold Chapattis did taste heavenly after all this!!! The water which had gotten almost over in the uphill task was replaced with fresh water from the streams atop, which also tasted fantastic.

After spending almost an hour there, we started back down and downhill was in a different route and that was splendid than ever. At 2 different places we did a bit of rapelling with getting down using a rope. By the time all of us were done with the 2nd rapelling, it was dark! So the last 45 mins of the trek (15 mins downhill and the rest on plains) was in the dark with our torches!!! Now, that's something I haven't done before at all!!!

In a nutshell, we trekked, we did a bit of mountaineering, a bit of rapelling and a dash of night trekking too!!! That's more than awesome. Loved every bit of it... In the earlier post on my blog, the guys ventured on their own and did not take up this route. To reach the falls there are quite a few trails, with 1-2 easier than this.

Well, I left to Tada with 23 strangers and came back with 23 friends and some of them pretty much became close friends! Now looking forward for a moderate trek with CTC and yeah, someone please take me to Himalayas soon (not Everest, some Shiverest would do!!! But I've gotta do a Himalayan trek atleast once!!!).

Suddenly as I'm writing this post, just thought of how many 'hill' treks (both rocky terrains and forests) have I done earlier before my first trek with CTC - Pon Uthiyur, Killiyur Falls in Yercaud, Settavarai, Gingee Fort (my first), Savandurga, Narttamalai, Pavagadh, and Parappalaru (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

So far, Parappalaru was my most favourite. Now..... Parappalaru or Tada???? Well.......... I should give it to Tada, with Parappalaru close behind it.

Wait n watch. More pics coming up soon.....

TO GET THERE:

From Koyambedu, Chennai: 70 km (get to Puzhal and get going).

Dedicated to Emperors Gang of CTC