KALIMALA KURISUMALA TRIANGULAR CROSS BORDER TREK

Kurisumala or Kurishumala, as they call it and Kaalimala are situated at about 42 kms away from Trivandrum railway station. The places are of religious importance for Christians and Hindus respectively during their seasons. Christian devotees even from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh visit the place during Lent time. Hindu devotees go to a temple there mainly during Durgashtami that is September to October for offering prayers and “ponkaala”. But both places are situated next to each other in the same mountain. It’s advisable to go there during off seasons (religious) so that one can enjoy the mist and fog. The place is situated at an altitude of 3,000 ft from the sea level.

So when we decided to go for a trek back in 2013, we started browsing in internet for places for doing that. The first place that immediately came into our mind was Braimore –Ponmudi. Since it was a weekend, we ignored because we were sure that the route would be populated with co travellers. So we searched for something in eastern part of Trivandrum. Kurishumala was the first place which flashed on the screen. But we were not satisfied with the place. So we continued our search for places in and around that and there came the kalimala. Many people used to go to both places separately, but we decided to cover both in a single trek. Even Google couldn’t show the way, but we decided to go ahead with the plan.

On a Saturday 3 of us decided to conquer the summit. We started from Trivandrum and reached Vellarada through Karamana,Pallichal,Maranelloor,Aryankode. From Vellarada we had breakfast and got food to eat at noon parceled. From Vellarada we asked a local guy for the route to reach base of Kalimala and like he told us an arch was there to receive us at the base of Kalimala. After reaching the base we parked our bikes and started walking up. While walking up we just turned back, the view was just amazing. Chittar dam’s distant view was amazing and a fog filled hill just cooled our mind and soul. 

After walking for about 1 hour, we reached at the premises of a small temple and a temple priest was there to welcome us. The temple is deserted one and only during Durgashtami, it gets crowded. Otherwise only limited devotees go there to offer prayer.He asked about us and offered us water. We had some good time with him and enquired about the surroundings and all. He told us that at night elephants do roam around there and also some wild pigs but don’t disturb him. He lives there alone. After that he showed us the way to reach kurishumala.

From there when we started walking through the path he showed us, it was only greenery, fog and little rain too. The visibility came down to almost zero, we couldn’t even see who was walking ahead .I hadn’t even in my dreams thought of a place like this in Trivandrum. We even thought that we would be lost in between as we were covered by fog and there was no one other than us. But we just kept our nerves tight and walked straight only. After walking for about 30 minutes and when weather became slight clear, we had a small glimpse of a giant cross far from us. We became very happy, we were like mission accomplished. The place is just superb; you will feel like you are in heaven. We took and we slept for some time there. Then it was time to go down. We were not sure about the path to go down. We knew that we were going down through the opposite side from where climbed up. The path was very narrow, just 3-4 feet wide. It was deserted other than us. But during the lent period that is from February to April the path will be illuminated for the devotees to go up to the summit. This mountain is very steep and dangerous. Somehow after walking for about 90 minutes, we came down to the base of kurishumala, not where we parked our bike. We took an auto rickshaw to go back where we kept our bike. From there we continued our wandering to the nearby state..........

For a video go to  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GC73pP7uHU&t=84s

 FACTS:-

Nearest Airport-Trivandrum International Airport (42 km)

Nearest Railway station:-Neyyatinkara(15 km),Trivandrum Central(35 km)

Regular buses are available from Trivandrum central and Neyyatinkara to vellarada

Nearest Bus Station:-Vellarada(07km)

Trek Difficulty-Medium

Carry:-Enough Water and Food. Vellarada is the last place for hotels.

Watch out for-Sudden climate change and steep path