Aralvaimozhi - Chekkar Giri, Tamil Nadu

Photo by Neelan: View from Aralvaimozhi Railway Station

I recently organized a family trekking program to Chekkar Giri at Aralvaimozhi in the Western Ghats, which is about 15 Km from Nagercoil (enroute Tirunelveli) in Kanyakumari Dist in Tamil Nadu. Since trek group includes my son (age 7) to my mom (age 55) we decided to start early in the morning, have all the fun in the mountain and return home by 3 P.M.

Trail Mark : It was not as bad as it looks

Well, we started our journey on a Sunday from Nagercoil at 7 A.M by local bus (which is available in plenty and hardly takes an hour to reach Aralvaimozhi). The moment we reached Aralvaimozhi and saw the Chekkar Giri, we all had a second though about our adventure trip except my son who was eager to start the trek right away - skipping his breakfast even. I had a spend a bit of time to convince him that he needs a lot of energy to climb while hiding the real reason of our uncontrollable desire to have steaming idili and sambar at a local hotel. Once our tummies were full, we were ready (by 8 A.M) for an exciting trip. (If you are one of those guys who look for very decent restaurants, try your breakfast at Hotel Chitra International, Hi-Tech Vegetarian Restaurant in Nagercoil and look no beyond)

Trek team on the Chekkar Giri

At the foot of the mountain, we tried to get a local to be our guide, everyone laughed and asked us to follow the trail marks or animal tracks, which will lead to the top of the mountain and when we hesitated, they inspired us by saying there is no other animals in the mountains except cows, goats and dogs. They could have stopped there instead they added that, even the kids around that place used to climb up and down by themselves. What an inspiration!! So we decided to climb by ourselves - without any guide.

After two hour of laborious climbing and hoping from one rock to another once a while, we made it to the top. It was mind blowing view of the Western Ghats. Atop of Chekkar Giri Mountain is a small Murugan temple, locally referred as Uchi Murugan Koil with a mandapam in front and nothing more.

From the top, one could see Muppandal, one of the best & largest windmill sites in India. There is an also a traditional story that Avvaiyar (female poet saint in the 1st century AD) had arranged for a marriage, to which she invited the sovereigns of the Chera, Chola and Pandya kingdoms. The kings erected pandals (mandapams) in the respective places allotted to them and this eventually led to the place being called Muppandal (meaning 'three pandals'). One can also see clearly the Poigai Dam from the top.

Photo by Neelan: Murugan temple

After enjoying for some time the cool breeze and views Western Ghats has to offer, my mom started the lunch preparation. Since we bought the few basic vessels/plates/cups and the necessary rice and vegetables, it was time for every trekker to do their bit of work. Me and my son went looking for dry sticks and leaves for cooking using the outdoor fire pit and my wife and mom started washing and cutting the vegetables. As a result of one hour of hard labor we had our plates filled with kuttanchorru (mixed vegetable rice made from locally avaliable vegetables like brinjal, drumstick, patato, gourd, yam etc.), vathal &  papadum (thin Indian crispy cracker) and narthangai (bitter orange) pickel. Wow, the rice has never tasted so good.

Wind Farm seen from the top

Photo by Neelan: Aral Mountain View

Our lunch was over by 11:50 A.M and after-lunch relaxation for an hour, we started to head down. It hardly took at 45 minutes to reach the foothill and another hour to reach Nagercoil.

View Larger Map

Other Place of Interest near Aralvaimozhi :

Avvaiyar Amman Temple