Trek to Karnala Fort & Bird Sanctuary

Ok, so we went for a trek last Saturday, and I was supposed to write about it on Sunday, but Dexter has been keeping me busy! I cannot believe I'm rooting for the serial killer, as opposed to the honest cop!

Due to the RA and all I've restricted myself to one trek per year, which is all my dear left knee can take before giving way! Anyway, so this year's trek was to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

We went as part of a local adventure group that was initially affiliated with the Company, but later had to distance itself due to a serious incident that nobody is ready to tell me about!

Anyway, I've always had a good experience with them, from climbing like Spiderman at Tikona to flying fox at a waterfall in Mulshi(Yes, I did that!!!!). Some of the best and scariest moments of my life have been with them!

So, as usual, when I went to register the first thing I asked was how difficult this was gonna be. And the POC surveyed me from top to bottom and said, "You'll do it!". I really appreciated her confidence in me, something that I was doubtful about. But who was I to second guess her, she was the expert after all.

Without further ado, a few glimpses from the trek:

 

The climb, this was where I realized I didn't have to climb one step at a time, which is what I was doing at work and everywhere else with steps. Now that I didn't want to be left behind, I had to climb normally, and surprisingly (for me at least), my knee survived!

This was as high as I could get, by then I was too tired to go any further, so we stayed & rested.

In the middle of nowhere!

A Butterfly!

View from the top..

As we were climbing, none of the phones had range, but at the top, all five bars were active!!
So this was where I called Ma and told her I'd gone for a trek, they worry unnecessarily, so I've decided the best thing is to do first and tell later! :P

Some sort of flower/leaf?

Adi trying to bird watch.

Storm clouds gathering.

It was raining heavily as we descended, and it got slippery, but there were no casualties, so all went well.

A day well spent, even though we didn't get to see many birds, it was green and a good change from the monotony of every single day!

NB: This trek happened somewhere in July I think, it was lying in my drafts for a very long time, finally decided to complete it!