Barefoot on the western ghats

On a recent trip to Trivandrum,  wanted to explore some new, not very touristy place.
so, thought of going to Ponmudi,

A glimpse of Ponmudi, under a heavy cloud cover

which was recommended as a good spot to trek from.
due to heavey overnight rain and a landslide, the Trivandrum central station was closed and all trains were delayed.

so, by the time we were ready to leave the hotel, it was already past 1.45 PM.

so, we thought of visiting the meenmutty falls, which has an organized trek with a guide, arranged by the forest department.

but, that was closed for some reason and we chose to take up another small trek - that we had not heard of earlier, but proved to be a good choice.

the trek was through a thickly wooded path - we also crossed a small adivasi dwelling - and the climb in places was quite steep.

with the rains, sections were also wet

That, of course, meant leeches!

though there was a semblance of a path, most of the was was more like this:

and then we got the first close look at the river [kallar]

even as we said wow!, the guide said that this is only a teaser and that we should be going further.

we saw some uniquely shaped mushrooms - that looked like diyas -

the guide wanted us to take off our footwear, to get a better grip [some of the rocks were mossy] and we crossed the river twice.

first to get to the other side where it was easier to walk along and then back to continue to walk towards the first of the two cascades.

it was getting dark - at least inside the forest and we wanted to get back.
but our guide insisted that we go further to get even better views and only after we got near the waterfall and took some pictures, was  he satisfied.

Overall, i would recommend this spot - and i suppose there are may more such spots along the way to Ponmudi, that you would enjoy if you are interested in getting a closer feel for the rich natural environment.