Nagalapuram trek is one of the most popular treks in and around Chennai. The place, Nagalapuram is located near Arai village in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. Roughly it will take 3 hours to reach the destination from chennai. Usually this is a 2 day trek, one day of uphill, followed by camping – next morning return.

My trekking journey was one day plan organized by Decathlon Padur,Chennai with a mixed team of trekkers. It was an awesome and exciting trekking experience for every one.

The age group of the team varies from youngsters to senior citizens. We started from Chennai at 5 AM and reached Nagalapuram by 8 in the morning.

The organizers had arranged a very decent breakfast for the trekkers and we could finish it in another half an hour. The lunch was properly packed and we have been asked to carry the lunch packets in our bags. Vanathi was our team lead and she was good at coordinating things over there.

Without wasting our precious time, we started immediately with our backpacks. It was a casual walk for the first 1 km and then we introduced each other before the real trek begins

Here we start!

Everyone was really excited for the Nagalapuram trek, because most of them were visiting the place for the very first time. We had a mixed group with different fitness, however we decided to conquer the mountains.

The beginning was quite easy for everyone, even for the dogs. Uh-oh! I forgot to introduce them to you. Two dogs were accompanying us for the entire trek as body guards and navigators.

We were full energetic till we reach the welcome pool of Nagala. There we spent little time in water, and this was a short break for everyone.

Trekkers started capturing some good photos, managed to have little water, spent some quality time in water with fishes. We continued the trekking in another 15 mins from the welcome pool.

The hectic trekking started from here, with rocks and loose stones in parallel to the stream. It was a nice experience to walk through the forest as a group with all fun.

We reached the first pool within 2 hrs ( we were bit slow for photography ). The moment we reached water pool, people became crazy and started proving their swimming skills in all possible ways.

Few of the trekkers were not pretty confident in swimming and they managed to play around the shore. We spent almost 1 hour of time in the pool, and everyone was happy with that wet clothes. Now it’s time for the base camp trek.

This stretch, we are going for a little tough uphill trek with intermittent streams and loose stones – you have to keep a watch on your step and tread carefully.

The second innings are harder than the first because it involves some steep rock climbing as well. There are some monkeys present at this area and luckily the dogs helped us to make them stay away from us. Kudos! great dogs.

Finally we managed to reach base camp in another 60 mins.We have a steady and safe stream there, in which every one can play in water.We enjoyed in the stream for almost one hour and started unpacking the lunch boxes.

The lunch was filling for everyone for our dogs too!. I appreciate the trekkers who shared the lunch with the dogs for their immense help.

Selfie with my boy, the body guard!

Leader has offered another 1 hour for every one to spent there and that divided the team to different groups. Some preferred water games, some preferred simply sleeping etc. Finally we started from there back to the starting point.

Most of them were tiered a little and running out of water. The running stream was the main source of our water supply for consumption.

We filled the purest water in our bottles!

The return journey was little tiring for everyone and it was little confusing as well to find the right navigation. We were expecting rain while returning, but luckily we completed the trekking without any hurdles in full headcount.

The family photo after wonderful Nagala trek

The tea and snacks were not ready by that time, so the team had to wait for another half an hour for the tea. In the mean time team lead has picked the Best trekker from Men & Women. Congratulations to them!

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At last,  Decathlon surprised everyone by gifting an excellent trekking bag as gift. Thank you so much Decathlon.

Nagala is tempting me again, I will come back soon!

Carry Items

1 liter water bottle.
A good pair of trekking shoes.
Extra plastic covers to wrap things if it rains.
One extra pair of clothes to change after water games.
A medium sized back pack to carry luggage,food,water,camera and torch if required

Precautions

No littering at all.
Don’t carry any beverages, let’s respect other people and culture.
Always be with group, never try to explore anything alone.
If you don’t know swimming, Please stay away from pools which are too deep.