A 25-year-old man from Bengaluru, who went trekking to Kumaraparvatha near Kukke Subrahmanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district but had gone missing, was traced on Tuesday morning.
Santhosh had reached the house of Subrahmanya Gram Panchayat member Sowmya, a resident of Devaragadde, while walking towards the base.
According to police, Santhosh had got separated from a team of trekkers from Bengaluru who had arrived at Subrahmanya on September 14 and had gone on an expedition to Kumaraparvatha in the Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. Six teams of police and forest officials on Tuesday had taken up search operation.
After getting separated from the team, he reached Devaragadde by following a water supplying pipeline that supplies water from the forest area to the Kukke Subrahmanya Temple.
Speaking about his arduous experience, Santhosh said, “I was not scared but panicked thinking about my parents and friends. From Narayana Bhat’s house at Girigadde (where they had lunch while alighting from Kumaraparvatha to base), there were many routes, I took the wrong route and ended up wandering without getting the path to reach the base of Subrahmanya. I tried to find the way to reach the base and slept on the rocks for two nights. I did not have any food but had water from waterfalls enroute.”
“While searching for the path, I saw a pipeline. Thinking that the pipeline will take me to a village, I followed it and reached Devaragadde,” he explained.
“Forest personnel, policemen and locals have faced inconvenience after I went missing. They have helped to trace me. I am thankful to them,” he said.
On encountering any wild animals, he said “I had not encountered any wild animals. But came across snakes at a few locations.”
According to the trekkers, they had reached Sheshaparvatha at 11 am on Sunday and reached Narayana Bhat’s house at Girigadde at 3.30 pm.
After the lunch, a group of five trekkers first left for the base camp in Subrahmanya. Later, Santhosh left alone. After Santhosh left, a group of another five trekkers too left for the base.
After reaching the vehicle, the trekkers realised that Sathosh was missing.
The trekkers informed the forest watchers and searched in the forest till 10 pm but in vain. All the trekkers accompanying him had remained in the vehicle waiting for Santhosh whole night. They also searched the entire day on Monday.
Santosh’s friend Darshan, who was part of the team, had filed a complaint to the police on September 16.
Cautioning the trekkers, environmentalist and avid trekker Dinesh Holla said, “Many trekkers get lost following mist during rainy season. Once they are lost in the valley, they get totally confused. One should not trek alone. There are all possibility of getting slipped from the trekking path during rainy season. One need to be cautious while going on trekking.”