Trek Polamaa, March 6, Explore - Discover - Preserve

Wow! What a day it was!

Chennai had never seen such a large gathering of trekking enthusiasts in a single place and time. Rough estimate puts the visitor headcount close to 1000 including members of CTC and interested souls from the general public. Trek Polamaa made it to the 2nd page of the Hindu today -

http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/07/stories/2010030760460200.htm

Chennai online

http://chennaionline.com/video/index.aspx?src=cf&vid=1889&Title='Trek%20Polamaa'

uFX TV coverage

Trek polama : Part 1

Trek polama: Part 2

To all those who visited the event, please share your experiences, photos and videos on our forum -

http://n3.nabble.com/Trek-Polamaa-Explore-Discover-Preserve-f434057.html

To all those who were unable to attend - no worries - educative workshops, awesome CTC presentations, mind-blowing videos and wowing photos will be uploaded and shared in the above link.

Theme video -

Presentations

CTC treks

Social Treks

Save Tada

Future cleanup initiatives

Ladies treks

Seniors Treks

Photography digest

Workshops

Workshops

Maps, Navigation, GPS

Trekking & camping

Mountaineering

First Aid

CPR

Ham Radio

Trek Polamaa was nothing but awesome - the large gathering of CTC members and like minded outdoor "passionates" created an amazing atmosphere - the entrance of the venue was packed with lots of different trekking gears exhibited by various sponsors. Everyone was amazed by the beauty and the photographic quality of 200+ large-sized photos displayed in the exhibition. Awesome effort by Samy, Nara and Gowtham. The entire venue was transformed by the lots of banners displaying the beautiful moments of CTC. I fall short of words to appreciate Hari's beyond-human efforts on the graphics front for this event. The 7 workshops in the afternoon gathered large interest from those eager to know more about the diverse topics presented. A BIG thanks to Doctor Maran, Vimalraj, Aravind, Gowtham and Sujai - full fledged versions of these workshops will be organized in the coming weeks/months for all those interested.

The evening program was nothing but amazing - Balaji & Taranum presented a mind-blowing PPT showing the most beautiful locations discovered by CTC. Thilak & Humsini showcased the precious moments from our social treks highlighted by an on stage gathering of orphan/HIV positive kids with the Honorable Union Minister Mr. Napolean. Ashwini & Pradeep surprised all many visitors by showing CTC's efforts in environmental awareness. Balamurali presented our upcoming plans for a greener and cleaner Chennai (get ready for action soon... !). Paari, Ram and Ramesh entered the stage on their muscular bikes blowing everyone away with an awesome 3D video on past and future CTC bike expeditions. Doctor Padmini proved that not only boys are having fun in CTC followed by Hari's charismatic appearance inviting members of all age groups to sign up for a trek. Finally, Ela showcased the role and evolution of photography in CTC. Everyone was taken by surprise by Mr Napoleon's natural on stage appearance and amazing speech on CTC. YouTube link to follow soon.

A big thanks to all of YOU who contributed to make this unique event possible - 300 individual contributors, 10+ company contributions and 7 stall sponsors. Due to cancellation of the dramatics/entertainment part, dropping the more expensive decoration/transformation of the hall and more economical photo exhibit we cut down significantly on the costs. Selva will publish a summary of the accounts in the coming days and we will carefully consider on the best usage of the remaining funds for either social, environmental or other appropriate causes.

My sincere thanks to Ansar, the untiring driving force behind this whole event. Without his determination and relentless follow up we simply would not have succeeded. BIG thanks to Marie for roping in Christian Fabre and other key sponsors of the event. A big thanks to Selva for professionally managing the event accounts. No words are enough to appreciate Balamurali's selfless efforts in realizing this event. Thanks to Nachappan and Anu for their efforts on the media side. Many, many thanks for the many volunteers behind the scenes - our logistics and event organizing team - Ansar, NJ Balaji, Gowri, Guru, Ranjith and many many others. My sincere thanks for the efforts by the presentation creators - Sumanta for the senior trek presentation, Sneha/Jaishree for the ladies presentation. Pradeep was the man behind several of the beautiful presentations. Big thanks to many of the CTC photographers who sent in their hi res photos for display in the exhibition. It was out of this world. Thanks to all members who helped us out with the many logistics on the venue itself. Finally my sincere thanks to all the other volunteers whose name I have missed out here. Thank u so much for making this event successfull.

Trek Polamaa was yet another unique & true CTC effort by its many volunteers. Keep rocking guys!

Beach cleanup, Turtle walk - Feb 8, 2009

25 people (20 CTC members and some of their friends) meet at the Madras Crocodile Bank, ECR for some educational/awareness program on turtle conservation, wildlife spotting, beach cleaning, GPS mapping and full moon drooling activities.  We were supposed to meet at 2:30 PM but due to traffic and delays, we could finally meet an hour later.

"Save the Olive Ridley Turtle"
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We were welcomed by Soham Mukherji, Asst. Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, and given a short introduction about the MCBT (Madras Crocodile Bank Trust), their role and the research activity they're into.  A video session followed where Shekar Dattatri's 45 minutes film on Olive Ridley was screened: "The Ridley's Last Stand". It was sad to watch and was a real eye opener.

The Olive Ridley population and nesting activity is dwindling by the day mainly because of the following:
1. Fishing Nets: Trawler activities are banned 5 km within the shore and yet they continue to kill animals (turtles) and humans (remember 26/11 ?). There's a special net wherein the turtles can escape leaving only the other marine animals to be trapped. This is provided free of cost but still fishermen don't use it.
2. Lighting around the beach: The young hatchlings are extremely sensitive to light. They're guided to sea by the light from the sea (moon light). Any stray light from beachfront residences, highways, etc. with mislead the young ones which may get eaten by dogs, birds or die as they should get into the sea within 24 hours.
3. Casuarina Plantations: Any other vegetation other than the natural grown ones is fetal. We plant this casuarina right on the shore but this robs the turtles of nesting grounds. Also the young turtles get caught in the plantations and die.
4. Garbages: This is a no brainer. The young ones might eat the plastic or the female can't find suitable nesting place. Please keep our beaches clean and don't litter.
Out of the hundreds of egg laid, less than 10-15% of them actually survive the first week of their life. Turtle nesting is an amazing phenomenon. The female travel hundreds of miles to come to the shore and lay eggs. The hatchlings, if survived, will probably come to the same place where it was born to lay eggs!

Now is the time to correct our mistakes and save the turtles.
Nikhil Whitaker, Curator - Madras Crocodile Bank, give us a presentation on how to use GPS handheld and map sites.

Around the Madras Crocodile Bank
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Post the video session, we took a tour around the park with the MCBT volunteers. The MCBT people were in good humour and were giving commentary about various things and we got to know a lot of stuff about reptiles. Pramod gave us 5 minutes (but we extended to 10 minutes) to visit the IRULA center. We were given a crash course about snakes. We saw 4 poisonous snakes found in Tamil Nadu (Krait, Cobra, Russell's Viper and Saw-scaled Viper) and saw irulas extracting venom. There was this one snake which looks like it's a baby but it was 10 years old and it gives us only 2-3 hours incase of a bite! Myths was dispelled such as snakes doesn't eat egg or milk but small animals. They bite as the last resort to protect itself. They try to escape if threatened. Don't panic in a case of snake bite. Some snake bite just give you 4 hours to receive medical care. Panicking will give you half the time. I've always wanted to pose with a croc in my hand and this wish was fulfilled. Crocs are totally cool creatures and their scales are soft and it will seem as if holding a plastic toy. A small crocodile was our specimen to see it up close and hold it. Some 8-10 brave CTCians achieved this feat of holding it. All is fine until the baby fella wriggles which means we have to switch hands! Crocodile Bank is a must visit place. They have hundreds of crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles which just seem to lie idle all day until it's food or mating time!

Beach cleaning and Casuarina mapping activities
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After a brief talk from Soham about the DOs and DONTs we set off south of the crocodile bank to clear the garbage and plastics.  Soham and a MCBT volunteer were mapping Casurina plantations with a GPS handheld. We mapped the clusters using 'polygon' feature and smaller plantations with 'waypoints'. The waypoints were marked and later would be transferred to PC to facilitate further research. We were totally surprised to find the crap that we wouldn't have imagined to find in a beach. Some samples: Ariel washing power cover, kitchen spatula, a women's footwear, tooth brush, Jet Airways' security tag besides the usual suspects of plastics, water bottles, alcohol bottles, chocolate wrappers and cigarette packet.  We filled up nearly 25-30 bags of garbage. Note that this is a lonely beach with not a soul in sight, we walked just for 3/4th of a kilometer and we didn't scout to interior places. I'm sure we would need 2-3 trucks to pick the garbages of the popular Marina and Elliots beach! After a 775m walk, we decided to shut stop the walk as it was getting dark. We then had refreshments, fooled around in the beach water and took group photos.

The entire 1.5 Km walk was total fun though the "rag picker" job would seem boring and monotonous. We took loads of photos with "sovereigns" (skeletons of animals, shells, and other interesting objects), fighting for space ("This is our area. Only we'll pick rags here. Keep off!"), exchanged reviews about the recently released movies: 'Naan Kadavul' and 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu',  gave a crash course on photography, and made new friends.  The walk was punctuated by beautiful sights on both sides. On our right hand side, the sun was setting. When it got dark, the full moon's light was reflected on the sea. Perhaps the most beautiful, romantic sight!  A sight to behold.  On the way back, we got split into 2 groups (why this happened is a mystery). The others got to see glowing crocodile's eyes in the dark (the thing to watch out for during night safari).
It was a totally rocking afternoon-evening-night! A big thanks to Pramod, MCBT and CTC for this wonderful opportunity.

Written by: Ashwin

Organized by: Pramod

Image Galleries:

Rady
Bhargavi
Jobin

Posted by: Karthick Sundararajan

Beach walk - 8/Feb/2008

On Feb 8, 2009, 25 people (20 CTC members and some of their friends) met at the Madras Crocodile Bank, ECR for an educational/awareness program on turtle conservation, wildlife spotting, beach cleaning, GPS mapping and full moon drooling activities. Though we planned to meet at 2:30 PM, but due to traffic and other delays, we could make it only an hour later.

"At the Croc Bank - Save the Olive Ridley Turtle"

At the Madras Crocodile Bank, Soham Mukherji, the Asst. Curator, welcomed us and gave a short introduction about the MCBT (Madras Crocodile Bank Trust), their role in reptiles conservation and the other research activities that they're into. This followed a video session, where Shekar Dattatri's documentary (45 minutes) on Olive Ridley was screened: The Ridley's Last Stand. It was sad to watch how the ridleys meet their fate because of man’s greed, but it was a real eye opener for us.

We learnt that the Ridleys nesting are an amazing phenomenon. They lay hundreds of eggs, but less than 10-15% of hatchings actually survive the first week of their life. Ridley females travel hundreds of miles from the Indian Ocean and reach the shores of Bay of Bengal to lay their eggs. The female hatchlings, if survived to grow as an adult, will probably return to the same place to sustain her generation.

The Olive Ridley population and nesting activity is dwindling every year. And the reasons for the decline that we learnt from the documentary are:

1. Fishing Nets: Trawler activities within 5 km of the shore continue to kill the ridleys, for they are mistakenly trapped in the fishing nets. Though trawling within the specified areas is legally banned, the law enforcement is problem. Also, technology such as the TED nets or Turtle Escape Device nets are available for fishing, which helps the turtles to escape, if they are caught accidentally in the fishing nets without interfering the fish catch. But the fishermen are reluctant to use it in spite of being provided for free of cost.

2. Lighting around the beach: Ridleys nesting areas are in the high tide zone of the sea shores and the hatchings happen during the night. The hatchlings are extremely sensitive to light and temperature, and hence, before the sun gets into its act, the ridleys should reach the sea to escape death. Normally, the light sensitive hatchlings are guided into to the sea by the moonlight. But the powerful night lights from beachfront residences and highways mislead the hatchlings to the roads, which are later preyed by the predators viz., dogs, birds, and moving vehicles etc.,

3. Casuarinas Plantations: Any vegetation other than the natural flora of the shores hinders the nesting activity of the ridleys. To create a natural cyclone barrier, humans have raised casuarinas plantations along the shores but this robs the turtles of their nesting grounds. Also, the young turtles get caught in the plantations and die before they can reach the sea.

4. Garbage: Ridleys are no brainier. The ridleys mistake the plastic bags for Jelly fish and might devour on them. Also, the females may not find a suitable place for nesting.

We CTC members though could not do much about the first two issues, but made an effort to help the MCBT to address the last two. Yes! At the later part of the day, we cleaned the garbage and plastics from the potential Ridleys nesting area and also mapped the casuarinas plantations with GPS along the coast.

Our thirst for learning did not stop! Following the video session, was the presentation of Nikhil Whitaker, the Curator, on how to use GPS to map the casuarinas location.

Post the video session & GPS presentation, we took a tour around the park with the MCBT volunteers (Ganesh and….). The MCBT people were in good humor and were feeding us with a lot of knowledge about the reptiles. Though Pramod gave us 5 minutes for the jay walk around the park, but we couldn’t resist the visit to the IRULA society, which eventually extended the sightseeing time. In the IRULA society, we were given a crash course about snakes and also had a chance to see the venomous snakes found in Tamil Nadu (Krait, Cobra, Russell's Viper and Saw-scaled Viper). May be it is the first time for most of us to see a snake making noise. Also, many of us would have seen the venom extraction on TVs, but watching them at real is awesome. This kept us wondering about the guts the Irulas have to extract the venom from the snakes! There was a 5 inch snake which we mistook for a baby snake, but later learnt that it was an adult Saw Scaled Viper and we were told that our death bells will ring after 2-3 hours in case of a bite!

Myths about the Cobras were dispelled such as: they don't eat egg or milk but only small animals. They bite as the last resort to protect themselves and try to escape if threatened. We were advised never to get panic in a case of snake bite and try to be CALM as much as possible. It is because panicking increases the blood pressure, which will help the venom to get circulated to all parts of your body. So always keep in mind.... be CALM when a snake bites.. Easier said than done!. Some snake bite need to be attended for medical care within 4 – 8 hrs but panicking will give you half the time. Ha! It was a real educative session!

CTC members caught baby croc with their hands for a photos pose. Crocs are totally cool creatures and their scales are soft and it seems as if holding a plastic toy. A small crocodile was our specimen to see it up close and hold it. Some 8-10 brave CTCians achieved this feat of holding it. All is fine until the baby fella wriggles which means we have to switch hands!

Crocodile Bank is a must visit place. They have hundreds of crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles which just seem to lie idle all day until its food or mating time!

We are done with our theory for now and headed for the practical session.

Beach cleaning and Casuarinas mapping activities

After Soham’s brief lecture about the Dos and Don’ts while cleaning, we set off south of the sea shore behind the crocodile bank to clear the garbage and plastics. A few of the CTC members joined in turns with Soham and Ganesh to map the Casuarinas plantations with a GPS. We mapped the clusters using 'polygon' feature and smaller plantations with 'waypoints'. We were told that the waypoints were marked and later would be transferred to PC to facilitate further research

We were totally surprised to find the scraps that we wouldn't have imagined to find in a beach. We mean that this is a lonely beach without a soul at sight, of course expect for the CTC and MCBT members. Some samples: Ariel washing power cover, kitchen spatula, a women's footwear, tooth brush, Jet Airways' security tag besides the usual suspects of plastics, water bottles, liquor bottles, chocolate wrappers and cigarette packet. May be a lesson for us for a proper disposal of plastics?

We filled up nearly 30 bags of garbage. This is just for 1.5 km stretch; maybe we would need 2-3 trucks to pick the garbage if it is on Marina and Elliot's beach! As it got dark, we stopped the cleaning and took a break to share the refreshments that we got with us, and played in the beach for while before taking the group photo

The entire 1.5 Km walk was total fun, though the job was bit monotonous in picking the rags, but we realized that we were creating a safe nesting ground for the Ridleys there. We took loads of photos with "sovereigns" skeletons of animals, shells, and other interesting objects, fought for cleaning space ("This is our area. Only we'll pick rags here. Keep off!"), exchanged reviews about the recently released movies: 'Naan Kadavul' and 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu', Jobin gave a crash course on photography, and made new friends. The walk was punctuated by beautiful sights on both sides. On our right, the sun was setting and when it got dark, the full moon's light was bathing the sea. Perhaps the most beautiful, romantic sight! A sight to behold!

On the way back, few of the CTCians had a chance to see the glowing crocodile's eyes in the dark, yet some missed it. Those who followed Parmod made it, but the ones who accompanied Soham missed it. It was a totally rocking afternoon-evening-night! A big thanks to Pramod, MCBT and CTC for this wonderful trip.

In nutshell, we carried the legacy of CTC in not polluting the environment to a step further. In every trek, CTC members have always ensured that we don’t strew the plastic bags in the forests. Now, we have gone a step further to clean up the mess on the shores done by our own species (Humans) to save the Ridleys. CTC rocks!!!!

Write up: Ashwin and Vijayanandraj

Organized by: Pramod

Image Galleries:
reddy, bhargavi, jobin

Snake Walk! - Dec 6, 2008

On December 6, 2008, 15 members from CTC went for a Snake Walk! organized by Pramod and his friend Sujaan (a wildlife enthusiast and ex-education officer at Crocodile bank from Bangalore.) This educational trip was to help us understand these reptiles better and protect them (and ourselves) from unnecessary harm.

The Crocodile Bank on the ECR was our rendezvous point. All 16 of us gathered up by 6:00 am and then we got into cars to go a few kilometers ahead to some open fields where two snake experts from IRULA were waiting for us. We soon started off to look for some snakes in the fields, with the experts well ahead of us, of course. :-)

This is the most famous of the Big Four, the four deadliest venomous snakes of India. They are the Spectacled Cobra, the Common Krait, the Russell's Viper and the Saw-Scaled Viper.

Before describing the trip... here are a few things we learnt right at the beginning. I feel that every one of us must keep in mind, these simple notes on snakes.

1. Snakes are venomous and not poisonous Check this link to understand the difference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venomous


2. Snake are reptiles and all reptiles are cold blooded, i.e. they depend on the environmental temperature to regulate their own body temperature, unlike us hot blooded mammals who regulate our own body temperature.


3. In Tamil Nadu, out of the 50 or more species found, only 4 are venomous. To find out which are the venomous ones… Read below.


4. These snakes do not run after people (as shown in movies). They usually prefer to back off if confronted, and attack humans only if they are cornered or feel threatened.
   

Pls go thru the following link for the first aid for snake bite http://www.lfsru.org/firstaid.htm (Do it R.I.G.H.T)

“Oh man,... when are we going to catch some snakes at this time?” Was running thru some of the minds when suddenly... Sujaan came in. Ok... not exactly a snake… but at least a guy who can explain snakes in simple plain English, which is much easier than comprehending the words of the local experts. Sujaan proved to be a lucky charm(er) as very soon we encountered our first snake… a young rat snake.

Sujaan handled the snake and tried to calm it for a while, and after it was de-stressed (yeah... snakes get stressed up too... just like you would if woken up suddenly) explained to us some characteristic features of this snake species (yellowish white belly). After a good acquaintance with our first friend (not sure if the snake enjoyed it), we let it go and headed off to find more new friends.

Next was a buff striped keel back, a lil’ snake who had a small frog in its mouth for the morning breakfast. The bright white stripes running along the length of its black body are a vital feature of this snake.


Barely had we acquainted ourselves with this one, when we heard a holler from the snake catchers about another snake they had found. Some of us ran over and witnessed a green vine snake with a vicious death grip on a lizard/gecko. This snake is mildly venomous. But most of us were awestruck by its beautiful green body. Also called “Pacha Paambu”, Sujaan informed us about a misconception among people that these snakes pierce the eyes of people (probably glorified by parents trying to discipline their children, who then grew up with this theory.) Sujaan proved that this theory is absolutely false.

We were nervously awaiting an encounter with a venomous cobra or viper, and finally the snake catchers found one. This was a small Saw-scaled viper. The viper seemed calm and docile, while the snake catchers held it up and opened its mouth to reveal the teeth.

As if our appetite wasn’t whetted enough, the snake catchers found a huge adult rat snake. Well it was only 6ft, but that was longer than most of us guys. The snake started emitting a foul odour (musk) due to stress and also pee-eed on Petter. Man…. It did put up a stink… (Pew!)


By the time this encounter was over, it was well past so we decided to head back to Mahabalipuram for a scrumptious lunch.

In all we were able to spot 5 snakes and 3 scorpions (1 dead) mainly... The snakes we found are:

1. 2 Rat Snakes
2. Buff Stripped keelback
3. Vine Snake
4. Saw scaled viper (venomous)



Apart from saw scaled viper all the other snakes are non venomous and almost all the participants got a chance to handle them. Few were able to feel the scales of the saw scaled viper also.

Post lunch we went to Croc Bank, where Pramod works as a volunteer. You can be a volunteer by paying an annual fee of Rs. 500/-. Volunteering does not mean just petting and feeding the animals (which we usually like to do). You also have to clean up their poop and their enclosures. So to get started, first take a look at your room, if others think it is clean, then think about volunteering at the Croc Bank.


At the croc bank, we got to see a large variety of crocs and alligators, from many different parts of the world. Slow moving and easy going, only food seems to get them look aggressive and dangerous.

Finally we saw all the four venomous snakes and the extraction of snake venom at the IRULA Society.

Special thanks to Mr Sujaan Bernard to come all the way from Bangalore and to be a part of this Snake walk.

Overall this CTC trip was sssssimply ssssssuperb. Thanks to the organizers for not just this trip, but also for removing our fears and learning more about these amazing reptiles..

Written by: Ravi Shankar

Organized by: Pramod

Participants: Prabhu, Arunkumar.M, Kannan K, Partha, Sajish S Kumar, Prasanna Pandian, Shankar, Ravishankar, Payam Yavari, Petter, Dheeraj, Vinoth, Samyak Kaninde, John Immanual & Pramod.

Photo Galleries:
Dj
Kannan
John Immanual
Arunkumar
Petter Bellander
Samyak

First Aid training on May 24th, 2008

We planned for the first aid training, being trekkers we wanted know about how to defend ourselves and other trekkers from wild animals or when we climb high altitude hills may get tired or for small wounds....or how to transport the patient. Its not only useful for trekking alone, in our daily life also we need to know how to treat the victim before medical help arrives. So 11 trekkers from the club Amal, Arul, Divya, Sheetal, Meenal, Balaji, Huzefa, Vivek, Ram prasad, Krish, Partha attended the training.Few were new to the club. This training was held at Sri sai aravind community hall, R.A.Puram, chennai.we gathered at 10 A.M. on May 24th.

Our training started at 10 A.M ..Here am penning down what they thought us at first aid training. To start with:

What is First aid?

First aid is emergency care given immediately to an injured person. The purpose of first aid is to minimize injury or ill to prevent death or further injury, to relieve pain .

Why do we need to know?

Often times, first aid given at the scene can improve the victim’s chances of survival and a good recovery. The right response is better than an incorrect quick one.

The first few minutes after an injury or medical emergency are the most crucial to determine the rate and duration of recovery. Knowing what to do in the event of an injury or emergency will help you stay calm and take the proper actions and precautions to help the victim have the best chances of a full recovery.

For example, would you know when you need to call a doctor if you or someone you know gets a cut? Answer: Anytime a cut is deep, gaping or you cannot get the edges to stay together, you should call a doctor. Also, if you cannot get out some of the dirt, if the cut is a facial wound or bleeds for more then ten minutes, it needs professional attention.

We never know when someone might get injured and knowing what to do to at least help them feel comfortable until professional help arrives will be so beneficial to the patient. Of course, We often cannot do it alone. It’s important to have supplies on hand just in case of an emergency (and a box of adhesive bandages doesn’t count as a first aid kit!) Having a well stocked first aid kit in your home and vehicle and a smaller kit in your purse or briefcase, backpack will ensure that you’re prepared where ever you are.

Read further here

Written by Sheethal