Lost on her trek to Tadiandamol Peak, Karnataka’s third-highest at 1,748 m, 36-year-old Sharanya, a software professional from Kerala’s Kochi, first tried to reach the forest helpline and a friend, but there was no network.
She walked till 6.45 pm and then found a stream where she decided to rest, she said. Apart from elephants, there are also leopards in that area, a forest official said. Settling down near a water body at night was dangerous, the official explained, since wild animals come there at least once to drink.
Though anyone else in such a harrowing situation would have found their hope fast depleting, Sharanya said she was confident she would return.
In the meantime, a massive search operation was already underway to rescue her, about which she was unaware.
Last Thursday, Sharanya travelled to Kodagu from Kochi for the trek and on Sunday was recovered after three days of the hunt. “I knew there were elephants in the forest, but I was not afraid. I was confident I would return, and I never panicked,” she told reporters in Kerala.
She checked into a homestay in Yavakapadi village near Napoklu and after completing formalities at the forest department checkpoint, began her trek to the peak, under the Madikeri Forest Division. She was asked by forest department officers to join a group of trekkers due to active wild elephant movement in the area.
Sharanya said, “While climbing down, I lost my way and tried to reach the forest helpline and a friend, but there was no network. I walked till 6.45 pm and then found a stream where I decided to rest.”
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“I was climbing a slope, and I saw a house and stayed there. On Sunday, I saw someone and called them loudly and they did the same,” she said. It was when her luck would turn. Those she thought were trekkers turned out to be locals who were part of the search operations, she said.
Sharanya, a resident of Nadapuram in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, had not informed her parents, Gopi and Shailaja, about the trek and they spent sleepless nights after learning that their daughter had gone missing. “I usually tell my parents only after I reach. There are not many places to trek near my place. I usually video call them before or after I reach the peak,” Sharanya said.
As relief swept her parents after she reached, Sharanya laughed and made it clear that “I will trek again”.
After she was reported missing, nearly 70 personnel, including the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF), the police, forest department personnel, and local volunteers, launched a coordinated search effort. Travelling about 50-60 km, they also deployed thermal-imaging drones, mobile phone tracking, sniffer dogs and analysed her call data record. She was found by the rescuers in a remote patch of the forest “where nobody usually goes”.
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Abhishek V, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Madikeri Division, told The Indian Express the search team slept barely 4-5 hours a day until Sharanya was found. “When we got the information about the missing person on April 2, we searched for her for nearly 15 hours straight. Every hour was important as chances of survival grew thinner. The teams walked at least 15 km a day and slept at the nearest watch camp for a while,” he said.
Abhishek said night vision thermal drones, which can easily detect movements, were flown until 3 am. Earlier, missing persons had been tracked down in 2-3 hours, but “this was the first time such a massive operation was carried out”.
“We still don’t know how Sharanya lost her way, but we are relieved she has been rescued,” he said. Another forest officer said she was lucky to have survived. “Everyone feared elephant attacks, but there are leopards, which have a highly developed sense of smell, in this forest. We are happy she survived,” the officer said.
(With inputs from Neysa Mary. Mary is an intern with The Indian Express)
