Morning at Khajaguda - Hyderabad - Part 1

Khajaguda, one stop for all the adventure activities, is a village in Serlingampally mandal of Hyderabad near to HITECH city of Hyderabd but still unfamiliar for many working in HITEC city. 

This place is a mystery to me also until one day when I came across the group Great Hyderabad Adventure Club popularly known as GHAC club. This club caters to activities like  Trekking, Hiking, Camping, Rock Climbing, Mountaineering, Outdoors, Nature and Adventure sport activities like Bouldering, Rock climbing and Rappelling to name a few every weekend in Hyderabad and that too at minimal prices. Khajaguda and Shamirpet are the 2 popular places where this club organizes these activities. 

It was on 21^st Nov that I get associated with this club and enjoyed my first hike in Hyderabad. After that, I am going out every weekend with this group. Last week, we went to Dandeli, wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka. 

It was at around 5:45 am when we all meet at West Durgam Cheruvu Bus stop which is 1 km from Khajaguda. We were all set to start at 6. After a brief introduction and filling disclaimer form, trainer asked everyone to do some basic exercise for warmup. 

After warm up, we started with full of excitement. The moment we ascend some height, I was mesmerized by the view this place offers. I never imagined such place untouched in the midst of corporate jungle. This place has lot of boulders, stones balancing each other by law of nature, ample space and beautiful views. We felt little cold also at this place as it is not very commercialized.

Task 1 – Basic Climbing and Trekking

Trainer demonstrates us how to climb the L-shaped stone. Task looks easy but once we tried, none of us was able to complete. He asked us to proceed and soothe us by saying that you will learn all this things with time and patience. 

 

Climbing

Task 2 - Climbing

After hiking some height, there was 1 place where he showed us how to climb and asked us to climb that too. Trainer and organizer were very encouraging and supported everyone.

After reaching at the top, we clicked some of the pictures from the top and yes it was also the time for Group picture. This task was easy but 1 lady injured her knee while coming down. Fortunately, there is always 1 doctor in GHAC meets.

Group picture

Caving

We enjoyed sitting there interacting about the likes and hobbies of each other. Some of us including me thought action is over for the day however; all this was to set the pace of the day for some more difficult activities. Till now, we only saw trailer.

Task 3 - Scrambling

After a brief rest which was actually not required, we started again. After trekking some distance, we started scrambling. It was bit difficult as most of us even don’t have proper shoes also. However, we managed.

Task 4 - Caving

Next part of journey includes caving as well as chimneying to reach the top. Caving was easy for thin guys as we have to roll ourselves between 2 stones but still many people have small injuries. Some are hitting their knees, some their head.

Task 5 - Chimneying

Next is chimneying.

Term derived from the term chimney which is the passage through which smoke escapes. In chimneying, we climb the vertical parallel rock cleft using our head, back and feet to apply opposite pressure on the vertical walls.

Please continue here for part 2. 

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