Lost but unafraid: Kerala trekker unfazed after spending 3 days alone in Kodagu forest
Kerala trekker recounts surviving three days alone in Kodagu’s Tadiandamol hills without fear, enduring rain, isolation, and no mobile network before rescue.
For three days, she was lost, and the only survival resource she had was a 500 ml bottle of water. Her mobile phone, even before it went out of charge, became useless as there was no network coverage in the Tadiandamol hills of Karnataka’s Kodagu district, where, after climbing down from the hill, she could not find anyone.
Lost in the hills, cut off from contact
These were just a few of the odds stacked against her as narrated by the 36-year-old woman from Kerala, who was found on Sunday (April 5) after going missing for three days in the Tadiandamol hills. But G S Sharanya, a native of Nadapuram in Kozhikode district of Kerala, did not get scared, for some reason, even though she is not aware of it.
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She walked out to the rescuers with a smile, recounting how she survived alone in the dense forest with limited resources and fading hope of contact. She was part of a 10-member group that had set out for a trek on Thursday.
A trek that turned into a survival test
She was reported to have reached the Thadiyandamol trekking base around 7 am that day. Later, authorities were alerted after she failed to return, prompting a search operation soon after.
Speaking to reporters, G S Sharanya said that after climbing down from the hill, she found no one, adding that her last hope of contacting others was dashed as there was no mobile connectivity in the area and her phone went out of charge following failed attempts to call one of her colleagues.
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“I walked till around 6.45 pm on the first day after losing the path. After that, I stayed in an open space near a stream as I could not proceed further because of the dense forest,” she said.
In the days that followed, she kept moving in the hope of finding help. Not only did she face the danger of encountering wild elephants, which frequented the area, but there was also intermittent heavy rain, which made her struggle for survival even more difficult.
“I did not feel scared. I don’t know why,” she said with a confident smile.
Rescue after days of uncertainty
She was eventually spotted by a group of locals in a remote patch of the forest “where nobody usually goes”, according to members of the rescue team.
Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre confirmed that the woman had been found and was in good health.
A massive round-the-clock search operation involving nine teams, including forest officials, Anti-Naxal Squad members, and local tribal communities, had been launched soon after she was reported missing.
How it started
Sharanya, who was staying at a private homestay in Kakkabe village, had set out on April 2 for a trek to the Tadiandamol peak along with a guide and a group of trekkers, but went missing later that day.
Officials said she had last contacted the homestay on Thursday, informing them that she had lost her way.
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Search efforts were intensified in the direction of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, with additional personnel and advanced equipment, including thermal drone cameras, deployed to locate her.
State Forest Minister Khandre described her as “brave and adventurous”, noting that the lack of mobile connectivity in the forest had made it difficult to trace her location.
Authorities said she would be safely escorted back home to Kerala.
(With agency inputs)