An encounter with Bees!

Narration of a bee attack as witnessed by our trek leader, Parin Shah

Date: 1st March 2020.

Last weekend, I'd been to Prabalmachi for camping.  My group mainly consisted of families and kids. We trekked up the plateau by sunset on Saturday and had a delicious local dinner followed by some adventure stories around the campfire.

I was more keen to relax, but a participant who is also friend had expressed keen interest to trek up the pinnacle. I didn't have any plans to scale Kalavantini as I'd already been there several times before it got popular and overcrowded. My last summit was in monsoon of 2015 after which i swore never to climb it on a weekend 😝

The night was pleasant and breezy and thankfully not as hot as I had imagined. For some reason, I was awake at 5.30am in my tent - perhaps it was the call of the mountain and I couldn't escape it. Finally, I decided to shrug off the laziness and agreed to accompany my friend so she could summit the pinnacle. Hence, at sharp 0600hrs, we set out for the climb with a target to join the other folks by breakfast.

It was approximately 7am when we were at the summit of the pinnacle - there were quite a few people already atop and the number only was expected to rise. We experienced a beautiful sunrise and of course the enchanting range of hills from Haji Malang in the North to Matheran in the south. Climbing up and down the last patch with the help of fixed ropes was a nice adventure in itself - just as in rock climbing you trust your footings and the rock - here the entire trust (read: weight) lay on the rope! 😬

Now the turn of events really changed my day!

As we started our descend from the summit, we could hear shouts of another group who were at the traverse between Kalavantini & Prabalgad (adjacent to the V-shaped col). At first we thought they were a bunch of rowdy youngsters just fooling around, but soon realised they were actually being attacked by honey bees!

It was quite a scary situation as there was a possibility of the bees coming towards Kalavantini & given the exposure on the rock steps - it could have been a tricky scenario. We reached the col where a volunteer from the local team of villagers advised us to stay back for a few minutes until they drove away the bees by lighting a small fire to create a smoke.

After receiving a signal to go ahead, we continued towards the hamlet. On the way we met a few members of the group (they were 10 in total including their trek leader) which was attacked by the bees - a little ahead we saw a gentleman who was seriously affected. Barely able to walk, he was supported by the locals. His brother and their teenage children along with their trek leader were closely behind him. They all were in shock and shaken by the incident.

Even as we were descending, we ran into scores of trekkers who were waiting to trek up the pinnacle. Apparently the local team had decided against allowing the crowd to trek up - maybe as a temporary measure after the bee attack. Perhaps some groups moved to Prabal instead.

When we reached Prabalmachi - we got to know it was the same group who had camped next to our group the previous night. I identified them as i had seen them getting ready for the trek in the morning. The gentleman who was badly affected by the stinging bees had fallen down the slope while trying to evade the bees but somehow managed to come back on the narrow trail - only to be attacked in huge numbers - his entire face, neck, head, even ears were full of bee stings and it was a terrible sight. It was a pity what he had to go through! His brother and children were affected too.

A huge crowd of onlookers had gathered now and the tribals were busy treating the wounds, applying ointment and plucking out as many stings as they could with the help of tweezers. The teenagers were in trauma and literally crying. Sensing that they might be dehydrated from the struggle, my friend immediately offered them Electral and asked them to calm down. The other three members of the group had ran in the opposite direction (towards Prabalgad) and their trek leader had gone to check about them.

There was chaos and confusion all around, and in such situations we often don't know what to do. I wasn't sure if an ambulance had already been called for. Nonetheless, I called up the 108 Emergency service from somebody's mobile and requested for an ambulance at the base village Thakurwadi after explaining what had happened and the lady on the phone assured she would send help at the earliest.

Now the villagers had planned to carry the gentleman down to the base. As a fellow trekker, I tried to do my part - I told his brother to stay with him and assured that I'd take care of the teenagers and bring them safely to the base. So me and my friend brought the teens back at our campsite where my group was waiting. We made sure they ate some breakfast. Soon their trek leader arrived with the other 3 participants. At 10am, we all began descending to the base.

I was in touch with the ambulance driver and the brother. The villagers were quick in escorting the man and his brother to the base - Kudos to their efforts. He was then taken to Panvel hospital for necessary treatment.

At about 11.15am, most of us were at the base except one girl who was feeling very weak, nauseous and unable to walk. Few people were with her while i had managed to bring the others to the base. Meanwhile, i arranged for a vehicle to send the rest of the kids to the hospital.

Soon after, rest of the people arrived. The girl was carried by locals in a makeshift stretcher. By 1pm everyone had reached Panvel - my participants left for their homes while the patients were at the hospital.

Everyone was treated and out of danger. The gentleman had been shifted to Kalamboli MGM for further tests and CT Scan. His brother who was being treated on the hospital bed thanked me for all the help and was almost in tears. But frankly i hadn't done anything great. I was just present there by luck and did what i could in my capacity. It was a collective effort, mainly by the villagers/committe of Prabalmachi volunteers and a few others who should be appreciated for their efforts. I just played a small role in being there as a moral support - in fact I was not even supposed to be at Kalavantini in the first place 😅 but Mountains are calling and you must go... 

After being assured that the teenagers were safe and relaxed, i bid goodbye to their trek leader who stayed back and i left the hospital.

In 15 years of my Trekking, I've heard a lot of the bee attacks but this was the first time i experienced such an incident very closely - although I'm lucky i wasn't too close! The reason for the trigger of the attack is still unclear. Some of the affected group members said it was because someone had applied deo/perfume in the campsite - i wouldn't comment as I'm unsure of this. There could have been a lot of factors and luck was one of them - lucky was i and my friend who had just passed close to the area of attack hardly 30-odd minutes ago and the most surprising thing is the group which got attacked actually never planned to hit the traverse - they too were headed for Kalavantini but in anticipation of the crowd on the summit- one of their experienced participants decided to traverse to Prabal from the V-shaped col and then this unfortunate event happened.

Lot's to learn from nature and the outdoors - time to talk about the ~birds and the~ bees! 🐝