Chembra Peak

PeaksKerala,India

Fragile nature — stay on the trail, leave no trace.

The highest peak in India's Wayanad hills, grassland from foot to crown, with a heart-shaped lake two-thirds of the way up that never dries.

September·Closed

Jun–Sep

The southwest monsoon drenches Wayanad and the Forest Department suspends the trek: the slopes turn to slick mud and fill with leeches, and this is the landslide country of the July 2024 Meppadi disaster. There is no other route up, and reopening waits on the rains, usually October.

Year-round The heart-shaped lake and its grass-and-shola slopes are here year-round; after the June-to-September monsoon the hills turn deep green, and the dry months are the trekking window.

Chembra Peak carries a small lake shaped almost exactly like a heart, cupped in the grass about two-thirds of the way up its slopes. At 2,100 metres it is the highest point in Kerala's Wayanad district, in the Western Ghats, and it is wrapped from foot to crown in open meadow rather than forest. From the ridge the grass rolls away steeply on both sides, ridge after ridge of the Ghats fading into paler blue toward the horizon, and on many mornings the valleys below are filled with mist. The climb begins low down among the tea gardens and bamboo that skirt the mountain near Meppadi. After the June-to-September monsoon the slopes turn a deep, saturated green. The path climbs steeply out of the tea estates onto a bare ridge where the grass ripples in the wind and the ground drops away on both sides. Above it lies the heart-shaped lake, Hridaya Saras, fed only by rain and, by local reckoning, never seen to run dry. From that crest the plains of Wayanad and the distant tea country spread out. Today the walk officially ends at the lake. The last stretch to the true summit is closed, because the upper path runs along sheer drops and crosses wildlife habitat, so most people turn back at the water. Access is controlled: the South Wayanad Forest Department caps the number of trekkers each day and sends a guide with every group. In the driest weeks the whole trail can close at short notice.

Worth knowing

Good to know

A permit and a forest-department guide are compulsory — the daily quota is limited, and the gates close to new trekkers at 2 p.m.
October to February is the window — the monsoon closes the trail from June to September, and in the dry pre-summer weeks it can shut again on high fire-risk days.
Set off at first light — the ridge is clearest before midday cloud rolls in, and the low early sun catches the dew on the grass and the tea fields far below.
There is no shade and no water on the mountain — you carry everything up from the gate, and the grass slopes turn slick and steep where the ridge falls away on both sides.

Things to do

1
Climb from the tea gardens to the heart-shaped lake
The trek starts among the tea estates and bamboo at Chembra's foot and steepens quickly; within an hour the plantations give way to bare grass and wind. Higher up the meadow opens onto Hridaya Saras, the small rain-fed tarn shaped like a heart, and this is where the walk now ends. Set out early, while mist still drifts through the valleys and the low sun picks out the estates below in bands of gold and shadow.
2
Walk the bare crest below the lake
Below Hridaya Saras the path runs along an open crest with nothing above you but sky and grass. In steady weather the wind crosses the slope in visible waves you can watch travel. Bare rock outcrops break through the meadow at the most exposed points, where the ground falls sharply to the valley and the view opens widest.