Travelogue

Croatia in 4 days

2015-02-06T15:03:00.001-08:00

Croatia was the most unlikely place to meet my friend Aswa when he made a plan to visit Europe. Even though I didn't know much about the country I had a feeling that it would make an interesting place for a laid back holiday. He accepted my suggestion and we planned a short trip. Rakhee and I, along with our 2 year old Rhea, flew to a place called Split to Join Aswa, Sangita and Esha who travelled from Dubrovnik by a coach crossing the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The stay in Split was pre booked at Hotel Slavija. It was a nice quiet hotel with a number of restaurants around serving salivating seafood chicken and meat.

The most recognisable thing about Croatia is how it projects itself as a top tourist destination. Apart from being naturally beautiful, Croatia is also known for its child friendliness and cleanliness. We were once told, the taxi drivers kill their off peak hours by throwing a piece of paper on to the road and place bet on the time before it's been picked up by the cleaning crew. The longest it ever took was 20 minutes!

The marina is only a 5 minutes walk from the hotel and outside the city wall to enjoy the breeze from the shimmering Adriatic sea. You will find a good number of restaurants with open canvas roofed extension all along this water front.

A major attraction here is Diocletian's palace. It takes only a few minutes walk, but small alleys like this are everywhere and force you to stop and appreciate the settings.

When you reach the palace, you immediately feel the scale of this imposing Roman ruins. One could easily spent hours wondering about this marvellous place imagining about the royal life style it once catered to.

The bell tower next to this open court also is a major attraction. It is highly recommended to climb up the narrow winding steep steps to the very top.

Brilliant view of brightly coloured roof tops with patches of lush green trees against the backdrop of beautiful distant hills is what you could expect from the the tower. You could also get a good view of numerous criss crossing alleys from here.

In the evening we walked to a nice restaurant through the streets with beautifully set shops on both sides. This picture is taken through one such shop's window.

Aswa suggested a nice restaurant from his Lonely Planet book and we all settled for a 'stress free' dinner.

Day 2

The hotel arranged a cab and a driver to take us to Plitvice National Park. We started soon after our breakfast with a plan to visit the beautiful coastal town called Zadar.

It was a bright warm day. The endless narrow alleyways with white stone buildings lined all along were very inviting. Getting yourself lost here is the easiest way of exploring this small town.

After finishing a couple of ice creams we went to the quayside to see the famous musical sea organ, an aerophone made on these broad steps of the sidewalk.

It's an ingenious concept created by Nikola Basic. The steps are made like a pier but not reaching far into the sea. 35 musically tuned tubes are placed vertically down to reach the sea beneath to create air columns. The waves on the sea oscillate the air column through the whistle opening of each tubes and creates music.

The Zadar quay also spot a large circular solar photovoltaic cells generating electricity for a brilliant light show in the evening.

Ideally one should wait to see the sunset, but we decided continue our journey after lunch in one of the many restaurants set up along the quayside road.

Drive from Zadar to Plitvice is a good experience. As you progress, you could notice the landscape changes quickly from bright warm lowland to foggy cool highlands. I took this picture of the hut in golden evening light when we stopped for a refreshing break.

We reached Plitvice late evening. There are not many good hotels to stay, but few of them satisfy basic needs.

Expect to have poor WiFi availability in this are. Also you should check if they serve breakfast.

Day 3

The forest was beautiful, the veil of mist was slowly moving away. Many tourists were seen walking towards the park's main entrance. There's a place for keeping backpack next to the information centre. It's only a room where you can pile up your luggage, but not good for leaving anything valuable as there's nothing like a secured locker. Here we also booked a taxi to the capital city of Zagreb for the evening.

It was a pleasant surprise to know that the family ticket costs only half of a full ticket. There was a nice walk descending towards the lakes and we had no clue on what to expect. The weather was wet and cold but not as bad as you expect to see in the UK. The first view of the lake was exhilarating. Pristine Jezero (lake) Kozjak appears waking up with slowly disappearing fog revealing beautiful trees in early autumn colours along its shores.

The lakes are broadly divided into two, the upper lakes and the lower lakes. With our limited time at the lakes, we decided to take the lower one. This leg include 4 separate stages. The first one, the red path shown on this map, is to cross the lake from the ticketing office to reach the landing point where the route splits for the upper and lower lakes. The green path on this map is a long beautiful cruise along the lake to the cafe' at the far end. The orange path is the trekking route (difficulty level: moderate) to expose the breathtaking views of the lake from the top of the cliff. There's a parallel path along the lake, but in rainy season it's usually flooded and remains closed. This trek gives an opportunity to steep descent through a dark moist sink hole from the top to the lake (difficulty level: tough). This eventually leads to a boardwalk across the lake, just above the cascading water to a very high narrow waterfall. The blue path takes you to the nearest bus stop where you can get a free ride back to the main entrance.

https://goo.gl/maps/7bu1e

View of the ticketing office from the pier. The lake is deep and the water is very clear. The dark long narrow shadows are fish.

View from the pier, one of the many waterfalls that drains the upper lakes to the lower lakes.

Leisurely cruise in Lake Kozjak towards the landing point 'P3' is guaranteed to keep your senses nourished with hills on both sides.

The most attractive thing about this lake is the range of colours that appears with changing sunlight.

The restaurant at the landing point has a decent menu for hot food. A trekking route (orange coloured on the map) starts from here pass along the coast and then crosses the lake over cascading water. The trail then splits into two, one along the water's edge and the one on top of the canyon. If you choose the top one, it will lead you further downstream to a beautiful viewpoint. From here we could see the lake Milanovački Slapovi and a boat for the 'P3' stop on the Jezero Kozjak.

The trail to further downstream takes you to another view point where Lake Gavanovac and Milka Trnina waterfall can be seen in beautiful colours.

There's a barrier between the lakes Gavanovac and Kaluđerovac and the water cascading over it forms another waterfall. At the top of the canyon an ancient sink hole now serves as a passage to the lake at the bottom. A board walk leads the path across the lake to a narrow but very tall waterfall.

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Our Sojourn in The Great Smoky Mountains (Gatlinburg, Tennessee)

2009-06-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Gatlinburg, Tennessee is a wonderful place. I remember Ruskin Bond saying that mountains have a magical effect on humans. Standing on one of the rocks in this mountain stream and listening earnestly to its sounds, I felt my spirits lifted, a cloud of calm descended on my otherwise turbulent mind. True, mountains have an inimitable charm, an overpowering presence that can blow away all perturbations of the mind and humble any inflated ego.

Birding at Valley School

2009-01-07T05:04:00.000-08:00

This time we were 7, so a Tavera looked appropriate for the travel. As planned we started at 06 30 and reached the school around 07 00. An entry was to be made with the security at the gate. There was a small banyan tree with lot of ripend fruit. We spotted an adult and an immature Eurasian Golden Oriole. Not far from their perch a coppersmith Barbet was devouring it's breakfast. We knew about the presence of a lake from the map we were carrying and decided to visit that first. There was a walk way along the side of the foot ball ground. A lot of Red-whiskered Bulbuls flew from one tree to another. As soon as we entered a trail just after the ground, four Indian Grey Hornbills landed on a distant fig tree. If we were careful enough to merge with the bushes, we could have got good pictures of these beautiful birds. Many of us were never been in to a bird watching trip and the lack of experience made it easier for the birds to spot us. I managed to click one of those birds tossing the fruit before swallowing. But later this turned out to be just another mediocre picture.

After watching them disappear in to another tree, we proceeded to find the lake. An open air theatre was a good place to take a short break and an all inclusive photo using a tripod. With my slow healing sprained knee, I found it difficult to reach them before the 10 second counter stop ticking.

We walked the trail and took a right turn as suggested in the map and found a patch of grass land. The track abruptly ended there with nowhere to go. We came back and retraced our trail to the open air theatre. A nearby small tree suddenly became alive with numerous Oriental White eye-s diplaying their acrobatic skills. By the time we took few pictures, two foreigneres came across apparaently knowing that place well. We asked for the directions. A small trek along with them lead us to the bank of a small lake. It was delightfully beautiful in the morning mist. A cormorant was spreading it's wings on an overhanging branch on the other side. We saw a flowering tree feeding a large number of birds, common crow, Indian rose ringed parakeet and a Purple sunbird. A White-breasted Kingfisher flew from it's favourite perch on the far end of the lake, Koel, a Green Bee eater and a White browed Bulbul. We spent some walking around the lake before decided to go for the breakfast.
A longer trek is planned for the post-breakfast session. The route would be the same till the open air theatre. Then further down along the track we took a right turn through the bamboo thicket. There was a narrow stream flowing down, probably originating from the lake we saw in the morning. Following the stream while listening to the music of wind rattling the giant bamboos was an amazing experience. After reaching a clearing further down, I decided to rest for sometime. Balan and Nishanth went for further exploration in the forest, while Adhya, Rakhi, and Sivan joined me. Anitha was in double mind before settling down with us.

Even after an hour the "explorers" did not show up. The discussion of they losing their way started coming up in our conversation. Then I received a call on my mobile from Balan. they have in fact lost their way. Balan asked me to yell out to get the direction. Anitha took that job and sent out a reverberating high pitch yell. Easily the loudest one I have ever heard in my life. Once they reached us, we crossed the stream and started walking along the forest track through the bamboo forest. We spotted clear elephant foot prints complete with the nail marks along the track. The track was very hard to get such impressions even by an elephant. So we assumed the elephants were there when it was raining and the soil was soft. After a while we again crossed the same stream. we were in a mood to relax. We settled down on the round rocks in the stream. Then a fantail and a grey wagtail appeared down stream. Me and Balan took some pictures. We carried bread and cheese along with us. It calmed down our appetite till we reached the hotel for lunch. After the lunch we started straight back to Bangalore.

List of birds.

1. Long Tailed Shrike

2. Un identified 1

3. White-cheeked Barbet

4. Cattle Egret

5. Blue-faced Malkoha

6. Yellow-eyed Babbler

7. Pied Cuckoo

8. Red-vented Bulbul

9. Un identified 2

10. Coppersmith Barbet

11. White-browed Bulbul

12. Oriental White-eye

13. Small Minivet

14. Common Iora

15. Puff-throated Babbler

16. Purple-rumped sunbird

17. Red-whiskered Bulbul

18. Common Tailorbird

19. Eurasian Golden Oriole

20. White-Browed Fantail

20. Indian Grey Hornbill

22. Grey Wagtail

A visit to Bandipur and Mudumalai

2008-12-18T07:04:00.001-08:00

The visit to Bandipur was in the discussion for some time and never happened. This time it happened in place of a canceled trip to Kabini. Me, Balan and Nishanth booked return train ticket to Mysore. We all met at the railway station and started the journey on a friday midnight. A pre-booked BIT cab was waiting for us at the Mysore station. We planned to reach Bandipur National Park for the first safari. It took around 2 Hrs to reach the ticket counter around 06 00 Hrs. Even though the board displayed at the counter says the safari starts at 06 30 we had to wait till 07 30.

By this time many private safari vehicles started entering the park. These are arranged by the numerous resorts that mushroomed around the national park. We came to know that they charge a premium. Rs 20,000 for one night and two days stay on week ends, for a much comfortable, longer and closer wildlife experience. This is much higher than Rs 90 per head charged by the local forest department,. It became too obvious that, the original idea of allowing common people to see wildlife to create awareness is sidelined. The group which actually get benefited are the rich holiday makers and the private wildlife resort industry. We really wondered what percentage of their profit flows back into the National Park and thus for conservation.

The safari started around 07 00. Unfortunately we could not make it to the front row of the safari van, which later proved costly. We started a bumpy ride through a narrow trail into the forest. For a while we did not see anything moving. The undergrowth was taken over by the invasive Lantana plant. We stopped for sometime when a small group of spotted deer appeared. I wouldn't have clicked unless I noticed it's beautiful fur in morning breeze.

The van started again and moved quite fast for a wildlife safari in a national park. I some how felt that we would not be seeing any big mammals in this safari. The driver was busy, the co-passengers were noisy and the forest seemed so unhealthy that it does not support a good number of prey. This thought was just opposite of what I felt when we were travelling through Nagarhole, the neighbouring National park. Van stopped briefly as all the passengers moved to grab a view through the left window. I saw a Grey Junglefowl but could not take a decent picture. Somebody yelled it's just a cock and the driver stepped on the accelerator. In Bandipur, birds are not considered as wildlife.

We returned to the ticket counter and expressed our disappointment and asked whether any feed back form available. We got into our rented car and started off to Gudalur. A few minutes later Balan saw an Eagle perched on a concrete pipe near a small lake. We clicked numerous shot in an effort to erase the disappointment of the safari.

We had already booked a "three bed" room at Jungle Home. It was not difficult to find the place. As soon as we reached there, we realised it has only a distant resemblance to what it advertise in the website. The stay was nothing but mediocre and the quantity of food was never enough. There are a few hotels on the main road, just 5 minutes walk away. Visited one of these hotels and had a heavy breakfast. After coming back we decided to explore through the forest fringes. We found a small clearing to settle down. It provided us with a good photo opportunity to shoot a number of birds which are increasingly rare outside protected areas.

After lunch we went to Mudumalai Wildlife sanctuary. Our original plan was to have 20 minutes elephant safari. When we queried to the lady at the ticketing counter, she informed us that the tickets are issued only at Ooty, a hill station 35km away. We then met a guy who was conducting paid trekking. He could not hide his laughter when we mentioned the elephant safari. He said it's nothing more than a joy ride around some wooded area. We are saved. Next programme was to go for the van safari. This time we decided to get into the front row but then ticket was issued with seat number printed on it. Cameras were charged for Rs 25 and we assumed it may guarantee a window seat. As per the ticket, Nishanth ended up in the middle seat of the crammed last row with no chance of even seeing the outside world. It all appeared as a ridiculous drama for us. The curse of Nishanth!! the so called wildlife safari turned out to be a waste of time.

While coming back to the room we decided to go for the night safari arranged by Jungle Home through the "fringes" of the forest. Charge was Rs1000 per Jeep. We started after our dinner and came to know that this safari is nothing but a drive through the main road that connects Mysore and Ooty, the same road we took to reach Jungle Home. This is one stuff you could do yourself if you have your own car. I mean car, as you never leave the road!!. I had a good sleep in the jeep. On the way back, we saw an Indian Gaur grazing beneath a small bridge. Then on the main road met an elephant herd crossing the road with two calves. The driver of our jeep stopped while the one who followed us overtook us and in an apparent attempt to impress the pretty woman tourist on his side seat, brought the vehicle uncomfortably close to the herd. The mother bend down in a defensive posture and made a loud cry. We all shocked and decided to stop the demand for such reckless and irresponsible safaris.

Disappointed, we cut short the tour, cancelled the late evening train tickets and came back in Bangalore afternoon with a sad feeling of being a part of that unpleasant night safari.

Map is here

Experiencing Kaggaladu

2008-06-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Kaggaladu, a village near Sira, Tumkur in Karnataka is not just like any other village. This village is the second largest breeding place for Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala ) in South India. Being so special, Kaggaladu is in need of serious sustainable conservation effort to maintain itself as one of the most important breeding sites for Painted Stork.

It was a beautiful experience when Balan and I visited Kaggaladu in March 2008. The first thing we noticed was, this large beautiful birds prefer Tamarind trees for nesting, completely avoiding all other trees. Probably the strong stunted branches of Tamarind provide an easy landing for these heavy birds. More over, having no dense foliage, tamarind trees offer relatively lower resistance against stiff wind, which is prevalent in this part of Karnataka. This makes the nesting places safe from dangerous sway.

We were told that Painted storks regularly visit this village for many years for breeding. The presence of a lake, availability of large trees and the protection offered by local community would be the reasons.

Even though we could see many tamarind trees in the village, the storks choose only 5 of them for reasons I am completely unaware of. Apart from the fact that the villagers take care of the trees, there is no coordinated effort to protect them. Four of the five nesting trees are on government land, by the road and the other one is on private land. We have seen private buses irresponsibly honk their horn loudly and race through the village road directly below the nests.

Just before entering the village there is a large tank which appears as if it is recently made. Even though it is connected with channels and flow regulating shutters, it is yet to receive water.

We stopped our car near the tank and there on top of the Tamarind trees, we saw magnificent large storks busy making their nest.

We were so excited to see these beautiful birds so near. This village has definitely won the confidence of the storks. We spent some time near one of the tamarind trees watching the birds. While perching on small branches in strong breeze they often spread their wings to maintain the balance. These birds were so confident that they even neglected our presence and concentrated on building their nests using twigs put together loosely.

It was hard to imagine seeing these large birds coming so close to human settlement and convert an entire Tamarind tree looks like a maternity ward.

After spending few hours, we decided to visit their main feeding ground, an old tank, not too far on the other side of the village. We could see a lot of other small birds too, as we approached the tank.

This tank is comparatively in a better condition than the first one. However the water has receded to it's deeper areas. We took a longer route to cross the tank along the bank and walked towards what seems like a small congregation of birds. Hiding ourselves behind thorny bushes we climbed up the embankment to get a closer look. Through the binocular we could identify different species of birds; Spot billed pelicans, Painted storks and Grey herons. The most exciting moment was when we saw Spot billed pelicans among other species of birds. Mainly because we never came across any reading saying Kaggaladu is frequented by Pelicans too.

Not disturbing the birds, we retrieved, climbed down and walked around the lake to reach the main road. It was not a good sight to see people using this lake for washing large quantities of cloths, probably using chemical detergents and thus polluting the water. More disturbingly part of the lake bed was dug up at various places for making bricks.

We just wished the paddy fields in the village which lie adjacent to the lakes, where storks feed, will one day stop using chemical pesticides.

On the way back we saw a group of people extracting fiber from a plant. It was learned that these strong fibers are shipped to Calcutta and there it is used for making expensive rugs. why cant we encourage these people to make rugs here itself?

It was getting late, we started off to Bangalore, wishing we would visit this place again.

Nagarhole, date with wild elephants

2008-05-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

How to reach:

Where to stay:

Visiting Nagarhole was always in my mind, so when I got the invitation from my friend Arun, who’s staying in Mysore, I made a quick plan. Anil and Rajkrishnan joined. We took an inter-city bus from Bangalore to Mysore. Nagarhole National Park, now known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park is some 95 km away from Mysore. This park is one of the most important areas of 2000 square kilometer protected forest called Nilgiri Biosphere along the Western Ghats. This mountain chain, which runs approximately 1600 km along the west coast of India, intercepts the Monsoon clouds from the Indian Ocean causing heavy rains, and thus serves as the primary watershed for whole of the peninsular India.

We reached Mysore in Saturday morning. Arun came up to pick us from the bus station. We had a heavy late breakfast and went to the forest department office for permission. As expected we were informed that rooms are unavailable. During season the booking queue may go even well beyond a full month. Disappointed and losing some precious time, we started off to Nagarhole. Our idea was to reach the park before 5 pm to try one of the safaris.

Even though the main road to the park was missed in a busy intersection, we were able to find another narrow alternate road. After negotiating through a crowded market and a few stretch of bad roads, we picked up speed. We soon left the crowded villages behind and cruised along a straight deserted road watching the landscape for spotting birds.

We reached the park gate at 5, expecting to join in for the last safari. Our moment of happiness did not last long when we realised the pick up point for the safari nedds another 30 minutes drive inside the park. The forest guards at the gate came up and declared the park is closed for visitors. We were supposed to be at the gate before 3pm. Dejected, we started thinking of the night stay and catching up with the early morning safari next day. Several ideas surfaced with a common conclusion of "no going back". By this time seeing our troubled faces one of the forest guards called us to the check post. After making sure, no one is listening; he suggested he could arrange a home stay at the other end of the park. But the park is closed, how can we get through? Rs. 90 per person, as entry fee without receipt was the quick answer we received. Gate opened and we moved slowly through one of the best managed parks in India. It was lush green everywhere. The tall Teak wood plantations seemed endless. The undergrowth was cleared for about 5 meters on both sides along the road. This is done purposefully to create an area of less dense vegetation for easily spotting the wildlife. The other advantage would be to create a buffer zone to check the wild fire.

We were already warned about spotting of an elephant herd by the same road we were driving. And the advice was not to step out of our car. So we moved carefully to see the elephants through the thick woods. After negotiating a turn Anil pointed his hand to the right side and whispered elephants. A female crossed the road leisurely as we stopped the car some 100 m away.

After a few minutes of waiting we decided to move. Then we saw movements among the bushes, a female and a calf emerged and started crossing the road. We looked at them in awe. The calf rushed across towards the waiting female on the other side. I took few snaps with trembling hand.

We started again assuming no more elephants to cross. While reaching around 10 m away from the place where the elephants crossed, a big female came forward, a spine chilling stare was followed by an aggressive crossing across the road. Realising that we were uncomfortably close to the elephants, we left the place in a hurry. We slowed down only after covering a few kilometers. A Red-wattled lapwing was feeding in a small patch of open land. This particular bird was uncharacteristically quite and looked as if we did not even exist there. Everywhere else this noisy bird species has spoiled many of my photographic opportunities.

Along the road we saw a giant Malabar squirrel resting on a high branch, herds of spotted deer and a wild boar. We then reached a human settlement. There was a huge cage made of big trees. Two forest guards and other three men were there. We decided to have a look. While approaching it became clear that it is in fact an elephant training centre. The huge tusker and the big cage that envelops him dwarf the trainer. Trainer was shouting commands, and forced the elephant to obey by using a hooked stick he was holding. It is said that the tusker killed five people before he has been captured and brought here.

After spending some time we decided to leave. The owner of the “home stay” was expecting us at the other side of the park called Kutta. It was getting darker. We became nervous after started hearing bamboo rattles. We saw another elephant in an area which resembled a swamp. The decision to stop did not fetch much support among us.

By the time we exited the park, it was completely dark. Call from Kalpana, the lady who owns the room was received on Rajkrishnan's phone with much excitement. After another half an hour drive we saw two young women standing by the road. Since we have given the car’s license plate number, they immediately recognized us. They took us to their home tucked inside a small coffee plantation. The room was ready to be occupied. She charged Rs.600 per person including food, which was served in a small hut made of bamboo and thatched with straw.

We were so hungry that the food is finished in no time. Even though tired we decided to go for a stroll. Out of the gate and a few meters down the road we saw one of the most amazing view in the entire trip. It was pitch dark and the entire trees and bushes were swarmed with fire flies flashing their lights in all colours and intensities.

After spending almost an hour we came back to our room. The original plan was to go for safari in Nagarhole next morning. But then the head of the house, Jaga came in and joined our discussion. He suggested Waynad wild life sanctuary is nearer and the chances of spotting the wildlife is more as compared to Nagarhole during summer. I reluctantly agreed to the new plan of trying safari in Wayanad wild life sanctuary.

Next morning after a quick break fast, we started straight to Wayanad wildlife sanctuary. It was a wonderfully beautiful morning. We were driving down the slops. On the right side valley a Racket-tailed Drongo dived from its perch and caught its prey mid air. To our delight it came back a bit closer to us so that I could give a try.

As soon as we got down from the car, the much wanted Drongo disappeared through the mist. A beautiful tree stood out on the other bank of the a small pond reflecting on calm frigid water.

We reached Wayanad wildlife sanctuary late. It was mandatory that the tourists should take a guide along with them. After paying the guide's fee and the entry fees we moved to our car. But on a second thought we decided to park the car outside and to take one of the jeeps available for rent at the park entrance. This proved to be a good move as the road soon turned to be a mud track. We were all talking about spotting a tiger, largest of all cats at the top of the food chain. Even though every one was dreaming of seeing a tiger, we did not miss any chance to enjoy seeing other wildlife.
A sambar deer, the largest deer species in India, and its calf crossed the road while we waited patiently.

We then saw a Racket-tailed Drongo, and a Grey jungle fowl

Further down, a large Malabar Giant squirrel was feeding on an known fruit.

We expected to see Elephant and Gaur and every one dreamed of seeing a tiger. Nothing happened as we wished. The safari is over in no time with out spotting any of the large mammals. Visibly disappointed we came out of the park and had a short visit to Kuruva island. We had a short trek in this beautiful uninhibited island surrounded by the river Kabini. A place we book marked for future bird watching trip.

We had a nice lunch and then quickly concluded yet another wonderful trip. Returned directly to Mysore and then took the train to Bangalore.

Daroji, Sanctuary for Sloth Bears

2008-05-10T10:29:00.001-07:00

Daroji? I have never heard of it. That was the first comment made by my friend Balakrishnan when I read the article from The Hindu aloud. At first we were not much impressed by Sloth Bears as any other amateur wildlife enthusiasts. I continued reading the article. The presence of birds and the fact that not many are aware of Daroji infused a good amount of interest in us. We decided to go as I read Daroji is just a stone's throw away from the famous World Heritage site Hampi. Arranged tickets in Hampi Express, starting from Bangalore. Our destination was Hospet, the nearest railway station to Daroji and Hampi. We started on 5th April 2008 night from Bangalore.
Waking up next morning I noticed the changed landscape. A lot of mining activities, which was always been a threat to the habitat of the bears in this mineral rich area. The number of bears has reduced alarmingly till the sanctuary is formed.

It took almost 10 Hrs to reach Hospet railway station. Just outside the station there was a board showing the direction to the sanctuary.

P1080301, originally uploaded by retheeshkr.

After decided to look for a hotel near by, we started walking towards the bus station. At this moment two men came across holding two tamed bears in their harness. We were seeing yet another threat they face; poaching. These tamed bears locally known as “Dancing bears” were abducted from the wild when they were young, often killing the mother bear. We got shocked and saddened seeing the Government's neglect on wildlife conservation.

We walked about half a kilometer crossing a main canal coming from Thungabhadra dam to reach our hotel. Had a heavy breakfast, took lunch as parcel and we went directly to the bus station. Very soon it became obvious that waiting for a bus to Daroji may not be a good idea. We hired an auto rickshaw for Rs 600/day. Our plan was to reach the sanctuary in the afternoon, when the bears become active.

It was surprising for us to see endless expanse of sugar cane and plantain fields on both sides of the road in such a dry area. Water from the river Thungabhadra created these lush green fields. But I really wonder whether this approach of growing water guzzling crops like sugar cane or plantain in such a dry place is a sustainable way of doing cultivation.

En route, we stopped near a 500 years old man made lake. We spotted plenty of water birds, Little Grebe, Common coot, Pond heron and few magnificent Pheasant-Tailed Jacana

We passed near the entrance of the much famed Hampi, which we will be visiting next day. It was around 30 km from Hospet to Daroji. We never felt the distance as we stopped every time we saw birds. A huge Banyan tree by the road provided shelter and food to a large variety of birds. Spotted owlet, Coppersmith barbet and Red-vented Bulbul, to name a few.

Going further, we crossed a narrow canal, cut deeply through the rock. This canal, made in the fifties, carries the Thungabhadra water to Andrapradesh. The triangular shaped stone structures on the banks were used as a ramp to pull out the stones from the canal during its construction. We just wished to follow this deep narrow canal to the point where it goes underground for many kilometers before reappearing again.

We left the main road and got into a small rough road. I asked our driver to stop, seeing something by a large pond. I grabbed my binocular and watched. Yes, birds, almost as big as a painted stork but black in color (yet to be identified). I took the cover of a small hillock, overlooking the pond and started crawling up. Balan walked leisurely through the bush only to see a hare dashing across. I crawled further up signaling Balan to keep a low profile. A Red-wattled lapwing saw us and started alerting every living creature in that area. I reached at the top, saw the nervous storks but still staying where they were.

Hiding myself behind the bush, I moved down further, but then spotting the movement, they suddenly flew away. Disappointed, I came back cursing the noisy lapwing which was still circling above me.

By around 2 pm we reached at the entrance of the sanctuary. The watch tower was 4 km inside.

The sanctuary also boasts a lot of bird species. A strange stone colored bird ran across the road. However after going for another one km we got a chance to see it clearly, a Stone curlew.

It took half an hour to reach the base of the watch tower. We climbed up after paying the entry fee. A few other impatient visitors were sitting on the rocks. Around fifteen minutes after we settled on a rock, there was an uproar and then whispers. I jumped up and looked down holding the hand rail. Far, I saw a black shaggy figure slowly coming out of the shadows of a huge rock. I was watching Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) in the wild for the first time. I scanned the area through my binocular. After a few minutes the first one was joined by three others. They started coming down and licking on Jaggery, a kind of sweet thick liquid made of sugarcane, pasted every morning by the forest guards. While this serves only as a supplementary diet for the bears, almost 60% of Sloth bears' daily intake consists of termites and ants. With powerful sharp claws, they rip open termite mounds and then suck their favorite food like a vacuum cleaner.

We watched the bears from the watch tower. After some time the bears were joined with a few peafowls. At this time the guard on duty told us Mr. Swamy, honorary warden of the park has arrived. We met him, along with his friend Kiran Marathe, at the entrance of the watch tower. We presented our desire to go to the core area of the park to have a closer look of the bears. He thought for a moment and then accepted our request. He lead us through the bushes to a spot behind few large rocks where we could watch bears without getting noticed. We waited for sometime before we were joined by two armed guards. We were told that these bears are highly unpredictable and their attacks with their claws could be fatal. One of the bears looked towards us for a moment, then continued feasting. I really felt nervous at that point.

However the presence of the guns made us a bit bolder. In half an hour we could saw no less than 10 bears including 2 last years cub, around 100 m away from us. It was getting 5 in the evening. The two cubs initially busy licking on the rocks with their parents, started fighting each other. For every few minutes of tussle one gets toppled and rolled down the rock. In no time those playful cubs came uncomfortably closer to us.

Swamy gently got up and suggested to move back to the safety of the watch tower. I felt relieved hearing that. We climbed back on the watch tower and looked back to see the bears wrestling at the spot we were sitting just 15 minutes before. We spent another half an hour there watching the bears, all full of energy, running down the hillock till the road and climbing on the trees to grab bananas placed by the guards. Swamy suggested us to call him if we come again and promised us good stay at a forest guest house in Kamalapur. It was time to say bye to our new friends. We came back directly to the hotel without any halt, carrying wonderful memories and a plan to visit the famous Hampi next day.

Gopalswamy Betta

2008-04-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

On our trip to ooty we visited gopalswamy betta.It is 20 Kms from Gundulpet. There are no buses to Gopalswamy betta, so it would be better to take your own vehicle. As you proceed towards Bandipur, take a right turn at Hangala village. (There should be a big Karnataka Tourism board). From this point, the hill top should be 15 km. After traveling 4 km you will find a forest department check post at the base of the hill. WE reached the check post around 4.00am and waited till the gate was opened around 6.30. It is a 10 kms winding, steep road, with a few hairpin bends that take you to the hill top.

Popularly known as himavada gopalswamy betta which literally means "misty gopalswamy Hill".IT truly does live up to its name, it is shrouded in thick fog or mist all throughout the year. There is a temple at the top, dedicated to Krishna. There is mythological story behind the temple which I don't remember.The temple is built in Hoyasala style is known to be renovated by Wadiyars of Mysore.

Temple was cleaned and we attended the first aarthi of the day, when poojariji explained us about the temple history.

Gopalswamy hill is among those super scenic hills which has a could cover all through the year. During the monsoons, the locals grow sunflower among their other plantations. This makes Gopalswamy Betta one of the most scenic places in Karnataka.. cloud covered hills, with calm lakes and endless fields of sunflower.

We were greeted by cool breeze Spent some time atop the mountain. We used hand pump to fetch some water and it was damn cold. Clouds passing by and the fragrance of the flora with every passing wind..Unforgettable……..

Poojari told us that elephants visit the place frequently but We were not lucky to spot elephants or tigers.
We never wanted to leave, but then had to start to ooty so took few snaps and started our journey.

Magical Thattekad

2008-04-22T10:33:00.001-07:00

One of the most beautiful tour I have ever had in recent years. "It's very easy to acknowledge how beautiful Kerala is, once you stay else where", everybody accepted to Haison's point without starting a debate (It was in fact more convincing than his lectures on Gravity!!).
As soon as we received the date for Arun's (kotta) wedding, the plan for combining it with a short trip came automatically. Sivan, me, Balan, and Rajkrishnan from Bangalore, Reghu( with his own strange plans) from Chennai, Haison from Kollam and Sethu from Kottayam would form the team in Eranakuklam.
Which place? I suggested Thattekad for two reasons.
Reason one, by that time I have already bought a book on Indian birds and wanted to try it.
Reason two was more practical one. Vinod's (kambli) home is in Kothamangalam town, which is pretty close to Thattekad. Stay, food and local travel free. His brother was abroad and wife will be in her home. There would be no better time to occupy his big house. Thattekad is accepted.
How do we make most out of this trip? The original plan was to get the famous birder, Eldose as our local guide, however he proved to be unavailable for our plan. Then Kambli's collegue helped us to find Jose, another professional guide, for the trek. Thus the entire planning is done in Bangalore.
Wedding day arrived and everything (feasting) is over by 3 in the afternoon. Newly wed couple asked for our blessings and we promptly obliged. Now who all are coming? Reghu's plan is out, he wanted to go his ancestral home. Sethu decided not to join because of even stranger reason(s), that he was never asked to reveal. It's a five member team now and Kambli would be leading us, once we reach Kothamangalam. Arun's father arranged a cab for us to Kothamangalam and we started. On the way, the discussion on relativity, gravity and theory of everything, instantly sent Rrajappan to another world of dreams. We stopped for a tea break as we noticed that the driver could no longer decide whether he's experiencing gravity all around or just lateral acceleration.

P1030355, originally uploaded by retheeshkr.

Reached Kambli's home by late evening, relaxed for sometime and then decided to go out for dinner. Kambli led the way to a popular bar in that area. We slept early with full stomach.

We wake up early in the morning and packed all our stuff for the trek. We came out of the room and all got surprised to see the signs of last night’s heavy rain. The atmosphere was clear, fresh and damp. Kambli was very enthusiastic in showing off his beautiful garden. After taking few pictures of the flowers, and a failed attempt to shot a Roufous Treepie, we started to the famous Salim Ali bird sanctuary at Thattekad.

We picked up our guide en-route and he gave an interesting introduction to the geography of the place. We made a stop to have our breakfast in a small hotel near the forest department check point. Our guide checked the photos stored in my camera, which I have taken in Ranganathituu bird sanctuary a few months back. He then made a point that unlike in Ranganathittu, it’s difficult to approach the birds in this thick forest and even with your longest lens you will find it difficult to fill your frame.

He added that these forests are thick and the trees are tall and will not be easy even to locate the birds. Near the park, on the bridge over the river Periyar, we could resist stopping again and breath in fresh air. I wished I could cough out all the dirt I accumulated in my lungs, while commuting in Bangalore. I actually did and spew out all my worries, everyday chorus, greed and lust.

A magnificent view unfolded before our eyes, rather it was always there, we are now opening up. White clouded sky, rolling fog behind dark green rain forest and small green patches of open grass land. Previous night's rain painted the river brown and the wooden bridge over the small tributary completed the experience.

We entered the park after crossing the river. There was a deer refuge which we did not pay much attention.

We went further below thick bamboo canopy, then we saw a few houses inside the park. Seeing our confused face, our guide explained, it's how our government manages our parks. Government created this park long ago but "forgot" to relocate the people inside. Allmost everyone went silent, as if all wondering whether it's right to occupy the land which truly belong to birds. After all we keralites have a "decent" history of encroaching the forest land in the name of creating plantation. The sad part is that they appear themselves as hard working peasants and use their collective bargaining power to influence the politicians to get these lands in their name.
I saw this Oriental Magpie Robin on the wall of a small building opposite to the deer refuge.

We walked past a small lake on the left . We were able to spot few egrets, cormorants and a white breasted kingfisher. All of them were beyond the reach of my lens. As we proceeded further, forest became thicker and the sunlight dim.

Every where we heard the birds. Our guide then pointed to the tip of a tall tree. We all looked up but nothing was visible, then I asked for his binocular and tried. I could see only silhouette. I was unable to identify the bird.

We continued the trekking inside the park. Soon we realized Thattekad can in fact boast for it’s amphibians as well. I took only a few snaps, of a frog blending perfectly with the background and some butterflies; conserving my battery in anticipating the birds which never came across.

It started drizzling slowly forcing us to open our umbrellas. We packed our cameras and binoculars in our bag. We reached near a brick walled room made like a watch tower. However, it was already occupied by some one else. We then decided to hike to a hill top through a narrow trail; while our guide was showing us tell tale signs of elephants using the same route. He pointed to elephant dung on one side, paused for a moment and then eased off our tension by saying; it is at least two weeks old. We spotted a Malabar giant squirrel lying on a distant branch. I tried a few times with my point and shoot camera to get a proper focus, but failed miserably. In fact getting a good picture of that distant, well camouflaged subject in such low light situation was next to impossible.

We continued our hike to reach the hill top. A black eagle with its characteristic wing position was riding the currents above the valley nearby. The bird disappeared behind white clouds for few minutes and then reappeared briefly before I lost contact. We spent around one hour on top of the hill shooting dragon flies and spiders. Around 1 pm we decided to climb down to have our lunch. Our guide showed us the shortest route to exit the park. We directly went to a toddy shop around 2~3 km away from the park. We entered the shop, and placed the order for lunch. It started raining heavily while we were dusting off our good old memory in college. It was really nice listening to the continuous flow of jokes and watching the animated conversations of Kambli and Haison. We had a good lunch having tapioca (made of Cassava root), beef fry, pork and toddy made from coconut as well as palm.

We spent nearly 3 hours inside the shop before decided to go home. Rain stopped by then. We all had to negotiate a small bridge made of placing two coconut tree trunks together. I thought of getting a photo opportunity then, but my friends proved that they are veterans when it comes to drinking. We paid our guide Rs 500 and dropped him on the way. We all reached Kambli’s home, tired of long travel that actually started from Bangalore the previous day. It was time to say good bye to Kambli and to Thattekad. It was Onam next day, obviously one of the most memorable holidays I have ever had.

Basic information on Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

Latitude: 76 deg. 40' - 76 deg. 45' N
Longitude: 10 deg. 7' - 11 deg. E
Altitude: 35- 523 m (Njayapilli peak)
Area: 25.16 sq. km
Rainfall: 2500 mm annually
Forest type: Tropical semi-evergreen and tropical deciduous
Mammals: Elephant, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Porcupine
Bird species: > 250

How to Reach Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

The sanctuary is 13 km north-east of Kothamangalam along the Pooyamkutti road. The nearest railway station is Aluva at a distance of 48 km. The new airport at Nedumbassery is around 60 km.

Kothamangalam is well connected by privately operated buses to Ernakulam via Muvattupuzha or Perumbavoor. There are frequent buses from Kothamangalam to Thattekad.

Accommodation Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad

There is a three storied watch tower inside the Sanctuary with two beds, a toilet and a kitchen. No electricity here but there is are a few solar powered lamps. A forest department inspection bungalow called Hornbill is located near the sanctuary entrance. There is a dormitory just inside the sanctuary which is ideal for large groups. Accommodation is also available at the PWD rest house near the Bhoothathankett Dam and in lodges in Kothamangalam.

For further information about the sanctuary and for booking accommodation contact:

The Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Thiruvanthapuram Kerala 695014

The Wildlife Warden, Idukki Wildlife Division, Vellappara, Painavu P.O. Idukki District 685603 Phone 0486 232271

The Assistant Wildlife Warden, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Njayapilli P.O. , Kothamangalam, Kerala Phone 0485 588302

My adventures - part I

2008-04-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hey! I've had a few adventures when i was a kid, but now... i should say, i decided to take up the biggest adventure of my life - yes! decided to get married. Well, its been a a good one till now, i hope it will stay so for ever.

After we (Ajay & I) got married, we went to Mauritius, it was supposed to be a 7 day trip, but thanks to our Air-India flight(got cancelled the day we were supposed to leave), we had to take the flight the next day. Well, anyways, we reached Mauritius. Its just breath-taking. Our Hotel was about 1 hr drive from the airport. en-route, we saw some beautiful lagoons n some spectacular views. The hotel was situated in the most sensational region of the island - LeMorne. It is named after the most famous hill in Mauritius. Mauritius is a perfect take - off for fascinating sea adventures. Its lagoons are protected by a natural reef and provide a superb and safe area for a range of water sports , also other activities like hiking, fitness...

We went hiking ... we found the mouth of that water fall...

We went para sailing together and I went alone too. It was was an exhilarating experience... I now know how the birds feel when they fly...

We got to see the seven coloured earth... another marvel of God

Yes, i should also say that Ajay went snorkeling and water skiing... n lemme tell u... skiing is not as easy as it looks...

We had a wonderful, memorable, amazing time in Mauritius... I would love to go there again.

Cya all soon with my adventures part II (voyage on Hamenia)

Yelagiri

2008-04-21T11:28:00.001-07:00

Indian Robin, originally uploaded by retheeshkr.

We (me, rakhee, bless, joce and reghu) were planning such a trip for a while. As me and reghu were in Chennai, and bless and joce in Bangalore, reghu quickly came out with a location midway. He In fact suggested a temple but nobody was interested and then we settled for Yelagiri. A hill station just 3 hrs from Bangalore (from Chennai too.). I decided to come to Bangalore on the previous day and wanted to go Yelagiri in bless's car. As expected reghu got stuck with some stuff like "rocket design" and told us to proceed with our plan and declared that he would be joining. All done and we started late and reached Yelagiri in the night and started looking for a place to stay. Fortunately we found a decent place. Then we sat down and planned for a trek next day and we got the trekking route from the resort owner (not to mention, he was a keralite). While all were watching TV, in the hall Reghu called up and said he will be reching Yelagiri next day before our breakfast.

Woke up early and we started our first trek at 6 in the morning. It was pretty cold in the morning but the route was inviting. It was an experience, birds chirping all around us and I was trying hard to get a good snap in bad light with little success. Soon I gave up and started taking pictures each other. 2 km up and we all got tired we settled on a big rock overlooking the valley.

It was wonderful to be quiet and seeing the lush green forest everywhere. However the hunger started dampening our spirit slowly. We all felt sorry for not carrying our breakfast. We decided to abort the 5 km trek. We started climbing down back giving way to some local people leading their cattle and carrying fire woods.

We saw a large number of silhouetted birds in big tree. As that tree itself was out of reach of my camera and because of the pressure of ever growing hunger, we did not give it a try.

Soon we are back in our hotel and started out in search of a hotel. We end up in a small restaurant attached to a small house. We ate the best idlis and parippu vadas of our life time. Once we finshed our breakfast, we were ready for another trek through Eucalyptus platation. Just before entering the trail we heard a loud buzzing sound and all looked above to see this magnificent tree full of honey hives. It seemed peculiar to me that the bees preferred that particular tree for making their home. None of the other trees, even those which were standing pretty close, attracted the bees..

Here I shot the Indian Robin, that perched on a fallen bamboo near the trail. We lost interest as we were unable to experinece anything interesting in a typical plantation and returned back to the "base camp".

The next plan was to try rowing in a small artificial lake. It seemed very easy as young children row the boats at a decent speed across the lake. I decided to try, however soon I realised it's not that easy to get the rhythm. I found very difficult to control both paddles simultaneously. It was clumsy sometimes I put the paddle too deep to realise its difficult to pull, in next stroke I just skimmed the water. I seemed myself as Kostya Bogomolov, struggling in the river Dnieper. Everyone tried in turn and Blessen did it even without the paddle. (will be getting that video soon). Rakhee claimed herself as the best among us, it's anyway still in dispute.

We came back in our resort and had a heavy lunch and slept for an hour. In the evening while driving back to Bangalore, we received a text message from Reghu that read " Sorry guys I'm cancelling the plan".