Jolly Bouy Island

Started at 8.45am. All the packing was up to change the hotel. We dumped our luggage into the Tata Sumo and reached Annapoorna for breakfast. After stupendous Idle, Vada and Masala Dosa we reached the ship by 10.00am to visit Jolly Bouy Island. The system is good in Andaman. We were assured of no theft to any of our belongings in Andaman. I hope this remains as is for days to come. We were not allowed to carry any type of plastic to the island. We changed our water to the hired bottles (deposit of 100 INR and 5 INR for the usage). We were on the ship at 10.00am. Keeping up time is really the specialty (for those of us who have seen and spoken about IST).

We reached Jolly Bouy at 11.00am. The ship anchored few hundred meters away from the island so that the corals are not harmed. We were transferred to the land by a glass bottom boat. We could see live corals travelling that few hundred meters.

Everyone was up in the water, the babes, guys, aunties, uncles & kids. Aniruddha, Anna, Amma and Doddamma were enjoying the shallow waters while I was exploring the deep (with corals) doing snorkeling. It was part of the package. Rama and Doddappa choose to stay away from water.

I saw huge corals, coloured, blue star fish and loads of fishes. The snorkeling experience was good and it was the turn for Anna to experience it. While he was away I was preparing Amma for snorkeling. While she tried her hand initially but finally opted out. We had a great time in the sea and Andu took the cake. I was very happy the way he handled water after his first reluctance in Waynad. For the people who did not venture into snorkeling, a second round of boat ride to see the corals from the glass bottom was arranged.

Lunch was arranged, spicy biryani, salads and a sweet. We had our heart full. The island is also equipped with toilets and changing rooms. All of these are clean and tidy, well maintained. Hats off to the management and tourism in Andaman. I saw few salt water crocodiles on the way back on the banks of one of the islands.

After our return we stopped at the Sagarika Emporium, run by the government, for shopping. Our luggage was waiting in the new place Darrshan Resort. The food was good and place homely. Thanks to Rakoo for all the arrangement. We met him at his office and got clear instructions for tomorrows Baratang journey

2.30am… The alarm rings

The alarm rang and it was just 2-3 hrs of sleep. By the time we were up the cab was here. One pit-stop for a pickup and we were off to airport. The usual side effect of getting up early is the hungry feeling. Breakfast at BIA subsided the hunger and it was time to wait for the departure.

First change over in Chennai. Kamaraj International airport, one of the crappy airports I have been to. As Murphy’s law has its way, we had to wait as the flight was delayed. I had expected this and more as it was Kingfisher that was carrying us and with the current crisis, it was obvious to expect the unexpected.

Finally, landed in Port Blair at noon sharp. Humidity was evident as soon as I got off the plane and walked towards the lounge. Nov-Dec is supposed to be the best time to be in Andamans. After checking into the hotel, Marine View, and so-called lunch (the food was not good), it was time for sight-seeing. The hotel is so-so. I believe we carried rain with us to Port Blair since it had started drizzling.

Andaman is made up of 572 islands out of which 36 are habituated. Initial visit was for Corbyn’s Cove Beach at 3.00pm. This is the only beach situated in the vicinity of the city or pretty much inside the city. It was teeming with tourists. The weather was good to stay put and we did just that until Varuna (the rain god) pushed us out. Aniruddha was all excited and was splashing water screaming and dancing.

There is too much of litter in this beach and is not clean like other beaches. Being inside the city has cost this beach dearer.

The other main attraction is the “Kala Pani”, the Cellular Jail in the center of the city. The Cellular Jail has a light and sound show screening everyday at 5.30pm. The jail sight-seeing closes at 5.00pm and we had seen the insides of the Jail, the Star shaped series of rooms, three floors, the main watchtower, room of “Veer Savarkar” etc… Doddappa was tired and he retired for the day going back to the hotel. Rest of us continued for the show.

Britishers were very cruel, after hearing the stories of our martyrs there was so much of mixed emotions building up inside me. I felt excited, sorry, angry, proud all together. I am unable to describe that state of mind. I also felt that we citizens of India should treat our corrupt politicians in the same way Brits treated our freedom fighters.

There is Nana Park in front on Cellular Jail and there are roadside snacks available here. We had decided not to continue in the same hotel for tomorrow and move into the Resort run by our travel agent Rakoo (Darrshan Tours and Travels). Being vegetarians there was a good hotel we discovered. We had dinner at Annapoorna. Rama & Andu stayed at the hotel while others had dinner and I carried a parcel (masala dosa) back to the room

Raining Cats…. roaaarrrrr!!!!

The day had started and I was in no mood to get out of bed, with the lack of sleep from y’day. I was the last person to get into the bathroom and we were up by 6.30am ready for the game. Today will be a long day with the game entire day. The light was still opening, we had planned to reach the plains early. Gunea fowl, Zebra were the first next came the Cape buffalo. This covered 3 from the Big 5. The flow was on with Warthog, a big group of bar mangoose, and sparing Impalas. It was evident that the sparing was a practice session and not a fight.

Overflowing Gnus, made the presence of migration. We met the nose broken Lion again today. The first single vulture and a couple raptors who were in courtship was visible while the Lion lay lazily snoozing.

2nd pride of lions consisted of 3 big and 3 cubs. We moved on after a brief time with this pride who were hiding under the bushes. One of the females gave us enough opportunity as she walked away from the pride to find a bush far away from the pride.

Gazelles were all along the way some in groups and some all alone in sunbath. Ostrich was the next attraction. Vultures, Topis, Kori bustard were scattered in the planes doing their bit of cleaning the carcasses. The first glimpse of the pachyderms was not far. A herd of elephants crossed our path.
It is always a visual treat to see these biggies. The calves played and made all sorts of noise. It reminded me of my son. Every animal on the earth during their early ages are all the same, naughty, innocent, impatient, eager to try out and venture into anything they see new or fascinating.

Sectary bird was visible as a faint white moving patch from a distance. That thing (not sure he or she) never faced us even once or gave us a chance to capture the front view. We saw Giraffe herd, a group of 5-6. I was transfixed on the Giraffe when a Cheetah walked out of the grass.

We were the first to sight him, as he moved we followed. More people flowed in and this made him uncomfortable. We left him as he took shelter under a bush to examine our luck. Superb Starling, as the name says the bird is resembles our purple sunbird in color with the size of a Maina. Its present all over the place. While taking a picture of this colorful bird, I noticed francolin under the same bush. More pictures were the result.

3rd pride we encountered was the biggest with 13-14 cats, mixture of lioness and cubs of small and medium age. They were too lazy, we promised them to come back in the evening and left. Good for us.

Cheetah family was waiting for us on a mound, a mother and two cubs resting. The opportunities were enormous on these subjects. You need to see the results to appreciate it ☺

It was lunchtime, we were hungry and our packed lunchboxes were waiting for us. My card’s were overflowing and needed a download. Simon stopped under a tree where no animal can crouch without being noticed. We had our hunger fulfilled and our equipment rejuvenated. We did not know what was in store next. But it was action packed.

We went to the river expecting river crossing. No more than few wilderbeests on the other side. The action was in the water and not outside. There was a fierce fight b/w two Hippos over a female. The female was witnessing the fight from a distance. The bloody battle was fought for sometime and blood oozing from each of the Hippos. We waited for the battle to end. The winner chased the loser and drove him away. The loser had scars and his entire body was bleeding.

We headed back to the lodge and on the way wanted to cover the Cheetah’s and the Lions we saw on the way. Antelopes running, jumping, playing and some lazing around made our mood lighter. We saw Ground Hornbill, Hamakop, Gnus and Zebras before we reached the biggest pride. The Cheetahs were out on a walk and we could not find them on our way back.

The pride was getting ready to hunt. One of the cub with lot of enthu chased the Gnu’s and vanished out of sight, we knew that we had lost the opportunity due the proactive chase of the cub. The mother called for the cub and after few mins we were able to see the cub running back towards the pride.

It was getting dark and we were on the way back. We stopped at the 2nd pride and were all-alone with the group. Got the opportunity to shoot cubs and the lioness quenching thirst and father & son playing.

Lot of opportunities apart from mammals, like Pelicans, Raptors and more.

We were back in Sopa after dark. We had packed our luggage. I hit the bed as soon as the dinner was done. We are moving to Ashnil tomorrow.

First 2.5 hrs of Game

After crossing loyta plains our wildlife journey started officially. First to greet us were the Thomson Gazelle & Grant Gazelle. I was able to see Giraffe at a far distance. Remembered what Rajeev had told me, about able to see kms of plain land and sight an animal from that distance. What a place!!!

I did miss initial snaps, was still sinking in the air of Mara and digesting my presence in the wilderness of Africa for the second time. First appearance was Dik-dik (smallest antelope) a group of 3. Then same series of birds, mammals were the major attraction. What to shoot and what not to? This lands put you to the confusion and I was not exception. I took time to settle down.

Then came series of images. Golden light all along. It was drizzling and the saturation was fantastic. A wet Impala did not even lift his head to give me a pose, but the wetness on his texture was just awesome. The flow started, Gnus (Wilderbeest), Zebras and Topis overflowing.

We met Jackal couple that was in courtship, when we were caught by the excitement, the King relaxing near a bush. The setting was not a good one but there cameras were rolling, I could hear our shutters on the drive. While we were at it, we saw a Rhino not too far from the king. We left the king at the mercy of other visitors and were off to meet the other big 5.

While the Rhino emerged out of the bush the lilac breasted Roller gave us sometime. Our anticipation was good and proactive planning to position our van far ahead where Rhino “may” pass did pay well. The guy walked right into us and initially against the light and then into the light. What else do you need for a start? But that’s not all.

The king was waiting, he had emerged into the open and we had all the time with him as other visitors were chasing the Rhino. The nose of the Lion was broken may be due to a territorial flight. As the sun went down the horizon, we made our way to Mara Sopa. On the way we saw Hyena, Jungle Car, Bar Mongoose and Giraffe. All of this in 2.5 hrs of our game.

Mara Sopa: Mara Sopa is situated in one corner of the game reserve on a hill, between its top and the base. A great place to stay especially if you are with family, food was delicious. They served Indian food, I could not ask for more after a long tiring journey and a good initial game.

The Journey

Picking up luggage in Mumbai was not an issue as we had put the luggage for through check-in, a great relief. The transfer was faster. I felt Mumbai airport reshaping is another 5 year plan. Renovation and debris all over the place. Wonder how they maintain the security precautions in the chaos.

With custom declaration & immigration done, we were on the Kenyan airway flight to Nairobi (Jambo Keneyaata Airport) at 3.10am

The journey was tiring, similar to the previous journey to South Africa with my 1.5 yr old son (my wife suffered most in that trip). I caught up with 3 hrs of sleep and was still craving for more. Reaching Nairobi at 6.30am was easier, than getting our visas stamped. An hour and half long queue…. Ooh. We finally were out at 8.00am not before one of the Kenya security officers was too concerned about us and eat our 10mins of time.

Met Simon & Francis, Rajeev was at this regular conversation with the hosts. Kenyan traffic was not better than Bangalore. We took good an hour and half to reach the Boulevard hotel inside the city @ 9.30am. After daily chores and breakfast we were off towards Masai Mara at 10.30am.

City tour was on the way, saw Corner church & University area. Rift valley was fantastic stop over on the way. We stopped for lunch in Narok at Hotel Seasons. Good decent place with nice food, no extravaganza. Raju was off chasing crows (different from the one’s we see in India)

CGS has brought out his lighter side, his wittiness was tickling our nerves every other minute. He had renamed Raju as “Hakki Raju”, the bird (read as chick) hunter.

Flora and Fauna on the way
Simon was a full of information and never was bogged by our questions. He was patient to answer all of them for us. He introduced us to Acacia trees, Cactus trees, Umbrella acacia tree, birds – Chanting Goshok, super starling & white billed bustard. Mini twister was the specialty on the way “Dust devil” (mini twister), “Suntara gaali” in Kannada.

Date with Masai Mara….Trip Day 1

Much waited day, after all the prep work and packing I was ready for departure from home at 4.40pm. After reaching Rajeev’s home, I realized that my jacket remained at home.

Borrowed my SIL’s scooter to pick up the jacket. After the initial hiccups, we were on the way to Airport. On the way joined Raju @RT Nagar, CGS & Sandesh from Sanjaynagar. We were at the airport by 7.30pm

Getting the boarding pass was time consuming. Except Sandesh and I others got the through boarding pass from Bangalore. The two of us has to get our pass in Mumbai. The security check guys was confused about the equipment we were carrying. Was it a AK47 we carried? I was up for it having known our security system ☺ I had in my bag the following:

1. Canon 40D and 30D body
2. Canon 300mm f2.8 , 100-400mm f4.5-5.6, 28-135mm, 18-55mm lens
3. Canon 2x teleconverter
4. Chargers and accessories like memory card, card reader etc…
5. Not to mention my Mac along with it in my laptop bag

Similar but slightly bigger set of Nikons with Rajeev and Raju had the biggest of all, the Canon bazookas. We had to open up our bags at every security check we passed through. I had a smooth sail with an exception.

We filled our belly with Parotas at the airport counter before departure and were airborne by 9.35pm on Jet to Mumbai. After hovering for an hour on top of Mumbai we finally landed at 12.15am (28-Jul)

Muninagara Caves

17-May-08:
Nata and I made a quick decision to trekking to Muninagara Caves. Arpana (Nata’s wife) too joined us. We left Bangalore at 6.00 am.

We stopped at TaraLu, in a sort of hotel, run by a lady to have idlis and dosas before heading to the trek. At Muninagara, we enquired for a guide as the area is the land of elephants. We met Shivalingaiah who is the security for channel gates at the Muninagara lake. After much persuading he agreed to take us to the hill and the caves, but warned us about the dangers of the elephants in the forest. Elephants had charged the village last night breaking the forest barriers to enter the village limits. He was a bit concerned.

We were ready and walked for an hour to reach a cave at half way to the top, called “Siddhara Gavi” (meaning Saints cave). We spent sometime here and I was busy with my shutter (camera) working. After the stop, we decided to head back as Nata & Arpana was to prepare for his travel to Mysore tomorrow and Advith (Nata & Arpana’s son) was waiting for them at home, I too had to leave to Shettikere this evening. We promised ourselves to re-visit this place.

Its a easy-moderate trek. This place is a home for lot of birds, I was very disappointed of not having my bigger lens. We saw a star turtle on our way back. We were back in Bangalore at 11.00 am

Check out the panoramic view of Muninagara lake and the hills in the gallery section

Route to Muninagara: Travel on Kanakapura road till you reach Kaggalipura. At Kaggalipura take a left turn towards GuLukamale. At GuLukmale take a right towards MuKKodlu. From MuKKodlu Muninagara is just 1-2 kms.

Agara…& the lake

4-May-08:
Today, I was woken up by my bro early at 6.00am. I had no plans to get up early but then woke up and accompanied him to Agara lake on Kanakapura Road. We took the road which goes to right after the road to Valley school. This took us to the Agara, which at the end will lead to NICE road.

We were happily greated by Peacock, good number of bulbuls and other birds. Had a stop over near the lake. Check out the photos on the Gallery page.

Huluganamaradi, Nagavalli, BR Hills, Terakanambi & GS Betta

Last week I had visited Bandipur and GS betta with our boyz. This week it was around the same route but with the entire family. The group consisted of 4 generations. My grandparents, my parents, bunch of my cousins and myself and the 4th generation were kids of my brothers, sisters. My wife Rama and son Aniruddha were unable to join the tour as ‘Aniruddha’ is just 1.5 months. I was in the verge of dropping the trip but finally gathered momentum. I visited Rama on friday just to see her and the prince and was up on the next day. The tour was of two days 12 and 13th of April 08.

Day 1:
Me and my parents reached my aunts place early morning at 6.30am, after our daily chores and pooja at home. We had to wait for sometime for the rest of the troup to pick us up. They picked us up at 7.15am and we were noisly treding Mysore road. We were around 35 people including kids. It was just fresh for me from the last week’s trip.

My aunt started opening her juke box of games inside the bus and everyone njoyed the games so much none of us realized that it was time for breakfast. My uncle was fast enough to spot a nice spot for us to fill our empty stomachs. After a royal serving of uppittu and kesaribath (Spicy and sweet upma) my eldest brother demonstarted his skills on acrobats climbing a tree which the kids followed by never succeeded

Journey was up again. We stopped at Huluganamaradi temple. This temple is a old temple. I will post the history once I collate it from my mom and the recordings I got while the priest was explaining. As it was saturday there was heavy crowd in the temple due to special pooja. We spent good time seeing the Lord Venkateshwara who is situated on the hill top. The view is amazing and I have no words to explain.

After the pooja we have lunch at the temple. The priest and family were kind enough to prepare food for all of us. This temple being the home god of my uncle, the arrangements were made prior. My dad had a good walk in the burning sun (dont ask me how he does it) from the hill top to the bottom and he boarded the bus when we reached the bottom of the hill.

Next stop was Nagavalli. This is a nice small place. One of my uncle stay’s here. When we reached the place, they were waiting for us with hot bonda servings. We had enough and my equipment was out. All this while I was shooting with my kit lens.

We left for BR Hills as the gates close at 5.30 pm and we still had around 10 kms to reach that place. As soon as we entered the forest we saw peafowl, good number of magpie robin, scaly breasted woodpecker, babblers, etc…

We were greeted by wild boars and a barking deer. I could get a full frame of this guy, but before I could aim for his close up someone in the bus had a flash on and the deer disappeared. We stopped at K.Gudi temple and then at K.Gudi JLR for few mins and were off to BR hills. Nothing much happened on the way.

We had our place booked at BR Hills. After quick refreshment I went to the temple with my cousins who were now interested in birding and wildlife. I was lucky enough to carry the pallaki of Lord Ranganathaswamy (along with my dad).

Again, history I have it recorded, will update it soon. One interesting fact is that, there is a pair of slippers which is designed for the Lord. Each one of these are made by a different cobbler from a different place. But at the end both come to the same size and pattern. How? That the miracle.

This slipper is re-made every year. In a year the old one will have undergone wear and tear even though it is preserved in the glass box. Why and How? The story says that everyday the Lord wears the slippers and take a walk, which is the reason for its wear and tear. Its just amazing and surprising fact.

The day ended with some bhajan at the Lords forum, we hit the bed after dinner.

Day 2:
Started early, with everyone gathering their brushes, towels for refreshing. I was out searching for some birds. After a brief session we visited the temple again and got started to decend the hill for breakfast. On the way back we saw an asharam of a saint who maintained 13 years of silence .

Next place was even more interesting and facinating. Dr. Sudharshan has opened a hospital and school for people who live in the hills (called ‘Girijana’). This is really good. The people who are backward get lot of facility at this place and free medical treatment.

We came back to Nagavalli and left for GS Betta via Terakanambi. Terakanambi is the place where one of our family members (long ago) had taken deeksha at Sringeri temple and had become a saint. His body and soul resides in this place. We paid our regards to the great person and were moving towards GS Betta.

The forest guard recognized me immediately and we were off the way in a matter of seconds. At the temple, being a Sunday it was crowded. The priest Gopalakrishna was fast enough to greet us. I had a quick chat with the RFO and we were seen taking snaps after snaps.

It was time for us to turn back and call it a trip. On the way we still njoyed Mysore palace which was lit with all the fantastic lighting, had our dinner at Indraprasta at Mandya. Before reaching Bangalore we shared our thoughts on the trip, promised on an another one soon (how soon was a question unanswered)

We reached home at 11.30pm. The day next was the best. I could not get up but had to as I had scheduled calls. At 2.30pm I could not control my sleep so much that I dozzed off for an hour before I could continue with my official work. WFH (work from home) helps!!!

Ranganatittu, Bandipur & GS Betta

Day 1: 4-Apr-08

Once again, hitting the road at 3.30am from Bangalore was cheerful. This time it was me, Ganesha (my lil bro), Nata (my close friend, more of a bro) and Suneeth (friend of Ganesha).

As usual Ganesha and Nata were home the previous night, picked up Suneeth on the journey morning from Lalbagh west gate and was on our way towards Ranganatittu in Nata’s Zen Estilo. Took the NICE road to reach Mysore road in less than 10 minutes. It was Nata who was at the wheel. I shifted the seat when we stopped at Cafe Coffee Day on Mysore road at 4.30am. I was dam hungry and we had a brief stop to fill our stomach, should I say my stomach

Reaching Ranganatittu was not difficult at all. We were greeted by white breasted kingfishers. Me being the experienced (among the group) in identifying birds was explaining the winged beauties on the way. We were the first entrants to Ranganatittu bird santuary that day @ 6.30 am.

My equipment was out in no time and I had taken my first shoot at a black kite. Our priced catch was pied kingfisher (full frame) with cattle egret, painted stalk, pellican, spoon bill, open bill, cormorant etc… I happened to see Pramod starting his series on the boat when we were returning. All in all good start to the trip.

Next destination was Nanjangud for breakfast via Mysore. Had a stop over at Ramprasad hotel @ Nanjangud circle famous for masala dosa. We had our dose of dosa and packed off to Bandipur. On the way I spotted black and white Ibis in the paddy fields and had some brief shots.

As scheduled, we reached Bandipur JLR on time @ 12.30 pm just in time for lunch. Gangaswamy, Nataraj and Venkatesh gave us a warm welcome. We had our rooms ‘Sambar’ and ‘Gaur’ awaiting us. Me and Nata took the room at the end ‘Gaur’. I got refreshed while other had a way on my equipment shooting.

It was time for lunch and some rest. Before we even were ready it was evening and everyone geared up for the safari. With Gangaswamy taking the wheel and Pradeep guiding us in sighting.

Jungle fowl was the first we sighted, then came chital (spotted deer) and then a heard of Indian Gaur. Had some good images here. We were again lucky to find another heard of Gaur while I spotted few turtles. When the group were cribbing of no signs of elephant, behold we had a small heard in front of us, few of them crossing the deep track and vanished into the undergrowth before getting a good image.

Luckly we spotted a mother and a calf in the next few minutes who happily gave us enough time to take snaps to our heartful. Other sighting included sambar, crested hawk serpent eagle, scaly brested wood pecker and mangoose.

Day 1 ended with the boys recapping the memories of the sighting and hoping to see the majestic Tiger or the lovely leopard on day 2.

Day 2: 5-Apr-08

We were off on safari again, not much sighting to our luck today except for Indian roller, Paradise Flycatcher, few sambar and spotted deer and an elephant herd deep inside the undergrowth.

Our JLR booking was just for a day. I had to use my contacts to get something up and running for the next. Met Shankarappa the RFO and the accomodation was set for the day @ GS Betta forest guest house. We had to adjust in one room as there was construction going on at the guest house.

Kumaraswamy (forest ranger) and Kullappa (the guard) were courteous enough to serve us lunch at the guest house. We had a good walk in the jungles around the place. Then we visited the Gopalaswamy temple.

History: The temple is old. It is called Himavad Gopalaswamy (meaning lord gopalaswamy covered by snow/water) because of the fact that there is water dripping on top of Lord Krishna’s head. You can actually see water on top of the door inside the garbhagudi.

The temple was constructed by …….. (will fill the gap here) soon. There are 77 ponds surrounding the temple in a radius of 1-2 kms. It is said that in one of the ponds called “Hamsa kola” crows had a sip of water and were turned into swans. From then on there are no crows at the top of the hill and anywhere near the temple. We tried to find one but there were none

It is believed that if married women who has not had a child takes a dip in this pond she would conceive and will have a baby. This information was provided to us by none other than the priest of the temple Gopalakrishna.

Day 3: 6-Apr-08

We had our share of trekking in the path that evening and the next day morning before we bid goodbye to GS betta. On the way to Bangalore we visited Nanjundeshwara temple at Nanjangud, stopover at Kamath lokruchi for late lunch. Were in Bangalore before 7.00 pm.