Trip to Ranganathittu

Ranganathittu is a really small bird sanctuary close to Mysore, a few kilometers off the Bangalore-Mysore route. I had a chance to visit it recently when I was in Bangalore and had a day free. It took about 2.5 hours to reach in the rented Indica (cost me about 1.8 k for the entire day trip) in really hot weather.

Ranganathittu is little more than a lake with multiple tiny islands on which multiple species of rare water birds nest every year. The safari consists of buying a ticket on a rowboat that takes you on a 20 minute trip around the islands so you can look at the birds up close. I thought it worthwhile and rented an entire boat for myself (and my mum, who accompanied me) and tipped the reluctant oarsman to give me a better, longer tour of the lake in an open boat (all other boats had a roof severely limiting the view).

In spite of the time of day (it was mid-afternoon), I was able to see quite a few birds and their young ones in the open. The most prolific species appeared to be the open-billed storks and the painted storks, with the great egrets coming in a close third. Other interesting birds spotted included the ibis, night heron, the cattle egret, the moorhen, darter, and assorted kingfishers.

All in all, it was an excellent experience being able to get so close to these beautiful birds. It'sa pretty nice place to visit when you're around Bangalore or Mysore. And be sure not to put your hand in the water when you're in the boat - there's a large number of marsh crocodiles in there.

Photos from my trip on Flickr here...

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Goa in August

I think I'll make this sort of an annual pilgrimage - Goa at the end of the rains. The crowds have not come in yet, and the tourist places are just starting to spruce up in anticipation of the hordes of tourists expected. I stayed at a place called Marbella , in Sinquerim, with 4 other friends.

Some photos -

Click here for all photos.

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Goa Trip

Ennui, and stress forced me to take a short vacation in September. While I originally intended to travel some place remote, I realized I didn’t have enough time to plan it. So I ended up going to Goa instead, alone.

While I've been to Goa several times in the past, most trips have been related to work, and followed a standard pattern - reach Goa early morning, meet up with clients/distributors, and catch the bus back to Mumbai in the evening. The other type of Goa trip involved hectic travel to cove as many beaches as possible in the shortest period of time (and the maximum number of temples and churches too). I intended this trip to be different - restful and without an agenda. I got delayed reaching Mapusa because roads were flooded on account of the heavy rains, and reached Baga only post noon. First thing I did even before I found a place to stay was plonk myself down at St. Anthony's beachfront restaurant and stuff myself. Wandering around for a bit allowed me to find a clean lodging place a short distance from the beach and a bit of bargaining got me a clean AC room for Rs.600 a day. It certainly helped that it was off-season, and prices were low and accommodation was easily available. Baga and Calangute are very close to each other and there are a large number of lodges and hotels along this stretch. 

I spent the next 3 days lazing around on the beach, on the beach front, or on long walks around Baga. I relaxed stretched out on a comfortable chair on the beach with a good book in hand and good food and beer on a table beside me. I ate hearty breakfasts at Infantaria (the bananas with honey are excellent), lunched at random restaurants whenever I felt like it, and dined at St.Anthony's. I played pool at Mambo's (a popular nightspot with theme nights), tried pastries at Britto's, and watched a bunch of foreigners karaoke at St.Anthony's. I hired pilots (motorcycle taxis) to take me to Fort Aguada and the Chapora fort and watched the Brahminy kites and Indian vultures dive at each other in the clear blue sky.

I went to Panjim the last day of my stay and wandered around Patto for a while before catching a bus back to Mumbai. I did have to run around like crazy before I could reconfirm my 'already confirmed' bus tickets, but that's another story.

But to all my friends and acquaintances that think it's a ridiculous idea travelling to Goa alone, do try it once; you might learn more - about Goa and about yourself, than you would otherwise would.

[Some photos on Flickr]

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Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Panchmarhi

I managed a much-needed break last month - after three months of planning and scheduling, me and my friends Mandar and Girish went on a 10-day trip to Madhya Pradesh. Our three planned destinations were Bandhavgarh, Kanha, and Panchmarhi. Now that I'm back, I realize I'm going to cherish this trip forever.

You might know that Bandhavgarh and Kanha are Tiger reserves - while Bandhavgarh is a small place, Kanha is huge and spread over 1945 sq. kilometers. You'll realize these dimensions mean nothing when you're actually in there; it is actually possible to get lost in there and even face mortal peril from wild life. Tigers, leopards, jackals, wild dogs, bear, enough to never let you relax even in the relative comfort of your open jeep. It certainly does not make you feel better that nothing prevents the animals from walking over to your open vehicle and grabbing a bite of you, while the driver and guide are not even carrying sticks for protection. But,as I realized, the animals prefer their own, and seem to be least bothered by the human intervention. And for the tiger, well, 40 screeching jeeps carrying over 150 screaming people might just be another parakeet in a tree. S/he goes about routine tasks like there's no one around.

We managed to spot a tigress both the days we were in Bandhavgarh. (Bad light and a frantic rush to take photographs, combined with amateur photography skills and the euphoria of the moment have ensured that none of the tiger photos are good). B2, the alpha male at Bandhavgarh, as well as leopards remained elusive. We spotted an adult male tiger on our last safari in Kanha as well.

Both locations are home to a large variety of birds, and we managed to make the most of it by spotting and identifying over 57 different ones. (Thanks go out to Tanya for lending me a pair of excellent binoculars and a copy of Salim Ali's definitive book on Indian birds.) [Some bird photos here.]

One highlight of the Bandhavgarh safari was being witness to a pack of wild dogs hunting. The dogs sort of lost interest in the hunt after a while and settled down on the road allowing us to take photographs to our heart's content.

We ended the tour with Panchmarhi, a hill station that turned out to be a major disappointment. This place does not have much to offer, and what it has seems to be in very bad shape thanks to a combined effort by the government and vandals.

[All photos here.]

Route: Mumbai - Katni - Bandhavgarh - Kanha - Panchmarhi (via Jabalpur) - Pipariya - Mumbai

Tips:

#Accommodation is easily available at both Bandhavgarh and Kanha. Most of these places come cheaper if you negotiate on the spot rather than call and book in advance. We stayed at Mowgli Jungle Resorts in Bandhavgarh (Excellent) and the MPT Dormitory in Kanha (desolate, scary, beautiful).

#Nothing much to do other than admire the work of vandals in Panchmarhi.

#Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation has good hotels in all these places, can't say much about catering though.

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Road Trip Through Himachal Pradesh

This might seem like an anti-climax - after all the hype and hoopla about going to Nepal and all the planning and thinking, I never went to Kathmandu because the Royal Nepal Airlines insisted on me requiring a valid passport, which sadly, I don't. So in spite of the the Nepalese immigration authorities telling me that a valid PAN card was good enough, the airlines refused to budge, and I had to cancel my trip.

Since my tickets to Delhi were already booked and non-refundable, I decided on the alternate - trip through Himachal Pradesh. Me and my friends hired an Innova (expensive, but comfortable) from Delhi and took off Saturday night. After an overnight drive we reached Dalhousie,which turned out to be an extremely pretty, small town with unpredictable weather. I considerably enjoyed walking around the town.

Tips - Hotels are very cheap this time of the year, less than half regular fare - very nice church and very well maintained church garden.

After a day in Dalhousie we drove to Dharamsala, also making a trip to McLeodganj. We visited the Buddhist monastery in McLeodganj late in the afternoon, completing the day with hot tea beside the Dal lake.

Tips - Buying trinkets in Dharamsala/McLeodganj is expensive if you can't bargain

We drove from Dharamsala to Manali, reaching there around 3 in the morning. Manali was a shopping haven, and I bought a large number of gifts (shawls and stoles) for family and friends. We made a short trip to Pirdi, near Kullu, where my friends went river-rafting (while poor 'ol me with the fractured wrist sat in the car taking photos of pretty birds). We made another trip to Rohtang the next day, taking around 3.5 hours to drive through the treacherous twists and turns in the road. It had just started snowing when started, and was a scary snowstorm when we reached there. Again, while my friends made an extremely painful, pony trek in the freezing weather and near-zero visibility, I stayed warm and comfy in the car. The journey back was quite slow but we made it back in one piece.

Tips - Manali is COLD, take lots of warm clothing - Kashmiri Pashmina and Kullu shawls available in Manali are excellent - Amigo's, the German bakery is a great brunch place - definitely eat hot Maggi noodles when at Rohtang

We traveled from Manali to Shimla, spending the day in Shimla walking around, watching the handsome colonial buildings, and shopping for wooden trinkets at Lakkar Bazaar.

Tips - The Embassy restaurant on Mall road is an excellent place to eat, and the proprietor is very kind, helpful, and nice to talk to - definitely have a drink at the Oberoi Cecil - walking rather than driving is a better option in Shimla

We had originally planned to stay in Chail for a day, having read that Chail has a nature park. But Chail turned out to be a very quiet, middle-of-nowhere village with very few tourist destinations. We visited the Kali temple on the hill and the world's highest maintained cricket ground in Chail and drove on to Kasauli.

Tips - Monkey menace in Chail, don't leave anything outside - the woods are teeming with many different species of fauna, for those who have good lenses and can differentiate between them

Having reached Kasauli in the evening, we first looked for accommodation and settled on the relatively expensive Hotel Maurice. The rooms were large and luxurious, giving us an idea of the luxuries the British must have enjoyed when Kasauli was a colonial summer resort in the early 1900s.

Tips - Kasauli is really small, and most structures are worth observing - other heritage hotels are the Alasia and Ros Commons - Monkey point is a tiring climb, don't carry anything the monkeys can snatch

We drove back to Delhi from Kasauli and spent the day shopping at Palika Bazaar and then topped it off with an excellent meal at Galina at Gole Park. After this scrumptious end to the trip, we flew back to Bombay in the evening and I have since resumed the pretense of work.

For others who might be interested in a trip like this -
1. Some of my photos can be seen here.
2. The total distance we traveled in 7 days was 1800 kilometers.
3. September is the best time to go - it's not gotten really cold yet.
4. September-October are considered off-season; you can get accommodation really cheap.
5. WARM CLOTHING!
6. Carry a good camera and a telephoto lens and you will get some excellent nature shots.

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Travel Advice?

After weeks of planning and delaying, it is official. Tickets have been bought, and I'm going to Kathmandu on vacation for a week. Wide open spaces and clean air ought to do me good.

Any advice on places to visit and things to do welcome!

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Kayaking anyone?

Ecomantra is the name of the company that organizes eco-friendly trips to a variety of locations in India. I happened to go on one such trip last weekend, and it was a blast. I started with kayaking (fun, fun, fun, ache, ache, ache), made a short trek to the extremely secluded and pretty Sukeli falls, and attended a snake awareness program, where I was allowed to hold a variety of snakes. I also managed to get some good photos of the local flora and fauna during the trek. See my pictures here.

This trip is extreme fun - no luxurious rooms, vegetarian food, and no booze/cigarettes. The accommodation is basic - rooms smell damp in the monsoon, few mosquitoes, an occasional frog in the room/loo. The dining room is also the boathouse, and overlooks the Kundalika river. This is also one of the few places that offer you a chance to go white-water rafting, though I didn't get to.

The owners are extremely passionate to the cause of preserving the ecological balance and actively involved in the cause.

I really recommend this trip to all those interested in an 'active' vacation, and be sure to carry painkillers...

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Weekend trip to Murud

I took advantage of the long weekend to take a long-awaited trip to Murud-Janjira. I had a good time, so what if I didn't get to catch up on lost sleep. Here are a few snaps -

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