RSS FeedOn a rainy day in Gudavi Bird Sanctuary
Jan 18, 2012 Birds, Karnataka, On the road, Road Trip, Shivamogga
Mid August and five days with us to spare for three of us. After countless number of lengthy discussions on places to visit and itinerary, we were still clueless on where to go. Finally, we decided to reach Goa, spend a day and come back. But with no any fixed plan on route, stop-overs, places to visit en route. That’s when we chanced upon to visit Gudavi, a small less known bird sanctuary in Shivamogga district of Karnataka.
It was almost noon, by the time we reached there. But the overcast sky and drizzles made us feel it was still 8 in the morning. As we entered the sanctuary, we were welcomed by squawking of countless number of birds. The area was completely filled with hundreds of Black headed Ibises and a few Egrets which were complete minority among Ibises. The view from the watchtower was much more beautiful – white dots sprawled all over the green scape. But only sad part was we were not able to spend more time at the place due to intermittent rain and the birds too were not happy because of the weather.
Gudavi is 15 KMs from Soraba taluk of Shivamogga district. There are no facilities to stay at the bird santuary. Nearest places for a decent accomodation are Sagar or Shivamogga. Along with Gudavi, near by places of interests – Keladi, Banavasi, and of course the well known Jog falls.
Kashmir, in slow motion
Apr 20, 2011 Bike Trip, Guest Post, Kashmir
This is a guest post by Harshad Sharma, a professional photographer, a software developer and a motorcycle tourer based out of Ahmednagar. Harshad shares his experiences during his bike ride to Ladakh.
Motorcycle tours are my drug. I can’t do without a decently long tour every once in a while. And last year, I had the chance to undertake the ride of a lifetime – travel with my buddies through Ladakh. We would be passing through Jammu and Kashmir regions on the way, but since we were following advice form many travelers who had been to Leh, we had no plans to spend any time in between.
Our plan was a fast-paced ride through everywhere else and spend more time in Leh and around. However, as any adventure goes – plans have to scrapped and re-made often. We started from Srinagar on day 3 and reached Sonamarg valley around 3pm, stopped for lunch.
Drass was our target for the day, however barely 4 km away from Sonamarg, we were stopped at Nilagrath checkpoint and informed that the Zojila pass was closed for civilians for the day. We were an hour late and would have to spend a day in the tiny settlement.
Two among the four of us were unhappy, two welcomed the change. We went walking up on the road. Chatted with locals at a restaurant. I got the opportunity to make some of the best images of the whole journey during this slowed down time. We had absolutely nothing to do and since we were barely three days into the trip, we didn’t have much to talk about either – so we kept roaming about, exploring hills around Nilagrath.
As the sun finally decided it was time to shine elsewhere, I was ready with my camera to capture the golden hour – something I had missed photographing previously since we were riding from noon to late into the night. Turned out Nature had plans to make me happy, very happy!
Also got this photograph of a full moon rising just as the sun cast out its last rays on the mountain peaks.
Went back to Sonamarg for dinner, as we had already decided we ordered only the local delicacies. On getting back, I couldn’t resist the urge for some night photography. The full moon lighting up a stream flowing just beside our guest house made for a beautiful 30 second exposure.
We finally decided to let the journey take its time, and it probably was the best change in our plan. Witnessing new lands in slow motion is a great way to enjoy the trip and make lasting memories.
Harshad Sharma with complete gear during his bike ride to Ladakh. He has been to Leh and back from Maharashtra, till Central India (Nagpur) to the east, and till Bangalore and Chennai in South. He frequently travels distances of 300-400 kilometers a day for photography assignments. You can find more about him at http://harshadsharma.com.
Photographs by Harshad Sharma
Celebrating Five years
Apr 14, 2011 Others
April 2006, that was when I wrote the first post on Payaniga – about my first ever bike ride to Shivanasamudra. When I published that ride log, I never thought that one day ride would take me on a such a long journey.
On this long journey, I got to know many like minded people, met some wonderful people, had a chance to travel with them, got inspired by them. And not to forget the readers who have supported all along. I am thankful to all you wonderful people out there.
To mark this milestone, I will publishing five guest posts in the week. Read along the stories by fellow travellers which will follow. (I can imagine how these five guys are cursing me for all the pestering I did to get these articles).
And on a side note, along with writing here in English I have started Kannada version of Payaniga too. In case if you know Kannada and like to read the travelogues in Kannada, head over here.
Update: Here are the guest posts -
- On the Chola trail – Lakshmi Sharath
- The King and I – Radha Rangarajan
- Kashmir, in slow motion – Harshad Sharma
- The Ancientness of Orchha – Arun Bhat
- Rafting at Kaudiyala, Uttarakhand – Mridula Dwivedi
Follow PAYANIGA on Facebook | Twitter to keep yourselves updated.
Pristine Kundadri Hills
Feb 18, 2011 Karnataka, On the road, Road Trip, Shivamogga, Western ghats
During my four day trip to places around Shivamogga and Chikkamagalur, I managed to pay visit to Kundadri hill. It was almost four in the evening when we reached Kundadri village at the foothills. After a steep drive up the hill on a narrow road, we were at the top enjoying the panaromic view.
Kundadri gets its name after Kundakundacharya, a jain sage who said to be performed penance over there. There is a jain basadi (temple) atop which was constructed in 17th century. The basadi has small statue of 3 ft of ‘Parshvanatha’, the twenty-third Tirthankara in Jainism. Architecturally the temple is too simple, but a siginificant place for Jain pilgrims.
What used to be a attracting place for trekking, Kundadri has turned into a sunrise/sunset point after the roads were built recently. Slowly the place is attracting more and more people & turning out to be Nandi hills of that part of the country. There was calmness, peace and out in the nature when we reached there & we were the only ones at that time. Soon after, place started getting swarmed, people shouting around, music blaring from all directions. We decided to move out much before we intended to stay there. Hope the same pristineness stays for ever! Sigh!!
