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.
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!!
Blackbucks of Maidanahalli
Dec 26, 2010 Karnataka, One day outing, Road Trip, Tumkur, Wildlife
From my long list of places-to-visit list, I managed to tick one more place. The blackbucks reserve in Maidanahalli in Tumkur district (official name: Jayamangali Blackbucks Reserve) was in my list for a long time. With close to 800 acres of grasslands, Maidanahalli in Madhugiri taluk is the second largest Blackbucks (Indian Antelopes / Antelope cervicapra / Krishna Mriga) reserve in terms of population (after Ranebennur Blackbucks reserve).
I was following the directions which I had noted down from the internet. But even after the confirmation on the directions to the reserve from the local people, I was bit skeptical. There was no signs of any grasslands. Just couple of kilometers from the reserve the open fields appeared out of no-where. It’s just plain fields out there – till as far as you can see. The reserve is open to everyone with no clear-cut boundaries or fence to protect the Antelopes. That means along with the reserve its also grazing area for the cattle. Absolutely no protection to this provincial animal of India.
How to reach:
Bangalore – Tumkur – Koratagere – Madhugiri – take Hindupur road – Puruavara (10Kms from Madhugiri) – turn left on ID Halli road – turn right (after 8 KMs) where the board says ‘Jayamangali Blackbucks Reserve’.
Alternatively, turn right at Dabaspet, take Koratagere road. This would bypass Tumkur, but be prepared for bad roads. As a consolation, you would get to enjoy the tatte idly though.
Photos from The Lake district
Sep 10, 2010 England, Lake District, Photo Essay, Road Trip, UK
During the road trip last April; I spent a day and half driving around Lake District, stopping now and then to enjoy the nature. As the name says, the place is full of lakes. We passed numerous lakes, Lake Windermere and Lake Ullswater being larger ones.
