PAYANIGA » Photoshoot

In Search of Tippu Drop

Prashanth — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 10:11:00 +0000

Last journey of year 2007 & my first visit to Nandi hills. Travel plan to Nandi was decided on the previous day at 9.30 PM. And our plan was to reach the top by 6-6.15 to catch glimpse of Sunrise. But we were late in starting reached Nandi only at 7.45. End result along with Sunrise, we missed the misty moring.

Bird’s eye view

Leaves & clear blue sky
As soon as we got down, all four of us split and roamed around aimlessly for almost an hour before regrouping for breakfast. After filling our stomach it was time for us to explore the place – Yoganandeeshwara temple, Tippu drop, Nellikayi basavanna & then a quick nap at the view point ;)

Another view from top

FlowerI missed the mist covered mountain top. May be I’ll go there to catch them.

How to reach:

There are different routes to reach Nandi hills – via Doddaballapur & Devanahalli. Suggest you to go via Devanahalli as the road conditions are better.

Similar One Day Outings from Bangalore:

A Short Trek to Achalu Betta

Prashanth — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:15:00 +0000

The story dates back to Aug 2006, when I came across some nice photos of this small hillock Achalu betta (or Achchalu) on DKM’s blog. Collected information from DKM on how to reach the place & four of us started in a car. It was nice drive on the country-side & we took our own time to reach the place. We had a small pit-stop en-route near a village where SJ got busy shooting birds. Rest of us had a nice time talking to the village kids who were helping their parents in the farm. And then we packed breakfast at Kanakapura & proceeded towards Achalu.

Achalu is a small sleepy village just 15 KMs after Kanakapura. Just as we enter the village, there is a small pond; but there was no water when we were there. TO reach the foot of the hill one need to cross the village along a narrow lane. When we asked an elderly villager for directions, he called a small kid to show us the way. Two of his friends joined him and they were our guides for the whole day.

We parked the car at the foot of the hill. Finished our breakfast & started the climb. To reach the peak it takes around 1.5 to 2 hours. Achalu betta is a rocky hill covered mostly of shrubs. There is a Muneshwara temple & a Nandi statue at the top & hilltop offers a panoramic view of the landscape. On the way up, we stopped many times for taking snaps & spent an hour at the top listening to the stories told by our little guides about the village & festival that happens every year at the top.

Getting down was easier & took less time. Bid adieu to the three musketeers & in less than 2 hours time we were back stuck in a traffic jam in Bangalore.

A date with the migratory birds

Prashanth — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:06:00 +0000

Instead of trekking at Kumara Parvata on a winter Saturday morning, we were driving down towards Mysore for a lazy weekend get-away. Our initial plan was to go on a trek to KP and 8 of my colleagues were ready when it was announced. That was a week before the execution day. Come Friday, headcount came down to 2 – me and Shashank. As both of us had a weekend to spare, we were eying to visit lakes of Mysore* and photo-shoot the birds. Raghavendra Ananthanarayana (RA) came out with a suggestion of driving down his car. Thus began our lazy weekend.

We took our own time to reach Mysore, with a breakfast stop near Maddur. We killed time watching TV and overturning few magazines at RA’s place. Headed towards Lingabudhi lake by 3PM after lunch. A park is being maintained around the lake by forest department & we had wait for an hour out side as entry is only after 4.30PM. Straight we headed towards the other end of the lake in search of birds.

We weren’t disappointed at Lingambudhi lake. There were plenty of birds – Pelicans, Stilts, Swallows, Sandpipers. We spent a good 2 hours, witnessed a beautiful sunset and returned. Hit bed early after a sumptuous dinner as we planned for visiting Ranganatittu bird sanctuary early in the morning next day.

We got up early and were at Ranganatittu bird sanctuary by 6.30AM, but we were too early again for the second time. Sanctuary opens only at 8.30. As we had 2 hours time we went to Nimishamba temple in Srirangapatna and returned by 8.30. We hired a boat for 20 minutes. Ranganatittu is a real heaven during Jan-Mar duration. Where ever you turn, you can see plenty of flying friends. Since these birds are used to tourists and know there is no danger for them, one can go as near as 5-10 meters. It was a real treat to watch them – Painted storks, Asian open bills, Spoonbills, Night herons, River terns, Egrets etc.

After having breakfast at the sanctuary restaurant, we headed back to Mysore. After a quick visit to Jaganmohan palace museum (No photos as cameras are not allowed), we started our journey back towards Bangalore. Just as we reached Maddur, Shashank suggested a quick visit to Kokkare Bellur. Just after Maddur, we took a deviation and a bumpy travel for 12 KMs took us to Kokkare Bellur. The season had just started, again there were plethora of Painted storks & Pelicans. All of them reaching home as Sun was getting ready to retire for the day. A short roam-around, and then back to the car. Stopped for coffee at Channapatna and reached home by 8PM after a wonderful drive on Mysore road.

So that was the date with those flying friends.

* Shruthi has some nice photos of lakes of Mysore – here & here

Wayanad – Day 3

Prashanth — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:11:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 @ Wayanad

We got up a little bit late on Sunday. Got ready and headed towards Meppadi. Our first destination – Chembra peak, which is the highest peak in Wayanad, at 2100m above sea level. Trekking to the top takes 3-5 hours depending on the trekker. We took 4 hours to reach the top, including an hours break for photo-shoot & resting.

Initial 25% of the trek is very steep. And we have to walk through the bushes. Luckily we were there just 2 weeks after the rainy seasons & were spared by leeches. We stopped at half way mark, the Heart shaped lake & spent more than half an hour. It was a very clear sky, with scaattered clouds here & there. Chembra was giving us chance to enjoy the view from up above.

We put on our backpacks and headed towards the top. the fonal stretch of about 20-25% is also bit steep. And we reached the summit around 1PM. We stayed there for almost an hour – Shashank got busy clicking & I took a short nap :D. View from the top was awesome. It was almost 2PM and we were hungry as we had a light breakfast in the morning and few bread slices while trekking.

Descent was very quick we took less than 2 hours to come down. We had a late lunch @ Meppadi and headed towards Soochippara falls. In this place, one has to walk down for a kilometer to reach the falls. Though we were tired, we went down to the falls. Sat there in silence watching the water flowing down. It was a refreshing thing to do, just sit and watch.

From there, returned to our base-camp, Shashi’s place. Packed our luggage, bid Shashi & his family adieu. Caught an overnight Kerala transport bus to Bangalore.

Still there are plenty of places which we didn’t visit like Kuruva dweep, Pakshi patalam, Meenmutty falls. But with a good experienced driver Sathish, we were able to visit lot of places in three days. He knows Wayanad region like back of his hand, he took us through lot of short-cuts which saved us a lot of traveling time. If you happen to visit Wayanad in future & plan to hire a jeep, then let me know Sathish is the best person for that. I can give you his contact details.

Kerala, I’ll be back soon. thats for sure :)

Wayanad – Day 2

Prashanth — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:30:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 | Day 2 @ Wayanad | Day 3
The night was cold. We got up early and were ready for another safari. It was misty & visibility was very less. Soon mist cleared away and made way for Sun rays. Sighted same species of animals – Deers, wild elephants, and plenty of peafowl. We were not lucky enough to see a tiger. A group who started 15 minutes before us the previous day had seen a tiger.

From there we started towards Banasura dam. We stopeed at Sulthan Batheri & paid a visit to a ruined Jain temple in the middle of the city. We had lunch in Batheri and proceeded towards Banasura dam. This is also another tourist place being promoted by Kerala Tourism Dept. They have recently started speed-boating in the back-waters. But no photography allowed :(

We spent almost an hour at Banasura dam. We got extra boating as not many tourists were there at that time. From there we headed towards Kuruva dweep. But we were late to reach there. Kuruva dweep closed by 5.15-5.30 PM. And we reached there by 4.15PM. One hour is nit sufficient for the island. Hence we kept that place for our next visit and changed our plan to go on a safari in Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary.

Change of plans to go on a safari in Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary turned out to be a wise idea. I happened to have a life-time experience. We got mock-charged by a wild elephant. We saw a herd of Indian Bison, a herd of wild elephants – 11 in size. They got disturbed by our presence on that pleasant evening and an elephant mocked to chase us.

After the exciting safari we started back towards our base camp, Kalpetta. It was a roller-coster day. Wild safari, visit to a temple, speed-boating and another wild safari, getting mock-charged by an angry wild elephant.Reached Kalpetta in time for dinner. Discussed next plan with Sathish, gulped down the food and hit the bed.

Wayanad – Day 1

Prashanth — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:31:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | Day 1 @ Wayanad | Day 2 | Day 3

We woke up to chirping sound of birds. It was a welcome break from the busy day schedule. Went for a small walk with cameras dangling around our neck. There were plenty of birds around us.

When we came back, Sathish (our jeep driver for the next three days) was waiting for us. We told him all the places that we wish to visit, and he promised us to show maximum number of places with enough time for us to spend in those places.

In Wayanad region, all the tourist places are scattered acroos the district. Hence one has to travel a lot, its more like a chicken run. And better suited vehicle for that area is a Jeep. Out first stop was Vythri view point. From Kalpetta town, after 10-12 KMs starts ghat section which takes one to Calicut. View from this place is awesome. One can see the twisty roads down below & vehicles crawling like ants one behind the other.

From there we went to Pookoot lake. We decided to walk around the lake instead of boating and spent more than 2 hours. Shashank got busy shooting birds and I took photos of water lilies. From there we startedtowards Edakkal caves. En route Edakkal, we visited Karapuzha dam. It is still under construction. But still there was some water to attract some birds. After a short photoshoot there, we started towards Edakkal.

Edakkal is the place where prehistoric rock etchings are found on the walls of these caves. The Petroglyphs in Edakkal caves dates back to 1000BC. The caves are some where in the middle of the Ambukuthimala. One has to doa bit of hiking to reach the caves. And the Ambukuthimala peak is further high ad steep. Since we were running out of time for the safari in Muthanga wildlife santuary, we decided against going to peak & headed towards Muthanga.

We reached Muthanga wildlife santuary in time for the safari. We dumped our luggages in the wood-house and plunged in to the forest to have look at the wildlife. We spotted plenty of deers, a herd wild boars, and a lone tusker munching supper. We watched him having food for more than 10 minutes. He got bored and went inside. We returned to our rented wood-house. Retired to bed early after a quick dinner. Day was great, I was enjoying every second of it.

A wonderland called Wayanad

Prashanth — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:56:00 +0000

Journey to Kerala | At Wayanad – Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

When PV said he is getting married and that too in Guruvayur, Kerala, I was happy at the thought of getting a chance to travel to Kerala. Marriage was on Nov 30th, Thursday. Shashank & I charted out the plans, take two days off to make it a 4 day weekend – one day in Guruvayur, attend the marriage. Then head back to Wayanad to spend remaining three days.

After a hectic day at office, we started from B’lore on Nov 29th, Wednesday at 10PM. PV’s friends were also to accompany us during the onward journey. Travel was slow, long and quite restful. I slept most of the journey. It was almost noon next when we reached Guruvayur. After a quick refreshment, we wished PV & his new partner and out sight-seeing in Guruvayur. The place was crowded, as it was the season of Ayyappa devotees. Due to lack of time & heavy crowd, we skipped visiting the temple of Guruvayurappan. And started towards Wayanad by 4PM. Journey to Wayanad was again spent sleeping in the vehicle. We reached Kalpetta, district headquartes of Wayanad district. Reached Shashi’s (my relative) place, where we stayed for the next three days.

I was totally happy to be back to the land of tea estates, to the land of banana chips & coconut oil, to God’s real own country, back to mother nature. After three years, I was in Kerala again.

Bird watching @ Manchanabele

Prashanth — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:38:00 +0000

When Shashank asked me whether I want to join him for a bird shooting @ Manchanabele, I immediately said yes. Eventhough I didn’t had proper equipment to shoot birds, I joined him as it had been a long time since I went out on a bike ride.
About Manchanabele dam:
Its a less known, small water dam approximately 40-45KMs from Bangalore and the dam is built across river Arkavati. This is a nice place for bird-watchers with plenty of resident and few migratory birds.

On that lovely Saturday morning (11th Nov, 2006), we started off around 6.30 on two bikes – Shashank on his Fiero and me on my Pulsar. Soon we were rolling on beautiful Mysore road (SH17). On the way we bought snacks & water for breakfast as no food is available at the dam so early. Took a right near Rajarajeshwari Dental college which leads to the famous ‘Big Banyan Tree’. When wereached the banyan tree, not many visitors were there as it was too early. We proceeded toward Manchanabele, which is another 8-10KMs from Banyan tree.

We reached the place around 8AM, with few stops on the way to shoot birds. It was a great learning experience for me. Birds watching and their life was kind of totally new world to me. Shashank was patient enough to answer my queries and stupid questions. Except for one or two Brahminy Kite shots, I was just a bird watcher and watching Shashank capturing birds. We stayed there till 2 in the afternoon. And took the same route to reach home back exhausted, but content with the day’s learning & experience.

Here are some beautiful, awesome photos captured by Shashank on that day.

Birds sighted:

Brahminy Kite
Green bee-eater
Pied Kingfisher
Swift
Purple-rumped Sunbird
White-browed Bulbul
Indian Robin
Pied Bushchat
Oriental Skylark
Woolly-necked Stork
Black Drongo
Red-wattled Lapwing
Golden Oriole
Brahminy Starling