tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16245686474962625792024-03-13T18:20:08.793-07:00.............................. Explore and Conserve................................Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-84054899115281505242020-07-06T13:44:00.021-07:002020-07-08T22:12:20.496-07:00Tiger - The Stripes- The Awe...<div style="text-align: justify;"><o:p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </o:p><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRibYD9kzinvfxhmVWUlhCQxaaEtSEIAEz_8aczbj9daz6z2csk6XL6rGZn-QQtWpj2ZRQxvC0ULp0lG0jpouOdCICPtphyphenhyphen5Ol2b7BiPjzOvavVJ3TzjSmULvyMhmEy22pL7XnD5JNGes/s1601/Open.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1601" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRibYD9kzinvfxhmVWUlhCQxaaEtSEIAEz_8aczbj9daz6z2csk6XL6rGZn-QQtWpj2ZRQxvC0ULp0lG0jpouOdCICPtphyphenhyphen5Ol2b7BiPjzOvavVJ3TzjSmULvyMhmEy22pL7XnD5JNGes/w640-h424/Open.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I’m penning down this blog – a
deviation from my regular excursion related blogs, to showcase importance of
tigers in our ecosystems and the method of estimating their population. Having
associated with the prestigious Wildlife Institute Of India in project tiger, I
have tried to explain in very simple and non technical terms the process of population estimation
of tigers and the challenges involved during the exercise. Hope you will
appreciate tigers for ecological role they play along with it’s beauty, after
going through the blog…</div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Let’s get started……<o:p></o:p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwHz8nLgq4sc8iQlUbU3KvjsZTG2mCqTzTD5v9P5MWNkF2wmtXHyN4cxzfzkFQyA4IY5CitkJWUt8gzJaF6wb7PJPBmGiPP19hyphenhyphenmmU_ia_Q48J3_nWq4Qxd82KCnK4yPdopWWYWePhdo/s481/1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMwHz8nLgq4sc8iQlUbU3KvjsZTG2mCqTzTD5v9P5MWNkF2wmtXHyN4cxzfzkFQyA4IY5CitkJWUt8gzJaF6wb7PJPBmGiPP19hyphenhyphenmmU_ia_Q48J3_nWq4Qxd82KCnK4yPdopWWYWePhdo/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font face="georgia"><i><b>Mowgli and "Sher Khan" from our childhood</b></i></font></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />We aptly remember from childhood
memories, the rather infamous “<b>Sher Khan</b>” from Kipling’s Jungle book. He is
depicted as a strong and intimidating animal of the forest, who, by his
dominating presence sends other animals into hiding. A sense of apprehension would
behold us when there was a tense faceoff between “<b>Sher Khan</b>” and Mowgli. Though
“<b>Sher Khan</b>” was portrayed as villain animal who troubles Mowgli and his
friends, still we loved and admired his character.The “<b>Sher Khan</b>” or <b>Tiger</b> has
always mesmerized humans by its enthralling beauty from historical times. The big
cat with its beautiful stripped coat, strong jaws, knife like teeth, majestic
walk and thundering roar has always been man’s synonym for strength and courage.
Humans have has always had an intrinsic connection with tigers from time
immemorial. Be it the curious visits to Zoo’s – where <span style="text-align: left;">our eyes eagerly searched
for tiger’s cage, or the entertaining visits to Circus – when seeing the
performance of tigers brought an awe of excitement in audience. In recent times
where tigers have become brand ambassadors/mascots of many sport events,
marketing products, even political party symbols!!.. The animal has always
garnered our respect and admiration. We Indians have an affectionate cultural
link with tigers. We worship them as Vehicle of Gods/Goddesses, they are considered
as elder brothers in many parts of nation. And of-course tigers have always
found place in our bed time stories. Thus, having keen interest, admiration and
curiosity towards this anim</span><span style="text-align: left;">al is very obvious for most of us.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Tiger, for being so magnificent is national
animal of 5 nations including India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and South Korea and
Vietnam. </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">For a lay man, tiger is just
another animal living in forests. His definition of <span style="text-align: left;">tiger ends with </span><o:p style="text-align: left;"></o:p><span style="text-align: left;">describing it as beautiful, strong, colorful, dangerous and some other words
of praise towards the animal. While the gesture of admiring the tiger by taking
its photographs, visiting forests for safaris or voicing concern towards tigers
on social media pages to show your appreciation for national animal is noteworthy
to gain some attention but when we talk about tigers from an ecological point
of view it takes more of science than rhetoric to understand the needs of tiger
from ecological sense and perils they are facing. Tiger- being on top of food
chain has a pivotal role in maintaining the fragile ecological balance. They
have an average life span of 12-15 years. With gestation period of nearly 110 days,
tigers give birth to an average of 3/4 cubs at once. They are nocturnal and
solitary in nature. Tigers are highly territorial and mark their territory with
urine sprays, faecal deposition (Scent marking). Habitat of tiger varies from
flat lands, rugged terrains to high altitude snow bound areas of Arunachal
Pradesh. Also tigers are found in marshy lands of Sunderbans, which has
mangroves forests. The intrinsic relation tiger shares with fellow creatures of
forest is very essential in maintaining the delicate balance of natural systems
like vegetation, prey population, river system, soil health etc.</span></p><p></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCFxHeDl2Dxop6MxP4eLAkJCYpgsj11L32ecpiq3y73C2m1IDIIJ-wDFrqQ79gLCGM5Qd1JztWpyAP742ieGmu3GrB0VlTb7HufPT4P49Xd9v26YKr8i5k49QMTpmL9KFT_LVlo4c37I/s1113/Classification3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="717" data-original-width="1113" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCFxHeDl2Dxop6MxP4eLAkJCYpgsj11L32ecpiq3y73C2m1IDIIJ-wDFrqQ79gLCGM5Qd1JztWpyAP742ieGmu3GrB0VlTb7HufPT4P49Xd9v26YKr8i5k49QMTpmL9KFT_LVlo4c37I/w400-h258/Classification3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Scientific Classification</i></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Tigers
are scientifically known as “Panthera Tigris”. India has population of Royal
Bengal Tigers. IUCN regards them as “<b>Endangered</b>” species. Tigers are found in
more than 10 countries, but India holds highest population of “Wild Tigers”. Global
population of “wild Tigers” is somewhere between 3500-4000, and more than 70%
of this are found in India. Hence, the onus of protecting and saving this animal
from extinction is largely on our shoulders. Tigers have been in peril since
historic times. Often it is guessed that at the beginning of 19<sup>th</sup>
century there were nearly 40,000 tigers in India. From pre independence days
when they were shot down as “Game” to post independence era, the killing of
tigers for various needless reasons continues unabated. Tigers have reduced
from more than 90% of their historical home range owing to various human
actions. Today there are more captive tigers in world than those roaming freely
in forests. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHBmQ_654NQ5hy0FAF6xz2D5tnBc2Ex2PFpyrDEWCWGZa2OS7CXY8TUsXWWfro8wR3i3cLIxX7dnfbD1gz2Au3kIKN38YmLhUsiCNgvmRRePTeRhmb4uiWiCMqdtiZ1BlXOsSZ47JbXE/s769/Picture1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHBmQ_654NQ5hy0FAF6xz2D5tnBc2Ex2PFpyrDEWCWGZa2OS7CXY8TUsXWWfro8wR3i3cLIxX7dnfbD1gz2Au3kIKN38YmLhUsiCNgvmRRePTeRhmb4uiWiCMqdtiZ1BlXOsSZ47JbXE/w260-h400/Picture1.jpg" width="260" /></a>Coming to
Indian scenario, during 1970’s when tigers started declining in India’s forests, scientists from all over voiced their concerns regarding dwindling tiger numbers across
country. That is when the government decided to ban tiger hunting in total and
introduced wildlife Protection Act in 1972 with aim to protect nation’s flora
and fauna.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Project tiger was started in
1973 with dedicated areas declared as tiger Reserves for better protection of forests
especially tigers. Initially project tiger started with 9 tiger reserves and as
of today i.e in year 2020 we have 50 tiger reserves in India. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though things appeared positive in the initial
2 decades, but tiger poaching started making headlines again in 1990’s. Organised
poaching gangs killed tigers and smuggled their skin and other body parts like bones,
nails, teeth<span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> etc out of country to nations where they are used in traditional medicines.
Tiger skin is used for display </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">as symbol of royalty. While methods of dealing
with menace of poaching of tigers was widely discussed across the country, the
news of tigers being completely wiped off by poachers in Sariska Tiger reserve
in Rajasthan during the year 2004-2005, came as stinging shock for all
conservations across the nation. A tiger reserve that was created with
intention to save tigers had lost all of its tigers to poaching!!, this was
something which was completely unacceptable.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">Another grey area was the
methodology of counting tigers using Pug mark technique. The counting of tigers
by casting their paw prints gave large margin of error and suspect regarding
the authenticity of tiger numbers. Many scientists even discarding the
methodology as farse and unreliable.</span></p><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The way India was dealing with
affairs of its national animal was a matter of shame. If appropriate measures
were not taken by the government of day, it would have spelt doom’s day for
tigers in the country. <span style="text-indent: 36pt;">Fortunately, it
was in 2005 that tiger task force was constituted and strong suggestions were echoed across the tables by ecologists regarding need for better management of
parks and a solid, scientific and reliable methodology to estimate tiger
numbers across the country. Better management of parks meant better protection
to forests and animals, against variety of human induced impacts like poaching,
forest fires, encroachment etc. Robust scientific methodology of counting
tigers using Camera traps would ensure if steps taken in park management were
bearing fruits or still more needs to be done. Scientific assessment of tigers
was needed to eliminate the menace of “Paper Tigers”, which existed only on
papers and not on grounds.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Thus, after intense brain storming by experts, bureaucrats, politicians and various
stake holders, the NTCA i.e National Tiger Conservation Authority was formed in
2005 with one of it’s mandate to count(Estimate) tigers once every 4 years
across the nation. Thus began the 4 year cycle of tiger estimation across the
country with 1<sup>st</sup> cycle in 2006. As per 1<sup>st </sup>cycle report in
2006, there were 1411 tigers in country, which sent shock waves across the nation
regarding this numbers. Tigers were initially assumed to be in very high
numbers, partially owing to faulty counting technique. The 2006 tiger census
report made the task of protecting and saving the national animal a matter of
urgency. As told earlier, India is the only nation with highest numbers of “Wild
Tigers” in world, so we had to take urgent and stringent measures in saving them. And steps were taken accordingly. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was part of 4th cycle of tiger
estimation in 2018. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">It was in
December 2017 that we got our selection mails from the prestigious Wildlife
Institute Of India in Dehradun, as Research Biologists for NTCA funded All
India Tiger Estimation – 2018 project. The excitement level was high and we
were looking forward for adventures that was about to unfold over next 20
months of time. 50 of us, new researchers, from various corners of country were
part of this project along with already working seniors. The tiger project was
to be carried under the expert guidance and supervision of internationally
acclaimed scientists whose names regularly make rounds conservation related
discussions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Initially
we had field training for a week in Rajaji Tiger Reserve. For city dweller like
me, the thought of spending time inside forests itself is a privilege. The training
involved learning various field techniques like deploying camera traps, walking
transects, collecting field samples, learning methods of traversing in forests,
using of instruments like GPS/Compass/ Range finder etc., and most importantly
we were taught how to work as team!, which is an absolute essential skill-given
the fact that all of us were from different states, languages and cultures of the
country, and we need to work together in field as one team.. Field training was
very important from point of view that all researchers would be dispersing and
working independently as small team of 2-3 members in different forests across
various states of the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will
tell in very brief regarding field techniques involved in tiger estimation.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6iU7BAfXlR4cBWdRpy0vvR7ArBZrZmjB8ZLMQXhbIcDiQfBBdv1btofrgjdWZS0VA-FSgb1UPQKBaJYJxFXEAE3EMyHdTEGduG3_Ge3mIi4zqcapYkfhl5hxCIaQb3LFrDnBFiHGBPAA/s493/Camera.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="493" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6iU7BAfXlR4cBWdRpy0vvR7ArBZrZmjB8ZLMQXhbIcDiQfBBdv1btofrgjdWZS0VA-FSgb1UPQKBaJYJxFXEAE3EMyHdTEGduG3_Ge3mIi4zqcapYkfhl5hxCIaQb3LFrDnBFiHGBPAA/w256-h177/Camera.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><font face="inherit">Camera Traps</font></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Camera
Trap:</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are self-triggering
cameras which are put across the forest on the <span style="text-align: left;">routes regularly used by tigers.
The cameras are enclosed in steel cages to avoid damage by</span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"> other animals,
especially elephants and theft by humans. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">2 cameras are placed opposite to each other in
2 square kilometre grid throughout the forests. Grids are generated in
computers using GIS. Though, effort is made to deploy cameras in all grids,
however owing to terrain and various reasons it is often not possible to cover
all grids. </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">The cameras are placed along trails/paths regularly used by tigers minimum of 25-30 days.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">Such paths are selected by
identifying tiger signs like its pugmark, scrape mark, rake marks etc, which increases
the chances of tiger getting captured in photo. The cameras are placed opposite
to each other so that photograph of tiger is captured from both the sides. When
tiger/ any animal passes in front of the cameras, it automatically triggers and
animal gets photographed. Cameras work both day and night times. Like human
fingerprint, every tiger has unique stripe pattern on its body. The stripes are
very useful in identifying individual tigers and thus reduce chances of repeatedly
counting the same individual. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: 36pt;">The cameras
have memory cards, which need to be changed regularly else they might exceed their
storage limit. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyiUlri0wAyPjMejaGvf8Vh2oYS6U2ky69CnNZcOlZ6TCoXNrS9j95xPY4HDLPs6sicpIU6sdTZiDAp9CcbyzARvv9FZPGIiKr6dlW2efLkeIHUxkJzgdZ7K3P5n6zMKx68xTlPVwJ4lQ/s447/pug1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="351" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyiUlri0wAyPjMejaGvf8Vh2oYS6U2ky69CnNZcOlZ6TCoXNrS9j95xPY4HDLPs6sicpIU6sdTZiDAp9CcbyzARvv9FZPGIiKr6dlW2efLkeIHUxkJzgdZ7K3P5n6zMKx68xTlPVwJ4lQ/w201-h256/pug1.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Pug Marks</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "times new roman";"> </span></span></span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">Line Transect:
</b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Line transect is done to get
abundance of herbivore animals on which </span><span style="text-align: left;">carnivores prey upon. The herbivores
generally are active during early morning and evening times, hence transect
walking is done in the early mornings. Depending on forest types, straight
lines of 2km known as transect line are walked in every administrative beats. The
transect walk is done in the early mornings and sightings of all animals
(Especially herbivores) encountered during this walk, are recorded. Details
like animal species, it’s distance from line (Measured using range finder) and its
angle (Measured using Compass) is recorded. This walk is repeated for 3 -5
times on same line, but on different days. </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">Also line
transect is walked only by team of 2-4 people max, so that disturbance is least
and animals can be recorded silently.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">Walking line transect is challenging and
risky due to fact that we are completely on foot, and are vulnerable to
dangerous confrontation with wild animals. Hence line transect walking should
be done very cautiously. Should there be a confrontation with wild animals on
the transect line, the walk is abounded for the day and carried out the next
day.</span></p><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "times new roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Field
sample collection: </b>Often we come across animal kills, droppings/dungs/scats
(Scat is the excreta of carnivores) while walking in forest to deploy cameras
or for line transect. When scats are encountered, it is collected in zip locks
and stored in silica gel. Scats/ tissues are used for DNA extraction. DNA data
helps in understanding, how diverse is the species. Also, it is possible to
identify the species of animal based on DNA analysis of scats. In places where
deployment of cameras is not possible, Scat collection plays a very important
role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Above 3 are major works involved
in field. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegq4MILgsuFCT7DXPZPCWF57x3zhsyzSJ2aGBTV6vabj-1D8TC1YYiaz0bBhl4lIdlQLEsWYcROVSCSmXZwXNhVX_dbtHTTQuXKkjprM86L6aMYNewW6LGQlXjxFdbcS4Ii3IOUgN19Y/s1280/Abhilasha.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="879" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegq4MILgsuFCT7DXPZPCWF57x3zhsyzSJ2aGBTV6vabj-1D8TC1YYiaz0bBhl4lIdlQLEsWYcROVSCSmXZwXNhVX_dbtHTTQuXKkjprM86L6aMYNewW6LGQlXjxFdbcS4Ii3IOUgN19Y/w275-h400/Abhilasha.jpg" width="275" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><font face="arial">Field training by Eminent scientist</font></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="text-align: justify;"></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In our field training days at
Rajaji tiger reserve, we were lucky enough to sight a carcass of Sambar kill
during our 2<sup>nd</sup> day. Examining puncture wounds on neck and pug marks
nearby, the kill seemed mostly likely made by a tiger. We were explained in
great details regarding how to reconstruct the kill scene by scientists, and were
told not to linger around the kill for long as it is risky. Most adventurous
part of entire training was crossing stretch of river Ganga by foot the 4<sup>th</sup>
day. Everyone had to cooperate with each other while crossing the river, else
there was chance of being swept away by water currents. Also adventurous was the night walk we took the penultimate
day. We were taught how to avoid being inside forests at night, as it is risky.
However, if it so happens that we get caught inside forest during evening times
then we should know how to face it. And endless moments of joy when for first
time you see wild animals like elephant, sambar, rare hyena etc, field training
at Rajaji Tiger Reserve was activity of great learning and bonding for us.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 36pt;">Field
training over, and we were back to Wildlife Institute for post-field training in
analyzing the collected data. Data analysis included a lot of statistics and
number of software. We were given hands on training for various software. We
were told briefly about analysis and procedure involved in tiger population estimation. The time was ticking for field work, and data
collection from entire nation was pending. Also this time, a Mobile App called MSTrIPES
was used for 1</span><sup style="text-indent: 36pt;">st</sup><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> time which is very handy while collecting data from
field. The APP ensures there is no loss of data due to various reasons which
generally happens when papers are used.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> W</span>ith on field and post field training over, people started leaving in batches for
various field sites assigned to them. A memorable sea off was ensured whenever
every batch left, as they would return only after 6-8 months of filed work. The
duration of field work in forests depends on various conditions like obtaining
necessary permissions, local political/administrative situations, how vast is
forest, it’s terrain, climatic conditions, logistics, physical fitness even
mental toughness. In some forests, especially in central India, the
temperatures soar above 40-42 Degree centigrade, where as in North-East
states like Arunachal Pradesh, the temperatures dipped below 0 degrees. So you
need to be fit enough to work across varying field conditions. The terrain varies from one site to another, and no 2 forests give you similar work conditions.
Field work is very challenging and sometimes a toll on you both physically and
psychologically!!...</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Some of field Encounters</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Jtm26Kx3Akpcg-TWx_UKwxkbOAE30I-gT2BfIFU4fmHbPZum1_vqqXYaVZJw990n7eKtNYvMRQV-yXVZC7i718TMHpnkNUqMCweh2LULZ5Ld0PVt8UpaX5SE7qM7y9j-Qn-Sfdw1cGU/s1041/G3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="779" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Jtm26Kx3Akpcg-TWx_UKwxkbOAE30I-gT2BfIFU4fmHbPZum1_vqqXYaVZJw990n7eKtNYvMRQV-yXVZC7i718TMHpnkNUqMCweh2LULZ5Ld0PVt8UpaX5SE7qM7y9j-Qn-Sfdw1cGU/s320/G3.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvl6U-HKsCDptzaMCNhB1-BqmoKAXtHZYr5GyM5Ap3OIWRoiV-M7VhnuPbKk_81HGb_yCu0Wqrq5vJos44udjyeTEZNz9zpTl5l5TSdavE8R3-6SLiLGTDYncYf02xI1Z7-YMqx8yzVc/s1958/G1.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvl6U-HKsCDptzaMCNhB1-BqmoKAXtHZYr5GyM5Ap3OIWRoiV-M7VhnuPbKk_81HGb_yCu0Wqrq5vJos44udjyeTEZNz9zpTl5l5TSdavE8R3-6SLiLGTDYncYf02xI1Z7-YMqx8yzVc/s1958/G1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvl6U-HKsCDptzaMCNhB1-BqmoKAXtHZYr5GyM5Ap3OIWRoiV-M7VhnuPbKk_81HGb_yCu0Wqrq5vJos44udjyeTEZNz9zpTl5l5TSdavE8R3-6SLiLGTDYncYf02xI1Z7-YMqx8yzVc/s1958/G1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="1958" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvl6U-HKsCDptzaMCNhB1-BqmoKAXtHZYr5GyM5Ap3OIWRoiV-M7VhnuPbKk_81HGb_yCu0Wqrq5vJos44udjyeTEZNz9zpTl5l5TSdavE8R3-6SLiLGTDYncYf02xI1Z7-YMqx8yzVc/w640-h232/G1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBD2I9qbxMBgEw3ZS5Iq8QzxiXmngcQ8Ttqiglyyjzhp6PnIBwqGmqKmV6gBrL7JIAut1T0AuqwvCZQ7Wr802bVI52j6zofymIz_WrfLoof4Gc_IZI_juBVYPZQPy4bSGp4tI53mO8SWs/s2713/G2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="963" data-original-width="2713" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBD2I9qbxMBgEw3ZS5Iq8QzxiXmngcQ8Ttqiglyyjzhp6PnIBwqGmqKmV6gBrL7JIAut1T0AuqwvCZQ7Wr802bVI52j6zofymIz_WrfLoof4Gc_IZI_juBVYPZQPy4bSGp4tI53mO8SWs/w640-h228/G2.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyUaeNQORtSUZz664a9BbjtPKNlVCNCmPGD2gK2tK0EYDwDD7PDhqBAQUIiUkQ2julaig5qY4MunFFtPvrql_p0qx8C1ubKl_pIVLzUeU0ZtDb04c0ylzXHWvRibhuL6_7bRZQQES564/s1320/G4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="1320" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgyUaeNQORtSUZz664a9BbjtPKNlVCNCmPGD2gK2tK0EYDwDD7PDhqBAQUIiUkQ2julaig5qY4MunFFtPvrql_p0qx8C1ubKl_pIVLzUeU0ZtDb04c0ylzXHWvRibhuL6_7bRZQQES564/w256-h234/G4.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />The encounters with wild animals
during field work and stories that follow them are endless. Everyone associated
with wildlife will have the experience of being chased by elephants/Rhino/ Bear at least
once. Everyone has one or other story to share from their field experience. One
of teams had rather scary experience of a badly tempered one horned Rhino biting
off and making a hole on jeep’s mudguard. While one of teams had to abandon all
instruments and run for dear life after they were chased by herd of elephants. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be it crossing crocodile infested rivers or
not noticing tiger sitting close by for more than 30mins while deploying
cameras. Such stories are always interesting and are countless. Undoubtedly,
the most dangerous animal both inside and outside forest is the Human
itself!!...there were instances when field work suffered due to non-cooperation
by localities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While at one site the
researchers had to face wrath of local villagers due to mis-information
circulated to them, at another site the team was gheored by armed groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than animals, it is humans who pose more
threat to work with. Field work had to be restricted in some places due to resistance
and non-conducive work environment. Luckily was no harm caused to any of our
members in any of such incidents. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbspNR9Nr7hpoSmhLoL5W9X27B9Le6HBSMw5wemWucLkBXgKqjRYrxDuiMeOE-Ll1x_63HzWjqKOv0jqnnVidwiUmKIgNMVg7jCADQhdHUMP1jZU3yON8fvMN9ey7SAacT40Pj_eW0KpQ/s911/Orang.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="731" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbspNR9Nr7hpoSmhLoL5W9X27B9Le6HBSMw5wemWucLkBXgKqjRYrxDuiMeOE-Ll1x_63HzWjqKOv0jqnnVidwiUmKIgNMVg7jCADQhdHUMP1jZU3yON8fvMN9ey7SAacT40Pj_eW0KpQ/w161-h200/Orang.jpg" width="161" /></a><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /> </span>Orang
is a small tiger reserve in Assam spread over 80sqKm, and home to nearly 20 tigers.
I take deep sense of pride in saying that the entire field work in Orang tiger
reserve was carried out in total by 2 female researchers. If anyone says field
work in Wildlife branch or any other stream is risky and not for women, this is
an example which stands contrary. Right from making connection with forest
department, local people, deploying camera traps, transect walks, all work was
carried out by 2 female researchers over period of 5 months, at a stretch. This
exemplifies how women are taking lead in field work and at the
institute. The ratio of men to women in field work was never biased. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
are other countless incidents like accident of jeep inside forests which resulted
in injury to forehead and required stiches. One of women team member had to
even undergo spinal operation due to constantly working in rugged terrains.
Muscle sprains, torn ligaments, ankles/knee injury, are some of identity of
field works. Tick and leech bites become part of your life, as you accept there
is very little that you can do about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The arduous working conditions of field take both physical and psychological toll
sometimes. Like for team working in Sundarbans and Corbett National park, there
was always threat of man eating tigers. Also, there are times when you go out
of network for more than a week deep inside forests accompanied by field
assistants, with whom you who don’t even share similar language to have basic
conversation. Staying far from civilization for months together, away from home,
loved ones is easier said than done.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But yes, there are also perks of
it, because you get to visit places which are restricted to public. The zeal of
exploring raw nature is fulfilled. You get to witness undisturbed events of
wildlife and learn many things from direct observation. The sight of animals
which were seen on television screens till date are live in front of you. And
yes, you learn to co-ordinate with local administration, local villages, adjusting
with changed cultural habits, food habitats, adjusting with colleagues and many more things. Sometimes
also there is difference of opinion amongst team members. But you learn to deal
with all these things and become a better human being.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUzmZ_540XeckQvjtvt0ZufqBkvE74SdAn1KK6T0XzTHDKZ2SBPGbMFf9ZozV9NHu6beuS-x6_Z89f91H8o5Z-H4ErPs6RYLug_Vp1NhCZ0KMzxFb126hOjEdycKCqcplYtmiT5YXhJzk/s1669/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1669" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUzmZ_540XeckQvjtvt0ZufqBkvE74SdAn1KK6T0XzTHDKZ2SBPGbMFf9ZozV9NHu6beuS-x6_Z89f91H8o5Z-H4ErPs6RYLug_Vp1NhCZ0KMzxFb126hOjEdycKCqcplYtmiT5YXhJzk/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBJh90MDWI5QyIxU2qlLnxyvDAlhNj6Y3vs8m0jkmzTA1juxOByzw-JgdztO7C9aFabZcnLsig1fR8bhzhxGpDOJZ3o_37ld4YQgP5ytUJ28r6QL9yEMJTXD_qaIIIhrb62RiNv9Li04/s2067/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="2067" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBJh90MDWI5QyIxU2qlLnxyvDAlhNj6Y3vs8m0jkmzTA1juxOByzw-JgdztO7C9aFabZcnLsig1fR8bhzhxGpDOJZ3o_37ld4YQgP5ytUJ28r6QL9yEMJTXD_qaIIIhrb62RiNv9Li04/w640-h348/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> </div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Thus, with field work coming to an
end people were now returning to Dehradun and started working on post field
analysis of data at the Wildlife Institute. There are 4 phases of work involved
in estimation of tigers:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><b>Phase I </b>– Involves recording direct sightings and
indirect signs of all animals. The indirect signs are animal scats/dungs pugmarks, hoofmarks, scrape signs, etc. This is done by forest
department. </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><b>Phase II-</b> This is totally Lab based work. Here GIS and
Remote Sensing is used to correlate various factors like forest type, human
disturbances, elevation, density of roads/drainages etc to model tiger
occupancy and abundance. </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><b>Phase III</b> – This involves camera trapping, transect
walking which is done by researchers. Many states have well trained staff, and
do this work themselves. Phase III is done to predict density estimates. </p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><b>Phase IV</b> - This phase roughly involves same activities as phase I and II, but this is carried out only in tiger abundant areas like Tiger reserves on yearly basis. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Once data (Camera Trap images) are obtained from field, the first step of analysis is to segregate photos as per species, from all the images obtained from Cameras. Each
photograph is tagged with its GPS</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukUA10tLSYhiFR0pUhvMID2x3zpOUKJEAwi4OMXjXrmWBk150Yr3w2C4nVUv43UC3u0o9hQ5Uy01_IuSF-SC92BaS4fruhgm9GUxNdmMDcT84MPt21A8wy0xp2jq0KDfBF-KI5Fmpu0M/s927/2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="927" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukUA10tLSYhiFR0pUhvMID2x3zpOUKJEAwi4OMXjXrmWBk150Yr3w2C4nVUv43UC3u0o9hQ5Uy01_IuSF-SC92BaS4fruhgm9GUxNdmMDcT84MPt21A8wy0xp2jq0KDfBF-KI5Fmpu0M/w400-h266/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Camera Trap image </i></b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> location. This is tedious task, as number of
photographs for one site run into lakhs and lakhs of images. Though software
helps in automatic segregation of these images, still manual check is required. Total number of camera trap photos of entire country was more than 3 crores!!, of which tiger images were nearly 76,000. So you can imagine the volume of work. <span style="text-indent: 36pt;">Next step is
to separate tigers according to their flank side, so that individual tigers can
be identified based on their stripes. The process involves many steps like
Extract compare, batch compare, and visual compare etc. This information is fed
into central repository. The central repository is highly useful in identifying
tigers whenever their skin is seized anywhere in India. By comparing the seized
tiger coat stripes with tiger images available in repository it is possible to
tell from which state and which forest has the tiger been poached. The
technology has been highly useful in combating poaching as well.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-indent: 36pt;">In places
where it has not been possible to do camera trapping due to various reasons
like terrain, safety etc, the DNA analysis from Scat/ tissue samples gives the minimum
number of tigers. Now you know why scat/tissue collection is done. </span><span style="text-indent: 36pt;">Once individual
tigers are identified from camera trap images and minimum number of tigers are
obtained from via scat samples, the further analysis is done by statistical
techniques known as CMR – Capture mark recapture and SECR – Spatially Explicit
Capture Recapture to arrive at final estimated number of tigers in the whole
country. The expertise of scientists in dealing with these complicated statistical
terminologies is amazing and it is evident why they are internationally
acclaimed.</span><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> </span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right; text-indent: 48px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIpC447GntKBnHkiujWLredVHIBcQQi-0QwsWu09pJB6kVxR6MImqBTniJ4ORW-7LhNG6t1Y_YQeF1_VOeosoD32fLuVdqjduTnlQcfUYpCPPpgPb7pj7L72-_af6AES9cxJFbu_NrIo/s312/images.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIpC447GntKBnHkiujWLredVHIBcQQi-0QwsWu09pJB6kVxR6MImqBTniJ4ORW-7LhNG6t1Y_YQeF1_VOeosoD32fLuVdqjduTnlQcfUYpCPPpgPb7pj7L72-_af6AES9cxJFbu_NrIo/" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>PM announcing Tiger numbers</b></i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">From beginning
of our training at Rajaji tiger reserve to announcing of tiger population in
India by prime minister on 29</span><sup style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">th</sup><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"> July 2019, it took nearly 18 months
of time. A mammoth exercise, both in scale and space. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"> The efforts put in by scientists, researchers, forest departments, Various NGO's and all associated stake holders is commendable. I still remember, in the final days of analysis, all of us used to work till 2 Am in the midnight. </span><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">As per 4</span><sup style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">th </sup><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">cycle of All India tiger
estimation, the number of tigers in India stand at 2967. It is an increase of
33% as compared to previous cycle. The increase in numbers can be attributed to
various factors like increased protection, better management of parks, improved
counting methods. There have been voices of constructive criticism by some scientists regarding methodology adopted in tiger estimation, the criticism is always required as
it makes science more robust. Also critics should not be disregarded as they
bring more accountability and transparency. However, the heartening news that
tiger number are on the rise in the country is something that should be
celebrated. Today, tigers are found in 18 of Indian states. Considering the
disastrous situation the tigers were pushed during late 90’s, the path of their
recovery is highly significant. Various stake holders like bureaucrats, entire
forest department machinery, scientific community, politicians and ofcourse people
living on fringes of forests, etc all deserve the credit for this heartening
recovery rate of tigers in country. India has shown a progressive path to world,
as to how to do conservation and development at same time. However, the threat
to tigers like habitat loss, poaching, and hunting of its prey animals looms
large and we need to maintain a constant vigil round the clock.</span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkCIOGPQypAoQFHt5CV1zAsj4GiXkS8eWUVPkrfzDjIQfIR-97SckFTW6DSaghdZI9a15_aq50UfHo2eBpoSdUUi7-xQSQ3l5Tb3IcZvUvhQDrsBUZOULHA9f-xuWN6ivZ-o_bDYrHxA/s655/ic2.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="655" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNkCIOGPQypAoQFHt5CV1zAsj4GiXkS8eWUVPkrfzDjIQfIR-97SckFTW6DSaghdZI9a15_aq50UfHo2eBpoSdUUi7-xQSQ3l5Tb3IcZvUvhQDrsBUZOULHA9f-xuWN6ivZ-o_bDYrHxA/w400-h243/ic2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><font face="georgia">Story till Date....</font></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">The increase
of tiger numbers comes with another set of challenges of it’s own. Since tigers
are <o:p></o:p><span style="text-indent: 36pt;">territorial and disperse from their natal place, especially males, the
increase in their numbers may bring them into conflict with humans. This brings
into picture the importance of corridors which help in maintaining connectivity
between forest patches, thereby allowing dispersing animals to move safely
across forests.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">Now, after all
why do we need to spend so much money, man power to save tigers??<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The increase in tiger numbers is
not only a win game for tigers alone, it is win for the entire eco system. The
slogan, “save tiger” is not meant only for tigers, it is for entire forest
community. When tigers get attention, the entire forest and habitat along with
other animals are also getting protected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hence it is not only about saving tigers as individual species, it is
also about saving the habitat and other species it shares forests with. Tiger
is considered as an umbrella/keystone species, which is face of protecting
forests. Monitoring tiger numbers gives us an idea how is the species faring
and also the forests along with it. Saving tigers saves vast areas of forest
which has many ecological benefits for man. An example being the river systems- as majority
of rivers originate in forests, by saving tigers we save a lot of green space.
The root of trees hold large quantity of soil, and the soil in turn holds water
which is released throughout the year, thereby ensuring supply of water all the
time. Thus, without soil to hold water, may lead to floods or droughts.
Hence saving tigers and thus saving forests is of paramount importance for
benefit of man as well. Also tigers control herbivore population, thereby
ensuring that over grazing of vegetation does not happen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">From this
blog, I have tried to explain in very simple terms how tigers are counted, what are challenges faced in doing so and
why it is essential to save these big cats. So next time you come across news
of camera trap or tiger population, you know how much man power, associated
risks and science goes into it. I hope, along with appreciating the tiger for being so magnificent and beautiful you also realize the critical role tiger plays in safeguarding your and my future as well... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVf3F9FfD9W7CNVhtf8DVROlvzQeWGbSvxJCL20yiPraaXENFe7FUGoePIRwmAdxcp6qY7MnrjPKYzrPZJonkGxKrI_hSJsOLmETR3Sm9kdLMUxfjTM75mcxPhLeQn2f8FP0OxZfwx3c/s1462/Last.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="1462" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVf3F9FfD9W7CNVhtf8DVROlvzQeWGbSvxJCL20yiPraaXENFe7FUGoePIRwmAdxcp6qY7MnrjPKYzrPZJonkGxKrI_hSJsOLmETR3Sm9kdLMUxfjTM75mcxPhLeQn2f8FP0OxZfwx3c/w640-h358/Last.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"> <font color="#b51200"> --------X--------THE END---------X---------</font></p></div>Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-21018860408528925512020-04-20T10:44:00.000-07:002020-04-20T10:45:24.528-07:00Ladakh Diary<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p><b style="text-align: left;"><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDydVnphvHxmoVzY2EF3InKZ4FVm2ngqotAwW-um27luOTGylvCcyf0gl6lTTXJIwcdq9hqyvQe6D4cafEt9hD3pjqNGVqmxV5iU_8Am1Uz3Uwfa9pXeWcQg-DBGaLPNWXaMBVtOeBw5c/s1600/IMG_20181019_131203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDydVnphvHxmoVzY2EF3InKZ4FVm2ngqotAwW-um27luOTGylvCcyf0gl6lTTXJIwcdq9hqyvQe6D4cafEt9hD3pjqNGVqmxV5iU_8Am1Uz3Uwfa9pXeWcQg-DBGaLPNWXaMBVtOeBw5c/s640/IMG_20181019_131203.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It’s undoubtedly an open secret
that Leh-Ladkh is on everyone’s bucket list of “to visit places” in India. And
why not, the place emanates a welcome attraction with open arms for everyone,
owing to its beautiful landscape with warm and hospitable population.
Presumably anyone who visits the place is sure to fall in love with both the
landscape and the people. The place is well suited for both solo and group
outing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially it is a biker’s dream
to ride in these high mountain passes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is my story of Ladakh, an
incredible excursion in life with the most treasured people along.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCZqiCuJYko80C3pFdsMKSL0cwUiYeF-MQUCONvuzYvEbofSxZntgaq1vwWUCiwBOj4zdKwFtQ9Plih-8LE3gMTgfC9zpSW0uJenz318FSYJuHUHI8fWhJdrD89GSo5SN3fOz11plej0/s1600/DSC01704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCZqiCuJYko80C3pFdsMKSL0cwUiYeF-MQUCONvuzYvEbofSxZntgaq1vwWUCiwBOj4zdKwFtQ9Plih-8LE3gMTgfC9zpSW0uJenz318FSYJuHUHI8fWhJdrD89GSo5SN3fOz11plej0/s400/DSC01704.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A brief insight about the place, Ladakh is largest Union territory sharing international border with one of neighbouring
nations. Leh is largest town in Ladakh. It is situated at an altitude above 3000 Meters.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the place shares international
boundary, hence defence establishments here is quite evident. Being located at
higher altitude, Ladakh is cold most of the year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While summers are relatively warm, the winters
are absolutely freezing. Night temperatures fall below Zero, hence plan your
visiting time accordingly. Since Ladakh is at higher elevation, so altitude
sickness related phenomenon like nausea, vomiting, breathlessness is a common
occurrence. A day of acclimatisation is suggested for people going for first time
so that body get used to local conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We had acclimatisation period of half day, and fortunately none of us had
any altitude related issues throughout the tour.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">5 of us, college pals, from
different parts of country got together at New – Delhi airport in mid of
October. It was a 6 day trip to Ladakh. We boarded our flight from Delhi to Leh
at 6.15am. It is 1.30 hours flight. The plane flies a top snow covered
Himalayas. For all of us, who were seeing snow clad mountains for 1<sup>st</sup>
time in life, it was an out of world experience. We were mesmerized at this
sight, it was chain of never ending mountains spread over earth till the horizon,
very beautiful and blissful sight. The snow covered mountains, though seem
barren and lifeless, hold plenty of wildlife among them who have adapted to
harsh climatic conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since, we visited in month of
October, the winters already had begun and it was lean season for tourists. In
the off season, you get vehicle and stay at comparatively lower price. Since, flight
charges had already dented our pockets, the news of lean season was music to
ears and it indeed turned out to be budget friendly tour as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Day 1:</b></span> There is no railway
station at Leh, however Leh is well connected via road. Since we had paucity of
time, we took option of flight. The airport is located almost in the city. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The plane landed at Leh </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSywAG-LvLeqr6Agxr-v6jXUxdLn8pxZgwm05YbvDbiCUAjLZRgxu9bSeX4dbq9uRckPTJfFGYuGgP0jCAXTDPpt8RseVXJM11JzuTi9OAFnpDvhNLFNrjhdtEwq0ex-Y0hzuAm1zBORM/s1600/IMG_20181017_064214600_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSywAG-LvLeqr6Agxr-v6jXUxdLn8pxZgwm05YbvDbiCUAjLZRgxu9bSeX4dbq9uRckPTJfFGYuGgP0jCAXTDPpt8RseVXJM11JzuTi9OAFnpDvhNLFNrjhdtEwq0ex-Y0hzuAm1zBORM/s400/IMG_20181017_064214600_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Grand View of Snow Clad Himalayas from above.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Airport at 8am. The
cold wave stormed our face once we were out of plane. We ran inside the
airport immediately so as to take out warm clothing from </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">luggage and drape them
around us!! It was very cold… </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You start
appreciating beauty of place from the moment you put foot down in the city.
Cold climate, barren mountains and of course snow covered peaks at a distance,
it’s an amazing sight. We hired a taxi, who would remain with us for the next 5
days. We inquired about 2-3 hotels for stay, and settled in one. There are
plenty of them, no need to book prior. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since it was off season, so the scope for
bargain was more and indeed we did bargain efficiently. Thus, we settled in our
rooms and as I told earlier about acclimatisation, owing to high altitude and low temperature,
we did not step out of the room for half of the day. While some people suggest for
full day, but half day of acclimatisation was sufficient for us, as we got used
to temperature and oxygen levels. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus, we stepped out at 2pm in the noon. The
first place of visit was Sindhu Ghat, located only 10kms from Leh. From here
we could see the famous snow covered Stok Kangri peak at a distance, which is
renowned for trekking. Sindhu Ghat is a very serene place located </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">on banks of
river Indus. Indus is another name for Sindhu River. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without much of crowd, one can enjoy peaceful
time at this place. You can take an evening </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">stroll along the banks of the river for as long distance</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycBdhm6PfTlMQLEI3dncrpmSQXHGxmy38hyYGSz8DCYBM7nwwSIt2f4JxAFUuTS1qtJEBarBTRzXYzy7T8ufUd-MQBzv001CW0MZEp-oCrJGqmV9NyvqzaH_WjsxeTktgN-XuhpJ2PsI/s1600/IMG_20181017_135636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiycBdhm6PfTlMQLEI3dncrpmSQXHGxmy38hyYGSz8DCYBM7nwwSIt2f4JxAFUuTS1qtJEBarBTRzXYzy7T8ufUd-MQBzv001CW0MZEp-oCrJGqmV9NyvqzaH_WjsxeTktgN-XuhpJ2PsI/s400/IMG_20181017_135636.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Expensive Moments at Sindhu Ghat</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">and enjoy the peaceful silence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> After spending some 2
hours we moved to our next destination, the “Hall of Fame”. It is essentially a
defence museum, located within city.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
museum is dedicated to our brave soldiers who’ve laid down their lives in line
of duty. Also some of weaponries used and captured during war times are on
display here. There is a memorial dedicated to slain soldiers. The place is
worth a visit, it gives us a small insight into difficult working conditions of
our defence people, and you start respecting them even more.!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">next and last stop of the day was a monastery called “Shanti Stupa” which is at
a very short distance from Leh. The Stupa is very beautiful monastery with
white coloured dome and it offers a majestic panoramic view of surrounding
mountains. One can overview of entire Leh city standing in this place. Very
calm and peaceful place. Sunrise and sunsets can be observed from this place. We
were lucky to get glimpse of rays going down in the evening. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of my favourites. Though vehicles go till
gate, but also there are oddly some 300 steps to reach the stupa, if you wish
to climb stairs! We all went by vehicle, none was ready to risk the fatigue on
very first day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus day one ended and we retired for the day.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All these places are located very near to Leh
within distance of 10-15 kms not far, hence we planned them on day 1. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgQxNr1Lb7PIrLEdjvExqFhi9qmGKxBYCUgUhmfkiHLir4bb2pHOSkt8ROiHJc-Qj6t1Bb52NuWyQOhwb2QgkunvGfj6bpKt2HvyFrZQcNyh69uO9tnqTZzQgOn7xMsxxMObfJ9PVNEtk/s1600/DSC01549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgQxNr1Lb7PIrLEdjvExqFhi9qmGKxBYCUgUhmfkiHLir4bb2pHOSkt8ROiHJc-Qj6t1Bb52NuWyQOhwb2QgkunvGfj6bpKt2HvyFrZQcNyh69uO9tnqTZzQgOn7xMsxxMObfJ9PVNEtk/s400/DSC01549.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Hall of Fame</i></span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU788r_TVFwuFvk8drjwHJkYpanR8Q3oEYem5zYxgErIm2WAMugNZYkTixnO6DJtucCfRgYTiy7EOirSjZHGFrJPNH8_p6FNVQrDmXQNiUFXzA7WmPDI6QpcDIkfmAF8bDxePMyLnPfls/s1600/DSC01574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU788r_TVFwuFvk8drjwHJkYpanR8Q3oEYem5zYxgErIm2WAMugNZYkTixnO6DJtucCfRgYTiy7EOirSjZHGFrJPNH8_p6FNVQrDmXQNiUFXzA7WmPDI6QpcDIkfmAF8bDxePMyLnPfls/s400/DSC01574.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Shanti Stupa</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkj8C9_Nn8ckJJGjW8N07l3dHcDnfI_nIG0-CGMxnGQhyZQ01nuHuWFtJ8SK6oTICANZ4unVm0OBmsY4uVF5SCnuklE7V4920RLmHu1RD_o5QFbDGHNzWSXENsXlP4w0MV7QDlvonjfT8/s1600/IMG_20181017_163204862_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkj8C9_Nn8ckJJGjW8N07l3dHcDnfI_nIG0-CGMxnGQhyZQ01nuHuWFtJ8SK6oTICANZ4unVm0OBmsY4uVF5SCnuklE7V4920RLmHu1RD_o5QFbDGHNzWSXENsXlP4w0MV7QDlvonjfT8/s400/IMG_20181017_163204862_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Leh as viewed from Shanti Stupa</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJzfhiPGH-1e-XeC6-4JJ0g31qpKDswcGFCTNnviqSbXe5U7DtIOCnHHv8sJ4NgUUAHiHrKidOuXflQsqiRKqSvQ7dDz4dmVAbYj7iIg8hfqh5Yqmw2p83C-S3iaC6V1pxMrnZ_D72DI/s1600/IMG_20181017_115020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJzfhiPGH-1e-XeC6-4JJ0g31qpKDswcGFCTNnviqSbXe5U7DtIOCnHHv8sJ4NgUUAHiHrKidOuXflQsqiRKqSvQ7dDz4dmVAbYj7iIg8hfqh5Yqmw2p83C-S3iaC6V1pxMrnZ_D72DI/s400/IMG_20181017_115020.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Main Market</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The next 2 days were going to be
exciting as they were far off places. The first was Nubra Valley, also called
as Cold desert and day 3 was for famous Pangong Lake. You need inner line
permit to visit both these places, which can be obtained at nominal rates in
Leh itself. Don’t proceed without permit. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got permits issued with half an hour, carry
an ID along, there are no complicated procedures. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Day 2:</b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Today’s destination was
Nubra Valley Via Khardungla Pass and halt in Nubra Valley. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Shyok and Nubra rivers meet in this
place, hence place is called Nubra Valley. Vegetation here is very sparse, hence Nubra valley is also called as
Cold desert. Interestingly, the valley is filled with sand dunes across length
and width but also we can find snow-capped mountains and flowing river, all in
the same landscape. It is at an altitude of 3050mts which is lesser elevation
in comparison to Leh. However, the temperature is still very hostile. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Distane from Leh to Nubra
valley is around 160kms. And again, the roads being mountainous and narrow will
take you lot of time to cover this distance. We started at 8am and reached there at 2pm. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You admire the amazing beauty of place in
spite of roads being treacherous. One can keep gazing at landscape and
keep showering praises at the beauty of creation. Route from Leh to Nubra
Valley is Via </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Khardungla Pass.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDrap1ffEdwraK-WdRCiWuzTeUufiw2mSCQUW5fp_SIAw3NXw4szh7S98Z-HDsxBxhgZ1gF3lXvpZ6Xa1cwlH2KblIuRngL4T29v0q7yO_lEaNBRqOmDQpSbD96yqAQXFlWJHnKnIpFGk/s1600/DSC01587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDrap1ffEdwraK-WdRCiWuzTeUufiw2mSCQUW5fp_SIAw3NXw4szh7S98Z-HDsxBxhgZ1gF3lXvpZ6Xa1cwlH2KblIuRngL4T29v0q7yO_lEaNBRqOmDQpSbD96yqAQXFlWJHnKnIpFGk/s400/DSC01587.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>The "Khardungla Pass"</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Khardungla pass is highest motorable road in
world at an altitude of about 5600mts!! That requires serious engineering to
create infrastructure at that height. Hats off to Border Road Organisation who maintain this road.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are
chances of Khardungla pass closing during peak winters as snow covers the road
and it becomes risky. However, it is also opened at the earliest. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were advised against spending
much time here, as oxygen levels are different and one may feel nausea. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We halted our vehicle briefly (10-15mins).
Getting out of vehicle felt like going into an open freezer! It was damn cold.
We took photographs quickly and ran inside our vehicle. Since, altitude related
sickness is common in the entire place, so there are many places enroute where first aid is available, you can get treatment in case you are to face one. But make sure
you get help immediately, else it could be dangerous. Army camps are also equipped to provide
treatment. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Crossing mighty Khardungla road, we
passed many tiny villages and settlements, army camps along the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">route and entered
Nubra valley. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road traverses i</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">n between sand covered plains, typically like a desert road. It’s a marvelous
site, you can have as many photo shoots anywhere. We did small dirt bike riding
at one of adventure camps along the roads.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnQ-4AW4gXqmYo8lvb9zNGFYxFEdOHcfsUDBNw6VcaZyW_VMeMHaeCjaV0fAUfhzOGuqHUmobUKz9fBM-XH5QjpXEYtn6NZuf6Ii88ipGlh1s-ol0m0HAEb9TpZWPUR9zy8UXhjVZVxQ/s1600/DSC01658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNnQ-4AW4gXqmYo8lvb9zNGFYxFEdOHcfsUDBNw6VcaZyW_VMeMHaeCjaV0fAUfhzOGuqHUmobUKz9fBM-XH5QjpXEYtn6NZuf6Ii88ipGlh1s-ol0m0HAEb9TpZWPUR9zy8UXhjVZVxQ/s400/DSC01658.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Maitreya Buddha Statue @ Diskit Gompa</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Riding bike in sand dunes accelerated our adrenaline. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our first stop in Nubra valley was famous Diskit Monastery. It is oldest
monastery in Ladakh region. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Monasteries
are always peaceful places and you feel like visiting them again and again to
enjoy the silence. Diskit monastery has huge statue of Maitreya Buddha
(32mts!). The carvings are worth appreciation. We spent around 2 hours in the
monastery and proceeded forward towards the famous two Humped, “Bactrian
Camel” ride. It is a famous, less costly, activity which may people do here.
Bactrian camel are found only in Ladakh region in India. They are sturdy
animals, which have adopted themselves for the landscape. Rough body hair, big
eyelashes, large hooves to walk in sand and of course humps to store fat
during lean times- perfect desert camel. We did a short camel ride. The camels
gave us some jittery moments when 2 of them started competing with each
other, however they were calmly brought under control by their handlers. With
sun setting fast, we started running up and down the dunes, it was fun moment
bringing back childhood memory of playing with sand. We spent a lot of time
there, and set off to find a place to spend chilly night. Nubra valley is
comparatively expensive, and places to stay here are limited . But again off
season came to our rescue! and we found economical stay. Thus ended day 2.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQ1JKRmmvPoN2KPmq_Ry767314a9oW8Nm3Ai4rtxMGPtR9nFy5ZlqzxWInSH6GuCNNVjMGGQPY82I4XsLp3CauoPyjFK7jrr4eAE9KpURpgWzX5gbgDB-ZRCMUqf7Rv-UTbVfxeRH4UE/s1600/IMG_20181018_165128231_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPQ1JKRmmvPoN2KPmq_Ry767314a9oW8Nm3Ai4rtxMGPtR9nFy5ZlqzxWInSH6GuCNNVjMGGQPY82I4XsLp3CauoPyjFK7jrr4eAE9KpURpgWzX5gbgDB-ZRCMUqf7Rv-UTbVfxeRH4UE/s400/IMG_20181018_165128231_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">@ Nubra Valley, The cold Desert</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD14rSqYxGbKbq4Cqs-9gDAsEG4yBhLvsWmRq-U6Y7GTbvMrz-Z6marxY_RABZ60x3ycNUYL9Z6QS6_ooyP9ec7Ii_1dH823tg1sAbi9XMpvDmxhmA6SLiH3C4_BPnM5ZHfnLa4KIutFY/s1600/IMG_20181018_170228634_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD14rSqYxGbKbq4Cqs-9gDAsEG4yBhLvsWmRq-U6Y7GTbvMrz-Z6marxY_RABZ60x3ycNUYL9Z6QS6_ooyP9ec7Ii_1dH823tg1sAbi9XMpvDmxhmA6SLiH3C4_BPnM5ZHfnLa4KIutFY/s400/IMG_20181018_170228634_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> Cherishable Moment</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Day 3:</span></b> Today was for the famous Pangong
Lake. This lake shot up to the fame after being featured in the last scene of 3
Idiots movie. Pangong Lake is at an altitude of 4300mts, the lake extends into
China, nearly 60%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a very broad
water body, more than 4 kms in width. Interesting thing about lake is, western
part of lake is saline water and eastern part is of fresh water. Since we had
been in early winters, we could already see parts of water body freezing to
ice. We were told that most part of lake freezes during peak winters. That
would be such an awesome sight!. We could see some gulls hovering above the
water body. It’s just amazing how life manages to </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuK7lyi6d1cySLTrPr1hxUgv00qmCw1Xyn8JdE9vfVcn8vCduIK5YMfe2d9vCbkopOcV-gGQ9M4yNgnffimbBf98f13mj927pn71r7TTzZ-RQuG8ew0B6ep1oy1hxHSVK3eY_HtAQwcM/s1600/DSC01749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuK7lyi6d1cySLTrPr1hxUgv00qmCw1Xyn8JdE9vfVcn8vCduIK5YMfe2d9vCbkopOcV-gGQ9M4yNgnffimbBf98f13mj927pn71r7TTzZ-RQuG8ew0B6ep1oy1hxHSVK3eY_HtAQwcM/s400/DSC01749.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>@ Pangong Tso</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">adopt and thrive in
such extreme temperatures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oREnYseAMg8wsTtm74Sb4tDpR1LPv4nDVRfl8fLf-PG_h2cxtPECsSmRMAR5Z8ROaLv-U1vPHD2DlSmYLBs8L0qFMn-YOvoDDAkq66lPAqIDoyOLCIkd2y-hNFH7uni4xlOP7ieGXJ4/s1600/IMG_20181019_133518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oREnYseAMg8wsTtm74Sb4tDpR1LPv4nDVRfl8fLf-PG_h2cxtPECsSmRMAR5Z8ROaLv-U1vPHD2DlSmYLBs8L0qFMn-YOvoDDAkq66lPAqIDoyOLCIkd2y-hNFH7uni4xlOP7ieGXJ4/s400/IMG_20181019_133518.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Distance from Nubra valley to
Pangong is roughly 200kms, we took the route via Shyok valley. This route closes
during summers as waters gush from mountains and flow over road. Please check
with localities about condition of this route before embarking on this route.
Another route is via Leh, return to Leh and proceed in opposite direction.
Since winters were about to begin now, the shyok route was open as water freezes
in the above mountains. It saved lot of our time. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We started early morning </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">from
Nubra Valley at 7 am.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We traversed many
rivulets, tiny ice frozen puddles along the road. Again, needless to say about
the landscape and the view. It should be taken for granted that we were
travelling in one of the beautiful and blissful places on earth. The snow
covered roads slowed down our pace, we had to stop and proceed very slowly at
certain points. Our driver was best at his skills. 3</span><sup style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> day of tour was
a blessing for us in regards with sighting of wild animals of the area. At one of the roads, our vehicle manoeuvred a sharp turn and to everyone’s surprise we saw a
group of Blue sheep,(Bharals) consisting nearly 8-10 individuals. We were
astonished to see them right in middle of road. It was </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">a chance encounter and
they ran off into rocky cliffs on seeing us. It was a rare sighting. As we
neared Pangong lake, we also sighted pair of wild Donkeys, also known as
“Kiang”. They are free ranging tough animals which are known for their strong
surviving skills.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next on list was
burrowing rodent, the “Marmot”, they are quiet frequent sighting here. Also we
saw Yaks (not wild), which aren’t wild but they are also worth a sight. Tea
made from Yak’s milk is common here. Fat content in yak’s milk is twice as
compared to other domestic bovines. After having sightings of so many animals, we had first
glance of Pangong lake from a distance. All of us started jumping on our seats
at the initial sight. We reached the lake, it is a v</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">ery calm and appealing place. The place </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">was little crowded, owing to it's reputation.
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You
admire beauty of creation at this place. Take a stroll along the lake, away
from crowds and you will be dazzled as to how amazing is the lake. There are bare hillocks on the other side make of Pangong. It's a wonderful place, no doubt why it is so famous. As I told
earlier it is divided between India and China.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Staying options here are less, so we started back to Leh after spending
more than 2 hours at Pangong Lake. Pangong to Leh is 150Kms. We reached back our hotel in Leh 8 pm. Today was full of journey, but was
totally worth. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pangong Lake is truly
mesmerizing.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauyy8TjK81FqI__WcQDzFshzwt0ysK8VyyT4q_3hjbV-Qg6cgMqMBWG-0xLgUk4NIqiQF_iueoe4QycoEdDfMDTzr05CAJT8nnBhQ8922Zqr22Q9RXKXjwo-jUUbhq562fkIIhI9Iv2A/s1600/DSC01738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiauyy8TjK81FqI__WcQDzFshzwt0ysK8VyyT4q_3hjbV-Qg6cgMqMBWG-0xLgUk4NIqiQF_iueoe4QycoEdDfMDTzr05CAJT8nnBhQ8922Zqr22Q9RXKXjwo-jUUbhq562fkIIhI9Iv2A/s400/DSC01738.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Strolling along the Tso</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzl1Ui3uNxZr7UPcFhPyjyUqzNsdSIrcl3s_R4FC9y56ijB0JG7B5CfosMc1tICJvLzIY-4R0cCvQRluFrept_NoL1XsfN2cfTsnBEtu3rSoiDIRytlkAFpxvoxodzb6QYH_IcyRlafhY/s1600/IMG_20181019_153350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzl1Ui3uNxZr7UPcFhPyjyUqzNsdSIrcl3s_R4FC9y56ijB0JG7B5CfosMc1tICJvLzIY-4R0cCvQRluFrept_NoL1XsfN2cfTsnBEtu3rSoiDIRytlkAFpxvoxodzb6QYH_IcyRlafhY/s400/IMG_20181019_153350.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Bharal ( Blue Sheep)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #660000;"><b>Day 4:</b></span> This was our penultimate
day. Since we were tired of journey in the previous day, so today we had kept
half day to explore nearby places and remaining half day to explore local
markets. We started at 8am today. First place was “Spituak Gompa”, it is
located next to Leh airport. It’s a small monastery. You can view airport here
from top of mon<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">astery, and spend </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">some time enjoying the amazing mountains.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next was a place called “Sangam”. Rivers Indus and Zanskar meet at this place, and the confluence continues as Indus river towards Pakistan. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Sangam" Point, shades of rivers can be distinguished</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Climbing small hillock</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The place is very picturesque as you can see two rivers in
distinguishable shades of colours.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
place apart from being famous for confluence is also famous for rafting as
“India’s Highest Rafting spot”. After spending sometime here and we moved to
Magnetic hill. Magnetic hill is just a rectangle marking in middle of road. It is said that vehicles at this spot will move backwards
themselves despite engines being turned off. We did not feel this effect
working on our vehicle!!... Anyways, to our surprise, our enthusiastic driver encouraged
us to climb a small hillock behind this point. Though unwilling in the
beginning, we started climbing this </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">small hillock. While some went ahead, some
stopped and returned in the middle. It was worth climbing the place, we were
able to generate some heat in the body for first time in 3 days!. It was sort
of fun event. We thanked driver for making us do this. Next we went to “Pathar
Saheb” Gurudwara nearby. It is maintained by army personnel. Amazing place and
langar!! We had our afternoon lunch in langar. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is 3</span><sup style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> highest Gurudwara in the
World. I was amazed to know that. We climbed 250 steps to a small worship
place opposite of Gurudwara. Thus, we returned to our rooms at 3pm, freshened up
and set out to explore local market for rest of the day.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All places we visited today were near to
Leh.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus ended day 4.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Day 5:</span></b> Today being last day of
our tour, we had kept it for small trekking. It was to a nearby village called
“Rumbak”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than trek it was a
regular hike to a settlement. Our guide picked us at 9am. We went half way till
drop point in vehicle, and then started walking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was some 4-5 kms trek path along a river.
Climbing in higher altitude is a challenge, it becomes difficult for some after
walking certain <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigb4rMXaM5bONegujCZ8008RpcomsprVzj64yD_q9qE_LrdgaBEVlK1nNlmHaLpmrdD_0GoMHSnyHe4h130sbhMIT2H3I6XF9uJ5mm_tcdaycm87umCzCBZuwao5KQIkVBkhweXLgSRmM/s1600/IMG_20181021_111159564_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigb4rMXaM5bONegujCZ8008RpcomsprVzj64yD_q9qE_LrdgaBEVlK1nNlmHaLpmrdD_0GoMHSnyHe4h130sbhMIT2H3I6XF9uJ5mm_tcdaycm87umCzCBZuwao5KQIkVBkhweXLgSRmM/s400/IMG_20181021_111159564_HDR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;"><i>Trek to village</i></span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;"> </i></td></tr>
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distance. Same thing happened with one of our mates who felt
short of oxygen and breathlessness along the route. However, we calmed her down
and pacified her saying everything is fine. Giving </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">mental/ psychological
strength when someone is giving up helps them a lot and it is very important in
such places. We quickly figured out it was it more of fear of lack of oxygen
than the actual shortage of it. Thankfully things settled quickly and we moved
ahead, else we were planning of abandoning the trek. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We reached the village in the noon time. To our surprise, there was a
marriage going on in the village. We were given a very warm welcome in the
village and all of us were made party to the marriage. We all were elated to be part
of it, had our afternoon lunch there itself. We were lucky enough to witness
the local tradition and customs in this part of country. Indeed India is land of diverse culture and traditions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a sheer chance that we happened to
become part of a marriage ceremony, and that </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">was so wonderful.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We walked little ahead of the
village till our legs were tired. It was again view of snow-capped mountains at
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the distance and barren rocky hillocks that beholds your attention throughout
the tour. The </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">silence you hear is worth spending </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">so </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">much energy.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because mind
becomes calm in such serene silence and you start thinking </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">meaningful </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">philosophy </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">in such places.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4WFhgxx2veE0WhamodGI36OPlkfMEajLcUQnNzdugM4OpXN_xasvyxhC-qON2C11_VsRh6VOqrXxutGuIB1uxaQtFrwZd4UkW32KLs5U5ZvoTeMOofXwtpEVKy9LDIdRoRnm4OLVWfI/s1600/IMG_20181021_124021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr4WFhgxx2veE0WhamodGI36OPlkfMEajLcUQnNzdugM4OpXN_xasvyxhC-qON2C11_VsRh6VOqrXxutGuIB1uxaQtFrwZd4UkW32KLs5U5ZvoTeMOofXwtpEVKy9LDIdRoRnm4OLVWfI/s400/IMG_20181021_124021.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: x-large;"> Diversity at it's best</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Such emotions </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">and </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">feelings must </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">be </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">experienced to
understand them better. As silence is a rare thing, given our lifestyle, we
tried grabbing it as much as we could. Our guide signaled and it was time
for us to leave. We thanked marriage party for invitation and started climbing
down. The trek wasn’t a tiring one. We reached down to the place where our
vehicle was parked in one hour and enroute to Leh we visited the famous “Thiksey”
monastery. As I told earlier, monastery are always places of silence, peace and
calm. We spent a lot of time in the monastery understanding their culture and
traditions, and of course lot of interactions. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While we are so busy fighting for our daily
survival in our day today lives, it is impressive that people in monasteries
lead their life, so peacefully and calmly. Next was visited “Shey Palace” which
is very near to Leh. Shey Palace was literally in ruins without any maintenance.
Thus, we moved back to Leh at 5.30Pm. We still had some local shopping to be
done. Thus the day finished and along with it, an amazing tour to one among
beautiful places of earth came to an end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">Day 6 :</span></b> Morning we bid adieu to
our wonderful driver, Chetan Bhayya, a localite who was with us from day 1, and
boarded flight back to Delhi at 8.15am to return to our day today lives. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiue7LvjWvwO4yre5osYuwdd_1Q8JLwUbjsB2nC0GwlaETNAzxCA8Y0GoQ7hg6OYmhY_XlanJtKHcJLCCqNa1XyEaX9JSTAOSqsRKB-YpLRTy1A5eeW8AOD9gi7mJwpKhdY9O3RhM9HLlE/s1600/DSC01863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiue7LvjWvwO4yre5osYuwdd_1Q8JLwUbjsB2nC0GwlaETNAzxCA8Y0GoQ7hg6OYmhY_XlanJtKHcJLCCqNa1XyEaX9JSTAOSqsRKB-YpLRTy1A5eeW8AOD9gi7mJwpKhdY9O3RhM9HLlE/s640/DSC01863.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Going
to Leh in off season made our entire tour very economical. We got vehicle,
accommodation at a fair price as compared to peak tourist seasons. A bike ride
would have been more good, however we had gone in winters so bike ride was out of option in
that part of year for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ladakh has many wonderful, less explored places whose list is never ending. One can travel as many times and see new places every time. It is totally worth spending money in this place on earth. Please visit the place atleast once in
your life time. Respect the place, respect the people and you will surely be rewarded with memories which will last with you forever. The feeling of being so close to Himalayas, travelling with company
of dearest people along, makes some parts of life worth. Along with
many souvenirs, we carried lots of memories back with us, which sure still are
very fresh even after such long time span. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ladakh is definitely worth taking some time off
our busy schedules to get lost in the nature and its enchanting beauty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I
always say - travel a lot in your life - you will understand and appreciated
yourself more. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span style="color: #660000;"> </span></span><span style="color: #660000;">-----X----- THE END------X-------<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-65424036235472997502020-03-27T13:24:00.001-07:002020-03-27T13:24:32.859-07:00The Divine Paradise - Valley of flowers & Hemkund Sahib<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valley of Flowers</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Located in Chamoli
district of Uttarakhand, roughly at an altitude of 3500 meters above MSL, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valley of flowers </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">is
one of the must places to be visited . A tiring trekking of
15-17 Kms needs to be done to visit this place. Else spend some extra money, and you can
cover 3/4</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">this distance via
helicopter then walk the remaining path</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> which becomes little easy. However, for those wh</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">o are fit enough, I strongly recommend you to trek the entire distance.
Valley of flowers is quite famous and draws many tourists every year, including foreigners. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ahead of this route is the famous “Hemkund Sahib” Gurudwara which is one among holy
shrines and is the highest Gurudwara in world located at an altitde of 4600mts above MSL . And 25kms away is an important Chardham yatra site, the Badrinath
shrine.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9OGawi3FTWRubZm1E2DuRXY4ogkVND4n9NAicz94CotXH0wymDh87QiHRdI26raFUJfc34rtkWa57gf9027BgSobtM58480QhjF3_WwN2euVomsKuzwPNhnH-myqoo1sWlq3RIaZi5E/s1600/IMG_20180929_073224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9OGawi3FTWRubZm1E2DuRXY4ogkVND4n9NAicz94CotXH0wymDh87QiHRdI26raFUJfc34rtkWa57gf9027BgSobtM58480QhjF3_WwN2euVomsKuzwPNhnH-myqoo1sWlq3RIaZi5E/s400/IMG_20180929_073224.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Confluence of Alaknanda and Pindar at Karnaprayag.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valley of flowers is located inside national
park. It is famous for alpine wild flowers which bloom naturally for 3-4
months of every year, during summers. The flowers occur in various colour and types.
The park also hosts variety of wild animals ranging from Musk deer, brown bear,
Asiatic black bear, snow leopards, to name some. As the place is located inside
national park, so you are allowed to visit it only during day time and there is
absolutely no accommodation inside, and you need to come out within stipulated
time. Also permission is a must to visit the place, which can be obtained at
the entrance of park by </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">paying nominal fees. It will be considered as tress
passing if you are visiting the park without a proper permit. Hence follow
rules and be safe. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Valley of flowers, Hemkund
Sahib and Badrinath temple are open only during summer months. All these places
are closed in winters due to heavy snow. People present here move
down towards hospitable places and you cannot find anyone in these places
during off season.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Map indicating Route.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trekking to Valley of flowers starts from a small village called Govind Ghat, which is last place for
vehicles. You can start trekking from
Govind Ghat </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">itself or you can travel in shared jeep for 4kms ahead till village
called Pulna.</span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">From this place you trek
till Ghangaria, which is the last village. There is a diversion in Ghangaria. One takes you to
valley of flowers, and another route of 6 kms which involves very steep trek takes
you to “Hemkund Sahib” Gurudwara.</span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">From Govind Ghat the Badrinath
shrine is 25kms via road, the temple is located next to road. So reaching
Badrinath temple isn’t a difficult task as it is easily accessible by road. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We were again a large group of 13
people who got together to visit the place this September. We booked a private
tempo traveller for the journey </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">throughout</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">. Having a private vehicle is very
convenient in mountains especially when you are travelling in such large
groups.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus :</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Day 1:</b></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"> </span>The distance from Dehradun to Govind ghat is 315 Kms. We started from Dehradun at 4am via Rishikesh road. We parted flat roads from Rishikesh itself as mountainous zig zag road beings from here for the entire journey. The perilous mountain roads are always scenic. We traverse along the beautiful river Ganga throughout our journey. Since September being last leg of monsoons, we were struck in many traffic jams occurring due landslides, which is common during this part of year. Hence travel with buffer timings and avoid late evening and night journeys. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now, after a tiresome journey of an entire day we reached Govind Ghat village which is starting point of trekking to Valley of flowers, at 7pm. Accommodation is not a problem in Govind Ghat, there are plenty of hotels and lodges for stay. We Checked in one of lodges and all of us were asleep at 10pm itself. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The entire day was spent in travelling to reach the initial point of trekking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Day 2:</b></span> Next day we started at 6 AM. Leaving behind our vehicle, that would remain parked in Govind Ghat for next 2 days, we started walking towards Ghangaria village which was our destination for the day. As I told earlier, you can hire a share cab till Pulna Village which is 4 km ahead, and trek from there. But we decided to walk from Govind Ghat itself. Ghangaria village till Govind ghat is around 14kms. For those who don’t wish to walk this path, you get Mules, Doli, and basket walals all along the route. And helicopter service is there from Govind Ghat to Ghangaria. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We hired one mule </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">till Ghangaria,</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">, which would carry all our luggage, which we carried along for one night stay . Walking with bags is very tiresome, especially on this route which becomes steeper after 2 hours of walk. Initial walk is next to river which flows along to the route. It is bone chilling cold water flowing directly from mountains. I bet for someone who is not a localite, cannot dip hands in flowing water for more than 15-20 seconds, else fingers will become numb. Water availability isn’t a problem and is available throughout. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDSRCgr3S7ydeQrGFFykj9NeV7io9L0fUa2dNoYH1_o8blk_U4B8HTBgJ77wE9O_HoqDWzVgfbbogx5yOi5wmqk79cZa8rA4CtSSY1OwXcIJ9sZ8RcFbf4Sye5D0BuTM_UUVc0PypOgU/s400/IMG_20180930_091152.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="225" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Initial Trek Route</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfH_n7e4rBfaYYrWGlI-Z3zgE3URX_cOVFMdmjG_OFga1LjXSEC5dtFse9Q2WwGN7VCbzNZ7l3Vi0-KqS9L6av4_DujFakYzfYAA_Q4fRsKn7DvVAwq1myVSeaAoGJ7PFmrrBqI7pzZ0/s1600/IMG_20180930_091656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfH_n7e4rBfaYYrWGlI-Z3zgE3URX_cOVFMdmjG_OFga1LjXSEC5dtFse9Q2WwGN7VCbzNZ7l3Vi0-KqS9L6av4_DujFakYzfYAA_Q4fRsKn7DvVAwq1myVSeaAoGJ7PFmrrBqI7pzZ0/s400/IMG_20180930_091656.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bridge from where trek becomes steep</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Also there are many eating points
along the route where you can have refreshments. But you get all things at an
increased rate. So if you don’t want to spend extra money then carry eatables
along. At certain point of trek there comes a place where you cross river via
make Shift Bridge. Trekking till this bridge is very gradual without much
ascend or descend. But once you cross this bridge, the real climbing begins.
The path forward is treacherous as you have to continuously climb till
Ghangaria. While we started as group of 13, but due to different walking speeds
we broke up into various groups. While some went ahead quickly some were left
behind. Since same route also goes to Hemkund Sahib, and you can find many
people walking on this route either going up or coming down. So don’t worry
about safety, it is very safe to go alone on this trek. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With almost our complete energy drained, and
post sweating profusely we all reached Ghangaria at 1 pm, almost 8 hours after
beginning of our trek from Govind Ghat. There was sense of relief among everyone
that climbing for the day is over. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
Ghangaria also you have many options to stay. We checked in one of hotels,
dumped our luggage and had our afternoon lunch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNOvN7Xlo4aEnE1Qc73S888E_jsmUp7ulipYb-DRVXNedt3SALiEf-CZQrfaCwAd8B4nLCFPTQWAz37JQxWGW_COMQ9yDshdFk-UYBKKyGocGqTx1Y26MKjvgFVqV8wno3mXRaIJrNw0/s1600/20180930_150615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNNOvN7Xlo4aEnE1Qc73S888E_jsmUp7ulipYb-DRVXNedt3SALiEf-CZQrfaCwAd8B4nLCFPTQWAz37JQxWGW_COMQ9yDshdFk-UYBKKyGocGqTx1Y26MKjvgFVqV8wno3mXRaIJrNw0/s400/20180930_150615.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Steep climb to Hemkund Saheb </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9oAMywLpwEmlfCh4qn2FkfosZLhOHK8rdLb0rz8SDjDPoQ6sZEZYiaHaV_odHIWmtmkuHxF38Z3oXq1DCpFtUDsuPLTNQEMjJX0Sfx1cLyZfZV5Xy7hLVY8ae82Mx8Egvp2g_Tin4zE/s1600/20180930_144130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsHTyu94_qCedmRO6MXWiMBKiNmdwVdACVUkmK12u5CA3Kngyn7Rj7nvjTDHuP7xdNZn7lmXHAS6DAvuoiAzmFufhyrJ5o0HYKqUPGIKpmNQGeAsuK_hPkbq21uJeD6ysE0NgFMq525o4/s1600/20180930_160124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsHTyu94_qCedmRO6MXWiMBKiNmdwVdACVUkmK12u5CA3Kngyn7Rj7nvjTDHuP7xdNZn7lmXHAS6DAvuoiAzmFufhyrJ5o0HYKqUPGIKpmNQGeAsuK_hPkbq21uJeD6ysE0NgFMq525o4/s400/20180930_160124.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hemkund Saheb Gurdwara</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now,
going to valley of flowers today was out of question because it was already late as
park closes at 5pm and last entry time is 3 pm, also we had to trek further 2.5-3hrs
to reach it. So we decided to go to Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara. However, the route
from Ghangaria to Hemkund Sahib is very steep and it consumes a lot of energy
and time, even for a seasoned trekker. Though some people walk all the way from Govindghat till Hemkund
Sahib, we were drained off our energy to do this. Hence, from Ghangaria we all
decided to visit Hemkund Sahib the same day by hiring Mules.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We arranged 12 mules, as one of our mates
decided he would walk, and he did climb up and down by walking!! Hats off to
him, we all were impressed by his fitness!!! Anyways, the mule ride was a bit
of uncomfortable for many, as it was first time we all did this. But you will be surely impressed regarding training of mules in doing their task. At some
places our heart come to our mouth, when the mules wandered too </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">close to edge,
a small slip and we would go down </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">tumbling thousands of feet into world of unknown!!! But the
animals are well trained and manage their paths perfectly. Lack of guard rails at many
places in the route is risky thing, as a small slip of leg here will cost
anyone their life without an iota doubt. However, entire journey till Hemkund Sahib
from Ghangaria is a feast to your eyes. With snow covered mountains at a
distance, and fog playing hide and seek, it felt as if we are getting
disconnected from materialistic world and travelling towards eternity. After many
frightening edge rides by mules, the animal’s hoof slipping at some places and
sometimes the scary running by animal so as to leave its partner behind, we
finally reached the beautiful Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara at 4Pm after 2 </span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">hours
travelling on Mule Back. It will take minimum 4 to reach this place via walk
from Ghangaria, which would’ve become an impossible task for us had we </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">chosen
to walk. The Gurudwara was closing for the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">day, so we hurriedly went inside for
blessings. Altitude sickness , nausea, or headaches may be a common phenomenon for some
of you visiting here, as it is at higher altitude. Inform Gurudwara people
regarding same, if you experience it and they will help you out. Same thing
happened with one of our team mates, we informed Gurudwara people there who helped her and she recovered very quickly without any
issues. The Gurudwara is located next to a natural water body. The icy cold
water body is surrounded by snow covered mountains. It is a place which everyone
should visit. I was awestruck by the beauty of the place. Such a serene and
silent place. One feels like spending as much as time in that place. We quickly
had chai and roti which they served us and advised us to leave quickly as
clouds started engulfing the place, sending signals of rains. Thus we quickly
got on to our respective mules and hurriedly went down to Ghangaria to our
stay. The silence and soberness of Hemkund Sahib Gurudwara is a feeling which I
would personally never forget in life, I wish I could’ve got some more time to
spend. So we reached our hotels at 6.30pm and next to our lodge was forest
department office which showcases a small documentary of 30mins regarding
valley of flowers, every day at fixed timings in their office premises. We all
were lucky, because we got opportunity to view the documentary and it was last
show of the day. If you get a chance please watch it, as it gives a very nice
insight about the place. Thus the day was over and next day was for valley of
flowers.</span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A
special mention about climate. It is extremely cold. Please make sure you are
warm. Temperatures lingers from below zero to 5 degrees, which is very cold
especially at Hemkund Sahib.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also
another noticeable thing is regarding cleanliness of the entire place. The entire trek route right from Govind Ghat till Ghangaria and Hemkund Saheb is kept very clean and plastic free. There are cleanliness workers
stationed at various places who collect garbage littered and also educate
people not to litter. Unlike other crowded places where garbage/littering is
common, the plastic menace is very less here. Complete credit to authorities
for maintaining sanctity of the place. So it’s your and my responsibility to
keep it same.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgpIek3HRQxMdxUKMcG3-dK8NLy_mxGUa-OyKQesSxB9_to5_vSser-o1Isu0OsSo0rmg7bQHAWHtzUuekJndA-FkYn4j8-udxJFLiFvE_bkYprgFrvzNhju051tH9153ku0q_C6rSXDo/s1600/IMG_20180930_155818.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="1600" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgpIek3HRQxMdxUKMcG3-dK8NLy_mxGUa-OyKQesSxB9_to5_vSser-o1Isu0OsSo0rmg7bQHAWHtzUuekJndA-FkYn4j8-udxJFLiFvE_bkYprgFrvzNhju051tH9153ku0q_C6rSXDo/s640/IMG_20180930_155818.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Panaroma of Hemkund Saheb, The pond behind the Gurudwara</span></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Day 3:</b></span> So again we started early
at 6.30 from Ghangaria to Valley of flowers. It is about 3 hours of trek from
Ghangaria. You can clearly see board indicating directions for valley of
flowers, proceed in that direction as other goes to Hemkund Sahib. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghs9sYknn3sd_RcFGVrHi2M10RzOGIGEP96ltXwq2pA0lwNAyKXGgHC-lTlfJ1tCHZU49GQCXRQ4hUuzWJcSBk3fkhXiUPfH-dtbO7xsusT4DM0WLKomzevU2PGm9FqOQ68ccnUhN5_IU/s1600/IMG_20181001_092800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghs9sYknn3sd_RcFGVrHi2M10RzOGIGEP96ltXwq2pA0lwNAyKXGgHC-lTlfJ1tCHZU49GQCXRQ4hUuzWJcSBk3fkhXiUPfH-dtbO7xsusT4DM0WLKomzevU2PGm9FqOQ68ccnUhN5_IU/s320/IMG_20181001_092800.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Towards Valley of Flowers</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While walking towards Valley of flowers you </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">encounter forest office, where you pay entry fees and obtain receipt for same.
The guard in charge there, instructed us about do’s and don’t in the park and
advised to return before noon as it is a national park </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">and people aren’t
allowed for longer time. And as I told earlier there is no staying facilities
inside, and you cannot tent inside. It is illegal. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus, with permission and receipts issued we
proceeded further. It is a gradual ascend, not much difficult as Hemkund Sahib.
We were elated to see variety of butterflies, birds, spiders and ofcourse the
tiny Pica Mouse which ran here and there, preparing itself for long winters a
head. The </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">place is open from June – October. Ideal season to visit the valley
of flowers would be in month of July till mid of September when flowers are in
full bloom. Since, we had been in September the flowers had already started
dispersing their seeds. The place is so calm, undisturbed with lush green grass
spread on earth like a hand woven carpet with colourful flower petals here
and there. The valley is huddled in between mountains which had started
covering themselves with snow from the top.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Being silent, all you can hear is the gushing sound of a waterfall,
chirping of words and cool breeze which reverberates throughout your soul and
body. And listening to silence in mountains is a divine experience in itself
and you will yearn to have this experience again and </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">again once you start
enjoying it. You can walk around the place as much as you wish, ofcourse don’t
venture too far. There is memorial grave of Joan Margearet Legge’s, who lost her
life during an expedition inside the park. Thankfully the weather that day was
pleasant and we all were able to explore the place. No doubt the place is
called as paradise due to its undisturbed beauty, time literally stops here for
the one who can observe. Words can hardly describe the magnificent sight of
eyes. Your heart </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">swells with pride that India is home to many such delightful
creations on earth. One interesting thing to be observed here is the colour of
flowers which change with every season, which is quiet impressive. It seems
like a green carpet painted with different colours in different months. So
after spending enough of time, we started walking back to Ghangaria. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
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<tr><td> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTH8XzbFqSV0_0yON-Vfdw6mIe4L7aAWsqWxgnKqFx504sAT0URS78bVSMo660ZM3-ubDsxjofVrsg9EJY8bBZHv4tN750CwO9pzYyycLZOrs82jRw4xHyslzp_0Aq2LnsHCv7r0qNe2w/s1600/20181001_104742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTH8XzbFqSV0_0yON-Vfdw6mIe4L7aAWsqWxgnKqFx504sAT0URS78bVSMo660ZM3-ubDsxjofVrsg9EJY8bBZHv4tN750CwO9pzYyycLZOrs82jRw4xHyslzp_0Aq2LnsHCv7r0qNe2w/s400/20181001_104742.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> The Valley of Flowers</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOfnxpCXgOJQLgT2VrqygtlD0cOg5kxhNb7fQUYqYCO1rSrk76Gk8BuPl8zVi4DCGrLYLGhV9TNkwdHxIM-mP01IQpaIHujJ2GiTbfpc3qwHW-QQWvVC6LGVf631xPSvUHooX7poEgoDk/s1600/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1600" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOfnxpCXgOJQLgT2VrqygtlD0cOg5kxhNb7fQUYqYCO1rSrk76Gk8BuPl8zVi4DCGrLYLGhV9TNkwdHxIM-mP01IQpaIHujJ2GiTbfpc3qwHW-QQWvVC6LGVf631xPSvUHooX7poEgoDk/s400/Picture1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Flowers we sighted</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgfEuSajQB6t1Aeb5LxIKyejJQPDWF9iL_H3lJNNUcyV_kkVyS435-oqnTxJ00TOrQNZyEQy2I7KwLX-UzQXY2MQVd_p1pdJ8GbFUMcSVbCyJr5kkZcToHqaO1WIEqYq1f13zci_FBWQ/s1600/weasel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="988" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgfEuSajQB6t1Aeb5LxIKyejJQPDWF9iL_H3lJNNUcyV_kkVyS435-oqnTxJ00TOrQNZyEQy2I7KwLX-UzQXY2MQVd_p1pdJ8GbFUMcSVbCyJr5kkZcToHqaO1WIEqYq1f13zci_FBWQ/s320/weasel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mountain Weasel </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">It was our sheer luck we sighted mountain weasel on our way back. It was quick sight, as the weasel ran off immediately inside the burrow </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">when it saw us. Thus we
reached Ghangaria at 12.30pm, had our lunch. We vacated our room and started
descending towards Govind Ghat, from where we had started our trek the previous day.
Again a mule was hired to carry back our luggage. So stopping here and there
for chai, Maggie and gossiping we reached down Govind Ghat at 7pm. It was
already dark. Since we were large group, we managed to come down at this time.
If you are travelling alone, make sure you reach down early. We checked in one of the hotel and ended our day very soon as everyone was tired.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #990000;">Day 4: </span></b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cEfsyiir4lsztbs79MEt0sbdEHd0a_E93qecVJZ2P5Yrb3m1gz5QRtqJG6lfvQBq-d-38n6rMGS5_36alpGWpTPYsqZ-m8I5Hxd3Jc0A-dJ1CXE5YBE6CaGkj68_yvcLABVGdT8ae24/s1600/20181002_094901.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cEfsyiir4lsztbs79MEt0sbdEHd0a_E93qecVJZ2P5Yrb3m1gz5QRtqJG6lfvQBq-d-38n6rMGS5_36alpGWpTPYsqZ-m8I5Hxd3Jc0A-dJ1CXE5YBE6CaGkj68_yvcLABVGdT8ae24/s320/20181002_094901.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Badrinath Dham</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The last day of our tour,
today was visit to </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Badrinath temple and journey back to Dehradun. Again we started the day early at 6am. We sat in our </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">tempo traveller and went to Badrinath temple which is at distance of 25kms from Govind Ghat. We reached temple early at 8am. The temple is located next to main road. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the season coming to close, the crowd at temple was thin, and we came out within 2 hours of darshan. There is a small village called “Mana”, which is at distance of only</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3km from Badrinath temple and is the
last revenue village on Indian Side. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This village is famous for being last Indian village. Though Indian
Territory extends far beyond Mana till China border, there are no revenue
villages after this.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQHff5QFM3e8BfFAiv49tkp8P4kp2wlCuVe825f-gwZUOPN4XgInXtx6xSz95SqDAEkD7ZlB2kz-7CC1KJKKPdDxIv4uAVHDHUlubeH6iw6rdSqC-rB3WuvSa0dtmZQM1f3AG-JkUsOk/s1600/_MG_1812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQHff5QFM3e8BfFAiv49tkp8P4kp2wlCuVe825f-gwZUOPN4XgInXtx6xSz95SqDAEkD7ZlB2kz-7CC1KJKKPdDxIv4uAVHDHUlubeH6iw6rdSqC-rB3WuvSa0dtmZQM1f3AG-JkUsOk/s320/_MG_1812.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is Vyas Goofa/Cave in the
village, and legend says that it is the place where Rishi vyas composed Mahabharata,
also there is another </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ganpati Goofa. A temple dedicated to River </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Saraswati, with huge boulder called Bhim Pul or Bhim Bridge is present here.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Again, legend says that the boulder was put in the place by Bhim of </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pandavas, hence it is named after him. You can
visit </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">these places by walking as they are very close by. An </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">interesting thing to be
observed here is the name of tea stalls, almost all tea stalls in the village
have written their boards as “Last tea shop of India”. You can decide at which
“Last tea shop of India” to drink your tea ;-).</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus, with Mana done, we sat in our vehicle
and started our 350km long journey back to Dehradun. Retracing the tour today
after many months, the first sight that comes to eyes is the astounding
beauty of Valley of flowers landscape followed by fragile silence at Hemkund Saheb.
As I always say, Nature always guides you in self-analysis, and it is important
to do this analysis at regular intermissions of life. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; orphans: 2; padding: 6px; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezYAsYzxcuEdJAEvFCTPlFPgDlcK9H2iaqvUeBE88_M4ng4vHdZ-auohZUHnMrsHBFdAXCgyvjoH7Pjgh724e8rbvatIq0GUjeUK7CT60pkUHlESEfUKG-PqYyT4W4Eh7aZGQN204hwM/s1600/Picture2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1344" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezYAsYzxcuEdJAEvFCTPlFPgDlcK9H2iaqvUeBE88_M4ng4vHdZ-auohZUHnMrsHBFdAXCgyvjoH7Pjgh724e8rbvatIq0GUjeUK7CT60pkUHlESEfUKG-PqYyT4W4Eh7aZGQN204hwM/s640/Picture2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our Group</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br />Quick Checks:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Valley of flowers and Hemkund Saheb is located along same trek route.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Trekking starts from Govind Ghat till Ghangaria, Ghangaria is last village for accomodation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. Entire trekking distance is oddly 15-17 kilometers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. Permission is required, which can be obtained at the gate to visit Valley of flowers, and you cannot stay inside. It is open from 8am to 5pm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. The places are closed in winters due to heavy snow.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b> ------x---THE END----x-----</b></span></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-66163128775249439222020-03-23T01:26:00.001-07:002020-03-23T01:32:20.842-07:00Enchanting Kedarnath..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qfMoxZWN-mkUMhqQLsyIcaCOXzMKOmM6fFG8dFOQiV5IH3Xisk7iEJR72fEEDMkNiPVQAv3_yRj40M7ZMujGxiAbaY7RRrOzvMGw836d7fl0vzwMKXsMvbgbdfmBv1FlVOqB80sUFAc/s1600/IMG20191007084008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qfMoxZWN-mkUMhqQLsyIcaCOXzMKOmM6fFG8dFOQiV5IH3Xisk7iEJR72fEEDMkNiPVQAv3_yRj40M7ZMujGxiAbaY7RRrOzvMGw836d7fl0vzwMKXsMvbgbdfmBv1FlVOqB80sUFAc/s640/IMG20191007084008.jpg" title="Har Har Mahadev" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>KEDARNATH TEMPLE</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The word “Kedarnath”, in
itself invokes a gush of spiritual energy among most of us. It is one time wish
for most of people in our country to visit this shrines, at least once in their
life time. Many people visit this holy temple with a belief that journey to
place will make them nearer to supreme lord, while some visit the place to
enjoy the sheer enchanting beauty of nature. For me it was mix of varied
emotions when I visited the place this October.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The temple is open for pilgrims for
6 months of year, from April to November and is closed for rest of year due to
heavy snow fall as the place becomes inhospitable owing to extreme weather conditions.
The temple too is covered with snow in winters, and only trained professionals
with all safety gears go for trekking during the snow period.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I stumbled upon one of my friend
who was equally excited as much as me when I told about my plans to visit the
place, and instantly agreed to join me. So 2 of us decided to do Kedarnath trek
this week, before the temple closes for the season. Thus we started our journey
from Dehradun via Rishikesh. Rishikesh is 50kms from Dehradun and 230kms from
New Delhi. Hiring a private vehicle for tour would shoot up the budget many
folds so we relied on public transport for the entire journey. We had to keep a
lot of buffer timings as we were travelling by public transport. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Distance from Rishikesh to
Gaurikund is 220Kms. Gaurikund is last place for any vehicles and we need to
cover remaining 16-18Kms to Kedarnath temple by foot. Options like mule
(Ghoda/Khachhar), doli (4 people will carry you on cot!!), and Basket (You sit
inside basket and the person will carry basket on his back and walk) are available
from Gaurikund to temple for those who don’t wish to walk this distance. Also
helicopter facility is available from place called Phata (9kms before Gaurikund)
that will make you reach temple in less than 15-20mins. The distance of helipad
to temple is hardly 10-15mins walk. It’s as good as you land in front of
temple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So thursday morning we started from
Dehradun. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVc8Pn_7_ehvTAUB6jZyOnsePM_-iLXW8wk6zORh-v7qGuNDxCgstt-OPnWBL3Bl1KOXoijX5uos_G6HTRvWAQ8v8TENf1iXsI0GbdjJDqdv6uQtpkVQ1iWV0LNsM1m7qlWBZ8YcC_zV0/s1600/IMG20191006071439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVc8Pn_7_ehvTAUB6jZyOnsePM_-iLXW8wk6zORh-v7qGuNDxCgstt-OPnWBL3Bl1KOXoijX5uos_G6HTRvWAQ8v8TENf1iXsI0GbdjJDqdv6uQtpkVQ1iWV0LNsM1m7qlWBZ8YcC_zV0/s320/IMG20191006071439.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Journey Route.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">1</span><sup style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> stop was Rishikesh bus stand. In Rishikesh we got
the biometric registration done and subsequently cards issued to visit the
place. Biometric registration has been made mandatory post the 2013 floods. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The biometric registration facility can be
availed free of cost one from any one of many centres located at different
places. If you don’t wish to stand in que then you can get them online at
government’s site www.onlinechardhamyatra.in, with a nominal fee. Visit the
website for more details.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We got our biometric cards issued
from Rishikesh bus stand. We spent lot of time waiting for bus to go to our
next destination. Finally after an hour of waiting, we managed to hop on a bus
which took us all the way till Rudra Prayag for the day at 6.30pm. Our 1<sup>st</sup>
halt was in Rudra Prayag. Though distance is from Rishikesh to Rudraprayag is only
200Kms it took us entire day to cover this distance. Because vehicle speed
reduces drastically in mountains. And </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">mountain road starts right from
Rishikesh. As travelling in hilly areas at night time is very risky, people refuse
to drive at night time in mountain road unless it is absolutely necessary.
Sometimes landslides occur and the entire traffic comes to standstill, till the
debris is cleared. Hence, avoid travelling at night time. So, next day morning we
started early from Rudraprayag at 6.30am to reach Sonprayag which is at
distance of 40kms via Jeep then hopped on to another jeep from Sonprayag to
finally reach Gaurikund <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at 12.30pm in
the afternoon. Sonprayag to Gaurikund is 10kms. The roads are now wider, owing
to ongoing Char Dham project. The entire road journey from Rishikesh to Gaurikund
is a feast to your eyes with valley on one side and deep gorge on other. The local
drivers here are excellent in their driving skills. Maneuvreing sharp edges,
sometimes where land below is not even visible is a </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4F3wwBCF1zhki5bodj52bZpTDfTOTJQjr4SrwfPPpvYg46VC2iyitE39zUUh8DwKRlvAu20aIst92h64FEKX8UUuzz4wN1a7RL-LsbSIBzMUYphBWLK9KM-tTaJRGrDAYAm-vF1vvxM/s1600/IMG20191006165615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4F3wwBCF1zhki5bodj52bZpTDfTOTJQjr4SrwfPPpvYg46VC2iyitE39zUUh8DwKRlvAu20aIst92h64FEKX8UUuzz4wN1a7RL-LsbSIBzMUYphBWLK9KM-tTaJRGrDAYAm-vF1vvxM/s400/IMG20191006165615.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: small;">Start of trek at Gaurikund</span></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">scary sight. Holding dear
life in hand and trusting person behind wheels on his driving skills we enjoyed
the beauty of nature and chilly wind through the window. The road travels alongside
of river Ganga throughout. The beautiful gorges at some point of time become so
deep that river beneath plays hide and seek. When the snow – capped mountains
showed themselves at some point of time after Rudra Prayag, there was no end to
our joy at this blissful sight. One automatically goes into silent mode at the
first sight of such gigantic mountains. All you do is to just glare the beauty
of creation, which has taken current form after millions of years of
carving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some point of time during journey
when our vehicle stopped for refreshment. Having a simple tea in such in cold
temperatures with majestic mountains in front of you sight, fills both mind and
body with refreshing energy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Temperatures are generally cold in mountainous areas/higher altitude. Since it was onset of winters, the temperatures drop to near zero in the night time in higher altitudes. We each had carried one bag pack full of warm clothes to protect us from bone chilling cold. Please carry sufficient warm cloths though you are visiting the shrine in summer.</span>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We had pre decided to trek the last 18km from Gaurikund to temple, so walking with such heavy baggage would be very treacherous. So we made a basket wala who agreed to carry our bags at reasonable price from Gaurikund to Kedarnath temple. Prices of Mule/Basket/Doli’s are fixed and there is counter in Gaurikund where you book anyone of them and obtain a receipt for same. Also there is natural hot water spring in Gaurikund. Here you can take bath.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkYPZK-o1ELV1Pmr90qvNEAjB_WHUeUaAccGdEaFt2Ae1gqhGve4U2K_SPDvAaDTdC8_z8AJjzIdbyM6tsd6eqFBSNwD9sGRMrX-_8-NEBSd3aNjUoqU_PfLfwcqioF9cPRgAHG-ARQE/s1600/IMG_20191006_180235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkYPZK-o1ELV1Pmr90qvNEAjB_WHUeUaAccGdEaFt2Ae1gqhGve4U2K_SPDvAaDTdC8_z8AJjzIdbyM6tsd6eqFBSNwD9sGRMrX-_8-NEBSd3aNjUoqU_PfLfwcqioF9cPRgAHG-ARQE/s400/IMG_20191006_180235.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: small;">Trek Route</span></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ideally for a fit person, it should take somewhere between 6-10 hours to walk the entire distance from Gaurikund till the temple. Mules/Ghoda take 2-3 hours less. Trekking is safe option even for lone traveller. Though considerate number of people walk to and fro throughout the day, however I would suggest you to start ascending/descending in the early hours rather than starting late evening. Because movement of people reduces during dusk and chances of getting any help, in case of any need, are very bleak. Hence start early and be safe.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRI9i4SEgYxupK7TTnHqyUa8UXijxDJ5AL1G_i3oGrQUvnliMYzM5JOJFB6mT6_9RFsXIKZ7welS8sZ_sH3cutBGi6SeyCzkFwCNVluh4rN7_-HqpEV-Dw34hsGF4BMblGxpK11z2cMg/s1600/IMG20191006210756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRI9i4SEgYxupK7TTnHqyUa8UXijxDJ5AL1G_i3oGrQUvnliMYzM5JOJFB6mT6_9RFsXIKZ7welS8sZ_sH3cutBGi6SeyCzkFwCNVluh4rN7_-HqpEV-Dw34hsGF4BMblGxpK11z2cMg/s400/IMG20191006210756.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus, with our luggage offloaded
and belly full we started ascending from Gaurikund to the shrine at 1.30pm in
the afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We carried only a small
bag with us, which had essentials like a warm jacket, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">water and some eatables
to munch enroute. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though Gaurikund felt
like crowded place, the population started thinning as we ascended. Trek till
temple is gradual ascend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whenever fog
gave way for full view of landscape, we could see the majestic snow-capped
himalayan mountains standing tall. The majestic view of Himalayas is something
which everyone will </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">appreciate. The gushing of river Mandakini downstream is
visible throughout the trek route. Time was now around 4pm and we had reached
halfway. There are plenty of tea stalls and eating points in between. So you
can refill yourselves whenever required. Also water is available throughout the
route. The route is slightly altered after the 2013 disaster, arrangements are
now better. Thus with many breaks and stops, we managed to reach the temple at
7 pm, right before the evening Aarti time. It was heartening to see people of
all ages painstakingly walking so that they can have a glimpse of GOD once in
their life time.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are some staying options
near the temple. Kedarnath is a small town nestled in between the valley
behind which river Mandakini gushes in its natural form without any
disturbance. Since we had been there almost at end of season so we had no
difficulty in finding place to stay. There are quite a few hotels, government
tent houses. If you are going in peak season, then it is advised to book
staying beforehand. We were too tired walking the whole day so we went to bed
early. Morning we woke up early to go to temple. It opens at 4am. The temple
majestically stands with snow-capped peaks in the background. We were wearing
3-4 layers to protect ourselves from bone numbing cold. I wonder how the Babaji’s
or Sadhu’s there manage with just a thin layer of shawl wrapped around their
bodies that too without shoes. Salute to them!! Since we went early morning so
que was less and we were inside temple without an hour. The sanctum sanctorum
is very small, hence line behind also proceeds at slow pace. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The serene feeling of touching god and seeking
blessings from divine will make anyone to have positive energy transcend
throughout. I could see so many people, especially elderly one’s having tears
in their eyes once they were out of temple. Sometimes we fall short of words to
express mix of emotions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Behind
the temple is the famous huge rock or boulder which was instrumental in
stopping the temple from being damaged when floods struck the place in 2013. It
indeed is very huge. So we were done with temple visit by 9.30 am. Now we left
to Chorabari Lake which is at 4kms from temple and it takes 1.5-2 hrs to reach
the place by walk. The route is next to temple and you can ask any localite for
guidance. It isn’t a difficult or treacherous walk to reach lake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAb0oAMiKCepAK4ehqRa0TbcAAXQbxTWLdpKRqrQ5pDX5-xbT5UmZ_flGOGYeYTigm7hdz71tM72o3wXRgreLKo_hOtVAl0suWVkUcM_3rYlLF-DZJmMUJbADNi4xRUV8614FDTQKDYzo/s1600/IMG20191007142358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAb0oAMiKCepAK4ehqRa0TbcAAXQbxTWLdpKRqrQ5pDX5-xbT5UmZ_flGOGYeYTigm7hdz71tM72o3wXRgreLKo_hOtVAl0suWVkUcM_3rYlLF-DZJmMUJbADNi4xRUV8614FDTQKDYzo/s400/IMG20191007142358.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Kedarnath Town - Shrouded in cloud</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUX2l3s3eEmyqSPuYyRv2BwsHYvv1irV1oi2Ct0pjJtLoKUQ2Ysy38gJbGMnQ2nP4ZEaRx9mPlM9Irgd23NAmj6jToT1edxdDWnLkumVOZ47goD8FhyphenhyphenF0nrYCB45-9Gc2aiTBmf8ePF0/s1600/IMG20191007131031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUX2l3s3eEmyqSPuYyRv2BwsHYvv1irV1oi2Ct0pjJtLoKUQ2Ysy38gJbGMnQ2nP4ZEaRx9mPlM9Irgd23NAmj6jToT1edxdDWnLkumVOZ47goD8FhyphenhyphenF0nrYCB45-9Gc2aiTBmf8ePF0/s640/IMG20191007131031.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Towards Chorabari Lake</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IyH4-nORuVm0XkgaqQfTe3ukUny7lwO_lvhh-SvMCqWwHDeNsrZOZtIrbl3x2b4iqUBLN7dk1wnVTfUlLCgd8bHNvlCfcqBLqudw5rufzmJTevLRE_0nUHLn1SWdgxE9y6DvzrYVLqM/s1600/IMG-20200322-WA0017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1152" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IyH4-nORuVm0XkgaqQfTe3ukUny7lwO_lvhh-SvMCqWwHDeNsrZOZtIrbl3x2b4iqUBLN7dk1wnVTfUlLCgd8bHNvlCfcqBLqudw5rufzmJTevLRE_0nUHLn1SWdgxE9y6DvzrYVLqM/s400/IMG-20200322-WA0017.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i> Self Contemplating journey</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSQTH26zXQ0FIT6fYA_n4dZhxoHpY1AZFlH09WjVZkUBsc2mqMIqjfjR_Hv5T19KFKJ5s7RSwfB3rUMy_-eqQW0bbELe5-vnk4wtpNoQMCxv0heunPAOAKQqZtjG3cEQr3gFmLYtUgWQ/s1600/IMG-20200322-WA0020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1152" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSQTH26zXQ0FIT6fYA_n4dZhxoHpY1AZFlH09WjVZkUBsc2mqMIqjfjR_Hv5T19KFKJ5s7RSwfB3rUMy_-eqQW0bbELe5-vnk4wtpNoQMCxv0heunPAOAKQqZtjG3cEQr3gFmLYtUgWQ/s400/IMG-20200322-WA0020.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i> Priceless Conversations</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We reached the lake and quickly made our way
back to our accommodation place as weather seemed to become cloudy. Having finished
our lunch done, we started descending to Gaurikund from Kedarnath temple at 2
Pm. Again we made Basket wala to carry our luggage. The descend was quick one,
with regular stops and breaks we made ourselves reach Gaurikund </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">at 7pm, to again make a halt for the day and
leave for Dehradun the next day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite administration taking
measures to curb pollution, the problem was still visible in the mountains. Pollution
due to waste disposal remains as mood dampner. Though there are dustbins and
signboards regarding same at many locations, people still throw garbage in
open. Hence, who visit Kedarnath, or for the matter any place, please make sure
you don’t litter places with anything. Also the noise of helicopters hovering
throughout the day was slightly annoying, as it disturbed the peril tranquillity
of nature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus by traversing same route
backwards via Gaurikund – Sonprayag- Rudraprayag- Srinagar-Rishikesh- Dehradun,
we managed to reach home by 9Pm. Thus a combination of both divine and nature
appreciating, self-exploring excursion for 4 full days came to an end. We
carried lots of beautiful memories along the entire tour,be it of scary bus
drives or of beautiful snow-capped mountains, or visiting the holy temple and
Chorabari Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUEaCkgmIpYzAxys_y5O4KxaviT12WpyaZRsXHlRP_CtuEGRIqgD99Zvnv_E80BroVOPUPFfdAwAylNfU3Af7nPkb59LIvvvfTsGFLIZGNZLePUaLQjIO0HWYe8_WvIcD2Xp-rlcVH3U/s1600/IMG20191007084008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiUEaCkgmIpYzAxys_y5O4KxaviT12WpyaZRsXHlRP_CtuEGRIqgD99Zvnv_E80BroVOPUPFfdAwAylNfU3Af7nPkb59LIvvvfTsGFLIZGNZLePUaLQjIO0HWYe8_WvIcD2Xp-rlcVH3U/s640/IMG20191007084008.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Divine blessings along with nature exploration is an impeccable way to introspect yourself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span> <span style="color: #990000;">-----X----THE END----X-----</span></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-53003028864870626642020-03-22T12:49:00.000-07:002020-03-23T01:27:49.991-07:00Trek to Nagtibba..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkmeo5stmXmk255XfYRZaxXw8m1MZg2vKNJR9s5FNozUGQIBnhRzjUZUDo0PA3Ughjq6AEebkRQ7kP_1KzFf3TK4onp-RgJZGCQZ-1VIEpa2MhVaTDgdT4OM0_r1C2oxINWmJJkIHi_k/s1600/_DSC0037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDkmeo5stmXmk255XfYRZaxXw8m1MZg2vKNJR9s5FNozUGQIBnhRzjUZUDo0PA3Ughjq6AEebkRQ7kP_1KzFf3TK4onp-RgJZGCQZ-1VIEpa2MhVaTDgdT4OM0_r1C2oxINWmJJkIHi_k/s640/_DSC0037.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Travelling in the state of Uttarakhand is a bliss for any nature lover. We were looking for ideal place in mountains to spend 2 days so as to escape work and peer pressure. That’s when the idea of going for trek to Nagtibba struck our minds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nagtibba being very close to Dehradun, was an ideal place for such an escapade. This time we had huge group of 12 people, all friends who joined together to trek this small but beautiful snow covered mountain.Nagtibba lies in at distance of 85 Kms from Dehradun, in state of Uttarakhand. It is located at an altitude of about 3000 Meters above MSL. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are 3 routes to start the trek. We started trekking from a tiny village called Panthwari. From Panthwari, the trek is oddly around 8-9kms and it takes 4-5 hours one way. It is an easy trek, and being so easily accessible the place is naturally crowded. From the peak, we can see chain of mountains around 360 degrees. The famous Bandar Poonch range is also visible from the top. At peak there is a small temple dedicated to local deity. You can reach the peak and come down same day, provided you start early. We decided to halt for a night and come down the next day. We did this trekking in the month of January, which is receding limb of winters. However, mountains are always cold as usual. Needless to say about warm clothes that are required to be carried along, especially when you are going to place that would be covered in snow. The place is accessible throughout the year, unlike other peaks which are closed during winters. There are plenty of tent camps available at the top, which you can pre book. Else you can get your own tents and pitch them. But in cold times it will be challenge to find fire. Since we were big group so we decided to pre book tents along with food and fire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thus, 12 of us left Dehradun in a private tempo traveller at 6.30 am. Public transport till Panthwari Village are also available, but are not frequent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The route is via mussoorie and since road being zig zag, it took us more time to cover the distance. We reached Panthwari by 12.30 in noon. We had already booked guide. He arranged our stay at the peak. So after having sumptuous breakfast in village itself, we started climbing at 1.30 pm.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgzuBkFFvjQ8xmDes7nBU-Ag0D3iYOk-LYDEa_JycZPoAOMuofxBkGryXZz4aFgRAV4wz01xi_BnNKxYGXXHsYnV-N0x9SCJBrTJ6fB2wXM2Sx3R0ulJGzv-Gp1kgsmlU897B-p7cnFU/s1600/IMG_20190127_124638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcgzuBkFFvjQ8xmDes7nBU-Ag0D3iYOk-LYDEa_JycZPoAOMuofxBkGryXZz4aFgRAV4wz01xi_BnNKxYGXXHsYnV-N0x9SCJBrTJ6fB2wXM2Sx3R0ulJGzv-Gp1kgsmlU897B-p7cnFU/s400/IMG_20190127_124638.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Start of Trek @ Panthwari Village</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Me1OUGKGdPn6nor5ugxZvO0-5mf2D3Cny7gxQoVhVFR-l9BuraFS-gm9sk4f3o1QKUEwGXWqAZn59VcioMDG4chxI_TynRhlUkBnm5K32OnNXbLBRJUAyq1AKyHyLhXQVUQ1nq-RiDc/s1600/IMG_20190127_081012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Me1OUGKGdPn6nor5ugxZvO0-5mf2D3Cny7gxQoVhVFR-l9BuraFS-gm9sk4f3o1QKUEwGXWqAZn59VcioMDG4chxI_TynRhlUkBnm5K32OnNXbLBRJUAyq1AKyHyLhXQVUQ1nq-RiDc/s400/IMG_20190127_081012.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Trek Route</span></td></tr>
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<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Being winters, the climate was already cold. However as we started ascending our internal warming systems kicked in. Initially you ascending is via small settlements and villages. It did consume most of our time because it was intense climbing. However after 2 hours of trek the ascending started becoming gradual. Post entering canopy via deodar forests, you can see snow covered flat land at a distance, which is the destination for the day. Our plan was to only reach and halt for the day, so we proceeded at slow pace.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once you set your foot in snow the cold starts, and all our sweaters, jackets were taken out of bag again. In between of our trek we could see a small pond which was literally frozen. So water is a problem from halfway if you are going in winters as most of waters here turn to either snow or ice. So carry sufficient amount of water, both for drinking and utilization purpose, especially during winter times. As it was group of 12, so stopping at regular intervals for selfies, photos etc. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doing all those, we reached our tents at 5pm. The entire landscape was covered with thick sheet of pure white snow. It felt as if the snow was made for us. It was totally undisturbed, when we asked why it isn’t disturbed we learnt that it has snowed previous night. Hoping that it snows even that evening, we played around in snow. When you go in such big group the excitement level also rises and we went in exploration of nearby areas. The sun had already started sinking, and more cold kicked in, so came out more and more warmers.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uWcIQZdat6LZAPIgxjbJaNw5N61-RFcUg__DmXQCHBNCR9mx9mkgIGAp23FeNCE2dh3pAPPV4GWNPTJ3M1skbMcKqxeyOuwJFy__Y_nfgYtre9M4FPsak_f2YPFmrr6dx29Uv4YP6ME/s1600/DSC_4923.NEF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY3HQ-IEZZKrkz_nsG9iZwdjqDAt-vBhjTIko3lk7-Mk320UneEtJh7NOYDWAZB6sJDUSm8B-fNYfNLM5LL4dfZbdnwX11psLVSNdmxOdshh1b97wo9Lee649LbQSvo-1eFMoOLd7RvSo/s1600/DSC_5030.NEF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uWcIQZdat6LZAPIgxjbJaNw5N61-RFcUg__DmXQCHBNCR9mx9mkgIGAp23FeNCE2dh3pAPPV4GWNPTJ3M1skbMcKqxeyOuwJFy__Y_nfgYtre9M4FPsak_f2YPFmrr6dx29Uv4YP6ME/s1600/DSC_4923.NEF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2uWcIQZdat6LZAPIgxjbJaNw5N61-RFcUg__DmXQCHBNCR9mx9mkgIGAp23FeNCE2dh3pAPPV4GWNPTJ3M1skbMcKqxeyOuwJFy__Y_nfgYtre9M4FPsak_f2YPFmrr6dx29Uv4YP6ME/s400/DSC_4923.NEF" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY3HQ-IEZZKrkz_nsG9iZwdjqDAt-vBhjTIko3lk7-Mk320UneEtJh7NOYDWAZB6sJDUSm8B-fNYfNLM5LL4dfZbdnwX11psLVSNdmxOdshh1b97wo9Lee649LbQSvo-1eFMoOLd7RvSo/s400/DSC_5030.NEF" width="400" /></div>
<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">We all made ourselves comfortable in front of camp fire. The place has become little commercialized, and we all know what exploitation any natural places undergo post commercialization. Since we had gone there during weekdays, the crowd was far less. Camp fires are always fun. Hot dinner was served to us at 9pm. Since temperatures were too cold for us to be outside, we all went inside tents to sleep on mattress and sleeping bags post dinner. The temperatures at night fall to -8 to - 11 degrees. So please prepare yourself with warm clothes accordingly. Else cold can severely affect one’s health condition and help is at least 3-4 hours away. </span></span></span><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Tents for stay</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Beautiful Sunset</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Morning we woke up early, temperature was between 0 to 4 degrees. Though washrooms are constructed, but they are not of much help due to poor conditions, so you need to relieve yourself in the open. Post having morning tea, we set out to go to temple, which is at the peak, 3kms from our tent sites. However we couldn't go much further and had to abandon our temple visit plans due to heavy snow cover which almost touched our knees, and it started becoming risky placing every foot. Hence we decided to abandoned idea of going to peak and returned midway to explore other places. The place falls under forest area hence don't venture too far alone. We spent a lot of time in open snow, climbing small small hillocks nearby and of course throwing snow balls at each other is always a fun task. Thus we returned to our base camp, packed all our stuff, had our breakfast and started climbing down at 12.30Pm. All of us being professionally associated with wildlife study and conservation, we stopped at many places for birding- identifying and photographing them. We reached halfway, the pond that was frozen yesterday still remained same. We crossed it and climbed down to reached Panthwari village at 4Pm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thus a beautiful escapade of 2 days from routine life, came to end. The feeling of being covered by snow and sleeping on snow in tents, was amazing. Despite being commercialized, the place is still low on plastic pollution. And it becomes your and my responsibility to keep it same. One of our teammate collected 2 bags of littered plastic waste while his way down, which was promptly appreciated by all of us. We promised him that we all would do same in our next outing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus, we sat in our vehicle and reached back Dehradun at 7pm, to report to our office at 9 am from next day.</span><br />
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-82345862249015864812015-01-15T11:26:00.000-08:002017-01-31T23:06:00.492-08:00Kudremukh Trek<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b></div>
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With dry season fast approaching and greenery begining to fade, we made an instant plan to scale Kudremukh peak this weekend. This instant plan added another page to my diary of beautiful places I've been to.<br />
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Kudremukh forests, one of eco sensitive zones of our state, gets its name from a small village named as "Kuduremukh". Covered with lush open grass lands and dense sholas, it is located in Chikkmangaluru district. The mountain gives birth to 3 important rivers, The Tunga, Bhadra and Netravati. There are number of trek routes in this forest (nearly 13). Each has different difficulty level, with actual "Kudremukha" peak being most difficult amongst all..We planned to trek the "Kuduremuk" peak itself, which is 1892mts and is said to be one among 3 tallest peaks of our state. This moderate-difficult trek involves walking nearly 8/9 kms one side.<br />
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Kudremukh forest, being bio-diversity hotspot, is a protected place, so it is mandatory to get permission from forest department before you scale any of peaks inside the park. Also, a guide is a must. Staying at peak is strictly prohibited. Wandering inside park after 6pm can cause you trouble, both from department officials as well as from wild animals. Also, one must have a local person along to climb any of peaks(Even if you know the route).<br />
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<b>If you are trekking "Kudremukha" peak then you need to start from Baalegal.</b> Nearest city to Baalegal is Kalasa, which is 20 km away. The Kudremukh town is still 10 km further from Baalegal. (Baalegal is a small village located in between Kalasa and Kudremukh ). Kalasa is comparatively big city, with accommodation facilities, has good connectivity also there are many private bus which run from Kalasa to Baaleagal. So reaching Baalegal should not be a problem.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russel's Viper</td></tr>
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One can start trekking from Balegal itself or you may go some 8 kms in jeep, upto guide's home (Mullodi) and start trekking. Route till guide's home is continuously ascending through motorable road. Climbing Kudremukh peak demands time and fitness, so i personally advice you to travel this distance (From Baalegal till guest house (Mullodi)) in jeep else than spending energy in avoidable walk. Many people prefer to start from Mullodi, while few start from Ballegal. We did start our trek from Mullodi.<br />
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With entire schedule fixed, I called the guide 2 days prior, who confirmed his availability and also took care of our permission and accommodation. We left our city to reach Chikmangaluru at 6.30am on Saturday. Our plan was to explore near by places on saturday and trek on sunday. So we went to Lakya dam, Hanumangundi falls, Gangamoola and bhagvati camp on saturday. Note that all these places were covered by bus, we did not have any private vehicle. And these places are not far from each other or from Baalegal, all are close by.</div>
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Finally, we managed to reached Baalegal by evening at around 5.30pm. As soon as i got down from bus, i saw 3-4 vehicles, and some 10-12 people standing right in middle of road. This isn't a common sight in villages, so, out of curiousity i went to examine and ah!!..it's a russel's viper!. The snake was crossing road. Everyone around waited patiently and the snake was allowed to cross the road peacefully. I wonder what fate the snake would've met if it was trying to cross road in city limits. Infact village people have lots of tolerance towards wildlife, and we literally should learn from them how to respect and conserve nature. I was lucky to sight a deadly snake just on arrival. With snake gone, we called our guide at Baalegal who picked us in his jeep till his home, where he had arranged tent and dinner for us. Ride from Baalegal till his home(Mullodi) was sort of off road driving, road condition was very pathetic, except 4 wheel drive Suv's, no other vehicles can manage this road. Jeep will be arranged by Guide. So we reached his home (converted into guest house for trekkers), had our dinner. Since guest house was full, so we were given tents. Thus, day was over by 11.00pm.<br />
Next day, we were ready by 6.00AM, had our morning breakfast at guest house itself. Also, guide gave us Pulav rice, packed for noon lunch. Thus, we started our trek towards Kudremukh peak at 7.00am. Trek route is next to guest house. If you start from Ballegal, then you too must follow this same route, which is next to guest house, hence it is better to avoid that walk and traverse it in jeep.<br />
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Initially the path is ascending for an hour or so, then most of walking is through flat,open grasslands without much ascend or descend. We need to cross some small water bodies in between. Walking in cool shade of sholas and into green pasture of grasslands itself is pleasurable. We sighted 3 sambar doe and a barking deer (Muntjac) at far distances, out of camera reach. Enroute to peak,there is an abandoned lobo house ( A very tiny settlement) in between,where people once used to reside, but not any more. Till this point, walking is through flat land, but from lobo house, the ascending starts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH-i64KSuuwimUGZjzCi6QI1Nch_XbXZUqHBkh4__09eceqh3Ai_Ms53T_F2CEpDj4SFLCF3VxaR-YZurXdova1caJTcQPbcdK-HSqGKsRYEbMDfJbSqvReaGFp-R3FFfuS12JrCtQm8/s1600/10405584_882592608426679_316622407909670691_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpH-i64KSuuwimUGZjzCi6QI1Nch_XbXZUqHBkh4__09eceqh3Ai_Ms53T_F2CEpDj4SFLCF3VxaR-YZurXdova1caJTcQPbcdK-HSqGKsRYEbMDfJbSqvReaGFp-R3FFfuS12JrCtQm8/s1600/10405584_882592608426679_316622407909670691_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">"Onti Mara" point, KP visible</td></tr>
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Kudremukh peak is visible all through the way, but the peak which visibly seems near is actually far. Once into ascending, our energy starts to drain. We emptied our eatables enroute. There are nearly some 3-4 water points in between so water must not be problem. At some point of trek, the climb route ahead is clearly visible, and may give jittery feels to some. But it can be ascended with small breaks at regular intervals.The last leg of peak drained most of our energy, as it is continuous climb upwards. But entire trek route is filled with magnificent view of lush green sholas and open grasslands which extend till horizon. One cannot stop themselves from praising beauty of creation.The breath taking view with mist playing hide and seek, the silence in the cold breeze only to be disturbed by sound of continuous flow of Bhadra river made us feel absolutely privileged to enjoy the serene beauty of nature. After many breaks and views we finally reached the peak at 11.30 am.It took us around 4 hours to climb it. View around is just mesmerizing, with green cover on all four sides until the horizon. Although it was difficult to relate the peak to face of horse, nevertheless climbing here was worth the energy we spent, because experiencing wilderness in days of monsoon itself is a feast to eyes. Difficulty level could be moderate to difficult as climbing last 1.5 hours drains out most of our energy. Although it was noon, the temperature was less than 15 degree.Absolute cold. At peak, one feels as if you are sitting on top of clouds. The deep gorge below could certainly be fatal, if you play around carelessly. But the view is just stunning.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQJnnqo_lKkZFu7oOM0Q1JcSST3UZ5AxgyMPYbTAp60HAZoezcSlmG9MfFGMRzdunb0PeraWe7zjatOckpcjfAPuYESjGzbYf2d9RcL0nTQfsogOEIfYE539_bKkoItEKiVIEB6cpsoI/s1600/10411737_882593178426622_6131682632923439071_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><br /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewsYnxSqzGo4KPRqa_aSFZtLYZviioyaiN83lIf7YAOPWPdlsugtxvm6DxY2M5jxhHcKU5CO9R50SuBOpkKMU_NsocoLpEktjTSIIXIw6FT03Fubnc4176sHBOCei5fwAMu1cTUs5HHw/s1600/10440723_882593115093295_8467082292526886156_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewsYnxSqzGo4KPRqa_aSFZtLYZviioyaiN83lIf7YAOPWPdlsugtxvm6DxY2M5jxhHcKU5CO9R50SuBOpkKMU_NsocoLpEktjTSIIXIw6FT03Fubnc4176sHBOCei5fwAMu1cTUs5HHw/s1600/10440723_882593115093295_8467082292526886156_n.jpg" width="400" /></a> We spent some 2 hours at the peak, emptied our packed rice parcel and started our descend, tracing same path.<br />
And, as always, descending was easier than ascending.Since monsoons were nearing to end so there wasn't leech problem throughout. At some point of trek, we increased our walking pace in apprehension of rains (Which actually did not pour). After descending for about 2.5 hours we reached guest house at 5pm. Thus another experience of knowing forest came to an end. Thus, we got our stuff packed and moved back till Baalegal in jeep (Arranged by Gudie) and then to kalasa and off to our destinations. There are many trek routes here, but climbing Kudremukha peak requires physical and mental fitness.The trek distance from guest house till peak is around 8-9 kms one way.</div>
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Credit must be given to forest staff and also responsible trekkers, because the entire mountain range (Trek route) had very minimum plastic waste, as compared to other peaks. I was told that forest staffers regularly check trek routes for plastic/paper or unwanted things that could harm wildlife. There is absolutely no doubt that this dedication of department has played major role in providing safe heaven for wildlife out there.</div>
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Since park supports ample of wildlife, so staying at peak in not permitted, but if you are lucky you can sight free moving wild animals which may sometimes include the elusive lion tailed macaque. Kudos to conservationists who fought a long and tough legal battle to shut down Mining company(KIOCL) which now being dismantled. Till 2001, KIOCL used to mine these mountains. Hadn't mining being halted then the entire serenity of the place would've been destroyed and world would have been devoid of one of most beautiful eco-systems.</div>
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Kudremukha will remain one of the most beautiful places I have been to. Its always privilege to explore our majestic western ghats, and each place seems more beautiful and charming than previous one.</div>
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<i><b>QUICK CHECKS:-</b></i><br />
<b><i>1. Kuduremukha</i></b><i><b> peak is located in Chikamagluru district.</b></i><br />
<i><b>2. Trek starts from Baalegal, which is in between Kudremukha and Kalasa. B</b></i><i><b>ut my advice, take jeep from Baalegal till guide's home (Mullodi) and start trekking.</b></i><br />
<i><b>3. Nearest city is Kalasa, 20 kms away.</b></i><br />
<i><b>4. Permission and guide are a must. </b></i><br />
<i><b>5. No camping allowed at peak.</b></i><br />
<i><b>6. Trek one way from guide's home is 8-9 km, one way.</b></i><br />
<i><b>7. </b></i><i><b> There are many peaks, but Kudremukh peak itself is a bit tough and requires physical and mental strength.</b></i><br />
<i><b>8. Connectivity to place after 7pm is poor.</b></i><br />
<i><b>9. Place is kept clean without plastic/paper, please be responsible tourist and help in maintaining same..</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i><i><b> Some Snaps: </b></i><br />
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<b><span style="color: #660000;">------x----THE END-----x-------</span></b></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-27166444625176260372014-07-16T01:49:00.000-07:002016-02-01T23:26:53.908-08:00Narasimha Parvatha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Narsimha Parvata</td></tr>
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"Elli Agumbe na??Miss madkonde!! ", lamented one of my friend when i told him that we had been to one of the wettest places in our state, even country too.. Agumbe doesn't need much intro as we all have been hearing the name since our school times.<br />
It was long time yearn for me to go trekking in monsoon, which i never did so far..Hence I decided to trek Narsimha Parvata in Agumbe , this rainy season. 5 of my friends, very much naive in trekking agreed to join me.<br />
Before starting I called DODDAMANE(Kasturi Akka) for stay and also telephoned guide for our trek, both were readily available.It's better to arrange for both before hand, because Agumbe is small village, no much staying facilities are available.With both accommodation and guide confirmed,there was no apprehension about staying and trek route, and thus we were off to "cherrapunji of South"..<br />
Many private buses ply between Agumbe and Shimoga, connectivity to the place is good, buses start from morning 5.30 itself. So reaching Agumbe should not be a problem. If you have own vehicle it is a bonus, else you can rely on public transport. But see to it that you are not waiting for bus late evening as bus frequency reduces after 5 pm.<br />
We reached shimoga at 6.00AM and hopped on to a private bus to reach Agumbe at 9.00 AM. Since it being morning time, we spotted scores of deer and peacock besides the road, on journey from Shimoga to Agumbe. It was nice to see deer in such huge numbers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Morning Mist at "Malgudi"!</td></tr>
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Thus we got down at Agumbe, the weather there was misty, cool, though it was initial days of monsoon, the place looked as if it is receiving raining for past many days, fantastic climate, dense fog, green all over, road sides filled with overflowing puddles. No surprise why this place is so famous for its serene beauty. We asked local person about Doddamane, which is just 2 mins walk from bus stand. Doddmane is place where, some of the famous episodes of "Malgudi days" were filmed, people born in late 80's and early 90's, all of us remember how fantastic were "Malgudi" series. The place refreshed some of our childhood memories. So, we reached Doddamane to be welcomed by Kasturi Akka in the warmest way possible. Hospitality of Kasturi Akka is such that one feels as if you are in grand mother's home, and the food she prepares is 10/10.<br />
So we freshened up, had our breakfast and left for Jogi gundi falls, later to ARRS and then to sunset view point to end our day.<br />
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Next day was for trekking, everyone was eagerly waiting for sunrise and start towards Narsimha parvata.<br />
There are two ways for Narsimha parvata:-<br />
1) <b><i>From Kigga side</i></b> - Kigga is around 35 kms from Agumbe and trek from Kigga to peak is around 4-5 Kms. It takes some 2.5-3 hours to climb up and some 2 hours to come down. Guide may or may not be taken in this route as path is well traceable, its a single trail till the peak and same trail must be followed while coming down...<br />
2) <i><b>From Mallandur</b></i> - Mallandur is 8-10 Kms from Agumbe, Trek from Mallandur to peak is around 10-12kms and it takes some 4-5 hours to reach the peak.Guide is a must on the Mallandur route, as there are many diversions and without a guide you may end up loosing you path. Don't attempt without guide on this route.<br />
Generally people climb from Malandur side and get down towards Kigga side. We too did same..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUTp9jNbdSA1BbAa-v8ikUlvEkNNWJVivLqI1gKUw_6Fl_qLg_jGKUxyZwJgkTLhchQ9shQQUm3lvKDipac_dzinw18d3bBv-MZWpGV9PBZVdporBq8odFrEOwtnhLvL-e-76ffsKjIA/s1600/DSC05333.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXUTp9jNbdSA1BbAa-v8ikUlvEkNNWJVivLqI1gKUw_6Fl_qLg_jGKUxyZwJgkTLhchQ9shQQUm3lvKDipac_dzinw18d3bBv-MZWpGV9PBZVdporBq8odFrEOwtnhLvL-e-76ffsKjIA/s1600/DSC05333.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;">Initial walk through thickets</td></tr>
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There is a small 2 room shelter at the peak, where you can stay for night (Absolutely no amenities in rooms).Localities along with department have made a committee, which works towards conservation and betterment of the place. It is mandatory that you take permission from the committee before trekking from any side. It can obtained from Agumbe forest office. We had called guide 2-3 days prior our journey, hence he had obtained permission for us before hand. Our plan was to trek from Mallandur side, stay at the peak for the night,(in the 2 room shelter), and come down next day from Kigga side.Another interesting thing is we cover 3 districts i.e Shimoga, Udupi and Chikmangluru while trekking Narsimha Parvata!! <br />
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So, on the trekking day(2nd day) we woke up early and left Agumbe to reach Mallandur, in auto, at 8.30Am, where our guide was waiting. He told us about do's and don't's, especially for my friends who were 1st time trekkers. We laced mixture of "Haral Enne "(Caster Oil) and "NASHI PUDI" to our legs, socks, shoes, so as to avoid LEECHES!!, and it works quiet efficiently, number of leech bites were less, thankx to mixture of oil and powder.<br />
Thus, with instructions from guide and post application of leech repellent we started our trek towards Narsimha Parvata at 9 AM. To avoid the over enthusiastic crowd we selected week days, (Tue and wed)for our trek, and it turned out to be fruitful because the day we climbed the peak there we no other trekkers!!.... Initial path traverses through very dense forest, and via river path, so we need to jump through many boulders. Initially its a descent route through thick forest and needless to say amid many many leeches. We covered this starting distance quickly as path moves downwards..After<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgPbAGB7pqVrnDpgI6K4vajBfH2m5ziaUtCFjDMyg5ChDhAlAMYP_bhyrm77AIPmZC_mv6imTd4R4vvQeiBg6jNkBaSyz_WXqSRV71wa8NTPtMncB4CY5OgufqM6ynok2QAKx_3uPQmk/s1600/DSC05364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivgPbAGB7pqVrnDpgI6K4vajBfH2m5ziaUtCFjDMyg5ChDhAlAMYP_bhyrm77AIPmZC_mv6imTd4R4vvQeiBg6jNkBaSyz_WXqSRV71wa8NTPtMncB4CY5OgufqM6ynok2QAKx_3uPQmk/s1600/DSC05364.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;">Building at peak</td></tr>
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some 45 mins into trek we need to cross river stream (Sita Nadi) .If it rains heavily then, guide told, permission to trek from Mallandur side is denied, as river becomes very rough and crossing it becomes a very risky affair. Once you cross the river the climbing begins and also leeches get left behind because leech are found only at edges of forest. Climb till peak is gradual one, initially through dense forest which opens into vast grass lands later. On clear day, the view of open grassland looks astounding, but the day we trekked the entire region was covered with thick blanket of fog and visibility dropped to even less than 20Mts. So we all had to stick very close to each other so as to have each other in sight, else finding a lost one in thick fog is very difficult. Path to peak is gradual climb, a little tiring one but can be managed with small breaks in between. We had carried eatables along with us, so they were emptied one by one as we moved up. Thus we reached peak at 1 PM, some 4 hours post starting. The view around is just mesmerizing, no words to explain. The mist starting playing hide and seek game, whenever it gave way for clear view, we could see green color of forest and grasslands extending till the horizon. Very beautiful view. One can just spend hours and hours together enjoying nature's beautiful creation. We explored near by area and spent some time at the peak. Fresh air, cool breeze, white mist with green cover all over, and occasional sound of unknown birds, made us fall in love with place.<br />
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View from top of peak</div>
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As we reached peak, we went in 2 room house, only to find that it was completely drenched with water and some of its roof sheets blown off due to heavy wind. We hence abandoned our halting plans at peak and decided to climb down same day.<br />
There is a small stream which flows near the room, so water should not be any problem. Make sure <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards Kigga</td></tr>
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you carry enough water from base till the peak as there is no water once you cross the river path. We had our afternoon lunch at the peak, which we had carried along. If you are staying at peak then one can see both sunrise and sunset, which is very beautiful sight. One of most adorable things was that rain gods showed mercy on us, and it did not rain in our entire trek till the peak. Thus staying for more than 2 hours at the peak we started our descent towards Kigga. The route back is easier one with continuous climb down via visible trek trails. Half way into the descent, it started raining heavily. We had no option else than getting ourselves soaked in rains. The jackets we carried were of little help against the heavy downpour, since we were exiting forest, once again we encountered leeches along with heavy rains!!..phew.. double whammy...But we manged to cover this 4-6 Kms in less than 2 hours and reached Kigga. On reaching Kigga,at around 3.30Pm, 1st thing on everyone's mind was to get off blood sucking leeches. Thankx to oil powder mixture, they were very less than expected. We got them off and boarded bus to Sringeri, which is only 11 Kms from Kigga. There is a "Sirimane" falls, very near to Kigga, where you can freshen up. Since we were already drenched in downpour so there was no point for us to take bath again.<br />
Thus reaching Sringeri, we visited Sharadamba temple and stared our journey back home..<br />
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For those who don't want to trek more, you can climb up and down both from Kigga side, guide here may also be not necessary as path is clearly visible. Ask localities for starting point and proceed<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Sringeri Temple</td></tr>
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upwards till the 2 room building, then return down via same path. But if you are trekking from Mallandur side, don't at all do mistake of climbing without guide, the path is very tricky with many deviations..<br />
If conditions are favorable then you can stay atop either in rooms or in tents(which you must carry along). It gets too cold at night so be well protected against cold and don't at all wander at night or late evenings, its dangerous place with King Snakes!! I guess name of snake itself is enough to get goosebumps!!<br />
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Narsimha Parvata is a very beautiful place which is still clean without much littering, the lush greenery of place is bound to attract many people. But please be a responsible tourist and don't disturb the tranquility of place, because i saw many broken glass pieces of alcohol bottles and plastics near the building, which along with spoiling beauty also posses risk to wild animals which use this stretch.<br />
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Trekking in monsoons was a great experience, although the encounter with leeches was horrific but memorable one. If one has to explore true beauty of our western ghats then trekking in monsoon should be ideal way of doing that, provided you've taken all precautionary measures...<br />
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Quick Cheks :-<br />
1. Narasimha Parvata, actually comes under Kudremukh range.<br />
2. Permission from forest dept is must, it can be taken at Agumbe.<br />
3. Two ways to trek the place<br />
a) Via Kigga, which is easy and even near. Guide may not be not be reqd on this route<br />
b) Via Mallandur, Which is a bit long and tiring one and needs more time. Guide is a must on this route.<br />
4. Need to cross a river stream in between, which can be risky during heavy rains.<br />
5.Two room building is at the peak, but most of times its in unusable condition due to water logging.<br />
6. Call guide well in advance.<br />
7. Please be responsible tourist and do not litter the place.<br />
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Some Snaps:-<br />
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<b><i><u></u>---------X----- THE END-----X------</i></b></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com2Belgaum, Karnataka, India15.85000401488573 74.50990665704011915.60430451488573 74.185810157040123 16.095703514885731 74.834003157040115tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-63262893019204987532014-01-23T08:38:00.000-08:002015-04-04T06:13:28.919-07:00Brahmagiri Trek - A Tryst with Nature..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="text-align: left;">After much discussions about various places like Mullayangiri, Kumarparata, Chembra, Kodachadri,, We finally zeroed on Brahmagiri hills this time. With everyone agreeing on place, we,6 of us, scaled mountain this week end.</span></div>
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Located in Kodagu district, Brahmagiri peak stands at height of 1608 Mts. The mountain chains support ample wildlife within the sholas and open grasslands, especially elephants and sambars, which are common sighting here.You can climb the peak from Karnataka or from Kerala side. If you are trekking from Karnataka then permission must be taken at Srimangala,Kodagu District, whilst permission must be taken at Thirunelli if trekking is from Kerala side. We trekked from Karnataka side..<br />
On reaching Srimangala we need to proceed to Irupu falls, where trekking begins. Distance from Srimangala to Irupu is about 8 kms, connectivity to Irupu falls is not soo good, its better you hire a auto or any private vehicle to drop and also pick you from falls once the trek is completed. Autos can be hired from Srimangala.<br />
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We informed our trekking plans at Srimangala forest office on Wednesday itself(4 days prior),who confirmed the same.. It is better to call 2-3 days in advance and get the permission before hand, else than visiting office directly on trekking day. Srimangala forest office Number is 08274-246331..<br />
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Our plan was to scale half of the mountain on first day and stay at "Narimale" guest house in middle of forest and Climb the remaining distance and come down the second day. We had our own vehicle, thus travelling over night we reached srimangala via Nagarhole road at 9Am. We went straight to forest office, who redirected us to the IB, where we freshened up. IB and forest office are in same compound. Al tough, IB belongs to PWD, it can be used by tourists by paying a nominal rate. It has a decent bathroom..Thus we freshened ourselves, and went to forest office to get permission letter. The staff were friendly to guide us regarding the trek route and also gave detailed information about the place. we paid all the necessary charges(Entry fees, guide fees, and staying charges at "Narimale"), got a receipt for the same and moved towards Irupu falls to start our trek. Permission and guide are a must, don't attempt without both of them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xE4Wh_b4VSY/Utga8xmnqJI/AAAAAAAAAqA/mVrQ7Ix6REE/s1600/IMG_8429.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xE4Wh_b4VSY/Utga8xmnqJI/AAAAAAAAAqA/mVrQ7Ix6REE/s1600/IMG_8429.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Our guide carrying plastic litter</span></b></i></td></tr>
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We now moved towards Irupu falls where the trek starts, here we met our guide, Praveen,a forest watcher, who was waiting for us near the falls. Once the receipt is obtained then a guide is assigned to us. So it is important that we obtain permission. We showed our guide the receipt and thus our trek started at 11.00 Am. Guide was a very silent and a friendly guy with enough experience about forest. He was never tired of answering our various questions.<br />
The trek path is via shola forest and grassland, so there is a bit of climbing to do till the guest house. Since we were climbing only till the "Narimale" guest house for the day, we followed a slow pace,taking break many times. There are two water points from base till the guest house, so water must not be a problem. we refilled our bottles at both these points. At second water point, it was sad to see soo many plastic covers and bottles littered around by careless tourist, which were patiently picked up by our guide who carried them till the dustbin at guesthouse. It is shear dedication of these staff, which have kept these mountains clean and full of wildlife... As a tourist even we need to act responsibly and enjoy the nature without disturbing its tranquility.<br />
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Thus taking breaks, stopping at water points, we reached our destination for the day, "Narimale" guest house, at 3PM. Distance from base till guesthouse is about 4 to 4.5Km and it generally takes around 2.5 to 3.5 hours to trek the same.. Since we had people who were trekking for first time, it took us a bit more time. .<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Narimale Guest house</td></tr>
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Regarding the "Narimale" guest house which means "Tiger hills", it is a 3 room building in middle of forest with a toilet and a bathroom,which is decent enough to use. It can accommodate some 25-30 people at a time. Guest house has all kinds of utensils however the required grocery must be carried along, which you intend to cook. A river stream flows near by from where water must be fetched. Also we need to collect dry sticks which serve as fuel for cooking. We had carried rice, dal, sugar,lemon, tea powder, salt etc to cater the need of nearly 8 people which would sustain us for 2 days. Carry even bed sheets and mattress to sleep upon.Solar fencing is provided on all four sides, so no fear from wild animals..Since there were no other tourists on the day we visited, it was a bonus for us..<br />
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Thus we fetched water ,wood and freshened ourselves.. There was still some time for sun to sink so our guide took us to a near by spot from where we could sight some animals. Climbing very small hillock we reached the viewpoint from where we had excellent view of vast grasslands and dense sholas. The place was dead silent without any disturbance. I can barely remember when was the last time i heard such a silence. I loved the place, sitting quietly we could hear sambar,elephant, jackals,<br />
but none were visible..we sat there about an hour without any sightings. Sitting in such a secluded<br />
place, without any noise accept occasional sound of wild animals itself is a wonderful feeling. None of us were willing to leave the place and move back, but mist started engulfing the entire<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rdtshWPa9HU/U1DW93Cb3LI/AAAAAAAAAxE/43DzA4NBbSw/s1600/IMG_8544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rdtshWPa9HU/U1DW93Cb3LI/AAAAAAAAAxE/43DzA4NBbSw/s1600/IMG_8544.JPG" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Evening view point.</span></i></b></td></tr>
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surrounding, and our guide told us that its time we leave before sun goes down.<br />
Halfheartedly we started moving towards our guest house and to our luck a lone elephant and a lone sambar were sighted, both at far distances. Sambar ran away immediately on seeing us, while elephant was at very long distance to be bothered of us! It was wonderful to sight these animals who manage to stay atop these mountains without anybody's disturbance. Finally the sun went down, watching sunset was too an awesome sight. We managed to reach our guesthouse before it became dark. Wandering in dark could be a very risky, as place of full of wild animals especially elephants.<br />
Preparing our dinner with the grocery we carried, we had our night dinner, and thus day 1 ended...<br />
It can get too cold at night, so don't forget to carry enough clothes to keep yourself warm. It is advisable to carry mattress, and torch along. There is a small solar powered light for the entire building, which provides enough light at night. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Lone elephant</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sambar</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Mist engulfing the mountains</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nFFAQv9uRoE/UtbEnqi6AEI/AAAAAAAAApw/-1bjahkLvWs/s1600/IMG_8644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nFFAQv9uRoE/UtbEnqi6AEI/AAAAAAAAApw/-1bjahkLvWs/s400/IMG_8644.JPG" height="264" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Sunset from Narimale</span></b></i><br />
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Next day morning tough we were ready by 7 Am, dense mist delayed our start by 2 hours.Guide was not sure that he would see any animals in such thick blanket of fog at safe distance, which could be dangerous. Finally fog started to lift and we left the guest house to start our trek at 9Am. Morning is the best time to sight wild animals in any terrain. We were instructed by our guide to remain silent as far as possible which would increase our chances of sighting animals. It was some 30 mins into the start and there!!.. Magnificent bull gaur in prime age was spotted.He probably had come in open to graze.. It was such a huge size animal with lethal horns. Without disturbing, we watched bull gaur nearly for 10 mins before he vanished into the sholas.Awesome sighting.. We moved on to see sambars again and again, but out of reach of our cameras..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1k7OPRd1Sk/UuEsCD7jdQI/AAAAAAAAArs/hZ8Q5wC3wgw/s1600/DSC_0725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1k7OPRd1Sk/UuEsCD7jdQI/AAAAAAAAArs/hZ8Q5wC3wgw/s1600/DSC_0725.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Bull Gaur</span></b></i></td></tr>
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Distance from Guest house till Brahmagiri Peak is about 6 km, and it takes 2 hours to trek the same. since most of this path is via open grasslands without much ascend or descend, we can cover this distance a lot quicker. Again there are two water points in between,so no need to worry about water.<br />
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We finally reached base of actual Brahmagiri hill after 2 hours of trekking. Looking from bottom of mountain to its top may give jittery feel to some as it is nearly at 70 degree inclination.But good thing is, none of us refused to climb and we all started scaling peak, finally post many brakes and stops we reached "Brahmagiri peak" after 45 mins. It was a wonderful feeling, the peak itself is divided between Karnataka and Kerala. Demarcation lines which run along the entire area can be clearly seen.. From the peak we can see a temple on Kerala side. Climbing peak may be challenging for some, but yes, the path we traverse to reach this place is worth the strain.Climbing peak could be challenging task in rainy season as legs may slip due to damp soil.<br />
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At top,we had light snacks which was carried along. Since there are no trees on top which would provide you with cool shade, we started feeling intensity of sun and decided to scale down after spending nearly an hour on top of mountain. I was amazed to see elephant dungs even on top of peaks, it was interesting to imagine how elephants could climb such a steep mountain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wVytDR1AXDGSPLnIbMM_bporh9mV4LZphn6xKMztwqZ99DKBnHfqoD2Wp5KpkkXdIwfAUnQ_-OWUBK7TElhuQyGPWgsrAo2W9HcEDCq588LislY6Fpcf3YX9LkInMU01Nc0PhAXnklY/s1600/IMG_8541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wVytDR1AXDGSPLnIbMM_bporh9mV4LZphn6xKMztwqZ99DKBnHfqoD2Wp5KpkkXdIwfAUnQ_-OWUBK7TElhuQyGPWgsrAo2W9HcEDCq588LislY6Fpcf3YX9LkInMU01Nc0PhAXnklY/s1600/IMG_8541.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Brahmagiri preak from distance</td></tr>
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As always, it was easier to move down and we reached our guest house within 2 hours where we had our lunch. Packing our luggage we left for the base. It took us some 1.5 hours to climb down from guest house to base where our vehicle was parked. Coming down, we thus reached our vechicle near Irupu falls, at 4.30 pm and waved off praveen, who was excellent and friendly guide. And started our journey back to home.<br />
One can trek the the entire route in one day without staying at the guest house and come back the same day, provided you start early, but it will be too much tiring i guess as you've to walk a lot. Our plan to trek for 2 days came handy as none of us were much tired and went to office/college the next day without any body pains.. And there are absolutely no vehicle routes to reach the peak only method to reach the same is by walk. The difficulty of trek could be termed as moderate one, which is not so difficult. But the place would be infested with leeches in rainy season, so take care. Permission to Munical caves has been stopped.<br />
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Trekking in sholas and open grasslands was a new experience for me.. The astounding silence in the entire area will definitely ring in my ears for a long time...<br />
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<b><i><u>Quick Checks :-</u></i></b><br />
1. Brahmagiri forest is located in Kodagu districti, Virajpet taluk.<br />
2. Trekking can be done from both Karnataka and Kerala.<br />
3. Permission and guide are mandatory.<br />
4. Permission to be obtained from Srimangala if trek is from karnataka side, else at Thirunelli if trek is from Kerala Side. Nominal amount is to be paid for trek,guide and accommodation<br />
5. "Narimale"guest house is in between the trek route, with decent accommodation. It has all utensils but you must carry the required grocery to cook.<br />
6. Takes about 2.5 to 3.5 hours to trek 5km from base till the guest house.<br />
7. From guest house the Peak is about 6 km.<br />
8. Four water points from base till the peak, so need not worry about water.<br />
10.Best time to visit would be post monsoons(No leeech problem).<br />
11. Permission to trek during heavy rains and late summers can be denied so confirm your trekking at forest office before start, Srimangala office No :-08274-246331<br />
12. Please be a responsible tourist and don't litter around.<br />
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Some Snaps:-<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i7L_U69f6iE/U4Qy5rncd5I/AAAAAAAAA28/USVuXMpxKEo/s1600/IMG_7336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i7L_U69f6iE/U4Qy5rncd5I/AAAAAAAAA28/USVuXMpxKEo/s1600/IMG_7336.JPG" height="400" width="340" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rnb4M_Wt8Io/U4Q7onuhgcI/AAAAAAAAA3M/i8I3DdwrXGg/s1600/IMG_7338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rnb4M_Wt8Io/U4Q7onuhgcI/AAAAAAAAA3M/i8I3DdwrXGg/s1600/IMG_7338.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rSs2avWhjDI/UuE8FYJB2CI/AAAAAAAAAsg/F71UXbsEnhw/s1600/DSC_0989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rSs2avWhjDI/UuE8FYJB2CI/AAAAAAAAAsg/F71UXbsEnhw/s1600/DSC_0989.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">At the peak<br />
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-7471292711590955272013-07-19T22:20:00.000-07:002014-11-29T11:01:07.061-08:00Gudavi Bird Sanctuary <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b></div>
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Gudavi, is a small village in Sorab taluk of Shimoga district. Very few people have any knowledge about this village. But, the village attracts some beautiful wing flattering guests every monsoons. The birds,whom villagers welcome with great humbleness, throng a small pond of about 0.74km, near Gudavi, to build their home for 4 months of every year. Since the sanctuary is in Gudavi village, it is named "Gudavi bird sanctuary". It is one of the best and lesser known of the 5 bird sanctuaries in our state,Karnataka.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Entrance to sanctuary</span></b></i></td></tr>
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The Sanctuary hosts a variety of birds ranging from Heron, Ibis, Egrets, Darter, Cormorant, parrots,mynas, kites and N number of other birds. Altough these are quiet common birds, its their sheer number of migration in this small village every year, to raise their next generation, which makes it a place worth visiting.<br />
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Gudavi was declared bird sanctuary in 80's and is now protected place. Gudavi village, is located around 15 kms from Sorab taluk. And sorab is some 100kms from Shimoga district. Connectivity to sorab is good. Having own vehicle would be preferable. If you don't have own vehicle then you can reach Sorab by bus and hire autos from Sorab to visit bird sanctuary. Bus frequency to Gudavi is less, so don't rely on public transport. Since Gudavi is located just 15Kms from Sorab taluk, so reaching the place should not be problem. <br />
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Birds migrate every rainy season in very large numbers, around a natural pond, which is only 0.74kms.The pond gets filled up during monsoons. Best time to visit is from June to November. Birds stay there for 4 months, raise their next generation and leave the place.once monsoons are over the birds leave the place and pond becomes empty. If you want to see the younger ones trying to take flight or getting fed by parent birds then i would suggest you to go by end of October or beginning of November. But don't visit the place post November, as the birds fly off from<br />
the place after monsoon.<br />
Once you are at the entrance of this sanctuary, you are charge per head entry charges. .The sanctuary has 2 entrance. Tickets are given at both the sides. From the entrance one has to take vehicle some 700mts, park it and then walk along the pond. If you don't have vehicle then you can walk this 700mts from entrance till pond. Platforms are constructed for visitors to walk on, making them visitor friendly. Department has raised some 4 or 5 watch towers.Credit must be given to forest department for protecting the place against poaching, land grabbing from 80's,since the place declared as bird sanctuary. I was told that birds are not fed by department nor the pond water is clean enough to sustain fish. Hence birds traverse long distances everyday to meet their diet. Climbing on watch<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QrL1eDTM0x0/U1CjhPPTMRI/AAAAAAAAAvo/wMrLuAxVjTg/s1600/IMAG2813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QrL1eDTM0x0/U1CjhPPTMRI/AAAAAAAAAvo/wMrLuAxVjTg/s1600/IMAG2813.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Watch tower view</span></b></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
towers one can view a sea of black and white feathers fluttering everywhere. As we walk on platform, we could hear birds chirping, quacks, which is so soothing to ears. One feels so relaxed to watch birds everywhere and listen to their sweet voice.Visiting in right season may even give you a chance of parents bringing up their younger ones. If you have High end camera, then this should ideal place for you to get some good clicks. The sanctuary is open from 9Am to 6Pm. If you come at right time in the evening then you can watch swarm of birds coming back home at the end of day. It should be picturesque view. Having a powerful binocular would be plus point.<br />
<br />
For me, it will be one of the best places i've been to, so far. I advice people who love birds to visit this place.Birds can be watched from a very close distance which itself is a joy. Even tough these are not uncommon or rare birds ,and can be seen on country side, but its worth to watch them gather at such a large number and raise younger ones. Since I'd been in July, so there were no younger ones. But it is one place which i would definitely visit again.<br />
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<i><b>Quick checks :-</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i>1<b>. </b></i>Gudavi is small village, around 15 kms from Sorab Taluk<i><b> </b></i>of Shimoga district. Karnataka.<br />
2. Connectivity to Sorab is Good. one can hire autos till Sanctuary from Sorab. Own vehicle is preferable. Dont rely on public transport from Sorab to gudavi.<br />
3. Sanctuary is open from 9AM to 6PM. <br />
4. Birds that can be seen include, Heron, Ibis, Egrets, Darter, Cormorant, parrots,mynas, kites etc.<br />
5. Best time to visit is from june - November.<br />
6. Best time to visit younger ones will be post October and early November.<br />
7. Sanctuary is visitor friendly, watch towers are raised at 4-5 places.<br />
8. Having DSLR and Binocular would be helpful.<br />
9. Do not feed or tease the birds. <br />
10. If you've time then you can visit jog falls. Its around 60 Kms from here.<br />
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Some snaps : (Without DSLR camera).<br />
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-45340480227734204292012-09-17T03:17:00.001-07:002014-11-29T11:00:45.212-08:00Vajrapoha falls (Jamboti)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lTj4oEkP6Rc/T3rf2GSH-ZI/AAAAAAAAAIY/_YtG0qmeoQ0/s1600/DSC08930.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lTj4oEkP6Rc/T3rf2GSH-ZI/AAAAAAAAAIY/_YtG0qmeoQ0/s640/DSC08930.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The Majestic Vajrapoha falls...</i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Vajrapoha, is a breathtaking falls in Khanapur
taluk of Belgaum dist. This is very famous among youngsters. Water
falls from staggering height of 200ft to reach the ground..Its only
around 30-40kms from Belgaum.... one needs to be very careful at the
falls as it drops from large height.... </i><br />
<i><br />
To visit the falls there are 2 methods...</i><br />
<i>1. Viewing falls from Side i.e going on top of falls.</i><br />
<i>2. Viewing falls from front...</i><br />
<i> Both have different routes to be taken...</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Route no 2, i.e viewing falls from front is a more difficult trek than route no 1. </i><br />
<i><br />
we decided to take first route. Own vehicle and guide is a
must on this route as we need to first travel 12-15kms inside forest by
vehicle (2 or 4 wheeler) .Then park the vehicle and trek for around 6-8
km. Vajrapoha falls is in Jamboti village of Khanapur taluk..Jamboti is
just around 20-30mins drive from Belgaum. Connectivity of Jamboti
village is good, as it connects Goa. So the route is, Belgaum to
Jamboti, then go inside forest in Jamboti by vehicle for about
half an hour and then trek the remaining distance. Hence vehicle and
Guide is strongly advised, attempting without guide can be dangerous as
route can be confusing for people visiting falls for 1st time.. There
are no signboards to show directions. Also we
need to come out of forest before sunset as trekking in dark is
extremely dangerous, Since falls being inside forest so we cannot find
any people till main road
except trekkers...</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> Since we decided to take route no 1, so we hired a sumo vehicle and
an experienced guide. And left Belgaum at 8.30am.. we stopped at Jamboti
Village, which is on the way and went to RFO office to get permission,
although many people go in without permission but to be on safer side
its better to take permission.. The officer present inside advised us to
be careful about sloth bears as they are found in
more numbers here...( Name of village itself is on sloth bear(Jamboti)
)...well getting permission here is not an issue and you need not make it advance as such, as this place is quite
famous. Accordingly we got permission and left for falls. ....It is
always preferable to follow rules, especially while going in forest.</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> Once
entering forest area the roads become bad and sumo was ideal vehicle
for us to travel. After traveling around 12-15km inside forest our guide
stopped vehicle at a point from where the trek begins.There is no name
to this point hence i cant tell exactly where we stopped our sumo. There
are absolutely no sign boards to display where to go. Hence be
careful....</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7rgaS0Oj8H4/T3rer-DiBJI/AAAAAAAAAIA/foygffFOSFc/s1600/DSC08867.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><i><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7rgaS0Oj8H4/T3rer-DiBJI/AAAAAAAAAIA/foygffFOSFc/s320/DSC08867.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Initial trek path...</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WkHdISwvBQ/UFbNbb8mWEI/AAAAAAAAAUA/mci4pKjrkOQ/s1600/vlcsnap-2012-09-17-12h42m07s187.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--WkHdISwvBQ/UFbNbb8mWEI/AAAAAAAAAUA/mci4pKjrkOQ/s1600/vlcsnap-2012-09-17-12h42m07s187.png" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Crossing shallow water</i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6K4vL2mbuk/UFbKlwRbKLI/AAAAAAAAATo/NV7wyuDs8T0/s1600/DSC08922.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6K4vL2mbuk/UFbKlwRbKLI/AAAAAAAAATo/NV7wyuDs8T0/s400/DSC08922.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Getting down last rock. be careful</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<i> Getting down from sumo, after quick
snaps, we started to walk down narrow path where it is impossible for
vehicles to go further, even for 2 wheelers. The path kept on moving
downwards and it was not at all an issue to move along...we were
thinking about our way up!! as it was going to be hard climbing up
while coming back.....finally after some 45mins of descent we reached a
quite stream of water flow. That is river MAHADAYI. River Mahadayi
itself goes further and falls down as Vajrapoha falls.From here trek
route is along the flow till the falls... we did our breakfast sitting
there which we had packed from home..after spending about half an hour
we started to move again..The path further went along the flow of water. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> Trek route for
next 2hours is smooth one without much ascent or descent.. jumping
through small and big boulders.. The trek path till falls is along the flow of water
where it finally drops down as
falls.... At 2 points of trek we need to cross shallow water ,so its
better to carry plastic covers along, if you dont want ur shoes
to get wet. Finally after some 2.5hours of total trek, we could hear the
roar of Vajrapoha water falls and reached top of falls within no time. The sight of water dropping from such a large height itself was scary.Beautiful falls.The way forward is cut entirely as water drops down below
at 200Ft...One can enjoy the view of falls from here
itself.. But if you want to go to very side of falls then we need to get
down which is a bit dangerous.. one has to absolutely confident and
serious in doing this, last leg of trek, because it is a a bit risky
as
we need to go carefully down a huge rock. We climbed down the rock
holding our dear life in our hand and went beside the
falls which was
breath taking, awesome view. Those who don't have self-confidence of
getting down final rock can watch the falls from above, which too is a
beautiful scene. Water droplets while falling down gain diamond shape
hence the name is Vajrapoha falls.(As Vajra means Diamond). We sat
beside the falls for about half an hour, It was indeed an awesome feeling to be seated just next to falls which
roars so loudly that we cant hear each other speak..Also the sight of water
falling below the gorge was awesome and wonderful. so we sat there for
about half an hour enjoying the sight of falls and scary sight of
below!!... till our guide told us that it was time to move back as it
was getting late.so we got up having final glimpse at the pristine
beauty of falls and Carefully climbed the huge rock back again and
started our journey back till the vehicle. One needs to be very careful
at the falls as water plunges down around 200ft down and playing with
nature, here, can cost you very heavily.... </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> Thus, we started moving back. As trek path is along river, so you can swim in waters. We did not carry extra pair of clothes, so we did not swim. The
route back was very smooth till the quiet stream of water where we had
our breakfast while coming.... We again sat there for half an hour,
looking at the route we needed to walk upside.....There we were
encountered by forest department officials who had come for their
routine work.... Guess what it was our permission that saved us from
being fined for wrongful entry!! So always follow rules in forest.... By
then it was 2.30pm and we were told to hit the main road by 5pm so as
to avoid wild animals. Finally we started climbing up!!! and Phew!! it
was indeed tough as we were already exhausted.. Trek upwards seemed
never ending walk!!It is indeed very tiring than entire journey and we
took rest at regular intervals of time to move further...Finally after a
very tiring walk for about 1.5hrs we reached our vehicle where it was
parked. It was such a sigh of relief for us to see the vehicle!!
Finally our trek ended and we moved out of forest and hit the road by
4.45pm....It was back to home for us now....</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> The Trek indeed was an awesome journey through
dense forest.. The experience of sitting before a gorge of around 150-200ft
with waterfalls itself is a wonderful feeling...I Advise all youngsters
to visit this falls.. We can't camp on this route as it is illegal..
camping can be done on route 2 with permission from Forest dept....</i><i>The fact that this place is deep inside forest, has kept it free from tourist non-sense. But be responsible tourist and get back all the materials carried without littering the place.</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i>
Since the area receives maximum rain during
monsoons, it is advisable to visit the falls during post-monsoon
duration. One has to struggle very much if your trekking in rainy
season, as there are toooo many leeches. If it rains too heavily then it
is better advised not to trek as water becomes very rough and trekking would be risky . since we had gone post monsoons, so weather and
water were very calm. It was ideal time to visit..</i><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Quick checks :-</i></b><br />
<i>1. Vajrapoha falls is in Khanapur taluk of Belgaum Dist.</i><br />
<i>2. Own vehicle( with Higher ground clearance) and Guide is a must.</i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>3. Better to take Forest Dept permission at Jamboti, which is on way....</i><br />
<i> Many people go without permission.</i></div>
<i>4. There are two routes..</i><br />
<i> a. Trek to top of falls.</i><br />
<i> b. Trek to front of falls.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>5. Travel by vehicle inside forest for around 45mins and then trek 8-10kms for falls.</i><br />
<i>6. Be very careful with falls as it falls down 200ft.. especially last leg of trek.</i><br />
<i>7. Hit main road before 5pm...</i><br />
<i>8.Camping can be done on route 2 with prior permission but on route 1 it is not allowed...</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Some Photos...</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t2FWGbJ2SUU/UcrEowPKD1I/AAAAAAAAAgc/af66V_-KtgM/s1600/DSC08927.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t2FWGbJ2SUU/UcrEowPKD1I/AAAAAAAAAgc/af66V_-KtgM/s320/DSC08927.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> </i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i> View from side</i></b><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rpjWZSUDqxw/Ucq6ysZH2rI/AAAAAAAAAgM/84vtnMnTMsk/s1600/q%C3%89g%C3%80.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rpjWZSUDqxw/Ucq6ysZH2rI/AAAAAAAAAgM/84vtnMnTMsk/s320/q%C3%89g%C3%80.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><i><b> Walking along river</b></i></td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NT7Ri66RuC4/UcrHy3cb1rI/AAAAAAAAAg0/MuOf7antTws/s1600/DSC08937.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NT7Ri66RuC4/UcrHy3cb1rI/AAAAAAAAAg0/MuOf7antTws/s1600/DSC08937.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NT7Ri66RuC4/UcrHy3cb1rI/AAAAAAAAAg0/MuOf7antTws/s320/DSC08937.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Behind fall, be very careful here</b></td></tr>
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<b><i>-------------X----------</i></b> <b><i>THE END ---------------X-----------</i></b><br />
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-87581643935914517952012-08-28T02:58:00.003-07:002014-11-29T11:00:36.972-08:00Visit to Sathodi falls<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4lC6LI6d-tc/Um4kyO39WzI/AAAAAAAAAng/OMP-F2cl4hg/s1600/_MG_0490.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4lC6LI6d-tc/Um4kyO39WzI/AAAAAAAAAng/OMP-F2cl4hg/s640/_MG_0490.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SATHODI FALLS</td></tr>
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After long time, I got opportunity to go for outing. But i had time constraint of only one day. Since it being rainy season ,so we friends decided to go to Sathodi falls, Near yellapur, in Uttara kannada dist. Sathodi is also known as Mini-Niagara falls.!!. It was ideal spot for one day visit.<br />
<i></i><br />
<i style="text-align: justify;">so, we left belgaum on Sunday morning at 5am. Luckily we had a car to travel this time. I took dandeli route and accordingly we spotted scores of peacocks, peahen with chicks, jackals, spotted deer on road. Since road was bad so we moved at slow pace. Morning is such a beautiful time to spend on forest road. we stopped our car many times to get glimpse of various birds.</i><br />
<i style="text-align: justify;"><br /></i>
<i style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sightings along main road.</b></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgFnSWmYYPE/Um47QDjQpwI/AAAAAAAAAo0/cdvzRiB0AWc/s1600/DSC02797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jgFnSWmYYPE/Um47QDjQpwI/AAAAAAAAAo0/cdvzRiB0AWc/s320/DSC02797.JPG" height="240" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Deviation from main road.</span></b></i><br />
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<i style="text-align: justify;">Thus i managed to reach yellapur at 8.00am. Sathodi falls is located very near to Yellapur. If you are travelling by bus then you need to reach Yellapur, which is moderately big city, and hire autos to reach falls. There is huge sign board which shows
the direction and distance from main road to the Sathodi falls. Locating this board should not be issue, as it is displayed very next to highway</i><i style="text-align: justify;">. So from main road in yellapur we need to take diversion </i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>at the sign board and travel further for about 25kms to reach the falls.</i></div>
<i>Having own vehicle 2/4 wheeler would be preferable to visit. No bus goes till falls I advice you not to rely on public transport to travel last 25kms.(From diversion shown in photo).If you don't have own vehicle, then reach yellapur and hire an auto.We left main road and took right turn towards falls. Initial 20 of total 25kms from diversion, the roads are poor but manageable. But roads are narrow, so watch out the speed. It took us a lot of </i><i>time to drive 20kms, nearly about 40mins . But the last 5 kms, road becomes completely worst, Since it being rainy season, the condition was still bad., too much sticky mud and low ground clearance of our car made it impossible for us to take our car any further. Last 5 km road got</i><i> converted into mud path and it was covered with potholes and lots and
lots of wet mud. We decided to park our car 5kms before the falls, hence we had to cover the
remaining distance by foot.. It is more safe to take extra time to walk
than to get the </i><i>vehicle broken down in middle of forest.Vehicles with high ground
clearance especially SUV's should not have problem with this road. But
be very careful, as there are very narrow roads at some points,
especially in the last 5 kms. THERE IS NO ALTERNATE ROAD.</i><i>Thus, parking the vehicle we started </i><i>walking on the mud path. Walking, we felt more safe then driving!! so you can imagine how bad was the condition of road. we kept on </i><i>moving downwards inside forest. Tough vehicles passed by us (SUV'S) we walked without </i>taking ride in their vehicles. we did not ask anyone to drop us.walk through forest was a was a picturesque view filled with chirping sound of birds and eager look of langur monkeys. We could have not experienced these things, if we had taken our car or taken ride in anyone else's vehicle.<br />
<i></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UOMVqIyi0ZM/Um46igGzmYI/AAAAAAAAAow/Z38CIEMap7Q/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UOMVqIyi0ZM/Um46igGzmYI/AAAAAAAAAow/Z38CIEMap7Q/s1600/download.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Entrace gate</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<i>Now, Nearly walking after an hour ,for 5 kms,we came </i><i>down to entrance gate of falls. Here we saw people, who had driven their vehicles for last 5kms, were now removing heap of wet mud from tires!I felt i did very good thing by not driving for last 5Kms. </i><i>Even walking was sort of good exercise for us. At entrance, we have to pay 5rs per head and walk the remaining 1/2 Km, from entrance gate, as shown in photo. Vehicles can come down till this entrance gate, but remaining 1/2 Km has to be traversed by foot. No vehicle, not even 2 wheelers can go here.</i><i> Walking for about 10mins inside the gate, we could hear the roar of waterfalls, it was loud sound. But it was still not visible. Since walk path being very narrow, we had to walk slowly. Finally after 20mins we could see the Sathodi falls. Very beautiful falls,like a white flow over dark rocks at the background, rainy season was just perfect time to visit the falls as water was flowing in full gush. Water drops down and form a pool, hence you can even swim here. We were told that the falls runs all 12 months even during summers. There is no danger as such, as water falls from low height. </i><br />
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<i> SATHODI FALLS</i></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlH7mI5HSqs/Um4mAEuKRuI/AAAAAAAAAns/9puEQvtMAtA/s1600/_MG_0456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FlH7mI5HSqs/Um4mAEuKRuI/AAAAAAAAAns/9puEQvtMAtA/s640/_MG_0456.JPG" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Fallen tree in middle of path</i></b></td></tr>
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<i style="text-align: left;">It was a nice view. Though being sunday, there were few people. It
was good for us!! It was nice to see the falls dropping nearly from 50
ft. Since we had
gone in monsoon, water was full and we could not go much further, as it was slippery. We inched as further as possible and took some snaps. There were children playing in waters under careful eyes of their parents..Sathodi falls is well maintained place for visiting along with family. One can spend family picnic time. There is no danger as such near the falls. So one can take chances of moving forward as and how...We sat nearly for an hour watching the falls.</i><i style="text-align: left;">The water joins Kodsalli reservoir, located very next to the falls. Since we</i><i style="text-align: left;"> </i><i style="text-align: left;">had to reach belgaum by 10pm so we left the place after taking some final snaps.</i><br />
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<i> Local people here have formed a committee which work towards development of tourism at the falls. Committee people have made a small hotel near the falls where one can get decent Veg food at affordable rates, the hotel runs from 10am to 5.30pm. Committee itself charges 5rs per head near entrance. So we had our afternoon lunch there. There are absolutely no staying facilities at the falls. To get accommodation one has to travel back 25kms to </i><i>yellapur. Since there were very few tourist on the day we visited, the hotel people were free enough to tell us about their experience with wild animals they have seen near dam. I was also told that they are trying to get funds released to get the last 5kms of mud road upgraded to tar road.hopefully it'll be done next time. Now,after stomach full of lunch, time was now around 2.30pm so we decided to leave and walk back 5kms, where we had parked our car. Since the road is inside forest, so we could not feel the heat of sun even in dead afternoon, as sunrays were being blocked by trees.</i><br />
<i>As we walked upwards, we saw a innova car which was trying to get past a huge tree root, it seemed to me that tree had fallen down recently. </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sCp0K13Sf7U/UDx5PhiCMyI/AAAAAAAAARo/13flNvSxi5M/s1600/DSC02780.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sCp0K13Sf7U/UDx5PhiCMyI/AAAAAAAAARo/13flNvSxi5M/s400/DSC02780.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Kodsalli reservoir next to Sathodi falls</i></b></td></tr>
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<i></i><br />
<i></i><i>Finally after an hour of walk, we reached our car. So in total we walked nearly for about 10kms(to and fro).Reaching the car we drove back very carefully for the next 20kms to reach main road. On our way back we spotted pair of Hornbill birds, it was awesome sight.</i>
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<i>Being rainy season, the roads were in such a bad shape. Road condition should not be an issue if you are traveling in summer/winter season.</i><br />
<i>If one has time then you can even visit Magod falls, which is very near from yellapur. And even visit the famous sirsi Marikamba temple and Sahasralinga which is around 60kms from yellapur. </i><br />
<i>Since we had to go back nearly 150kms , so it was back to Belgaum for us.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>According to me Sathodi falls is well maintained place. Even worth for family visit. Many people come here to spend a day's picnic. People were even having lunch next to kodsalli reservoir, it was a very silent place, ideal to spend some quality time with family/friends. If road condition is good for last 5 Kms, then vehicles can be droven till the entrance gate else even walking 10kms (To and fro) can be option, provided you are fit enough to walk the same.</i><br />
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<i><b>QUICK CHECKS:-</b></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1. Sathodi falls is in Yellapur taluk of Uttar Kannada district.</i><br />
<i>2. Falls runs throughout the year, but best seen in monsoons.</i><br />
<i>3.Huge sign board is displayed on main road, at yellapur, indicating direction of falls.</i><br />
<i>4.Better to have own vehicle,else than relying on public transport.</i><br />
<i>5.Absolutely no staying facilities at falls, Nearest decent accommodation is at Yellapur, or Sirsi.</i><br />
<i>6. Last 5km stretch of road is bad. So watch out ground clearance of ur vehicle.</i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #4c1130;"> </span> --------<b>x</b>---------------<b>The End</b>---------<b>x</b>---------- </i><br />
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-49278230718623156872012-05-26T07:45:00.000-07:002020-03-22T12:39:02.626-07:00Exuberant Dandeli --- Elephant census 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Wild Tusker at Dandeli..</i></b></td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cr4sRqoodJ4/UcrUsLVkVtI/AAAAAAAAAhE/8QsirrtbXag/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-06-26-17h15m13s193.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cr4sRqoodJ4/UcrUsLVkVtI/AAAAAAAAAhE/8QsirrtbXag/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-06-26-17h15m13s193.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cr4sRqoodJ4/UcrUsLVkVtI/AAAAAAAAAhE/8QsirrtbXag/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-06-26-17h15m13s193.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Cr4sRqoodJ4/UcrUsLVkVtI/AAAAAAAAAhE/8QsirrtbXag/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-06-26-17h15m13s193.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a> After waiting nearly for about
1.5years !! I came to know through news paper that elephant census is to be carried in the entire state of Karnataka, from 22-05-2012 to 24-05-2012 . So quickly I
called dandeli Wildlife division office in Karnataka and confirmed my participation as
volunteer, all 3 days, for the same.. Accordingly I got all the stuff ready and
moved to dandeli on 21<sup>st</sup> evening. I went straight to Dandeli wildlife division office and reported. The officer present there was very kind enough person to welcome me and told me about the work we need
to do for next 3 days. So I was given instructions as how to count elephants
and what to do once we spot them. I was given accommodation at Kulgi Nature camp. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bVF6U2nebz8/UDTr_Z7lRtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/KyZ7-uZvBoc/s1600/DSC02555.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bVF6U2nebz8/UDTr_Z7lRtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/KyZ7-uZvBoc/s400/DSC02555.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Signboard to caution people</b></i> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<br />
Basically elephant census is carried once in 5 years, but it keeps varying as
and then. Elephant number gives a rough idea about the green cover of forest,
like availability of grass/bamboo on which herbivorous animals depend.Good elephant no indicates,green cover of forest is good. Good vegetation inturn keeps carnivorous numbers up. Its like a chain. Everyone is interdependent.<br />
<br />
There are 3 methods to do census.</div>
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<b>1)By<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>direct
sighting method:-</b> In this method, we volunteers along with department people cover
entire forest by foot. Every forest guard along with watchers walk their range of
Jungle.. every range is roughly is about 15-20kms… once elephants are spotted we need to
note certain points in format given to us before and take photographs for better identification.. Photographs are used so that overlapping of same
elephant count is minimized.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>2)By<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Line
transect method:-</b> This is a bit complicated method where in we have to count
elephant dung(Fresh and old) along and beside 2km transect line which is at certain
angles... later by using a complicated formulas and calculations elephant number can be identified..</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>3) By water
hole counting method:-</b> Here we sit near a water hole for an entire day from 6am
to 6pm and count elephants which come near water hole. This is more accurate
method as all elephants compulsorily come to drink water atleast once in a day..<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bVF6U2nebz8/UDTr_Z7lRtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/KyZ7-uZvBoc/s1600/DSC02555.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
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Thus... </div>
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<b>DAY 1:-</b><br />
First day of
census i.e on 22<sup>nd </sup>,I was excited as it was my first
time experience about such a thing... we were told to be ready by 6am, and accordingly at 6am, Me along with a forest guard and
2 watchers started walking inside our range of forest. On first day we had to do
census by direct
sighting method. So we tried to locate elephants on regular paths used by them. One might think that elephants are huge mammals and hence they can be traced very easily, but that's completely a mistake as it is very difficult to track them. After walking for about 4 hours inside forest and
covering
nearly 6-8kms, we spotted herd of 8 elephants along with chital deer. We
tried
to be as silent as possible, so as to not scare deer or elephants, both were unaware of our presence. It was only about a minute, we had not even seen them properly when a machete, which forest watchers carry, slipped off hands of one of our forest watcher and deer started running which
inturn
alerted elephants and even they started running away after making very
loud
trumpet, It was such a disappointment!! We did not click our camera even once and the elephants were gone!!.. But the watcher who had dropped his machete promised us that he will trace the same elephants
again.These people have an unusual technique and knowledge of locating
animals..The watcher kept on following vital clues like elephant foot prints, trees
which it had fallen, its dung and finally after walking for about 8kms
nearly after 3 hours again we found same herd of 8 elephants.<br />
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<i><b> </b></i><br />
<i><b> Herd of elephants on day 1.(5 adults and 3 calves) </b></i>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5TFG-Xbwxfw/T8CuGBpI_CI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/cYlscJuV7F4/s1600/DSC02597.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5TFG-Xbwxfw/T8CuGBpI_CI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/cYlscJuV7F4/s400/DSC02597.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gpHLfGb8fxE/T8C4yL5EysI/AAAAAAAAALI/JOp7WRuo6Rk/s1600/DSC02608.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gpHLfGb8fxE/T8C4yL5EysI/AAAAAAAAALI/JOp7WRuo6Rk/s400/DSC02608.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Matriarch female</b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Me and watcher having a close look..</i></b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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This time we were more careful, and started inching towards them with as less sound as possible.. The elephants were unaware of our presence and they carried on with their routine. While I took some quick snaps, the guard recorded data of each and every elephant. It was such a magnificent sight to watch these giants in their natural habitat..the 3 calves played with each other, while one of bigger females brought down a teakwood tree..It was such a loud noise!! .tree breaking noise could be heard very far in jungle..Now nearly after 10mins one of adult females turned and started moving towards us... tough we were a safe distance..it was a bit scary... Luckily it turned aside and moved away from us. That was sigh of relief. Now, nearly after 20mins, the matriarch female decides to move and all 8
elephants
were gone out of sight in no time.. Though they are huge, elephants can move very fast, within split second they were no where to be seen.!! I
personally was
very much thrilled to spot herd of elephants in wild…I saluted
those
watchers and guard for their extra ordinary knowledge in locating them, these foot soldiers have have great affinity towards wild life. Time Now it was around 1.30pm and we left for anti-poaching camp located very near for
lunch.. During lunch I came to know that another group who were walking next to
our range spotted a male tiger!!! That would’ve been sooo thrilling..We
finished our lunch and went into forest again to find still some more elephants, this
time in another area of our same range…But no luck… we could not spot any
elephants nor did we find any other animals as it was noon time.. finally we
came out of forest at 4pm..<br />
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There was back waters of a
dam(reservoir) in our range where
elephants come every day in evening by crossing road to drink water and bathe. we were given
instructions to wait on main road which they cross to reach back water. Accordingly we split up into 2 groups, 2 each, and hid
ourselves near the road which elephants normally use to cross the road. We were
on two places waiting for them. After nearly 1hr at 5.30pm group of 4 elephants
crossed road on route in which we were
hiding. Tough we ran behind them to get
snaps, they ran faster than us and we could not trace them again..so again came
back on road to the hiding place. Later after half an hour a herd of 6 elephants crossed same road where we were
hiding!! We informed our other team and even they came running.. this time we
allowed them to go inside water and stood behind a big tree from where we took
some of their snaps!! Now it was around 6.30pm and was getting dark.. as we had
to count them till 6pm so we started moving back to kulgi camp but wait it
was still not over!! While walking on road back to camp a huge male tusker was spotted!!.. I
could not take photo as it was dark and the guard told me not to put on flash..The
tusker just zipped infront of us. I could not believe my eyes.. Spotting a very
huge male elephant with both tusks was an awesome sight.. Finally I reached
our camp at 7pm..it was end of day one…. It was such a nice feeling to spot 19
elephants on a single day!! Phew… I was very happy about it..and the pain of walking nearly
about 20kms was no more an issue….Thus day one of elephant census ended with me
spotting 19 of them..</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><br /></b>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--2GyFDgedk8/T8DI7zQpR7I/AAAAAAAAAMM/1jiZ88axLJU/s1600/DSC02627.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--2GyFDgedk8/T8DI7zQpR7I/AAAAAAAAAMM/1jiZ88axLJU/s320/DSC02627.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Camera trap </i></b></td></tr>
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<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>DAY 2:-</b></div>
<br />
2<sup>nd</sup>
day of census was by transect line method. So again I was ready to go at
6am. In this method a 2km line was
already marked and we went along the same sighting elephant dungs and measuring
perpendicular dist of the same from the line and note down them.. I was hopeful of seeing some wild animals else than elephants today. But no, We did not have sightings of any elephant nor any other animal. But we saw hornbill birds. Lots of them. As line transect method takes a bit less time so 2<sup>nd</sup> day of elephant censuswas over by noon. While on way
back came across camera traps set up to study tigers in the area. So, 2<sup>nd</sup> day
finished very early without any sighting and I was back in camp by 4pm.<br />
<b style="text-align: justify;"><br /></b>
<br />
<b style="text-align: justify;"><br /></b>
<b style="text-align: justify;"><br /></b>
<br />
<b style="text-align: justify;"><br /></b>
<b style="text-align: justify;">DAY 3:-</b><br />
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Last day of
elephant census was by water hole method, where in we had to sit near a water
hole in our range from 6am to 6pm and note down elephant specifications when
they come to drink water..I guess, counting elephants by this method is more effective as elephants compulsory come to drink water once in a day. So, we moved near a water hole in our range at 6am.We waited till
12.30 pm, no elephant nor did any other animal come near the water hole. I was
getting a bit bored by sitting ideal and doing nothing, so I along with another volunteer thought of relaxing our muscles a bit and started walking along the
water hole. we had gone just for about 150mts and to our surprise , the same
huge male tusker which I’d spotted on day one, on road, came to drink water!! He appeared from no where. we were stunned and surprised at huge sight of this male. It was an
awesome and scary moment especially for me as I was very near to it... as
soon as we saw this tusker, both of us hid ourselves amid short grass and the tusker started drinking water as we slept/laid down completely amidst short grass to watch the gigantic animal play in water. The male elephant was unaware
about us so it continued playing around in water carelessly. After having some large gulps of water it got itself immersed completely inside water.It was fun to watch it. But after some 15mins it saw
us!! And now our heart started pounding rapidly…I was scared… if it wants to then the tusker could’ve easily ran
over and trampled upon us.. but here we understand a very calm and
composed nature of this giant beast.. instead of coming towards us or threatening us the tusker
got up and slowly went to other side of water hole, where in we both were at
considerable distance from each other.. This behavior of tusker increased my respect
towards these magnificent mammals which avoid humans as much as possible. <br />
<br />
<b> Magnificent male tusker, day 3, Dandeli </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3bCqiiBPiF8/U1DuuRVY9LI/AAAAAAAAAxU/K4ZD5UiVIf0/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-04-18-14h44m16s148.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3bCqiiBPiF8/U1DuuRVY9LI/AAAAAAAAAxU/K4ZD5UiVIf0/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-04-18-14h44m16s148.png" height="225" width="400" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpVDfIdRbvM/U1DvluYvdRI/AAAAAAAAAxc/Tql0idzoEWQ/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-04-18-14h47m17s217.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpVDfIdRbvM/U1DvluYvdRI/AAAAAAAAAxc/Tql0idzoEWQ/s1600/vlcsnap-2014-04-18-14h47m17s217.png" height="225" width="400" /></a><br />
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Tough nature has gifted them with immense strength they avoid, as much as possible, using it against
other species. Finally after some 20mins of drink and bathe the tusker left us
and went inside forest.. I did not find it again… But it was such an immense
pleasure to watch this magnificent animal especially having both the tusks and that
too twice at a very close distance… Now, we came back to place where we were
earlier sitting and told remaining people regarding the same.. they were
thrilled but lamented an opportunity to watch a tusker sooo close.<br />
Now
it was around 2pm and we left again to anti-poaching camp, very close to
water hole, to have our afternoon lunch…
since it was very hot noon so post lunch we sat in there listening to hair raising
experiences of forest guards and
watchers of their encounter with wild animals..After having lunch we went again near that
water hole and waited again till 5.30pm without any sightings.. It was then we
received message that 5-6 elephants,were coming near our water hole.. So we hid ourselves properly around bushes and there!!Big and magnificent elephants which included 3 calves and some
adults… came to drink water.This time we
were a bit far away from their eye sight.. So there was no disturbance for them to carry on their routine work. It was such a beautiful sight to watch them play in water. They went inside the water and submerged themselves completely, without even fearing the mighty crocodile present in same water.. The calves played with each other while adults kept a watchful eye at them and around them . It was interesting to see them put wet mud and water on top of them. The guard present with me noted down specifications of each elephant.My most loved moment was when one of the females came out of water to suckle its young. While the younger of them suckled its mother. The other females stood guard for them, watching out for any danger.... . finally
after some 15-25mins all of them went away from us inside deep forest…This would be one of the most cherished moment of my journey..It was a feast for our eyes to watch sooo many elephants play in water...<br />
<br />
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<i><b>Elephants at water hole, Day 3</b></i></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FuRKBloXq7I/UcrcGpgJVBI/AAAAAAAAAhU/WMfvDxONZKk/s1600/DSC00968.JPG"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FuRKBloXq7I/UcrcGpgJVBI/AAAAAAAAAhU/WMfvDxONZKk/s400/DSC00968.JPG" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Time now was 6.30pm and I made myself realize the fact that this beautiful work of elephant census, of 3days, had come to an end….since it was late, so we all volunteers decided to move back home the </span><span style="text-align: justify;">next day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Thus, we bid adieu to wonderful experience of knowing forest for 3 days. we thanked entire forest department staff, be it officers, guards, watchers, drivers, camp people, everyone was soo kind and supportive to us. I had a very beautiful time of 3 full days inside forest.. I guess everyone should experience wilderness atleast once in their life time...<br />
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<br />
Video link of lone tusker at noon and herd of elephants at evening, taken by one of my fellow volunteer( Madan Jaggannath) is below.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XyHW7zEZqgU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/k32LcjGzVf0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br />
<br />
An encouraging news, according to census data released in Feb 2013, Karnataka is now home to around 6,072 elephants.. which is an increase as compared to previous numbers of 5800, in 2010..<br />
Kudos to conservation efforts, elephants are seeing rise in their numbers...<br />
<br />
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<b style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><i> ----------X-------THE END------X----------</i></b><br />
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<b><i><u>OTHER BLOGS ARE @ END OF THIS PAGE.</u></i></b></div>
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Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-87280973172921032002012-03-10T22:11:00.000-08:002014-11-29T10:58:57.671-08:00Vajra Falls..( Nagar Gali)...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; height: 349px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left; width: 379px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nDgthj4JHKU/T1XsRokcqQI/AAAAAAAAAHU/ccCr1NX-SN4/s1600/2012-02-13+11.49.54.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nDgthj4JHKU/T1XsRokcqQI/AAAAAAAAAHU/ccCr1NX-SN4/s640/2012-02-13+11.49.54.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a> <b><i>The falls.</i></b></td></tr>
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I guess many people dont've an idea that there exists a place called Nagargali.....It is a small village located in Belgaum dist, some 45-50kms from Belgaum, in Khanapur taluk. Even fewer people know about Vajra falls present here!!..We, group of 5, had very tough time to get info about the falls and its location as google wont help you in this. After gathering information in bits and pieces we confirmed that a falls does exist in this place and to visit it permission from forest department is a must. Thus we planned to go there on Sunday, and got permission, for the same, from forest office in Belgaum on saturday. Getting permission to falls is very difficult as many people dont go there.Also it is located in remote place where, even connectivity is very poor. But we were lucky enough to get permission, as we were able to convince the officer. So, the trip was fixed on sunday...<br />
<br />
Thus, Sunday morning we boarded bus to Nagargali at 8am (It was late already by an hour...schedule timing is at 7). Connectivity to the place is very poor as very few bus run to the place. Own vehicle is preferable. Bus
ride till Nagargali was bad, as roads were not at all in proper
condition. Finally we reached the place at around 9.30am. I was
surprised to see that there are absolutely no Shops in village, even
human density is very less. Barring a few two wheelers here and there, a
few scattered people and a deserted school(As it was sunday), the place
was absolutely dead silent!! But its good to see how the place is still
untouched by human habitation. we were told about how the place is weakly populated,
hence we carried all required things along as one doesn't get anything
there. Also for 1st timers its better to reach place as early as
possible and be back before dusk..<br />
RFO office in Nagargali is located just beside where the bus
stops, so locating office should not be an issue. Getting down from bus,
we went straight to RFO office and informed them about our wish to
visit the falls and showed them permission letter, the officer present
inside was kind <br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8BulWOqrwI/Ueq-DU-ExdI/AAAAAAAAAmc/_3Hnr43WpV4/s1600/IMAG2907.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8BulWOqrwI/Ueq-DU-ExdI/AAAAAAAAAmc/_3Hnr43WpV4/s320/IMAG2907.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a>enough to treat us warmly and gave us some strict
warnings about the trek, and we were advised to be very careful as a
student had drowned in falls recently. Also he cautioned us about the
animals we may encounter during the trek. As we had requested for guide
to falls, we were provided with forest watcher, who was old experienced
man with very good knowledge about forest. so we were off to 4.5km trek inside forest<br />
<br />
Guide here is a must as falls is located inside forest, and its very
risky to goin alone. Al tough you know the route and you go in without
permission, then you are inviting trouble. So follow rules, take
permission from forest dept which is compulsory, going in without
permission is an<br />
offence. since we had both permission and guide... So
it was not an issue for us to get to the falls....<br />
<br />
Nagargali comes under Khanapur Taluk of Belgaum District. Its a very dense forest. The
forest has all<br />
kinds of animals ranging from snakes,variety of birds,
Tiger, Gaur, Sambar, Deer, Elephant. Trek to falls is not a difficult
task as the terrain is smooth enough.Its good to see how dense the
forest is, as human presence is low here.. Thus,we began our walk inside
forest, hardly it was around 30-40 mins that,we spotted Rock python. We
were lucky enough to see it as it had camouflaged under a tree. None of
us had that courage to go near snake and photograph it!! so it could
not be captured in a snap. We moved on, so did the snake.<br />
<br />
Our
Watcher-cum-guide told us about the recent menace the elephants were
causing in near by agricultural fields at night, for which villagers
were blaming forest dept people. I wondered how dept people could be
held responsible. As he was saying that, we saw piles of fresh elephant
dung. He told it could be just half an hour past that elephants were
here and advised us to be careful and not make much noise as they could
be near by. But we moved on and never saw them! Near the falls We came
across 2 villagers, inside forest, who had come to graze their cattle. They told us about a bear which had come to quench its thirst near the
falls,2 days ago. I asked him about various animals he had seen till date. His list included each and every animal in forest!!
Strange, we people pay money to see wild animals, where as for these people it
was routine thing..<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5hUU9j99xXc/T1X6rypA_0I/AAAAAAAAAHk/nXEY3VI2UOQ/s1600/13022012196.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5hUU9j99xXc/T1X6rypA_0I/AAAAAAAAAHk/nXEY3VI2UOQ/s320/13022012196.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Trek path..</span></b></i></td></tr>
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Now, regarding the
trek route, it is a very simple way , instead of trekking we can call it
hiking!! a simple walk inside forest.. without climbing up or down.On
our way to falls we encountered a<br />
caution board displaying info about
student who drowned and died in the falls recently. Always remember to
not cross limits with nature. This incident has made it a lot more
difficult to get permission to visit falls.. Finally after 2.5hours of
smooth walk we reached falls.water
drops from very low height as you can see in picture, and forms a pool below, one can even swim
here. Since it was end of monsoon, water level was not much high, we
decided to swim.But be careful as water becomes deep to its end on left
side. There was no one else than us at the falls, so it was like open
pool !!.. our guide<br />
was kind enough to give us an hour to swim, while he
sat watching around.. Nearly after 1. 5 hours, we came out of water.It
was such a nice feeling to go in natural water and swim, that too
without any body's disturbance. I personally felt the trip was worth.
Now we had our lunch there itself, which we had packed from home. So
post lunch we left the falls and started moving back at around 2pm, the way back was little tirey one as we
spent most of energy in swimming, but it should not be a problem at all.
After 1hr of trek we saw herd of spotted deer, it was an awesome
sight.They were nearly 15-20 of them. It was such a nice sight to see
them in natural habitat. We could not click any<br />
snaps as they ran away on seeing us..Finally we came out of forest at 4.30pm .. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e51Z1yfoiT4/UFbGtkH5dQI/AAAAAAAAATM/5geVfYGXH-I/s1600/13022012032.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e51Z1yfoiT4/UFbGtkH5dQI/AAAAAAAAATM/5geVfYGXH-I/s320/13022012032.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">With Villager inside forest</span></b></i></td></tr>
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If one has own vehicle then you can visit near by
Handi-Badagnath temple, which is on top<br />
of mountain. Road to Handibadagnath is bad but can be managed, from temple the view of the jungle is worth seeing..we did not have any private vehicle so it was back to
home for us....we had a tough time to get transport back as bus
frequency is very less.And there are no private buses or autos here!..We
managed to convince a truck driver to take us half way, from where we
can get transport. He agreed and we were off to home....Belgaum.. Since Ramnagar-Goa road is on periphery on Nagargali, so if you reach this road then getting transport should not be problem, as this is highway.<br />
<br />
So, if you plan to visit the
falls, it is preferable to have own vehicle, if you don't have your own
vehicle see then to it that you come out of forest and hit main road as
early as 4pm. as very few vehicles run here. Altough there is guest
house which can be booked for accommodation on request, but it is not
worth as there are no other places to visit, so i don't suggest any halt
here.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But for me it was indeed a fine one day non-tiring trek... I swam in natural water nearly after 3 years!!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MMPFKj0af-o/UKpBwE8p61I/AAAAAAAAAXs/bd4iNGV44mc/s1600/2012-02-13+12.09.02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MMPFKj0af-o/UKpBwE8p61I/AAAAAAAAAXs/bd4iNGV44mc/s400/2012-02-13+12.09.02.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SWIM IN FALLS</td></tr>
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<i><b> QUICK CHECKS:-</b></i><br />
1. Nagargali is village located in Khanapur taluk of Belgaum Dist...<br />
2. Name of falls may be confusing as its called vajra and vajra poha falls..<br />
3. One can swim in water..as water is shallow.. <br />
4. Forest dept permission is must...You can get that at Belgaum or at Nagargali.(getting it at Belgaum is preferable.)<br />
5. Guide is must....Dont attempt without a guide as its very dense forest..<br />
6. Connectivity to Nagargali is very poor...very few bus run to village...i guess only 4 a day!!<br />
7. No shops, hotels, stores in village....Even human population is less....so carry reqd things along..<br />
8. Hit main road as early as possible as there are not much vehicles which run to this place. <br />
<br />
<br />
------------X-----------------<b>THE END</b>-----------------X----------<br />
<b style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><i> </i></b><br />
<b style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><i><u>OTHER BLOGS ARE @ END OF THIS PAGE.</u></i></b></div>
Adihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01334571679921395316noreply@blogger.com3Belgaum, Karnataka, India15.85036 74.50466915.789260500000001 74.425705000000008 15.9114595 74.583633tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624568647496262579.post-82422202334389002522012-01-13T21:17:00.000-08:002015-01-23T01:07:05.560-08:00Kodachadri trek....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><i><u>( OTHER BLOGS ARE AT END OF THIS PAGE)</u></i></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q5f7Q_GDXYk/Tw_WzmUMUUI/AAAAAAAAACU/6-6nOxWQf8Q/s1600/DSC02073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q5f7Q_GDXYk/Tw_WzmUMUUI/AAAAAAAAACU/6-6nOxWQf8Q/s640/DSC02073.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></i></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Beautiful Sun set at kodachadri</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Kodachadri peak is breath taking scenic beauty which is situated in Shimoga district. The peak stands at a staggering height of 1343mts. It was a long time wish to go to kodachadri , especially for me, which finally came true this saturday... All four of us,friends, planned the trip accordingly and got ourselves ready by the evening. Before leaving Belgaum we contacted Mr.Rajendra who guided us regarding trek and arranged for our stay at peak..His no is 9449145540(As of today!).. He is a localite, who guides people with route and accomodation. On his advice we left to kollur which is nearest city to Kodachadri. Even tough we did not know Rajendra personally, he guided us well regarding trek route and accommodation.You too can contact him. .We boarded a bus to shimoga. Kodachadri is situated in shimoga dist. The nearest city to kodachadri is kollur which is around 20 kms. so we left Belgaum on friday at 7.30pm and reached Shimoga at 3.30 am... and to our fortune we had bus waiting to go to kollur!!! we boarded bus and reached kollur at 7am on saturday.....one can get lodges to fresh up at kollur starting from rs.150/-..thats not a worry.....so we freshened up and visited Mookambika temple, by then it was already 10 am....so hurridly we had breakfast in nearby hotel and left for karikatte gate which is at 12 kms from kollur. Karikatte gate is one of trek routes to Kodachadri peak. The other being from Nittur, if you trek from Nittur then we come across a water falls, but guide is reqd on this route. In total there are three ways to reach top. Regarding accomodation at peak, there is a Govt guest house where in you can stay for a night. But it has to booked in advance. There is a small home stay called Bhattra mane, beside guest house. They provide decent accommodation with affordable rates and even decent food. Here is Bhattra mane phone number </i><i>09480822308/08185-253653, i guess http://parvathahomestay.com should help you for same. Also one can bring their own tents to stay or it can be arranged by Rajendra.. Vehicles come till guest house...from guest house the sunset/sunrise peak is about 1.5 kms....One has to walk this 1.5 distance to visit the sunrise/sunset point as no vehicles can go there.</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <u>Three routes to reach Kodachadri</u></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Route 1:-</i></b><i> From Nittur, which is 20kms from kollur :- one can go directly till the Guest house from Nittur by mahindra jeep which costs 150rs per person( as of today!!)...Jeeps can be taken from Kollur or if you have your own vehicle, you can drive upto Nittur, park your vehicle and then get on Mahindra jeeps, They are plenty of them....its for those who don't want to trek all the way up...But don't at all do the mistake of taking own car as the road is very very rough(As of today). No bus will go till the guesthouse. It will take around an hour to reach top via vehicle. Mahindra jeeps are plenty, both at Kollur and Nittur.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Route 2:-</b>If u want to trek and go, there is another route from Nittur,(Not the jeep route) and you can also find Hidulmane falls on this route. But it is strongly suggested to take a guide on this route, treking here without guide can be dangerous, as there are many diversions. I was told that this is quiet tougher than route 3</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Route 3:-</b>From karikatte gate, which we took and most of people take, and this is around 12 kms from kollur. one can start treking from here even without a guide as path is well defined inside the forest...Even 1st timers need not hire a guide on this route (We too were first timers on this route)....</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i>
<i>Karikatee gate and nittur are just around 10-15kms apart on same straight road.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">we had a hard time finding transport from kollur to Karikatte gate which is only 12kms, so we took an auto to the karikatte gate after much bargaining for 200rs.....Finally we reached Karikatte gate, though there are no sign boards indicating karikatte gate, local people can help you as it is very famous place.. almost everyone knows it....Thus at 12.30PM we started our trek to the peak....... .</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ENjjZuNJLHQ/U1DBGDNOATI/AAAAAAAAAwE/6344SQwtPmA/s1600/6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ENjjZuNJLHQ/U1DBGDNOATI/AAAAAAAAAwE/6344SQwtPmA/s1600/6.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Starting of trek</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Total distance of trek from Karikatte gate to the peak is around 12-14kms....and it takes about 4-5 hours...The inital path of walk inside forest was filled with chirping sounds of birds which was very pleasent to ears...we rested at regular intervals for about 5-10mins refilled ourselves with water, chocolates and some eatables which we had carried with us....Being silent you can listen to sounds of various birds.....And one need not worry about wild animals here as this route is regularly used by people. But see to it that you don't start trek too late. Else you are inviting </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">danger.. I would suggest, the max time to start trek would be 2pm and not later than that..The path till peak can be well identified, even by 1st timers.....Now,After about 2 hours of walk through motarable path in jungle we reached a tiny village, with some people and a school. The village is at foothills of mountain, also there is small "SANTOSH"hotel there,popularly called as "KAKA"S" hotel.One can expect it to remain open all the days. There is another vehicle route, apart from our trek route, which connects this village and hotel, but i'm unsure of the way. But if you come in dry/winter season then one can get bikes till this hotel on our trek route, provided you are good at riding bike.. I saw many people had got their bikes and parked them near KAKA'S hotel,foot hills of mountain. Bikes cannot go further than this, as we have to walk </span></i><i style="font-family: inherit;">through thick vegetation..So one can </i><br />
<i style="font-family: inherit;">call this, place where hotel is located, as </i><i style="font-family: inherit;"><i>foot hills of the Kodachadri mountain. </i>From "SANTOSH" hotel, there is only one route till the guest house. So, People who want </i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">to start trek from foot hills, on this route,can get their bikes till this hotel, park it and then walk till the peak. If you select route 2, then it starts on route 1 then deviates after sometime to go in forest to Hidulmane falls and finally joins route number 1 again, from where guest house is not far away. I was told that this is a bit </span></i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DHV0Nl4YJLg/UcsZrYshCwI/AAAAAAAAAhk/WfwnMppy0Bk/s320/127.jpg" height="300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Walking along ridges</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">tougher route compared to our path.If you are going in summer, i guess route 3 should be good else than 2 for trekking. Thus,post lunch at hotel we could see the guest house which was our destination for the day. We refilled ourselves with special dish called "PUTTU KADLE" at hotel for very less price..Now the trekking path from hotel to peak is about 5kms but is much tougher from here as the path is steep upwards.. Since the hotel is located at foothills of mountains, the real trekking starts from here as we need to constantly keep on moving upwards till the peak..one needs to carry enough fluids and eatables as they serve as energy boosters...After around 2.5hrs of further intense trekking which keeps on moving upwards, our legs started showing signs of tiredness. one of our biggest mistake was to carry backpack luggage with us. The load kept on increasing as we moved upwards. on our way up met people who were coming down. Since being weekend, there were many tourists. Every one, on their way back, kept on lifting </span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">our spirits,saying that the destination in near. Although Guest house is only 5 Kms from Hotel, it seemed a lot as we kept on walking upwards which took a lot of time. At some point of trek, it opens into open grasslands and we saw the beautiful mountain ranges. The mountains extended till the horizon!! it was such an awesome sight, one forgets all his tiredness looking at the majestic western ghats..As sun was moving quickly </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>towards west( evening) we took some quick snaps and again starting moving further..Finally we </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>reached the guest house at 5.30 pm,nearly after 4.5hours of trekking.Phew all of us were tired, first thing we did was to dump our luggage,</i>inside the tent which was arranged for us,by Rajendra. From guest the serene beauty </span><i>around us was soo magnificent that we completely forgot as to how much tired we were..and felt that the pain we took to reach this spot was worth enough...</i><i> Since the sun had </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-MYHpucYo0/UNbVRDTGVeI/AAAAAAAAAao/8Tz82QjHzHw/s1600/103.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E-MYHpucYo0/UNbVRDTGVeI/AAAAAAAAAao/8Tz82QjHzHw/s320/103.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i><b>Majestic western ghats</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<i>already begun to sink...</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">and moved towards sunset point which was still 1.5kms up...As we reached the top, walking </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1.5kms,the sun had already set..and we could get only some final moments of rays going down...It was such a heart breaking sight!!.. we missed sunset...On a clear evening without clouds one can see sun set in Arabian sea!!!.....we thought we will come tomorrow morning for sun rise and thus came down to our tent..</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i><i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Regarding staying at peak, you can get accomodation in guest house if u book in advance, Also there </i><i>is home stay (Beside
guese house) who allow to stay for a night with a fair price, Bhattare
mane for example(ph numbers for both are written at top)...Jeeps come till guest house from Nittur(Route 1). </i><i><i> If you want to complete the trek in one day then one can do that but
chances of seeing both sunrise and sunset are less as you have to
cover a lot of distance. we can even trek one side and take jeep another side. Jeeps are present at guest house till evening.</i> But from guest house,one
has to cover remaining 1.5Km by walk to visit sunrise and sunset points,
as there is no route for vehicles.. One can even start </i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">from route no 2 and return on route no 3. or vice-versa. </span></i></div>
<i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Thus night fell, and the cold set in...so we went inside our tents.... Since there is no source of light inside the tent, it is advised to carry a torch along.. Guest house and homestay do have power connection, But not tents!! Aslso one should not forget to carry enough protection against cold..It really becomes bone chilling cold at night.. make sure u've enough things to keep yourself warm.Now </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E6_XccAM8nM/UNbXt404oWI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/r0aHMnm7EKs/s1600/314.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-E6_XccAM8nM/UNbXt404oWI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/r0aHMnm7EKs/s320/314.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Surrounding</i></b></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i><b> covered by fog at sunrise.</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">it was dinner time, we were served with hot roti, sambar,rasam, rice, butter milk. </i><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">After stomach full of dinner we sat infront of campfire for about15mins so as to save us from bone chilling cold , and finally we went to sleep inside the tent.We had planned to stay there at night and visit both sun rise and sunset.......Now that we missed sun set...we were eager to watch sun rise...</i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Morning, we woke up at 4 got ready by 5...and started trek towards sunrise point which is around 1.5kms from guest house...Torch here is strongly advised as it is completely dark....finally after 45mins of treking we reached the sunrise point which is kodachadri.... Many people had already gathered there to see </span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">1st glimpse of sun who was yet to rise...finally at around 6.15 we saw first rays </span></i><i style="font-family: inherit;">of </i><i style="font-family: inherit;">sun and the entire surrounding which was covered by fog was visible...It was such a beautiful sight, where ever you scroll your eyes, you find pure white </i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>fog..awesome...</i><i>we hurridly took some snaps....finally at 7am sun was visible and
there was no end to our excitement...also everyone was jumping with joy
to see the fabulous sun, rise with pride... The golden shinning rays gave perfect background for photos. it was nice to see the entire sun rise in just 15mins.. Then we went to Sri
Sarvajna peetha which is at the top...It is told that Shri Adi shankarachayar used to meditate in this place.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> Then we came down to our tent, packed our things and were ready to descend.. One can go back to karikatte gate by taking the same trek path back or via route 2 else go back by hiring jeep(Route 1),to nittur, which costs 150rs per head... We hired a jeep as we needed to get down quick and move back to Belgaum..</i></span><br />
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<i>Finally we bid aideu to the fantastic kodachadri hill, which was clearing itself off fog....and reached Nittur in jeep by traveling around 45mins..and t</i></span><span style="text-align: left;">hus wonderful Kodachadri trip came to an end..</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> SUNRISE</span></b></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>QUICK CHECKS......</i></b></span><br />
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<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kodachadri is located in Shimoga district.</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">No permission is required from forest department to visit this place.. We did not take any permission.</span></i></li>
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<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Nearest city to kodachadri is kollur at 20 kms, where u can fresh up have lunch and all.....</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">For accomodation at top there is Govt guest house located at the peak. you need to book that in advance, There is home stay, and even tents are available for staying... I guess Rajenda can help you out guest house and tent. And contact home stay before you start. I"ve provided all the contact numbers at the begining. </span></i></li>
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<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are 3 ways to reach peak:- jeep from Nittur, trek from Nittur, trek
from Karikatte gate.....all are at very short distance from kollur.</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is advisible to start trek before 2PM. as it requires around 4-5 hours to reach peak....so dont get urself struck in dark!</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">spots to visit are Hidulmane falls and Arishinagundi falls.- both falls to be visited with guide... you can get hidulmane falls on route 2. For Arishina gundi falls one needs to take permission from forest office at Kollur......</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Its advisable to halt a night to see both sunset and sunrise....</span></i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>One request to all.... PLEASE DONT LITTER THE PLACE!!!!</i><br /><i></i></span></li>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some snaps of kodachadri.....(Though we did not have high end camera!).</span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Sunrise..</span></b></td></tr>
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