Kumarakom(Kerala) - The god's own country

p Date of Travel : 08 DEC 2006 - 10 DEC 2006

f Swashbucklers:
8 Pradeep Manohar
8 Ajay Ramprasanna
8 Mahipal Singh

j PR De-Tour: Bangalore 8 Ernakulum 8 Kumarakom

- 13 Kms. from Kottayam lies the sleepy little village of Kumarakom on the Vembanad Lake. Cruising along the Vembanad Lake one can get glimpses of the numerous migratory birds like the egret, darter, heron and teal. Its majestic canals, streams and distributaries along its banks weave an intricate and enchantingly beautiful web. The gorgeous green of the fringed palms ripple in the blue waters and blend into wavelets.The people on the banks of Vembanad Lake are generally peace-loving and follow a neat and healthy lifestyle. Their dressing is immaculate, usually spotless whites. They keep their dwellings and surroundings very clean. The food mainly consists of rice and fish. For breakfast it is usually 'Dosa' or 'Idly', both made from rice paste, swallowed down with coconut chutney. Fish is a very important item in their menu for lunch and dinner. 'Karimeen' a spotted fish is a special gift of the backwaters.

Gateway - Vembanad Lake J

J Fishing is a livelihood for the backwater people. The menfolk use small fishing boats and nets. Even the women have developed skills in fishing. They walk neck-deep in water carrying terracotta pots with them. The 'Karimeen' on seeing the fisherwomen bury their heads in the mud underwater. The women feel the fish with their toes and grab them and deposit in the earthen pots they carry.

H Tharavadu Heritage Home

This house was established in year 1850. ('Tharavadu' means a Large Family House in malayalam) It is a 120 year old Kerala Syrian Christian Family House near river bank.

J Sun hiding from camera shoot.




J Sun blessing us


Just like the sunset, at the end of the day we just wanted to take rest and taste the moment.
Enjoyed every single hood to the fullest

Tharavadu Cottage - Where we pitched in. 8




7Love Birds

Monkey City

7Depressed Monkey! Something is troubling him
Favorite time pass!! 8

7Oh! OOOO ,,,I m lost

Big Boss ! Big Boss..... 8

7Look at its Majestic Tail.....

Monkeys on my Roof

Its great to shoot monkeys.

Never Underestimate the TIGER....

Stalking Skills Of TIGER

Joymala the Kaziranga Herione

Kaziranga, Assam, 09-June 2004 : Delayed reports from the field and video replays of the attack by the tigress on the mahout Satya Pegu, tell a different story, where human lives were saved purely due to “quick thinking” by the female working elephant, Joymala.


For those who came in late, a large adult tigress, suspected to be the mother of the two cubs rescued from Tamuli Pathar village(adjoining Kaziranga) on May 16, severely mauled the mahout of an Assam forest department elephant, which was carrying rangers trying to dart her on the morning of May 19.
The 25-year-old mahout, Satya Pegu, who was badly lacerated, lost three fingers on his left hand, is in a hospital in Dibrugarh. Doctors are worried about the onset of gangrene and may have to amputate his left palm. The Wildlife Trust of India and its partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare have offered to cover his medical expenses.


Reconstruction of events and a video taken by the divisional forest officer, R.K.Das, graphically show how Joymala pinned down the tigress with her foot as it was trying to get up and attack the officers who had fallen on the ground.


The reconstructed story goes a bit like this: the forest department received a message early on May 19th about a large tiger which had killed two cows near Tamuli Pathar village, which is close to the boundary of the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in the north-eastern Assam state.
By 10 am a joint team of the Assam forest department including the director of the park, Mr N. K. Vasu, the local administration, police and the army, and the Wildlife Trust of India(WTI)-managed Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) was combing the area with five elephants trying to locate the animal.
File photo of the team that darted the tigers. Second from left is D.D.Boro who darted both tigers but missed the suspected mother, who later mauled the mahout.




“From the pugmarks, it looked like a very large female, which led us to suspect that this may be the mother of the two cubs that we had rescued and released on Monday,” Dr Bhaskar Choudhary, CWRC veterinarian, who was involved in darting the two sub-adult tigers on Sunday, said. The tigers were released late on Monday evening in the eastern part of the Agoratuli range near the Matiaranga guard hut.
“After looking around everywhere, we first spotted the tigress in a bamboo grove near the village. As it sensed our presence it moved into the backyard of a hut and then quickly walked into a nearby paddy field,” Dr Chaudhary said.


Range officer, Dharanidhar Bodo, Dr Chaudhary along with a guard were riding the elephant, Joymala, driven by Pegu. Bodo was carrying the darting gun. As the elephant moved towards the tigress, it did a mock charge. The guard fired two blanks to discourage her and she ran away into the next field, where the paddy was thick and hid there.


The team cautiously moved towards it and could get to almost 20 feet where she was growling away. Bodo could see her clearly and took a shot at it with the dart gun. The dart missed her and this enraged her so much that she charged and took a “flying” leap on to the elephant’s head. “I have not seen something as dramatic as this,” Vivek Menon, executive director WTI, who recently saw the footage, said. “I could never imagine that a tiger could so effortlessly leap from the ground on to an adult elephant’s head, which is at least 12 feet above the ground,” he said.


The footage showed that Pegu saw the tigress leaping and threw the metal ankush at it to defend himself. “The tigress saw the ankush coming, dodged it in mid-leap and took a swipe at Pegu without actually landing on the elephant, which had stepped back,” Menon said.


“It all happened in a few seconds and before we knew what both Bodo and the guard had fallen down,” Dr Choudhary narrated. What now happened was even more amazing. As the tigress landed on the ground Joymala quickly pinned her down with her left fore foot and tried to control it with its trunk. The tigress struggled under this weight for at least half a minute roaring, as other people in the vicinity shouted and fired shots in the air. In this commotion another attempt was made to dart it, but even this shot was off the mark. The tigress finally struggled loose and ran away.


“If it had not been for Joymala, both Bodo and the guard would have been badly injured or dead,” he said. Meanwhile, Joymala, which was trying to aggressively chase the tigress, was calmed by the CWRC veterinarian, who was holding on to the profusely bleeding mahout. “His fingers were hanging by few shreds of tissue and I tried to tourniquet the wounds,” he said.


The two sub-adult tigers had strayed out of the heavily wooded Agoratuli range of the KNP into the neighbouring Tamuli Pathar village close to the national highway. It was speculated that the mother could be nearby, but she could not be spotted.


KNP has one of the highest density of tigers among the protected areas in India , but are difficult to see due to the thick vegetation in this grassland dominated park.
The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) is a joint venture of the Assam forest department and the Wildlife Trust of India, and is supported by its partner the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). This rescue and rehabilitation facility for animals of the region is a first of its kind facility in India has handled over 300 animals in the last two years including mega-herbivores like elephants, rhinos and wild buffaloes. These were the first tigers brought to the facility in two years of its existence.


http://www.wildlifetrustofindia.org/html/news/2004/040609_joymala.htm

Source: Wild Life Trust Of India

Leech

Exploring Leech at Mercara, Coorg, KARNATAKA, INDIA

Cataract - Irpu Falls(Video)

Irpu Falls - Nagarhole, Karnataka, INDIA

Irpu Falls and Nagarhole

pDate Of Travel: 11th Aug 2006 - 13th Aug 2006

fSwashbucklers:
wPradeep Manohar
wAjay Ramprasanna
wMahipal Singh
wGnanandhan Arumugham

PR De-Tour: Bangalore --> Mysore --> Hunsur --> Nagerhole --> Kutta --> Irupu

jDistance: approx 300 Kms from Bangalore to Irpu Falls

P Runway to Nagarhole Sanctuary Park

Shh... the woods are watching you... "" Tresspassers will be Prosecuted "" 7

8 Never ending Wilderness








Gateway to Heaven - Irpu Falls Q








"Irpu Falls is no virgin. Today, its cataract can be stopped with the pull of a lever, and less than half its natural flow pours over the precipice."
-- Courtesy Thurston Clarke


ON A SUNNY weekend,we decided to call on a waterfall. So, the iteinary was drawn up and we headed south to the Iruppu falls. We reached the Nagarhole entrance at 6:00 in the morning. Eager to check on the wildlife, we drove into the sanctuary. Admiring the nature, we could not resist in capturing the nature on the digicam. The deer(s) / stag(s) were all around the place. Unfortunately we could not sight wild cats, elephants. We reached Irpu Resort at 9:00 am.

The Iruppu falls is unique, right from its location to its beauty. With enough rains the previous night, Mother Nature looked like she had just finished her bath and was well-prepared to receive us that morning. Light breeze filtered through the trees on both sides of the road offering comfort, easing the strain of the previous night's journey.
The whole day was pouring like dogs and cats. The next day, weahter was kind on us with small showers. We headed to Irpu Falls. At a distance we could see a big hill in the heart of which a white cloud emerged from behind the uncovering mist. Yes, that was the falls a few kilometres away, beckoning us. For a few minutes, we stood spellbound watching the milky waters washing down the hill. It was a beautiful sight indeed. We could not wait to get closer. We came to the end of the motorable road. As we walked from this point, the chirping of birds grew louder and louder and in its midst we could make out a constant hissing ! This is how the white beauty expresses her presence to travellers and they move in her direction. I stood rooted to a spot at the bottom of the hill. The pathway leading up to the hill from where the water jumps off is laid naturally by a stream of water which threatens climbers with its slippery surface and uneven edges. Such moist rocks are ideal for leeches to thrive on. We had to brave them, as well. As we climbed, the mysterious beauty of the hill began to unravel. Passing carefully over the rocks painted with lichens, we slowly made our way to the top. Water danced down the rocks giving instant relief to our tired legs and time just flew as we went on enjoying our trek through the flowing waters. But the mighty fall was still hidden from our view. As we continued our march across a hanging bridge, a light drizzle started. We moved on unmindful of it we were sheltered by the canopy that the huge trees on both sides of the pathway offered. The next turn made all of us gasp at once. There she was, the waterfall, roaring over the rocks as if somebody was waiting for her down below. Not wasting even a minute, we captured her from all angles, with our cameras, of course. As we moved closer, cameras had tobe put away to protect them from water splashing all around. They had to be put away because it was time to feast our eyes on the beauty we had come to see.







7Irpu Resort - thanks to Mrs. Vanitha Bhemmaiah (Resort Owner) for wonderful coorg dish

Royal Stag(s)

Spotted Deer(s) @ Nagarhole, Karnatak, INDIA

Horsley Hills

p Travel Date: 08-July 2006 - 09-July-2006

j Location: MadanPalle District, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

PR Distance: 160 Kms from Bangalore

f Swashbucklers:
8 Pradeep Manohar,
8 Gnananandhan Arumugam,
8 Ajay Ramprasanna,
8 Mahipal Singh

PR De-Tour: Bangalore --> Kolar --> Madanpalle --> Horsley Hills

Horsley Hills

is a beautiful hill resort located at a height of 4,200 ft above sea level.

The journey to Horsley Hills is exciting as one tempts to see various species of plants and wild animals. Covering the entire stretch of narrow road is dense growth of Eucalyptus, Jacaranda, Allamanda, Gulmohar and many other species. Named after W.D. Horsley, Collector of Cuddapah district who made it his summer residence, this famous hill resort is popular for its clean, pure and healthy air suitable for recovering from illness. Approaching the Hills surrounded by forest area, one gets to see trees of Reeta, Shikakai, Amla, Beedi leaves, Bay leaves, Sandalwood, Red sanders, Blue gum, Mahogany and Bamboo.



Aerial View - Horsley Hills

7 Aerial View - Rishey Valley School

Inside Cave Rock....