HAMPI ! The hippy side ~

Continuing from  Hampi- Heritage Side

DAY 3: My staying place was super cute and near to paddy fields. This day I am touring the Hippy side or the other side of Hampi or Anegundi village. I hired an Activa two wheeler and went on to explore. My first destination was a Hanuman temple where you have more than 600 steps to walk. With directions and an amazing long drive in the greens and fresh air, I reached. I walked all the steps and visited the temple. One good thing had been the view from that top. Breath taking!! Boulders everywhere and the rivers crisscrossing and green fields. All these times, I hadn't missed my phone which was broken and I was out of connectivity.

Somewhere around Hampi

Bobby's guest house. 

The amazing hills

:) Camera timer works

Fields and farmers

Hanuman temple

View!

Gorgeous that was ~

The boulders were just wow. Like how amazingly are they placed all over. How are they even formed like this. Then I drove more like a vagabond and visited two more temples, Lakshmi temple and Durga temple. The people at Durga temple humbly offered me lunch. It was a yummy sambar-rice meal! I was so content :)

Lakshmi Temple

Durga Temple

A Banjara lady

My free humble lunch at Durga temple

How perfect are they!

Taking it all in ~

The reservoir 

A late afternoon here was a bliss, plus it was drizzling :)

A lady in the farms

  
I proceeded to see one reservoir now. So I drove and drove. I lost my way and drove some more. Even driving there cluelessly was beautiful. I finally reached and awed at the place. It started drizzling and it added to the beauty of it.

On the way I paused and clicked some birds. A boy came and guided me to another place full of birds. There I saw plenty of Baya weavers making their nests. I got some amazing shots. I finally reached my hut. I met a guy named Jungle and he offered me to take to a hill nearby where all hippies and travelers are going to see the sunset. So we talked along and he helped me climb up the place. A lot of people had gathered and there was Gali. He waved and they all had various musical instruments playing. What a lovely feel. Over the hill, music and a gorgeous view in front and a mild sunset happening in the monsoon, I Loved it. This was one hell of an experience. We all were down by late evening and all chit chatted and I was welcomed to a jamming session that would happen in a restaurant near by called 'Nargillas'. I went and shyly took a corner seat. Then I was asked to share the table as it was getting crowdy. So two men joined up, one from Israel and one from Argentine. One smoked and other was drowning in beer but we all chatted well about our countries and what we are doing here and all that. Movies, food, and all rubbish, I ordered and enjoyed my lasagna. Too cheesy it was. Slowly the place was full. My time with those two strangers went quite well...some memories to add of Hampi!

I came to my hut, made a call to home and then sat around there for sometime. Gali joined me and we talked till late hours. Later even the hotel reception guy joined in. We three walked till the open the fields and I realized that Gali had his flute with him. He played. On top of it it was full moon. Full moon, paddy fields, bouldered Hampi and nothing but hustle of the wind and beautiful melodious flute music. It was a divine feeling. He played and we sat listening. After long we all got back and settled at our own places.

'Ashy Prinia' and the song for the beloved

Male Baya weaver making the nest for females in the mating season

Gali and the folks

Our beautiful sunset place

lasagna 

My memorable evening in Hampi

KNOCK KNOCK

Day 4: Somebody knocked the bamboo door of my room. Squirrels were around making noise. I opened the door and Gali was there, he was leaving somewhere and before going he gifted me a CD of his HAMPI music. That was nice of him. I later checked out, had dosa locally and then crossed the river for connectivity was from that side. I had to bid goodbye to Tungabhadgra river. I came this side. I had time in hand. I again went around Virapaksha temple and climbed further on left side of hills. I had missed this earlier because of rains, and now I was here again. More beauty. More ruins. I could see the overall Hampi site and the little iconic Hanuman temple with the slanting tree. 
I took a bus then to Hospet and called home from a strangers mobile. He was a poor shopkeeper and didn't even take money for it. I wrote this last journey while being at platform no. 1 , Hospet. ~

The Iconic Hanuman temple

Bye Hampi, I loved you :)

Lava - Neora Valley (Birding Trip)

I added another birding place in my list with Lava & Neora Valley. It's in Kalimpong district, West Bengal (India). I went there in April 2016 and I was very excited for a new place to experience and lots of Himalayan birds to see.

I made this trip with the GoingWild group. I have earlier done a wildlife photography trip with them to Sikkim (Read here) and completely trusted them for this one too. 

It was hot in my city 'Bhubaneswar' and what a relief that I was off to a colder place. As there are hardly any direct trains, I had to take two connecting trains to reach NewJalpaiguri via Kolkata. I reached and met Dibyendu, our tour guide and an excellent birder and photographer himself. We waited for two more companions to join. Mr. Sarbjit ji an Ex. army man and his wife Meena ji joined us. They were an extremely sweet couple. We started off to our destination. I kept dozing off in between and then finally after an 3 hour ride we reached Pedong. We were to stay there and visit out birding destinations and trails of Lava-Neora Valley.

It was a nice staying place called 'Neel Pahari'. Neat and full of flowering plants around. It was partly a primary school and home-stay. So we were surrounded by super cute school children. After some tea we went around for a walk in search of birds. Quite a good birding habitat. It was getting dark and we returned back hoping for good sightings tomorrow.

The overall location was beautiful; like a small town in a far away land. Little houses here and there, furry dogs, flowers everywhere and smiling people. There was also an Army base.

Next day early morning, we started our bird hunt in the vicinity and after some good sightings like leiothrix, thrushes, shrikes, bulbuls, minivets.. we took off in Sumo towards Lava. We did birding all along the way and trails. The roads weren't great but the surrounding region, the trees and the habitat were pleasant. After lunch we were off to a village called Sillery Gaon. The four km stretch was a terrible one. Full of stones and bumps. It was little far but worth it. On the way we got some special birds sighted by Dibyendu, called 'Himalayan Cutia.' The place was so pretty with bright colored houses and flowers all over. It was typically made as a touristy site. As it started getting cloudy, we turned back and it rained heavily. We enjoyed some tea and pakoras and had dinner around 8 over a good chat with my fellow birders, discussing places and birds and own experiences. I had a good time with them.

Following days too went birding from early morning on the trails of Lava and Neora valley till dawn. The places were ultimate. We used to roam in the Sumo and then get around and walk with lots of patience to hear the bird calls and spot them hoping for a good picture too. While birding Sir ji and Meena ji would be talking a lot of things about forest life. About various flowers and trees. I took some interest in various flora too.

We stopped at Lava town and shopped some cute mugs and wind-chimes as souvenirs. Evenings went in making bird listings and searching their names.

One time we spotted a 'Red-headed Trogon'. A rare species which are usually hard to find. It just flew in front of us and sat somewhere in bushes. Luckily  I too got a record shot. I was damn happy.

That night it rained again with hailstorm. There was no electricity and we enjoyed it like that and on top of it we even got Momos (Dumplings) as a treat. Yummy! 

Last day, early morning we again went to that Trogon place and roamed around in search of it. No luck for that but we saw 'Khalij Pheasant' on the way. It was awesome. I didn't get a picture. But loved that I sighted it. It was one of my dream birds.

After rain and hailstorm, the Jungle looked terrible. As if someone knowingly chopped of the trees and shrubs. It looked depressing. I didn't wanted to imagine the condition of birds and animals yesterday night. We did birding around and came back with no Trogon luck. Meena ji had packed and Sir ji and Dibyendu all bid goodbye for they were going to their next trip to Zuluk (Sikkim). I had been to Zuluk last year so I only opted for Lava birding trip this time.

This was a nice tour with everyone. I met amazing people and learned a great deal from them.

After they were off, I had some time in hand before my arranged driver came to pick me up. I roamed around the village area and did some birding there. I unknowingly took some long route and got back to hotel after a long 4-5 km tiring walk. After lunch I met the drive Bhaiya and off we were to New Jalpaiguri. He was a good company, telling me about Pedong, his village Algarah which was on the way and Kalimpong which was another popular tourist hill station. We kept moving towards city and it kept getting hotter. The weather change was so unwelcoming. After hill stations, plains are difficult to take all of a sudden. Literally like low altitude sickness. I was dropped off at Railway Station and after sometime took my train to Kolkata. And from there to Bhubaneswar; my Home!

I overall had an amazing trip with awesome people, birds and location. Traveling to North-eastern India had will always be a pleasure.

Sharing some pictures from the trip. Enjoy :) 

View from our home-stay

The birding group

After the rains

The beautiful green chirpy place

Me :)

A little girl in Lava

Somewhere towards our destination

Sleepy dog

 ~ Birds ~

You can check out GoingWild guys here: http://goingwild.in

Pedong is 4070 feet, 3 hours (100 km drive) from New Jalpaiguri. Lava-Neora valley is around 24 km (1 hr) from Pedong.

Love 
Tanuja

Solo wildlife trip!

Hey everyone,

I'm back to share my second solo travel tale. The first had been Pondicherry, Tamilnadu and this is in my own State: Odisha.

I had been planning to go a new wildlife sanctuary since a long time but it never happened because of fear of remote places, no company and expenses. But finally I saved some money, got some guts, Google-d stuff online, made few calls and settled everything! The place to go was 'Kuldiha'.

I had heard good reviews of the place and seemed particular closer to Bhubaneswar i.e. my city. 

To read my more detailed trip report and pictures check the link --> Wildlife trip to Kuldiha

I have a passion for bird watching in their natural habitat and with this place I had great hopes! Two and a half days with Mr. Manaranjan Das, my tour guide (who is also a birder) went excellent! I explored a beautiful new place. A complete raw and pristine forest with a positive vibe that energizes you. Forgetting the clumsy busy world, I enjoyed this calm green! At the peak hours I enjoyed plenty of bird calls and had some amazing bird sightings like Malabar Trogan, Pale-capped Pigeon, Vernol’s hanging parrot and Heart-spotted woodpecker. One late evening I was lucky to see a cow Indian Elephant drinking water with its calf. What a peaceful sight and it fills you with a feeling of awe. How beautiful is nature and its ways!

One night we stayed in 'Kuldiha' rest house which is deep in the forests with no network and limited electricity. It rained heavily that night, and guess what! I had a tent for night stay. Exciting!! I enjoyed the gossips with the locals having black tea and snacks. The next day after rains was extremely fruitful in bird watching. I saw Indian Giant squirrels, Spotted deers and some fascinating butterflies, insects and lizards. With birding I also have an interaction with the habitat; the trees, leaves, soil; everything is a part of it. You learn nature's behavior although it's quite unpredictable and that's the fun part; it surprises you!!

I felt like I challenged myself to go solo again and accomplished it. I have more confidence in me and the ways to deal with people and places. My overall view with Kuldiha was very nice. It's safe and people are nice plus within one and half hour you're close to cities.  

***

Selfie and the view from my vehicle

Me with Mr. Manaranjan Das and his wife who also had great interest in birds!

Doggy love and the nice guest house at Panchlingeswar, Balasore

Crested Serpent Eagle

Elephant and it's calf going for a drink

Shrike

Malabar trogan

Oriental turtle dove

Indian Giant Squirrel

Peninsular rock agama

Spotted deers

My tent! How adventurous :) 

***

"I was little scared to do this solo trip in a wildlife sanctuary but with Manoj bhai's help and hospitality all my fear turned into joy. Bird watching went good and all other amenities were taken care off. You don't need to worry about food or stay. It's a good place and a lot of things like water-falls and hills are nearby to see. I'll come again for that and of course birding too. Hoping to see more Elephants and Bisons as well"


You can reach Mr. Manoranjan Das at: 9937332552
www.kuldihasafari.com  
 ***

Last day when I was dropped in the city I decided to check out a nearby beach which is quite famous. So I changed two auto-rickshaws and within one and half hour I was in Chandipur beach. It was hot but the place was nice! Beaches are always peaceful and serene. I had some fresh coconut water and came back to Balasore railway station. After 3 hours I took my train and was in home in next 3 and half more hours. :)

Chandipur beach and Great Egret birds

My solo time towards beach

Hoping for a comeback to explore more ~