Maidenahalli

Probably for a long time I have not wasted my holidays sitting at home, but it's a surprise for me that 10days of holidays and I am sitting at home. I just proposed the idea of driving to Maidenahalli for over night camping and then a photo shoot of the black bucks early morning. Raghu and Harsha joined me for the same. It was a quick short trip.

Called up RFO Harish for permission but heard since the village had zilla panchayat elections the next day, permission was denied. However Harish heeded to our demand because of our interest and allowed us to stay at the IB by giving a letter to Tashildar asking for permission at Madugiri.

We started from Bangalore at around 4pm and reached Tumkur pretty quickly, however from Tumkur road to Madugiri is horrible. Well the better route would be to take a right from Dabaspete on the Bangalore Tumkur highway and head towards Kortagere. This road is pretty decent and also a bit shorter.

We reached Madugiri at around 6.30, took permission from Tashildar and headed towards IB. We reached here by around 7pm. On the way we were really very hungry and stopped at Puruva village for some masalapuri. Cold winter with some hot masala puri was a perfect combination for a tired soul. We had packed some food for the night, finished with it and then spent some quality time star gazing, remembered my friend Naveen who is really good at it. Planned to take him some time and learn some stuff from him. It was wonderfull experience in the open sky watching so many stars and a couple of bright shooting stars.

Raghu and Harsha picked up a room, however I prefered to stay in the tent with Jyothi. However night was not great since there was one more group of boys who were partying hard. It was surprising that RFO gave them the permission to party one day before the elections, otherwise with all respect I really appreciate RFO Harish for his work in maintaining this place and also his love for nature.

We got up very early in the morning for some good photo shoot but just like last time looks like the black bucks are very camera shy and I cannot get a good picture with my 300mm lens. However the best thing of the trip was to find some Falcons along with a couple of good picture of other birds along with the black bucks.

Team: Poorna, Jyothi, Gilli and Harsha

Route: Bangalore - Nelamangala - Dabaspete - Take a right from Dabaspete towards Kortagere - Since the road from Tumkur is in very bad shape and also its a bit long it would be better to go by this route. From Kortagere take a right towards Madugiri -- From here take Hindupura road - Kodigenahalli - Puruva Village - ID Halli

Contact: RFO Harish -- 9448731686/ Ranganath -- 8105224893

They have 2 rooms and a hall with 2 toilets and they charge 600rs for the entire stuff else 300rs for the room. However there is no facility for food, you will have to make your own arrangements for this. You can camp outside with your tents and you will not be charged anything.

Agumbe and Malpe Beach

I have seen this urbanization growing rapidly near my home town. Once covered with rain forests are giving up for human greed. Yet probably we can find one of the best ever green forests in the world. It's probably almost impossible to venture into these forests during rains due to the fear of floods, insects and snakes. Forest in these parts are so dense it gives me a feeling that even mammals avoid these place, its a paradise for reptiles. As a child i remembered a beautiful virgin lake near the check post of Agumbe, how ever I was a bit disappointed to see it being converted into a park with lots of petty shops and plastics all around. Once you start loving nature in its raw format you would for sure not like the compressed format of it like parks.



There has been lot of changes to Malpe beach as well, but it looks lot better with some good facilities. But still if we can avoid the crowd from littering the place that would be amazing, we can't just leave everything to authorities its the responsibility of the common man as well. I wanted to visit St. Mary's Island but didn't have enough time for the same.



But best part of the trip was visiting Vinayak's house and staying there. A small village Hermunde on the foothills of Western ghats in the middle of the forest was amazing. Plan to visit here again in December.
Also visiting ARRS (Agumbe Rainforest Research Station) was very educative. Would love to spend some time volunteering here. I am sure to learn a lot talking to these experts and this would also benefit me for my photo shoots. Visit this link for more details http://www.agumberainforest.com/


Also Spotted monitor lizard (near someshwara), flying lizard draco dussumieri (agumbe), grey hornbill (Arsikere) for the first time.

Route Directions:
Agumbe: Bangalore - Tumkur - Tiptur - Arsikere - Bhadravati - Shimoga - Thirtahalli - Agumbe
Malpe Beach: Agumbe -- Udupi - Malpe

Kabini with ToeHold

Kabini for long has been a place I just love and admire. Probably that's the reason I keep visiting this place again and again. However this time the idea was to learn from the masters Sudhir Shivram and Giri Cavle sir the art of wildlife photography. Well wildlife photography is all together a different ball game, so different from all other photography. Its difficult just for one simple reason that you got to get a good photograph with pure luck.

Reasons:
1) Wildlife sighting depends on your luck and knowledge about the animal/bird.
2) Lighting might be bad.
3) Getting a clean shot is very difficult, animals and birds are always behind a bush or tree.

4) Most of the animals/birds never pose for camera and being on a jeep high potential we end up with a shaky image.
4) When you get everything for a minute, having the right camera setting is the most difficult thing.

Cross @ your own risk

I was on my bike and didn't really understand the meaning of this signal. We all know the traffic menace in Bangalore. It was red for vehicles yet probably the government wanted to warn pedestrians to cross the road at their own risk :-). Be alert while you cross a road , a green doesn't mean you can cross without any risk.

Chitradurga

It was a weekday and I was asked to go to Chitradurga for "Mahalaya". I am a person who is least interested in the concept of life after death , well when i see so many bad things about life when they are still alive, praying to either god or any activity for dead hardly interests me. However it was an oppurtunity to visit the Chitradurga Fort which had special memories as a child in my mind. As a kid I used to go to this fort everyday for morning jog, play a game of cricket inside the fort and come back by around 9am.

Had heard a lot that things have changed, lot had been done for the development and restoration of the fort, but couldn't visit the fort for a long time. I even planned with friends many times but again could never materialize the same. This was the oppurtunity, drove to Durga picking my cousin, chikappa and chikamma. Droped them at Doddappa's house at around 10.30pm and went to my uncle's place to take a break. I was asked to be there for the function at 7 in the morning. As I told you before, was least interested in sitting and watching each others face in function and I headed to Durga Fort @ 5.30am in the morning.

Wow.. it was not the same fort anymore, lots of sign boards, well laid footpaths, restored broken walls, good lighting, toilets, it had gilmpse of international standards. I really appreciate archelogical department's efforts in getting this done. It's amazing work executed perfectly.

The moment I entered the fort one thing which came to my mind was "Tuppada Kola", it's quite a big rock to climb. As a kid I remembered getting beaten by my uncles for climbing it up. Now after so many treks and scaling so many peaks this did look very tiny. Just wanted to try it again and yes it was fun. After reaching the peak realized that now no one can shout at me :-).

It was around 9am and I started getting calls from home :-), anyway I took my own time to roam around doing some photography and turned back towards home only when I was hungry. It was memorable trip these rocks have so much to say and just waits for an ear to listen to them.

Maidenahalli

Well if you are sick and tired of Bangalore traffic then this place is a very good weekend camping ground. Not very far from bangalore but very calm and scenic. Even though i did most of my schooling in Tumkur i was not aware of this place until very recently. Maidenahalli or Jayamangala Black buck Santuary gives a good feel of interaction b/w humans and animals. I heard from locals over there that they have to guard their fields all night in order to protect their groundnut yield from the protected black buks.

I wanted to do some photoshoot of the blackbucks but then even though the sighting was good, they were very shy to face my camera the moment they saw me they would just run. I just managed to get a couple of pics defnitely not the kind i wanted off. Any away beautiful calm place very relaxing you can just pitch a tent and enjoy the silence of this place watching black bucks moving around.

Visit this place if you are a nature lover, love watching birds. You can talk to local forest guards and also pitch a tent outside. But then you don't get anything to eat, you should prepare your own food. There are 2 rooms with toilets in the forest guest house probably you need to book in advance. Also you can go for a walk in the forest and if you are lucky you might see jackle or wolf. Since its pretty open grasslands i would say the best time to visit this place is during winter or else be prepared to feel the heat. Best time for sighting is early morning or evening so camp overnight and enjoy sighting.

Also there is very good temple, fort and huge rock for trekking and rock climbing in Madhugiri. Madhugiri is a decent small town to get some food.

Team : Poorna,Jyothi and Diwi

Route: Bangalore - Tumkur - From tumkur bipass ask any one and take a right to Koratgere/Madhugiri -- From Madhugiri take hindupura road (don't go towards chikbalapur or gowribidnoor) -- kodigeneahalli -- reach puruvara village --ID halli -- Maidenahalli/Jayamangali Blackbuck Reserve. Around 163kms one side. Road is very good until tumkur and from tumkur to Maidenahalli is bad due to recent rains.

Contact: Harish (RFO) -- 9448731686/ Ranganath -- 8105224893

Hogenkal

Hogenkal is the perfect example of how a so called civilized human spoils the beauty of nature. Just like shivanasamudra this place is badly littered, full of plastics all around, people take bath spoiling the sanity of the place, booze and then throw liquor bottles etc into river. Sorry to say but this is not the scene from a civilized society. Lots need to be done in many ways like banning of plastics and also educating and charging heavy fines for people who do not adhere to rules. I have been visiting this place again and again but then every time i visit, its worse then the last time. Its so expensive but not a penny is put for the development. Probably i will not visit here any more for a long time.

108 Emergency Service

I just started from my office today evening @5:15. A couple of guys
helped a person lying on ground to footpath. It was a minor accident
but person on bike had a broken leg probably either a ligament tear or
fracture with enormous pain. No one knew what next. I called 108 for
an ambulance. I was so impressed with the service
1) Is the patient bleeding? Can he talk? Don't panic give me the
adress and ambulance will be there in 5min
2) Immediately after that police gave me a call asking do I need any
assistance? Is there any jam or is it a major accident. At the end of
the call they said thank you "poorna prajna". I was so surprised that
they even tracked my name so fast.
Amazing service the ambulance was there in 7min that's something
really good with the kind of traffic in bangalore
Keep up the good work guys hats of to you :-).

Blog from mobile

I learnt about a cool feature of blogging from mobile :-) trying it
out for the first time hope it works. I am posting this from my mobile
!!!!!

A Mistake

As a kid I was very fond of playing just like any other kid. My parents enforced me on reading newspaper every day as soon as I got up, even though I was not interested in knowing about rest of the world. I was in my own world those days. Enforcement on that day has turned into an addiction today. I need newspaper on my coffee table everyday in the morning.
But now I feel I get into depression reading newspaper every day its full of corruption, murder, misuse of power etc not one constructive message to improve society. I wish I can come out of this addiction and stay away from this biased media who have lost their ethics and only value for their circulation and TRP :-(

AmediKallu & EthinaBhuja

It was quite some time since we really trekked. Its always fun to trek as it really tests once mental strength to reach the peak. I started up the mail chain of going for a trek, even though the plan was to trek with CSP and then make it a send off trek for CSP, he backed out at the last moment due to some issues. Our initial plan was to trek in Kudremukha but then we found that we will not get permission to trek if it rains. Finally we were 7 of us who decided to trek Amedikallu and EthinaBhuja in the rains.

Rains in westren ghats are pretty hard and also it would make the trek lot more slippery and the worst would be, you would dare not take a break with fear of leeches in the forest. You need good fitness levels to trek in the rains. This was the reason we picked up a small team . We booked a Tavera and started around 10pm on friday night. We reached Gundya check post around 6 in the morning. Our cab driver was very tired and even though he collected full bata it was Sripad who drove from Kunigal to Sakaleshpura. Well I had an outing on friday and was dead tired playing football and cricket the entire day. After dinner at a Dhaba near Kunigal I slept till Gundya. However rest of the team had great fun watching Jaggesh and Kashinath movies almost the entire night.
We reached Sishila village and we were received by Gokale at their home. After freshening up and having our breakfast we met our guide Chennappa. We started to head towards the starting point for our first trek to Amedikallu. Sripad dropped within few minutes due to sprain in his back and headed back. So it was 6 of us who were trekking towards the peak. Without baggage and with just few water bottles and food it was not very difficult to begin with. We were maintaining good speed and this helped us to catch up BMC group who started one hour before around half way. Most of their team stopped there and had no plans to continue, only 3 guys joined us till the peak. The forest part of the trek was infected with leeches all around and there was no way you could rest even for a min. But then once you get grasslands the terrain was pretty steep as well. We even had a small water falls en route, took a small shower under it and wow what an experience to stand below a falls during rains. We stopped near a huge rock rested for some time and had our lunch. From here the terrain is very difficult and slippery . It had a bit of rock climbing as well . Due to rains rocks were slippery and it was pretty dangerous . We covered Amedikallu in around 4hours and it was amazing to sit on top of a huge rock when it rained heavily. We spent some time on top and then we started heading back. We took around 3hours to come back and every one were dead tired by the time we reached the starting point.
We had some food at one and only hotel of Sishila village opposite bus stand, it was not good though. We had great dinner at Gokale' s house and spent the night there . Most of us were badly cramped and dead tired. Next day Vikram and Sumanth dropped out for Ethinabhuja due to cramps. However Sripad felt lot better and was ready for the trek. We had to cross kapila river which was around waist height with good force. Chennappa had warned us that if it rains heavily then it would be impossible for us to cross it back and we would have to walk another 7kms extra to reach a bridge.
Most part of the trek to Ethinabhuja from Sishila village is through thick forest. Due to heavy rains the trail was covered with fresh green plants all along and was full of leeches. It was a bit difficult to walk through this forest as we had to walk together all the time, it was very easy for one to get lost in this forest. Worst thing about this trek i would consider is, my camera batteries were dead. Due to rains most part of the time the peak was covered with mist. However at one point i did get a look of it and it was amazingly beautiful one huge rock. Even today we covered the peak in around 4hours. The last trail to the peak was very challenging, covered with mist completely and also very slippery and dangerous. We had our lunch at the peak. Peaks are only place were we get signal for our airtel and vodafone service providers, we called up our homes telling we are safe. Walking back was not easy for me and Sripad. I got rashes and Sripad's slippers came off making it worse for him to walk. We took a bit more than 3 hours to come back.
We went to the Sishila temple had a glimpse of huge fishes in the river and then had hot water bath at Gokale's house and headed back to bangalore. In 10years of Chennappa's experience he had not met a team who did both Amedikallu and Ethinabhuja during rains in consecutive days. He did appreciate our fitness levels and spirit. However we did miss our team members CSP and Gilli a lot.

Amedikallu

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Ettina Bhuja

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Team : Loki,Sripad,Diwi,Vikrum,Sumanth,Prabhanjan and Poorna
Route: Bangalore - Magadi Road - Kunigal - Hassan - Sakaleshpura - Gundya check post - 20kms from here take a right towards Kokkada (there is home stay out here stream of joy) -- take a right again and reach Sishila Village.
Contact : For stay and food -- Gokale : M- 9483211246 , Guide: Chennappa : M- 9379081785

Canon Beach

Chandru and Sahana knocked at my room door at around 11.30 to drop their things which was supposed to be carried back to India. We were really very hungry and yes Sahana our chief Chef had Bisibele bath and Curd rice for us. I was a bad host though even the potato chips in my room was emptied the previous night. After a quick lunch we decided to go towards Canon beach. Boby was not interested to join us for Canon Beach, well he did regret for not joining us the next day.

We didn't know that we had to drive through Chandru's house, we did regret that we had to waste a bit of fuel. But the drive to Canon Beach is very scenic with thick forest along both the sides of the road. We really can't make out that we would be reaching sea until the end. It was a bright and sunny day, saying so one good thing i did was not forgetting my jacket in the car. Chandru did regret for doing this mistake. Even though it was a bright sunny day, breeze from sea is very chilled. You would be shivering of cold with in few minutes of walk.













It was a perfect day for me and chandru with bright light and beautiful landscape for me and chandru to do some photo shoot. We had a bit of extra light though, probably we should have waited till the evening. But then its summer time and it was a long day. We waited till almost 6 and still sun was in no mood to set. Usually during this time sun sets by around 9 and it gets dark by around 10. We didn't have so much time and we were even getting tired and feeling cold after the long long walk along the beach.

Major attraction of Canon beach is huge rocks along the sea, Haystack Rock is the biggest of all and is the main attraction of all. It was great to sea a huge rock and it was home to thousands of sea birds sitting all along the rock. Probably it was breeding time.Haystack Rock, at 235 feet high, is the third largest coastal monolith in the world. Haystack Rock is protected as part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge as well as a designated National Wilderness Area.

What caught our attention the most was the low tide, while we were about to return in matter of minutes we could see that the sea went back by atleast 100-200meters back. I had never seen it happening so fast, I did scare chandru about Sunami :-). But then read that this beach area is under extreme high tide and extreme low tide line with almost 300 yards radius.

It was a pleasant walk, I really don't know what exactly to write about this place, can only say that its a place to be visited with loved ones and then just go for a walk holding hands. One thing about places in US is you can get all the details in an organized manner, so i should really be trying to give details about the place in a stupid manner. I would just point to the right link http://www.cannon-beach.net/cbtranspo.html