How does one describe the experience of travelling into the vastness of water – water where all pervading silence during the day is an exception to the chattering regime of waders, ducks and birds? Though there is a limitation to the language which makes it difficult to recount one’s encounter with the bounty that nature bestows on us, effort I shall still make! A crisp but not very cold Friday morning, early March this year, found myself & Amit Gupta travelling from Ahmedabad to Nalsarovar.

Pic :Ashish

For the uninitiated, or new to birding, Nalsarovar is a huge reservoir of water (about 121sq km) about 60 km away from Ahmedabad, formed naturally in a shallow depression. The lake being shallow and marshy has made it extremely attractive for the wintering migrants – especially water-birds and cranes, who come in numbers. A night train connecting Mumbai & Ahmedabad makes it convenient for a day long birding trip and that’s how we were en-route Nalsarovar early morning.

Pic : Ashish

As we reached closer to our destination, dawn was breaking. The rising sun gave light to the fields on both sides, exhibiting a large numbers of peafowls and peahens looking for the proverbial worm, white breasted kingfishers & Indian rollers on the wire, a solitary grey francolin on the road making a dash to get away from the traffic, a herd of neelgais, a marsh harrier looking for an early breakfast – in all, a good omen for our birding day ahead.

Nalsarovar needs to be explored through a boat and though the water is shallow at most of the places, it is the vastness of the placid lake that is breathtaking. Despite having visited the place about 2 years ago, I was still awestruck with the everlasting wilderness of the glimmering water mingling with the sky at the horizon.

Pic : Ashish

As we set out in the boat, the breeze was wild, soft and free, making the heart light. The early morning serenity of the lake was fading away as birds were waking up to their tasks. The flocks of common coots were having their own version of bird race. Also engaged in various activities were garganeys, spot billed ducks, northern shovellers, pheasant tailed jacanas, godwits, purple moorhens, black-winged stilts, Egrets, Pond herons, Glossy and black Ibis, little grebe, Citrine and yellow wagtails, barn swallows, cormorants and brown headed gulls.

Pic : Ashish

We had set out on this trip however with the hope to see Sarus, Pelicans & Flamingoes from close quarters. Here, since our interest lied in the flock of Pelicans & Flamingoes chiefly, the boatman expertly steered us towards them. The mobile communication technology has helped them too as he was constantly in touch with other boatmen to get the exact location of these birds at the moment. Soon our eyes and cameras feasted on the sights of large flocks of Great White and Rosy Pelicans, followed by Greater Flamingoes.

Pic : Ashish

It was very interesting to see and click pictures of these majestic birds from a different vantage point – almost at their eye level. The most interesting sight was of the greater flamingoes, submerged and floating in knee deep water and their beak giving them a snobbish uppity nose attitude – reminding me, for some reason, of British upper class as caricatured in stories and movies of Wodehouse.

The day had started warming up with the sun at a mid horizon level and having exhausted our camera batteries, we had no option but to return to the shore where rosy starlings and green bee-eaters were busy in their daily routines. Also, we could see a flock of common cranes, which soon took a flight and for sometime the sky was full of cranes and pelicans that were already patrolling in a large flock. A pied kingfisher about to make a dive for its prey, discarded the idea spoiling our chance of clicking it in action.

Pic : Ashish

We left Nalsarovar behind to travel towards Thol, another lake, at about 40 Kms from Ahmedabad and about 60 Kms from Nalsarovar. The lake though much smaller in size is renowned for large variety of birds it provides shelter to. The journey, interrupted for a splendid meal, was peaceful but did not allow us to take a nap as it revealed unexpected sightings – first a male blackbuck with its harem in a field and then a flock of comb ducks – a sight that had eluded us at Nalsarovar.

Pic : Ashish

While Nalsarovar is a never ending sight of water, Thol is a lake much limited and restricted with a bund, also supplying water to the fields around. It is a scenic beauty with woods encircling the lake amidst dreaming the sky. The readers of the Phantom comics could relate to this place immediately as it resembled the Eden that Phantom had developed for the variety of creatures he had saved from extinction. Though lacking in size, it made up in its variety. Birds ranging from common hoopoe, purple sunbirds, prinias, Indian robin and greater coucal to godwits, darter or snake birds, river terns, wigeons, pelicans, flamingoes, bar headed geese, common and ferruginous pochards, greater spotted eagle, marsh harrier, comb ducks, spot billed ducks, tufted ducks, northern pintails, painted storks, common cranes, – all were there. And above all, the prized catch – a few pairs of Sarus cranes lording over the place majestically.

As the sun started inclining towards the horizon, we reluctantly decided to leave the place and drove towards Ahmedabad. But as has been the case most often, the day was yet to finish with its surprises. On our way to Ahmedabad, as we took a turn on the road near a place called Gota, to the left was a small pond where we could see some bird activity. As we got down to have a look, the first sight was a berry tree full of Yellow footed Green Pigeons and a couple of koels. If these were welcome sights, what awaited at the pond was simply magnificent – common teals, river terns, sandpipers, pied avocets, spotbilled ducks, northern shovellers, black-winged stilts, glossy and black ibis and at a distance of few feet away flamingoes – all in plenty. And all of this, just at the outskirts of a city and so close yet totally oblivious to the traffic. For the first time I was engulfed with envy. However, since the setting sun was giving a perfect light condition, it was time to let shutterbugs take charge over my negative emotions and off we were to click more pictures.

Pic : Ashish

Having exhausted ourselves totally by now, we called it a day and returned to Ahmedabad. On our way back, as we tallied our count of almost 100 species, lines from a poem, which I had read some time back but had not really appreciated the beauty till this trip, came back to me -
….ducks on a pond
A grass bank beyond
A blue sky of spring
White clouds on the wing
What a lovely thing
To remember for years!

This post is about a trip that I undertook to visit Nalsarovar & Thol lakes near Ahmedabad for birding & photography. While the “two lakes” part of the title is obvious, a half comes from a small pond – which proved to be a surprise treasure trove for birding.)

Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary, Wayanad.

The sun was setting down. My eyes were looking out of the jeep mechanically while the mind was still at Kuruvadweep thinking about the missed chance in visiting the place. It was my third jeep safari in two days, the first two were in Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. With Shashank settled in co-driver’s seat, I was all alone in the back. Except for some deer and bison sightings it was getting more like a jeep drive in a remote village. Blame it on the weekend crowd. We had completed almost three fourth of the safari and

Pic : Prashanth M

had to stop because of a traffic jam. It took us few seconds to understand what was happening. There was a herd of wild elephants which were crossing our path. Or to put it in a correct way, we were crossing their path and had to wait for our turn. There were 11 elephants in the group including couple of calves and the leader was standing in the middle of the jeep track while rest of the gang crossed the path. There were two jeeps in between our vehicle & the pachyderms looked as tensed as us. We were third in the queue waiting for the way to be cleared while there was another vehicle, a Toyota Qualis behind us (yes, private vehicles are allowed in Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary as long as it’s a four wheeler).

Pic : Prashanth M

The elephants took their own sweet time to cross the road while the leader kept an eye on us. The leader was not too happy with our intrusion & noise (engine & hush voices). As if this was not sufficient, a jeep came from the opposite direction, which meant we – the two jeeps in front of us & our jeep – were sandwiched between a not-so-happy-looking elephant & a vehicle some 15-20 meters behind us. The driver of the jeep who joined the party late understood the situation and slowly backed off. And our wait game continued.

Pic : Prashanth M

After what seemed like eternity (it was just a couple of minutes )the captain slowly gave way and started moving into the woods. The driver of the first jeep mustered up the courage and slowly moved ahead. Then the one in front of our vehicle started moving and we followed them. It was not all over but it was time for more drama. It started with the vehicle in front of us. We could not fathom what got into the driver of the jeep for all of a sudden he started honking while he sped away. We were then moving almost parallel to the leader elephant which was some 15-20 meters away and the pachyderm turned towards and started chasing us. I was looking out of the jeep to see the big mammal running towards us. It was the moment, the mind went blank. No thoughts, just void. It was a mock charge to shoo us away from its territory.

Today, the experience is etched in my mind.I’ve had similar experiences of getting blank few times, but this stands first in the list.Whenever I see a photo of an elephant or a video, I go back to my seat on the back of the jeep in Tholpetty.

This summer we took a long sought after vacation in the hills of Kumaon. The vacation began with a journey on a tramp train & ended again with a tramp train. And the period in between was just a perfect match wherein the mind & body decided to wander around with no known purpose – and why not? Its not always that one gets to explore the absolute green, verdant forest so close to Himalayas.

Its a different story that unlike most of our planned holidays, this one’s planning went for a toss when just a few days before the vacation was to begin, Gurjars of Rajasthan started rail blockade, severing Mumbai from the North. We were lucky to the extent that our train did not get cancelled.

However, travelling in a tramp train, which was scheduled to complete the journey in 16 hours but did it in about 26 hours, has its own share of fun and ordeals. Fortunately for us, the ordeals were lesser than the fun as we crawled through the areas like Chambal Ravines & getting a glimpse of Raj history through distant views of forts of Jhansi & Gwalior.

However, except the beginning & the end of this vacation, the trip had some of the most wonderful moments in our journey through Nainital, Ranikhet & Corbett.

The hills of Kumaon, unlike the hills of Garhwal, are more seductive, with their undulating landscape well covered with trees reaching towards heaven, fruits & flowers in abundance.

And they did succeed by converting an urban person like me into an urban yayawar. So here is me looking forward to being more of an yayawar while you all can get glimpses of some of these moments which I have tried to capture through my camera.

My first trip after taking the Club Mahindra memberhsip was to head to Kerala (Munnar and Ashtamudi). I planned a 4 night stay in Munnar and 3 nights at Ashtamudi. Little did I know that these 7 days were going to be the most memorable of my excursions.

 We started our journey on a pleasant Tuesday morning and after 5 tiring hours of being driven from the Coimbatore airport, the resort was a very pleasant sight. Our fatigue just vanished!

Pic : Udit Baranwal

A beautiful steward welcomed us in, applying sandalwood ‘tika’ on our forehead, with its fragrant, heavenly aroma. The cottage we were put in was nothing short of beautiful, and presented us an amazing view of the Munnar Lake. Instantly, the shutterbug inside me took over and I started clicking photos.

Munnar is situated 1,800 meters (5,906 ft) above mean sea level and the temperature during our stay remained between 15 ^o – 21^o Celsius.

P.S. My wife likes the winter season and cold places. She now loves me more for I brought her here.

After dinner, we spent some time at the swing, looking down at the valley in darkness.  We realized how small Munnar was. It’s a very quiet hill station and its beauty lies in the tea plantations all around. Perfectly crafted in a symmetrical shape and size that is unbelievable.

Pic : Udit Baranwal

The next morning we headed to Mattaputty Dam, some 50 Kms from the resort and took a speedboat ride in the beautiful lake. What was amazing was the fact that he handled his boat with one hand at top speed and clicked my SLR camera with another at such an ease. Later back at our room, I checked the shots he had taken and they turned out to be the best of whole trip.

Pic : Udit Baranwal

Back at the esort, we indulged into various activities at the acctivity Center and for the first time I played the game of carrom with my wife. Speaking of games, the resort has a ‘giant chess’ and ‘mini golf’. Chess was fun to play and we burst into laughter as my wife outsmarted me and finally beat me.

After 4 days (and a few kgs. more), we bid goodbye to the courteous staff at the Club Mahindra Lakeview Resort.
We headed to the Club Mahindra Backwater Retreat, Ashtamudi. This beautiful resort is situated in the Kollam district in Kerala. Ashtamudi means ‘eight armed’ and is named after eight arms of the Ashtamudi Lake. Here too, even though it took us 7 tiring hours to cover a distance of 300Kms, the effort was worth it.
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Pic : Udit Baranwal

If cottages and the view at Munnar were beautiful, Ashtamudi was a site to behold. The sea started just 15 steps from our cottage and we were thrilled by the excitement. A hammock right in front of our cottage had me and my wife clamour for it!.

Next day we were invited to take a ride in the resort’s own cruise boat ‘Breeze’, which gave us an opportunity to savour the sights of the backwater. Small villages around it, people engrossed in daily activities and using small boats for conveyance was an amazing sight. You can also dine aboard the boat.

Pic : Udit Baranwal

A visit to the Kollam market was all my wife wanted as soon as we had landed here. She had heard a lot about the speciality of south Indian gold ornaments, silk saris, cashew nuts, spices and wanted a bit of everything. Later, we stopped to have a hearty meal at a local restaurant. There is something special about Kerala cuisine that makes even the simplest of dishes a treat. A very common dish, the “Fish Fry” never tasted this good anywhere in North India. The quintessential “Parota”, made it taste even better. It was only here I saw peas being used in chicken curry. I didn’t mind them. I think coconut oil has done the same wonders to Kerala cuisine as olive oil has done to the west.

We also got an opportunity to visit the Quilon Lighthouse. Close to 200 spiral steps later, we reached the top and met with a breathtaking view of the Kollam City covered with coconut trees and water.

Pics : Udit Baranwal

Back home, the nostalgia of our visit began to hit us. 3 days later, as we were chatting over tea and gobbled some Kerala snacks ’Shakravaratti‘ (Banana chips coated with Jaggery), she commended me on our decision. I couldn’t be more happier!