A Day with the Blackbucks

A charming Green Bee-eater

The beauty and charm of being in Bangalore apart from the climate, malls, pubs, liquor marts and pretty gals :P ;) is the proximity of the national parks, conservation reserves and many lakes in and around the Garden City.

Jayamangali Bluckbuck Conservation Reserve located around 130 km from Bangalore, is one such off beat wildlife zone. A beautiful grassland typical to the Deccan Plateau, its a beautiful place for photography and observing wildlife.

Known to have the 2nd largest population of Blackbucks in Karnataka, the reserve is a treat when it comes to Blackbucks. One can watch herds of them grazing merrily.

A Blackbuck Herd

Jayamangali is also a birders paradise. Harriers, shrikes, bee-eater, pipits, bulbuls and many others can be easily spotted.

A Montagu's Harrier

An ideal day would be reaching the spot before sunrise, spending the whole day there till sunset.This being my first trip and being an overnight plan, i couldnt spend much time there.
                                 

Even though being a protected area, basic amenities are yet to be provided, including forest guards and staffs. The protected area being just 3.23 kmsq, suffers from lots of pressure due to over grazing by local cattle herds, farming and industrialization.

Being a dry grassland with rolling rising and falling landscape, the place is a beauty and one of its kind, that needs to be preserved.

A trip to Avalanche Lake

The charm of an off beat tourist destination is just different. Stunning vistas, charming people, road less traveled and if you are lucky, an interesting wildlife encounter, but the Best of all is the less tourist crowd!

A view of Avalanche Lake

Avalanche Lake is one such place, the lake being named after a huge land slide "Avalanche".   28 kms away from Ooty, in route to Upper Bhavani passing through one of the most beautiful landscape in the Nilgiris, the final destination the lake itself is a sight to behold!

Starting from Ooty, passing through lush green Horticulture fields, one reaches the Forest Check post at Avalanche, nearby which there is a one of the few Trout Fish breeding centers in India.

The rolling green hills and blue sky are just picture perfect

From the check post the road to Avalanche Lake passes through Mountane type forest full of mosses, ferns, flowering plants, orchids and beautiful waterfalls all of which makes up a part of  the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.

Merrily cascading water falls and blooming flowers are a sight to behold

Being a protected area, tourist vehicles beyond the check post are not permitted, but a local community initiative by the charming people of the Toda tribes is available, through which one can hire a jeep and a guide for the entire trip up to the lake and back to check post.

Beautiful grasslands and Sholas

All along the way the guide provides wonderful facts about the plants and ecology of the region and insights on Toda tradition and customs. 

Also one comes across flowering variants of the famous Kurinji Flower or Neela Kurinji ( Strobilanthes kunthiana ) which is  know for flowering once in every 12 years, causing a mass blooming of flowers during the monsoons creating a look of velvet carpet across the higher hills of the Western Ghats.

                                                  The annually flowering family members of the famous Kurinji Flowers

The flowering bushes, water gently cascading down the stream makes the place picture perfect.

Another beautiful vista

The Bhavani Temple located half way through the route is one of the most beautiful places i have ever been. The humble little temple along the stream surrounded by the rolling green hills gives the ultimate touch of spirituality to serene and tranquil location.

Tranquility at its best

The lake with its emerald blue waters and the lush green hills is a wonderful sight. If lucky one can spot wildlife along the lake and also in route. 

A curious Jackal looks on

The avalanche lake tourism is modeled in a effective sustainable method by employing the local communities and also restricting the number of tourist flow per day to around 10 trips approximately some 100 to 150 persons a day. Its one of the best example for conservation based Eco tourism and can act as an example for tourism in other ecologically sensitive area. As long as such an initiative works, conservation and tourism can go side by side ensuring preservation of the fascinating life among us.

Panorama

Panorama: 

Technically: A wide angle representation of physical space..putting it in simple way, click a couple of consecutive pictures and JAM them up to form one single picture

Techniques available: 1. Most cameras these days have panorama mode.

                                 2. The less fortunate ones owning a cam without this feature have to go through the hassle of steadily clicking the consecutive pics and then JAM them up using software like Canon's photo stich! 

                                                1st Pic

2nd Pic

3rd Pic

The jammed up picture.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A BETTER VIEW 

the other panoramas that i tried

 

 

With a tripod a better picture can be expected. :P

Flying High.

The clouds are high above me...but still am high.. above the rest of the world.. Am Flying High!

It started as a love for nature and then a love to capture mother nature's pristine beauty..with.. a Point and Shoot Camera my good old Sony -Cyber Shot T7 and then recently came my first and only DSLR..Canon 60D...it opened up a whole new world of imagination.. creativity.. an essence to capture.. Time...Emotions..Odd objects.. and any thing that has its own story or sense of beauty.

Inspired to create my own website,i start this blog.. with my first post of photos of flowers and birds..captured during the rains of  Aippasi and Karthigai..Maasam.

                                                              Beginning of a new life.. 

                                                                 

                                                                and death of another..

The onset of the Karthigai Maasam with the traditional Deepam..