Coorg and Kabini

Monsoons, and the Western Ghats comes alive during the time when the water starved regions, barren lands, dry forests, brown hillocks come alive in various shades of green and numerous waterfalls spring up in nook and corner of the region turning the virtual entire into a carpet of greenery. When it rains, it pours in some regions diminishing the might of the Sun for a few days and the tree canopies prevent the lesser available sunlight to pass through them to hit the forest floors thus rendering it moist always. Leeches love this environment and numerous bugs, beetles, frogs, snakes thrive during the rains. In a corner of the forest, safe from the flowing water, the might King Cobra builds its nest carefully and tirelessly to ensure its eggs hatch. Frogs and toads come out of hibernation and so does many of the smaller insects virtually infesting the whole region with their calls, songs and music. With abundance of prey around, the snakes make the most of it grabbing a meal or two, whenever it can.

The smell of the land after a good rain is probably the best fragrance you could ever sense and a lush green thriving forest is probably the best sight you could see and the calls of the birds, insects and animals is probably the best music you would hear. A complete therapeutic treat to entice all of a human’s senses and re-energize the mind and soul.

We were well aware of the fact the Kodagu region comes alive during monsoons with many waterfalls springing up and the well-known ones cascading in full force and we always wanted to explore some of them at leisure and so we did traversing through Kodagu and tracing out hidden gems that come alive mostly during the monsoons. We did visit a few and we had to skip a few more owing to short time, but nevertheless it was a rejuvenating sight that lot of people miss even though they wander so close to them. Some of these need a hike and walking through unknown terrains and the area around the waterfalls are generally slippery, so you need to exercise caution before you head out deeper into the woods. If you are not sure, then take the help of a local to accompany you as it’s easy to get lost!

Rajasthan birding - Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Bharatpur)

Rajasthan trip report here...

With spare days now on hand and Raja not available in Jaipur, we dashed off to Keoladeo Ghana National Park or more commonly called the Bharatpur bird sanctuary to spend our remaining days of the trip that turned out to be an excellent decision with us being there at the right time. Bharatpur, is as small area but is an excellent avifauna sanctuary that hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season and people flock here for many reasons – photography, bird watching, cycling around the whole park or just walking and spending quality time listening to the birds and nothing else.

Rajasthan Birding - Jorbeed, Chhapar

Rajasthan trip report here...

Early next day, we were off to one of the most anticipated places on our list – a dumping yard! Yes. Jorbeed is a carcass dumping yard where carcass is treated and dumped and where you get to see a huge diversity of birdlife. This small patch of land is probably where you will see the highes congregation of vultures of many kinds, all in one place. Diclonofenac literally had wiped out the vulutre population from India, but awareness and banning of the drug has seen the population of vulutres recover slowly, but the threat remains large as few species of vultures are still classified as critically endangered.