Syntheri Rocks (Dandeli) (Part II)

Well, the 2nd part is finally here after appearing as a guest post on My Yatra Diary, blog by Arti from Mumbai. I selected this article for her when she asked for an guest post on any topic of my choice.

Here is the link -> http://myyatradiary.com/2012/01/syntheri-rocks-at-dandeli-western-ghats.html

or here -> Syntheri Rocks guest post

If you are an traveler and love visiting temples and heritage spots, please go through her blog she has some brilliantly composed detailed stuff over there and you can have a virtual tour of every other pilgrimage center she has visited. I thank Arti for the gesture and giving me another chance to guest post on her famous blog. Thanks :)
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Me to Raja - What shall we do tom when Nag and Guru come, any plans?
Raja - As said earlier, either Kavala caves or Syntheri rocks
Me - Y not jungle safari at Dandeli
Raja - Check
Parshu(staff at JLR) - Sir, safari cost, 850/- head, not advised
Me- Kavala?
Parshu - Sir, total 8hrs reqd, need to leave at 4am to travel 40 odd kms and then trek, if needed will arrange vehicle.
Raja - Syntheri?
Parshu - Sir, 30kms away, ok ok place, should visit early before crowd comes in, will arrange jeep for that too, economical too.
Raja - Ok, will decide after boys come tom.
Next day
Me - Boys, plans as such, let us know your choices...
Nag - Kavala or Syntheri...
Guru & Raja - anything fine
Me - Safari? Boys - Not interested
Raja, Nag, Guru - Syntheri , Syntheri - at least 1 place shall visit...
Me - hmmm hmmm (still thinking of safari)...sigh!
Boys - Kavala is too tiresome, lets check out Syntheri this time.
Me - hmmm hmmm...
Boys - Parshu, ask him only!
Me - (finally) Ok, as per boys wishes, Syntheri it is!
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A monolithic single granite stone with a height of 300ft with the river Kaneri flowing at its base. It’s a huge, massive limestone rock formed due to volcanic eruptions some zillion (how many is your wild guess!) years ago. It is named after an English lady called Ms. Cinthera who is believed to have discovered this place in the 20^th century. A flight of 200 odd steps downwards leads you to the base where the river flows and you get to see a giant rock formation from the bottom. There are numerous caves within and its not accessible hitherto you have special permission from the department to study and explore which is very unlikely.

It’s tall, wide and mesmerizing to say the least, wonder how they were created! Added to this there are numerous and numerous bee hives here and flocks of pigeons and smaller birds reside in the deep holes of the caves unseen to us. Being a tourist centre has its own disadvantages and as Syntheri Rocks is located close to the temple town of Ulavi, hordes of people visit this place on their way to and fro from Ulavi and when the annual fest (or jathre as we call it) happens at Ulavi, this place literally becomes a picnicker’s paradise with people and vehicles everywhere messing it up completely, sad but true is the case, as with other tourist spots.

But, the forest department is doing its bit in maintaining this place by putting up warning signboards and posting guards to not allow people getting into the river as the flow is heavy and with strong currents pose a threat.

The entrance to the area is from the main road with a nominal entry fees charged and the smaller vehicles are let into up to the designated parking area from where you need to climb down the steps to reach the base. The distance from the entry to the parking lot is easily more than a km and its midst of bamboo plantations, some old, some new and here is where you get the forest feel. Wish entry of vehicles is completely banned inside so that people walk from the entrance leaving their polluting vehicles outside which may deter in few people not visiting due to the walking…

The steps are big and nicely placed and railings on each side do not allow you to wander. Along the side, small concrete towers are erected and on each tower you get to see different kinds of sample rocks cemented with useful information provided on each of them as to what are they and what they constitute of – a true geologist’s paradise. But sad to see the sorry state of affairs of the towers – some of them missing, some with moss growth and some defaced. I would love to see some more boards depicting the importance of this place and providing more information to the visitors. Still, the place exudes a charm that’s successful in hordes of people visiting here and this place is similar to Yana and Kavala caves.

We were quite pleased to have visited this place that often went unvisited on our multiple trips to areas around Dandeli, thanks to the boys :)

Location: Dandeli-Ulavi highway

Distance: 30 odd kms from Dandeli,

Transport: Local jeeps on hire/sharing are the best bet.

Food: None.

Time: 9am to 6pm if I’m not wrong (forgot to confirm this)!

Bird watching at Hesaraghatta lake, Bangalore

Well, somehow I had been here only once so far and put off my the many number of vehicles seen everywhere. Hesaraghatta can be called the grassland of Bangalore as it's a dry, scrub land and vast in area with a water body too. The lake has lost its original charm and is now only a mere shadow to what it was.


But, on the flipside it hosts a variety of birdlife and many winter migrants especially the raptors that fly over oceans to spend the winters here. After multiple weeks of planning and dropping me and Amit finally made a visit here on a weekend in December.

As we reached braving the bitter cold outside, it was a foggy welcome with visibility very poor all around and there were already a couple of cars waiting. For the next hour and a half , all we did was wait for the fog to clear and get some visibility. All along a lone Harrier was roosting on a anthill patiently waiting for the sun too. In the meanwhile, we met Dayananda (a friend me earlier in Ganeshgudi too) along with Rakesh Gupta, Kartick VB, Sachin and few others and the men-men discussions started off to whale the time.

Info from Wiki:
Hesaraghatta is actually a man made reservoir located to the north west of Bangalore.It is a fresh water lake created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. The reservoir is reported to have filled up last in the year 1994 and thereafter the lake’s deterioration and drying up started, reducing its reliability as a water supply source. The reasons attributed to the lake’s drying up are erosion in the catchment and consequent capacity shrinking due to continuous silting. As of July 2009, the lake is completely dry.


But, still the area supports a vast variety of birdlife and some very good sightings have been reported from here in the recent years, the latest being the sighting of the Lesser Kestrel from here. All we did was car birding, ie., sit in the car and drive around on the tracks. Birding from the car here is very rewarding with the raptors feeling comfortable amidst the vehicles rather than humans. Harriers, Kestrels, Eagles, Falcons, Larks, Quails, Drongos, Flycatchers, Chats and Robins and not to forget variety of water birds are to be found here in abundance.

I was pretty happy to sight the Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Skylark, Siberian stonechat from close quarters. Drongo's are the best bet and their boldness amazes me, you literally point the camera near its face and it does not fly off!!!


All in all, a good outing to a great place. But as bird watchers and photographers and most importantly being educated, we should restrain ourselves from behaving like morons in the field, after all the bird is a bird and it needs its space too and they too have families and some of them nest along the ground as they have been doing it for ages.

Directions to reach- Right turn on Tumkur road at 8th mile, reach Hessarghatta, then right towards the board pointing to Adarsha Film Institute, 10mins drive from here you reach Hessarghatta lake.
Carry water and food (if required), but please don't litter the place and please do your bit if you come across bird traps in the field.

Respect Wildlife, Respect Nature!

Wild Bandipura (Part III)

Well, Part II will appear as a guest post in one of my favorite blogs, you people need to wait for that for some more time... Let me quickly jump to the next phase of my adventures at Bandipura National Park :)

After the boys left, had an intense birding session and finally had to rush to catch the bus to Dharwad from Ganeshgudi and just made it in the nick of time. Carrying two heavy bags, one with all the equipment and the lappy and the other with apparels and shuffling b/w buses was a big task to accomplish. All along it was just one song playing in my mind -
Musafir hoon mein yaaro,
Na ghar hain na tikana,
Mujhe toh bas chalana hai,
Bas chalte jaana hai!


Similar song in Kannada-
Ellige Payana, Yavudo daari,
Ekangi Sanchaari, Ekangi Sanchaari!


After a heavy dinner at Dharwad, I traveled to Mysore bypassing Bangalore in the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus service, well the ride was pretty decent and comfortable. Sleep walking into the Mysore bus terminus and after a cold face wash and breakfast later, boarded another bus towards Ooty to alight at Melkamanahally check post (Bandipur National Park entrance) where the property of JLR (Bandipur Safari Lodge) is located. I would be here for the next 4.5 days only to roam the jungles, eat and sleep, solo.

After a warm welcome from the staff, inspite of the long journey and sagging shoulders, I was feeling energized just because I was there where I wanted to be :) Probably, for the first time, I had carried books to read (EH Aitken's 'A Naturalist on the Prowl' and Kenneth Anderson's 'Nine Man-eaters and One Rogue'). I never wake up to the alarm ringing at home and finally it snoozes getting tired..., well here I didn't require an alarm to wake me, my senses were sufficient and I never missed the time all the days :) Such wonderful things happen when your mind, body, heart and soul are in the place they want to be. Waking up early, safari ride, bfast, break, lunch, break, safari ride, snacks, dinner, sleep was all that I did but the excitements of each day made it interesting. Due to an unforeseen cyclone effect, the weather was cloudy and rains were happening on and off dampening my spirit. Well, all that in my mind was 'Why the rains when I had to be there?' :)

Spotting Deers, Gaur are quite common in Bandipur and you get your share of them more or less in all safari rides. The first safari passed off peacefully w/o much activity in the forests and just as we were heading back to the resort, saw a big sloth bear passing just beside the main road in twilight. So far never been lucky with bears and it continues... Overnight rains were quite heavy and early morning the situation was more or less similar from which I believed would be a wet outing in the jungle. Good things do happen and in a span of 15 minutes, the entire cloudy weather cleared up and the sun shone like there was no tomorrow. Just as we entered the jungle and within minutes I could see a bright flash against a tree basking in the golden sunlight! It didn't take much time for us to realize it was indeed a 'Tiger' basking in the sudden sunlight available.

Just as we moved towards him, he moved inside off the track into the field keeping a watch on us sitting, rolling, sleeping in the shade of a tree. Every now and then he would raise his head, look around, gaze and us and again go back to his slumber. I was so excited that the first few beautiful frames of him were all shaken (I realized this only after few days).  If my readers recollect, just in the last post of Bandipur I had mentioned I was due for a long tiger sighting and the day had arrived. The beautiful, bold male that we were seeing is about 14 months and one from the successful litter of the current reigning queen of Bandipur, Gauri (You can see her in my Bandipur post of 2009 crossing the track).
-> http://adventureanytime.blogspot.com/2009/08/bandipura-wishes-coming-true.html

Tigers are generally elusive and especially cubs are more so shy and they avoid humans like hell but this little young chap was all grace and confidence and his stare so charming you just could not take your eyes off him. We enjoyed his company for the next 20 minutes till he decided enough was enough and walked away into the bushes probably to join his siblings there. 45 minutes later roaming other parts of the jungle, we came back to the same place to see him again basking under the sun and he was around again for the next 25 minutes with us seeing him roll, stare, doze and finally walk away not to be seen again. Along with me in the jeep was an ace photographer from Mumbai Vedwati Padwal along with her family and we thoroughly enjoyed the show but I thoroughly missed my boys during this.

Back at the resort, it was the hot news for the day and we enjoyed the discussions thoroughly. Wonder what happened next - the clouds and the overcast conditions were back and the next 2 safari's were literal washouts in spite of no other vehicle other than ours roaming the jungles in the morning and evening. That is luck and when it decides to leave you, you are just left nowhere!


Next, in my 5th safari, one cloudy evening just as we entered the park, Kiran, the driver shouted Wild dogs and so my luck continues with their sightings every time I'm in a jungle. It was a pair and probably searching for their pack and they kept us company for the next 30 minutes until we decided on the insistence of other people to jeep to move ahead. Wild dogs or Dhole's are very relaxed once they find the vehicles are no threat to them and they stick around for a long time till you are bored. In this scenario, asking the driver to leave them and move put me in jitters as these kind of opportunities are few and far.

So far, tiger, elephants, gaur, sloth bear, mongoose, deers were all sighted and the missing link was the leopard and to say I have poor luck with them is not untrue! Finally after extended stays, in my last safari at Bandipur, just about the time we had to leave the park got a chance to see the leopard crossing the road in a fraction of a second. All that I could manage was a shaky image of the ghost crossing the road, yet I was happy and content on seeing it in the first place. I know my time will come and the lady luck will smile upon me... :)

Meanwhile in all the dull safari's, birding was opportunistic and soon I realized the variety I could see and the list grew longer and longer much to my surprise and mind you all this from the moving jeep. Also was nice meeting Thomas, Vineet and others and had a good time with them.

Finally, time to leave with GB's of photos, heart-full of memories and with little intent to go back home. Rested for the night at Mysore and was back at home early next day thus ending my mega trip covering Ganeshgudi and Bandipura.


Travel partner - ever dependable KSRTC - www.ksrtc.in
Stay partner - Jungle lodges & Resorts - www.junglelodges.com


Bird checklist -
1 Oriental Magpie Robin

2 Yellow Wagtail

3 Jungle Fowl

4 Peafowl

5 Indian Roller

6 White Breasted Kf

7 Pied Kf

8 Hoopoe

9 Jungle Babbler

10 Common Flameback Woodpecker

11 Lesser Flameback Woodpecker

12 Streak Throated Woodpecker

13 House Sparrow

14 Scaly Breasted Munia

15 Rose Ringed Parakeet

16 Plum Headed Parakeet

17 Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

18 Spot Billed Duck

19 Common Coot

20 White Ibis

21 Spotted Dove

22 Laughing Dove

23 Brown Fish Owl

24 White Breasted Waterhen

25 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

26 Darter

27 Blue Faced Malkoha

28 Ashy Drongo

29 White Bellied Drongo

30 Racquet Tailed Drongo

31 Pond Heron

32 Red Wattled Lapwing

33 Indian Grey Hornbill

34 Eurasian Golden Oriole

35 Bay Backed Shrike

36 Long Tailed Shrike

37 Large Cuckooshrike

38 White Browed Fantail

39 Common Iora

40 Rufous Treepie

41 House Crow

42 Jungle Crow

43 Hill Mynah

44 Jungle Mynah

45 Common Mynah

46 Brahminy Mynah

47 Green Bee Eater

48 Common Hawk Cuckoo

49 Black Kite

50 Brahminy Kite

51 Black Shouldered Kite

52 Crested Serpent Eagle

53 Short Toed Snake Eagle

54 Malabar Starling


Wildlife -

1 Hanuman Langur

2 Bonnet Macaque

3 Black Naped Hare

4 Spotted Deer

5 Sambar Deer

6 Barking Deer

7 Grey Mongoose

8 Stripe Necked Mongoose

9 Wild Boar

10 Wild Dog

11 Malabar Giant Squirrel

12 Indian Gaur

13 Elephant

14 Tiger

15 Leopard

16 Monitor Lizard

17 Garden Lizard

18 Tortoise

19 Indian Rock Python

20 Water Snake (Un Id)

More photos on my FB pages here and here :)

Huchchara Santhe blog reviewed

"All around me are familiar faces 

Worn out places 

Worn out faces 

Bright and early for the daily races 

Going no where 

Going no where"

Well, these are the opening lines of my blog review's post done by The Fool (as he calls himself) in his wonderful, diverse blog Lucifer House Inc.

Yet again, this was possible only due to Indiblogger where I found his topic inviting people to submit their blogs for review. It is a real good sign from people who would want to invest so much of their time to go through your blog and pinpoint as to what is right and what is wrong and my heartfelt appreciation to "The Fool" on this great job done.

It is always good to know what people think about your blog, what you write, how you write, the contents, the widgets, the layout, the colors, the photos, all that is visible on your page to the world. Feedbacks, suggestions, reviews are very important for any blog to develop in this virtual world.

After an extensive review, he sums it up this way :)

"In the end analysis, I must say a really great blog for anyone who loves nature. It has a wealth of information on travel in the Western Ghats in Karnataka and observation of birds and other flora and fauna."

As I have mentioned there, this blog is due for some makeovers and changes and hopefully it should happen soon...

Read the complete review here -> Review of Huchchara Santhe

I request all of you to visit the link, read it and leave your valuable footprints all over Lucifer House :)

Well, with this review, I would also like to invite any other interested people who would want to review my blog, just leave me a note.

Suggestions and tips from readers are also welcome.

If you want your blog to be reviewed by The Fool, just follow the instructions given on this page -> Blog Reviews

Thanks again for all the support, appreciation and feedback and hope this journey goes on and on... :)

Ganeshgudi JLR camp - Team outing

Part I of my long / mega trip of 2 weeks done during Nov-Dec 2011.

The highlight of the trip was that all 4 of us were present after a long time and all the more merrier as Raja accompanying us very soon after his wedding, thanks to his wife :)

Me and Raja went a day early and Guru and Nag joined us the next day. We took the KSRTC Volvo to Dharwad and NWKRTC local buses from there to Dandeli as I was keen on visiting the Timber depot for some bird watching. Thanks to the build up of traffic and a mini accident on the highway, we reached more than an hour late and after the mandatory breakfast at 'Hotel Santosh' and dropping off our luggage in the 'States lodge', we proceeded straight towards the Timber depot area.

The Pied Hornbills were all over the place, especially the fig tree at the entrance with loads of fig and probably we saw around 15-20 of these birds congregated near the tree and giving them company were the Bulbuls, Koel, Sunbirds, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Egrets and the Malabar Giant Squirrel - it probably was sort of a congregation of variety of birds on a single tree. As we ventured inside and around the park, the activity was few and far as the trees bore no fruits but a lone Common Kestrel kept us busy for some time hunting grasshoppers from the ground.

After a good session here, picked up our bags and went straight to OMH camp where Parshuram and team were waiting for us to arrive. After exchanging pleasantries and freshening, immediately started our birding activity. Winter time is always good as the birds are quite active throughout the day and they keep visiting the bird baths kept all through the day. Quick and heavy lunch later, I was all over the place trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive but beautiful and elegant male species of the Asian Paradise flycatcher that looks like a ghost flying around with its bright white body and long dual tail that always amazes me no end.

All along the light was good and sufficient but post 4pm, the light started dropping and it is a challenge photographing in low light conditions. The lights turns bad as the camp is surrounded by thick forests and high canopies thus preventing light to sneak through. If you closely observe, most of the snaps have got the noise effect visible on them (i.e., grainy pixels) and I also attribute this to the high ISO value I was using.

The next day as usual I was up early than the rest and was busy sitting out in the open and listening to the wonderful song of the Malabar Whistling Thrush as the Orange thrush was hopping all around me. Forget photographing, sometimes observing them itself gives you so much joy! Me and Raja opted for the boat ride post breakfast hoping to catch the elusive Great Indian Hornbill or the Black capped Kingfisher but to no avail! Back at the camp, Nag and Guru arrived travelling by the train and it was indeed good to see them there.

Presence of the Malabar Trogan made me run amok on a wild goose chase and finally got a sight of the elusive beauty and trailed it for more than an hour tracking amidst the thick canopy hoping it would pop out into the open, alas it didn't and preferred to stay in the thick foliage. In the meanwhile met Dayananda, Satisha and couple of other fellow birders and photographers from Bangalore and it was good meeting up them there. Birding was very fruitful with the Malabar Trogon making repeated appearances and the Emerald Dove, Thrushes and the Flycatchers posing for us. Post evening campfire, a sit out with snacks and then a heavy dinner ensured we all get sound sleep in the cozy bunkers of the camp. Slowly but surely the clear weather was changing and it was turning cloudy making light disappear all the more faster!

Next day after the routing early wake up and birding session and the breakfast later, we hired a trax to visit the "Syntheri Rocks" that I intend to cover in a separate post soon. Probably we were venturing out of the camp to any other tourist spot for the first time in our many visits. On our way back on the roadside, an lone Indian Jackal greeted us and vanished into the thickets hearing the sound of the trax we were travelling in. Jackals have always caught us by surprise and never ever have given us a good chance to spend time with them.

Post lunch, we met Dr Ravi, Sadat and Vinay all with big cameras and bazooka lenses out there to capture everything on offer. With clouds looming large, the afternoon was spent around the camp loitering around and birding, the session was a mixed bag as by now there were 8-10 of us shooting together and I personally chose to shoot from a distance w/o wanting to disturb the bird or venturing too close to it. Post evening again the campfire, sit out and snacks and finally dinner to close the day.


I personally love the time spent with boys during the evenings or while on walks cracking silly jokes, poking fun at each other, discussions and sometimes going overboard. We particularly had a good time there with the staff laughing the butts out of ourselves and stopped only when our stomachs started aching :) Good times and I hope they last forever...

Next day, prior to the departure of Raja, Guru and Nag, we were up early and visited a couple of other camps nearby, the Bison river resort and the Hornbill camp in search of the elusive Great Hornbills and raptors that were being seen there regularly, but with the dark clouds hovering we were to return disappointed after stopping over at the bridge area for some time.

Post breakfast, the boys departed towards home and I stayed back as I was scheduled to leave only by evening towards Mysore on the way to Bandipura. Dayananda and team also left the place as they had to drive back till Bangalore. Post lunch the light conditions dramatically improved and we got to see good display of the thrushes, flycatchers, emerald doves and the many other little one's around. 

A sudden call of the Trogon sighting made all of us run and the next hour or so was spent in tracking the elusive one. Rains hampered the activity as I hurriedly got back to leave towards my next destination.
Parshuram, Joma, Anand, Singh, Vinay, Mylari and the others have been very helpful to us as always and continue to do that whenever we are there. A heartfelt thanks to the team there from all of us, its a pleasure being out there!

From Ganeshgudi in the north of the state, I traveled to Mysore via Dharwad and further towards Bandipura National Park to the southern part of the state where I would be spending the next 4-5 days in wilderness :)

Bird checklist:-

1 Malabar Pied Hornbill

2 Malabar Grey Hornbill

3 White Breasted Kingfisher

4 Common Kingfisher

5 Grey Wagtail

6 Pied Wagtail

7 Brown Cheeked Fulvetta

8 Orange Minivet

9 Crimson Backed Sunbird

10 Purple Rumped Sunbird

11 Emerald Dove

12 Vernal Hanging Parrot

13 Rose Ringed Parakeet

14 Plum Headed Parakeet

15 Malabar Parakeet

16 Rock Pigeon

17 White Rumped Shama

18 Oriental White Eye

19 Wooly Necked Stork

20 White Cheeked Barbet

21 Chestnut Tailed Starling

22 Golden Fronted Leafbird

23 Chestnut Headed Bee Eater

24 Eurasian Golden Oriole

25 White Breasted Waterhen

26 Barn Swallows

27 Jungle Fowl

28 Banded Bay Cuckoo

29 Black Lored Yellow Tit

30 Velvet Fronted Nuthatch

31 Hill Mynah

32 Jungle Mynah

33 Common Mynah

34 Brahminy Mynah

35 Common Iora

36 Blyth's Reed Warbler

37 Ashy Drongo

38 White Bellied Drongo

39 Black Drongo

40 Racquet Tailed Drongo

41 Red Whishkered Bulbul

42 Red Vented Bulbul

43 Yellow Browed Bulbul

44 Ruby Throated Bulbul

45 Asian Koel

46 Black Headed Munia

47 Puff Throated Babbler

48 Dark Fronted Babbler

49 Scimitair Babbler (Call)

50 Jungle Babbler

51 Common Flameback Woodpecker

52 Rufous Woodpecker

53 White Bellied Black Woodpecker (Call)

54 Blue Capped Rock Thrush

55 Orange Headed Thrush

56 Malabar Whistling Thrush

57 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

58 White Bellied Blue Flycatcher

59 Tickells Blue Flycatcher

60 Bar Winged Flycatcher Shrike

61 Asian Brown Flycatcher

62 Black Naped Monarch Flycatcher

63 Verditer Flycatcher

64 Kestrel

65 Malabar Trogan

66 Spotted Dove

67 Laughing Dove

68 Pond Heron

69 Brahminy Kite

70 Black Kite

71 House Crow

72 Jungle Crow

73 Indian Pitta (Call)

74 Little Cormorant

75 Darter

76 Common Coot

Mammals and Others

1 Malabar Giant Squirrel

2 Indian Jackal

3 Water Snake (unidentified)

4 Scorpion

5 Tarantula Spider

6 Barking Deer (Call)

7 Leopard (Call)

8 Draco Lizard

More images in my Facebook album here :)

Greetings 2012

Well, 2012 is in and let me kick off with few greetings :)

People are shouting at the top of their voices, screaming, boozing, dancing, singing, god knows what all... buy why :D

Wish people don't act funny and end up 'damaging' themselves or their neighbors (somehow it keeps happening) :P

Mega and major plans for 2012, let's see how it unfolds... :)
Keep a tab on this blog for updates...
Keep blogging, Keep clicking, Keep following, Keep commenting, Keep smiling :D

Cheers 2012 :)