Dandeli.com

(the pride of Dandeli)

Started of 2014 with a visit to Dandeli (yes, again), courtesy Dandeli.com who intend to be the guiding force for people or groups who would want to visit Dandeli and surrounding areas. I stayed at a lesser known Eco friendly camp, Dandeli Jungle Camp situated about 11kms from Dandeli town closer to the village Pradhani. This post is an attempt to review the facilities and the hospitality I was offered.

(Dandeli Jungle camp)

Ø Rajesh / Sanjay / Ramnath of Dandeli.com were very cordial and hospitable in working with the clients and ensured I had a pleasant stay right from arranging pick-up and drops to the food to activities.

Ø They can plan and organize your stay basis your budget and preferences right from a basic stay to a luxurious resort stay, they have one for all.

Ø Dharmesh and staff at the camp were also very hospitable and catered to every need. The guide Hanumanthu with whom I went on hikes was an excellent spotter (of birds) and very humble.

Ø The camp is a basic yet rustic and appealing located in the buffer zone of the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary.

Ø No air-cons, geysers, only one-time non-veg meal were a welcome sight at the camp. Cottages were decent enough and basic, no ultra luxuries here that was a good sign.

Ø Food, simple yet good, the options of spread can be increased.

Ø The staff comprises mostly local people, which imply the revenue benefits the local community.

Ø Incidentally, I met couple of other travel bloggers whom I was only used to seeing in the virtual world, it was a good opportunity to catch up.

Being more than a general traveler and been around Dandeli quite a few times, I chose not to do the regular attractions of Dandeli like Coracle ride, River Rafting, Backwaters drive, Sunset point trek instead chose to explore the birdlife around the camp that turned out to be a good choice for me.

Both the days I stayed, I did a good 3-4 hours hike covering the surrounding wooded areas and was more than pleased to record about 70 species of birds from there. Credit goes to the guide who knew the tracks well and was a good spotter too.

(Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary)

Also, chose a Jungle Safari ride into the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary (jeep courtesy JLR along with their other guests). Historically, the safari ride is unexciting because of multiple reasons (that I would divulge in sometime). Few birds, Gaur, Deer were those we saw.

Enjoyed a delicious, mouth-watering dinner at a ‘Khanavali’ in Dandeli before I bid adieu to fellow travelers and boarded my bus towards Bangalore.

Dandeli is not a place to go picnicking and littering, be responsible and cautious and enjoy your stay. I would definitely recommend the services of Dandeli.com for people who want to experience Dandeli but do not know how to go about it. They can devise plans for each and every one, give them a chance, they won’t disappoint.

Contact Sanjay - 094487 97270 or Ramnath - 099005 47763 for more information.

Birding diaries

Of Sunbirds and Leafbirds

Well, every outing to Ganeshgudi (Old Magazine House camp) has something to offer, something new, and something to learn, a place that never disappoints any time of the year!

As I was hogging lunch in the afternoon in the dining area on top, the activity on the Helicteres isora or the Indian screw tree caught my attention. As I went closer to see, I could hear the familiar calling of the sunbirds hoping between the flowers sucking the nectar in peace. Shortly, I realized the female sunbird was the more aggressive of the two and was vociferously chasing away the male from a particular branch that had good number of flowers.

The male sunbird was being opportunistic and used to fly to the branch whenever the female sunbird was out of sight and used to fly out being chased by the female sunbird again. Well, the male had other branches with flowers but none matched this particular branch in the tree. This continued till about dusk and finally their activity ceased for the day.

Next morning, much before the sunbirds came to the tree, there were a new bigger couple sucking the nectar, highly camouflaged and enjoying their morning sugary breakfast, the Golden-fronted Leafbirds were there much before ample light had filtered down the dense canopy at Ganeshgudi.

This was my first sighting of these brilliantly camouflaged birds in open and at close quarters, I had only seen them either on the canopy or in between leaves in the mid portions of a tree making it extremely difficult to spot. I was thrilled on seeing the pair in action and here again that particular branch was occupied by the female and the male had to satisfy his tastes from the remaining flowers located sparsely on other branches.

Soon, the sunbird couple came over and were promptly chased away by the leafbirds from that particular branch and also from the other by both the male and female leafbirds. Despite repeated futile attempts, the sunbirds hardly got opportunities to get closer to the rich nectar yielding flowers. Of the leafbird couple, the male leafbird was the aggressor chasing the sunbird couple long distances away and in turn was being chased away by the female leafbird from that particular branch.

Soon, there were more leafbirds coming for the flowers and more sunbirds but none were able to come near that particular branch that was being guarded by the female leafbird. All along, I never realized the time fly by as it was almost 2 hours being engrossed in their chases and antics. In between, there were the White-rumped and the Black-throated Munia’s, Orioles, White-eye’s, Woodpeckers, Warblers frittering all around the place.

With so much activity all around and with loss of time, I moved away bewildered and amazed at the behavioral patterns of nature to the more defined breakfast table to satisfy my taste buds :)

More frames from Ganeshgudi

Well, you have witnessed plenty of posts on Ganeshgudi (The Old Magazine House camp of Jungle Lodges and Resorts near Dandeli) here and continuing them adding more frames from my last visit in November 2012. I and Krishna drove down while Amit, his wife and friend reached there from Karwar.

Rain played spoilsport, but still we had a pretty good time at the camp and witness to some amazing moments giving an insight into the world of avians.

Earlier posts on Ganeshgudi here...

Enjoy the frames and will be waiting to hear from you :)

(the flagship species of Dandeli)

(A shot in the near darkness, no flash used and I don't advocate using them on birds too...)

(One of the smallest woodpeckers in India, a prized catch...)

(Supersonic flyers... very pretty Doves)

Fight over water!!!

Birds are living beings too and they have a more difficult life to lead, a life so unknown, a life so unexpected, a day lived is an achievement (just because you would have survived an predator attack, you would have gained so much food so as not to starve...), a day of happiness, joy and sorrows, a constant threat from predators, competition for food, water and shelter, yet, they are happy contented souls always active and and their vocals never tire, always on alert and always on lookout for opportunities, its after all the saga of "survival of the fittest".

As you start observing them over a period of time, nature has its own surprises for you in the meanest of the ways that would turn around the beliefs you had till then or rather thought you saw till then, they never seize to surprise you every day, every moment that goes on to prove that study of their behavior is never enough...never!

Last year, when I was in Ganeshgudi (yes, my favorite birding location in Western Ghats near the town of Dandeli) at the JLR Old Magazine House camp, I was witness to something very interesting, an interesting behavior of the birds, a tiff for the bathtub of water, not a very aggressive one but still an entertaining one!

The White-rumped Shama and the Red-whiskered Bulbul
At the camp, tubs filled with water are kept at strategic locations for the birds to drink/bathe etc... and this has been done from over 8 years and many of the resident bird species are used to the tubs and do visit regularly in any season of the year. The list of birds that come to these tubs are endless...

As I busy in many of these visiting the various tubs a White-rumped Shama came over to a tub already occupied by a Red-whiskered Bulbul ready for its shower. The Shama and the Bulbul faced each other quite menacingly and looked as if the Shama wanted the Bulbul to vacate the tub immediately. Its raised its long tail and menacingly stared at the Bulbul who by now was in the water.I was anticipating some sort of action here, probably a small tiff between the two but what happened but truly surprising. The Bulbul, without a care in the world dipped in the water, rolled over and splashed in it happily leaving the Shama red-faced in disgust. The Bulbul repeated this couple of times as if insulting the Shama and the look on the face of the Shama was more or less conveying this message. Later, after being satisfied, the Bulbul flew away and the Shama got its chance to get wet!!!

The series of pictures below would convey the action more than my words! Enjoy :)

The Face-Off

Shama: Vacate the tub else...

Shama: else... enjoy your bath... :)

further humiliation...

finally, its mine...

Solo Ride to Ganeshgudi (Dandeli)

500kms, 10 hours, awesome roads, monsoon weather, intermittent rains, lush green forests, you and your bike…!

Yes, recently in August I completed my first solo ride to Ganeshgudi (Dandeli) about 500 kms away from home, not planned but spontaneous.Independence day weekend, on a boring Thrusday evening, as I sat in boredom, needing a break, my bike needing a long ride, I just got up and rode to the bunk, filled up the tank, came home and announced I’m riding to Dandeli tomorrow!

Mom asked – how many, I replied alone and she made a quick nod and walked away, I could hear a frown from my dad sitting on the sofa, expected reactions and a witty smile on my face!

5am – I was running around loading bags and tying them on to the rear seat, filling up the bottles, and those last minute rushes! Mom walked out and said ride safe, ride slow, I nod again with a grin :) Of late, my parents are supportive enough as they know my adamant nature and my quest to do things differently. August is peak monsoon month and I was expecting rains to be my companion, I badly needed to soak in the rains as Bangalore was literally dry and hot with no signs of rains at all, a total monsoon failure this year!

Still the early morning truck and cab traffic on Tumkur road, NH4 took me more than an hour to clear and face the open winding highways. Riding on the highway, it feels like home on a bullet. The bird is a real cruiser, you don’t struggle and the bird never goes out of steam however long the ride may be. The little bumps and humps, bad patches and those curves don’t deter the bird and rationally the speed never comes down, frequent use of the clutch not required unless the roads are horrible. The needle on the speedo kept on nearing the 3 digit mark and I had to often control the urge and reduce the speed, yet I maintained a consistent speed of 70+ all through the ride. Incidentally, I took an alternate route to Ganeshgudi through the country side that consumed more time as the roads were pretty bad but was compensated with stunning views providing relief to my sore eyes. Dressed up in camouflaged dress and with the long boots of Woodlands to protect my ankle and riding gloves completing the gear, I was the object of attention for every curious villager and the kids waving at me :) I was so obsessed with riding the bird that I often relented to stop and take out the camera that I now regret (wish I could have captured those stunning country side vistas with my bird in the frame…!). Anyway, there is always a next time ;)

Black clouds were hovering all along but somehow the rains were reluctant to shower on me and they only came down after me covering 450 out of the 500 odd kms on the bird. Once you bypass Dandeli, the vista’s have a dramatic changeover with the teak plantations taking over and forests all along the way replacing the barren lands along the highway. The road to Ganeshgudi after Dandeli is laden with beautiful curves and you ride through the reserve forest all along. I stayed at my regular jaunt, the Old Magazine House campsite run by the Jungle Lodges (www.junglelodges.com) and the staffs were no less happy in welcoming me back again there. I was completely drenched riding the last stretch in rains as I had no intent of stopping too; in fact I was hoping to ride in the rains :) It rained pretty much the entire time I was there and I was happy to just loiter around, eat, sleep and relax without any care in the world.

On the ride back, I started off late due to the rains and yet again I loved the ride in the rains, but the ride was slow as I was busy feasting on the beauty of nature when it rains. Three hours of riding in the rains and next seven without it ensured that I was completely dry by the time I was back home, not an inclination that I had rode in the rains. Stops were few more on the return journey for that hot cup of ‘chai’ to fuel me along and to check the baggage as not to let them fall (the spring chords had lost a little of their elasticity that made the weight of the bags shift to one end). Again, I was so engrossed in the ride that I forgot lunch and only stopped for a late heavy snack at dusk time. The last couple of hours ride was all about riding in the dark and the only thing I felt unsatisfactory on the bird is the weak headlamp, highly insufficient on the highways, barely manageable.

Back home, much to my and parents’ surprise, I was active and showed no signs of fatigue as I always do when back from a trip however comfortable it may be. Signs of comfortness and more biking rides on its way :)

‘bird’ in the article refers to my bike – Royal Enfield Thunderbird, 350cc

Route – Bangalore-Tumkur-Chitradurga-Davanagere-Haveri-Ranebennur-Bankapur (turn left off the highway)-Mundgod-Kalghatgi-Haliyal-Barchi(bypassing Dandeli)-Ganeshgudi

Note: No tolls to be paid for any bikes; the leftmost bay is for the bikes to ride away.

For Biking:

A good riding jacket and a sturdy helmet

Ankle covering boots

Riding Gloves (and knee protectors)

Lots of Water

Sturdy bags / backpacks that sits on the rear seat

Ropes (preferably elastic with hooks) or the typical Saddle bags

Rainwear (if riding in rains/monsoon)

Tool kit (I need to build one now)

All documents and Id cards

Read this post by Sankara to know more here - http://www.beontheroad.com/2012/10/packing-tips-for-your-motorcycle-trip.html

Ride safe! Ride slow! Enjoy your ride!

Ganeshgudi - Photo FeatureIV

Read the earlier posts here:

Intro ->
First Post ->
Second Post ->
Third Post ->

Along with the Indian Pitta, another bird that held my fascination was the Blue-capped Rock Thrush. It startled me when I spotted it on the ground foraging something and I had to go down in weird positions to get some good shots of this.

One of the adaptive features of this beauty is that as soon as it senses movement or feels threatened, it freezes wherever it is - in a sense, you can say it doesn't fly away anytime soon and allows you to get close to it. It flies away only when it feels the proximity distance is too close for comfort.

It feeds on insects on the ground, often seen foraging for those little locusts, ants, grasshoppers, beetles and worms in the mud.

The male is brightly colored with Orange and shades of Blue, Black and White on it while the female is slightly dull colored with Greyish coating.

Enjoy maadi :)

Ganeshgudi - Photo Feature-III

Intro ->
First Post ->
Second Post ->

Well, the Pitta, Thrushes, Emerald's and few others kept me so busy that I could not venture out looking for any newer one's within the short time I had there, well, there is always a next time :)

Enjoy and please feel free to leave your comments...

(3 in 1 was a bountiful memorable sighting for me...) 

the last instalment will be up soon... :)

Ganeshgudi - Photo Feature-II

Well, see the first post here -->


This post is dedicated to the beautiful, gorgeous species the 'Indian Pitta' (Pitta brachyura) also known as 'Navranga' or 'Navrang'.


Enjoy and do leave your comments below :)

more to come :)

Ganeshgudi in March

Well, we never need an invitation or a reason to visit the JLR Old Magazine House camp at Ganeshgudi, all that we need is just an excuse. That came in the form of Parshuram, caretaker there calling me on a casual note and he mentioned about the Indian Pitta that was all over the place.

That’s it!

I didn’t need any further excuses; conveyed the same to my team and luckily all of them agreed as it was just for a day’s stay leaving home the Friday night and returning back on Monday morning. Another reason was that, we had never been there in March and this was a good time to explore the bird life in March.

Prior to this, our visits to this place has been in July, Sep, Oct, Nov, Jan and now Mar thus completing 6 months in a year when we have been here. Hope I add another 3 months to the list this year :)

We took the train route this time again booking tickets on the Rani Chennamma express to Londa from where Ganeshgudi is about 20 odd kms. Nag, as usual acting notorious nowadays booked his own tickets by bus and chose to travel alone. As the train stopped mid way, a beautiful sunrise greeted us along with the wishes of the commonly seen birds. Notably this time, the train was late and we missed the connecting bus to Ganeshgudi and were late in reaching the camp and finally had our breakfast late! Being March, we expected the weather to be harsh but were surprised by the cool weather early in the day and moderate weather throughout the day. Sumeet Moghe, an NTPian (http://www.learninggeneralist.com/) was there a day before us and had gone to Goa for the Zuari River birding cruise.

From here on, normal schedule of the team was in place; eat, drink and sleep happily and my schedule was to sit in the open porch with my cameras by the side and served with regular cups of tea. In between all of us went for a couple of walks during the day and also in the night to sight anything if possible. When you look up from the place where there is hardly any pollution or noise, you get to see a lovely wonderful sky with stars all over shining bright in competition; you can just keep gazing over it for hours together!

Birding or Bird watching wise, we were treated by the Indian Pitta show for the entire period we were there and also by the Emerald doves and the Blue capped Rock Thrush. Personally, I have always been a fan of the colorful Indian Pitta (also known as Navranga) having those vibrant bright colors and those musical song notes and I was more than happy only to shoot this one the whole day. The Emerald doves were much more willing this time and came in multiples to see us and we were treated to a bonus sighting of 3 individuals together at once. The Blue capped Rock Thrush was another show stopper when I caught him unawares on the ground and I had to kneel and crawl and he obliged till my back started aching badly and I had to move around that made him fly.

Now, the photos will start and they will they what a gala of a time we had there and note this may run into a couple of posts :)

Bird checklist:-

Indian Pitta

Emerald Dove

Malabar Whistling Thrush

Malabar Parakeet

Chestnut Tailed Starling

Blyth’s Starling

Puff Throated Babbler

Dark Fronted Babbler

White Rumped Shama

Malabar Whistling Thrush

Malabar Trogon

Vernal Hanging Parrot

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Green Bee Eater

Chestnut headed Bee Eater

Brown Cheeked Fulvetta

White bellied Blue Flycatcher

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher

Asian brown Flycatcher

Black Naped Monarch Flycatcher

Verditter Flycatcher

Blue capped Rock Thrush

Orange Headed Thrush

Black headed Munia

Golden Fronted Leafbird

Purple rumped Sunbird

Crimson backed Sunbird

Malabar Grey Hornbill

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Velvet fronted Nuthatch

Black Drongo

Racquet tailed Drongo

Orange Minivet

Yellow browd Bulbul

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Red Vented Bulbul

Great Tit

Common Iora

Black lored Yellow Tit

Blyth’s Reed Warbler

Nilgiri Flowerpecker

Greater Flameback Woodpecker

Heart spotted Woodpecker

Common Kingfisher

White breasted Kingfisher

Crested Goshawk

And, as we were just about to leave, we came across this little Green Vine Snake wobbly making its way across, he was very mild and let us click him in patience!

Wait for the loads of photo posts :)

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)!