Harish, Lakshmi, KM, Poornima, Sugandhi, Yash and I went to the JLR property called the Old Magazine House, at Ganeshgudi, near Dandeli, in Karnataka. KM and I have visited Dandeli many, many times, but have always stayed at the Kali River Lodge....and the Old Magazine House was a revelation. We'd stayed here once before, during the first INW meet ( Read more... )

Nature's creatures spin the silk
Right across the leaves:
The magic spans the twigs, the grass:
Over the seeds, and sheaves.


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Dandeli has several varieties of

HORNBILLS;

though we did see the Malabar Grey, the majority of our sightings were the

MALABAR PIED HORNBILL:


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Dandeli is a great place for birds; small wonder then, that even after missing all the thrushes that are common there, like the Orange-headed Thrush, the Blue-capped Rock Thrush and so on, we still wound up with a bird count of well over a hundred ( Read more... )

Our trip to Dandeli began with a lovely sunrise:


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While birding at Dandeli, I realized that that the moon was nearly full:


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I was going through my LJ friend's page, when I remembered the anecdote about two brothers who gave in identical essays on the topic, "My Dog". When asked why, they said, "Ma'am...we both have the same dog!"

Why did I think of this story?....well....here are amoghavarsha's pictures of the Dandeli trip ( Read more... )

The Kulgi Camp run by the Forest Department had this sign over the canteen (every tent was named after a bird or animal)...


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Here's a snap KM took of the Malabar Pied Hornbill...the picture has a very Japanese-painting feel to it, because of the tree and the bold curves of the bird....


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At Dandeli, this time, we were treated to a lovely family drama, more riveting than any soap opera one could see on the idiot box! Let me introduce the hero and heroine:


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