Nagarhole
Amazon India celebrated the completion of its first year and we all went to Nagarhole for two days. Getting away from the hustle of Bangalore can be such a relief! Just the absence of the clamour noise is enough to soothen your nerves. We stayed at King's Sanctuary which was a nice place. Went on a safari and saw some deer and bison and wild boar and elephant. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the tiger. The monsoon is not the best season to go on a safari, what with thick undergrowth and water everywhere, the animals do not come out of the depths of the forest often. I'll try to make another trip, to some other forests (there are quite a few around Bangalore) during October or November which they say is a good time to visit. It was drizzling all along which was quite irritating because I couldn't use my camera enough.
The highlight of the trip was the morning of the next day. Vikas and Hemant, two absoulutely great guys, are experienced rock climbers and had brought there climbing gear along. About eight of us went rappelling along with them: definitely the most adventurous thing I've done, and a lot of fun. It was rather scary at first, especially when you're at the edge, looking seventy feet down and nothing to hold you but a rope. AND you have to fall backwards slowly. Every cell in my body was screaming bloody murder, but eventually I did go down (it took as much convincing from Hemant as from my rationality to make me move!) And once you're over the edge, it's fabulous! I was in control and I just walked down the rock face. Vikas was holding on to the rope at the bottom which was quite a relief. Once I was back on terra firma, I was on a high!
As with all hole-in-ones, I couldn't get a snap of my "stunt" but Venkat carried the camera down and we could take a snap of Hemant during his descent:
I definitely want to do this again. Many thanks to the duo for setting up the entire apparatus. We'd gone expecting there to be an established setup and a proper guide, but Vikas and Hemant filled in perfectly.
More photos here.
Things had become much too much monotonous of late - just work and back. This was a nice break, and has also gotten me thinking about doing something more interesting with life. Let's see what comes about...
The highlight of the trip was the morning of the next day. Vikas and Hemant, two absoulutely great guys, are experienced rock climbers and had brought there climbing gear along. About eight of us went rappelling along with them: definitely the most adventurous thing I've done, and a lot of fun. It was rather scary at first, especially when you're at the edge, looking seventy feet down and nothing to hold you but a rope. AND you have to fall backwards slowly. Every cell in my body was screaming bloody murder, but eventually I did go down (it took as much convincing from Hemant as from my rationality to make me move!) And once you're over the edge, it's fabulous! I was in control and I just walked down the rock face. Vikas was holding on to the rope at the bottom which was quite a relief. Once I was back on terra firma, I was on a high!
As with all hole-in-ones, I couldn't get a snap of my "stunt" but Venkat carried the camera down and we could take a snap of Hemant during his descent:
I definitely want to do this again. Many thanks to the duo for setting up the entire apparatus. We'd gone expecting there to be an established setup and a proper guide, but Vikas and Hemant filled in perfectly.
More photos here.
Things had become much too much monotonous of late - just work and back. This was a nice break, and has also gotten me thinking about doing something more interesting with life. Let's see what comes about...