MYSORE ZOO - A PHOTO LOG

Hello. Writing the blog after long time. This time I will take you to Mysore Zoo. Really well maintained zoo, I have ever seen in India. I liked Mysore city and so the zoo very much.
I visited this zoo with my four year son and though  grown up, I also enjoyed the trip to this zoo , which was planned at very last minute and I am happy , I have visited it. I have not seen so much variety of animals in any zoo in India.
Now we will start the visit to Zoo. It is situated at around 3 k.m from the famous Mysore palace. The timing to visit  the zoo are 8.30 am to 5.30 pm (tuesday closed).Entry fees are Rs.50 for adults (Rs. 60 on saturday, sunday and public holidays), Rs.20 for children between 5 to 12 years.(Rs.30 on Saturday, sunday and public holidays). Battery operated vehicles are also available .Charges for same are Rs.125 for adults and Rs.75 for children between 5 to 12 years.This can be booked online also.For that Rs 25 are extra. This will save time of waiting for our turn at any crowed day, I guess.
We arrived at the gate at 10 am. It was not much crowded outside , so got the entry ticket immediately. As you enter the zoo, at some distance, a Giraffe is waiting to welcome you. It was standing very still, that we got confused if it is a statue or real one.But after some time it started running with its companion to clear our doubts.After watching their play for some time, we moved ahead. There was waiting line for  battery operated vehicle. The battery vehicle ticket, is given inside.As per their procedure, i gave my name and got token and the person informed me that , when there will be place to accomodate , he will call my name, as a group of almost 50 people was waiting and each vehicle will take only limited seats.
So thinking that we will require to wait at least 1/2 an hour, we headed towards the birds section.It has very nice collection of birds.We saw lot of birds from cranes, flamingos, owls, different coloured birds.It was very nice watching those different birds.
After some time, we returned to the battery operated vehicle's starting point and got place. We got place besides driver at front, so my son was very happy.this trip takes 1 to 1.25 hrs. And has 3-4 stops, where one has to get down and watch the animals from nearer distance. First  stop was near lion and tiger. Then we covered rhynos ( one horned, two horned), elephants ( asian and african), deers, reptlies, crocs, foxes, hynas, hippo, some species of migrayary birds, zebra, small mouse fox. It was real fun to watch all these animals and we can spend full day here easily, as the zoo is maintained very nicely and kept clean.
Unfortunately I have lost all the photos of this trip.
So publishing it without photos. It gives me the reason to visit this lovely zoo again.😀

Koynanagar

This monsoon , we decided to visit the well known dam site of Maharashtra 'Koynanagar' to experience its abundant natural beauty and to see the famous dam known as 'Fate line of Maharashtra.'

We started our journey words koynanagar around 1 pm on 16th august 2014 from Sangli. All were very excited. Road till karad (60 km) was normal. We took left turn on chiplun road and started to go towards mountains. The road was nice  and nature was  at its full beauty all around .The paddy fields, small houses, the mountains in lush green colour were the sites all along  the road. Koyna river was accompanying us throughout this road journey. The beauty awards really spellbound.

 On the kind of beautiful road, I felt like this journey should never finish. But we had to reach our destination. So after around 25km on main road, we took one right turn and continued for 3-4 kilometers to reach koyna  dam colony and the rest house. Booking was done with some reference. The person there gave the room keys The rooms were in H1 rest house (charges  rupees 75 per day).We reached around 4 pm. Rooms where good for the rent charged. Parking space was available and kitchen was there but cook was ill, so it was closed. Lot of monkeys where there in the premises. They showed their presence from time to time and at night also from the sounds they made on the roof with their jumps.

We got ready, ate some snacks and started to go to the garden. But as we stepped out , heavy downpour  started and we waited for half hour. So it was already 5.30 pm. We decided to go to the garden in the morning (timing for garden 8 a.m. To 8 p.m). So we headed  to have a look of dam. The area was call ‘chameri’. Here main rest house and offices of dam are located. The tar road near it takes to the shore of the river. We watched the dam from a distance. It was really huge. In guest house the model and pictures and information of the dam is available. We saw that. The attendant told us that rate for the rooms for normal tourist is Rs. 750(non ac) and Rs. 1000(ac) and for employees rs. 100 and rs. 200. From here when can directly see the dam and garden around the guest house is well maintained with lot of pictures of birds found in western Ghats. We spent some times watching the dam model and then proceeded on road towards river. After some distance we could get better view of the dam, clicked some photos with the dam on background and returned to the main guest house garden area to sit and spend time there instead of sitting in the room. The caretaker told us that people can get permission to see the dam immediately if they are carrying their  id proof and photos. We decided to visit next time with preparation(with necessary documents).

 After spending some time there, we went to have a dinner in a small hotel ‘bhagyashree’ near S.T. stand. They took some time to prepare the food , but it was very good. We finished our dinner and return to guest house and went to sleep as early as at 9:30 p.m. It was raining heavily at night and we could hear sound on the roof.

In the morning we wake up around 7 a.m. Got ready and went out for breakfast and sightseeing at 8:30 a.m. We had our breakfast in same hotel and started for the Ozarde waterfall which is around 9 km. from this place. The road towards the waterfall was full of beautiful sites. We could see two big waterfalls on the way and backwaters of dam. All the journey was very beautiful. 

We reached near ozarde waterfall. It is inside the sanctuary (entry ticket in the sanctuary 30 rupees p.p. and timing is 8 a.m. To 4 p.m.).Though the waterfall can be seen from the gate, to reach near water fall 30 to 40 minutes trekking in a jungle has to be done. That experience of roaring sound of water ,thick trees with moss on the trees and stones, small streams of water on the way, jungle animals to accompany (snakes).Really thrilling experience. We started the trek at around 9:45 a.m. Most part of the route is well laid with steps. With people aged 4 to 60 years and some photo stops, we reached near waterfall in 40 minutes. As wear reached near the waterfall, small water drops were sprinkling everywhere and on us as well. In that situation also a managed to click some photos.Stayed there for 5- 10 minutes, admire the beauty of nature and started our return journey and reach base i.e. starting point in 25 to 30 minutes. From this point,there was one more path that was leading to view point of waterfall from some distance. But due to lack of time we could not go there.

From here we went to Nehru garden near the dam.( Early entry fee is 20 rupees per person and rupees 10 for child 30 car parking) Garden is really well maintain. Rose bushes maintained in one part , but there was not a single flower at that time. Pandit Neharu’s quotes are written in marathi on the big stone boards in garden. and 1 theatre and a small museum giving information about dam, how it was constructed ,how electricity is generated ,its unique location and all this information through ½ hr film and photos ,models etc. was given there. Ticket to watch the film is rs. 20 p.p. When 10 or 12 people gather the film is started.

The dam is called ‘fate line of maharashtra’ ,as when Maharashtra started becoming industrial state requirement of power was satisfied by electricity generated by this dam. Now a days also dam provides majority of electricity required by maharashtra state. Already 4 phases of dam are activated and one more is going to be started on Ozarde waterfall in near future. We were really thrilled and saluted the engineers and all the work force that was behind building and maintaining this huge dam. In Pandit Neharu’s   words “these are the prayer centers of new generation.”

After watching the film , dam from distance and storing in the garden for some time, we took lunch in canteen of the garden and proceeded to our rooms for packing and started our return journey around 2 p.m. On the way we have to visit datta dham near  Helwak. We reached near it at 2:30 p.m. It was closed but small gate was open the mandir was on top of small hill and board was showing timing 8 to 12. 30pm and 4 p.m. To 8 p.m. But as we wear near it, we decided to climb there around 300 steps to reach the top. The path was well laid and had 1 hanuman temple on our way and at top datta mandir but the gate was closed so we did prayer from the gate.Overall the location and atmosphere was very nice. There were some rooms available as bhakta nivas as it was mentioned on the board.

As we had to catch bus at 5 p.m. Karad , without wasting any time we started downward journey and started our return journey around 3 p.m. The natural beauty on the road was very nice and everything was picture perfect. we reached karad at 4.15 p.m. to catch the  bus for pune at 5:20 p.m. This was really memorable monsoon trip to Koyna dam.

Bird watching at Bhigvan

This season in 2014, me and my husband have started bird watching. So after visiting places like Pashan lake, kavadi, university garden and Emprest garden, the place on our wish list was Bhigvan for migratory bird watching, mainly Flamingos.

On 25^th Dec, we visited this paradise of migratory birds, Diksal, a small village near Bhigvan . The  place is 120 km from Pune on Solapur highway near Indapur. We started early at 4.30am with our friends and reached Bhigvan around 7 am. Road condition is really good after 2^nd toll booth. In Bhigvan, we took breakfast in Hotel ‘Jyoti’ near Krishi Bajar Samiti.It was clean and food was good. After finishing we proceeded for Diksal. On Solapur highway, take left turn near Bhigvan and continue for 3-4 km and again take right turn for Diksal village. It is not a tar road, but the cars can go on this road. Now the water bodies start appearing at one side of the road and can see some birds on the way as well. After travelling for 3-4 km on this road we reach near a small bridge. This is the place. There are some houses and people here offer the boat ride to watch the birds, as the backwaters of Ujani dam provide good habitat for the migratory birds and other birds also. But the main attraction is Flamingos. We parked our car near the houses and hired one boat for Rs.800/- (5 people and 1 child).We started sailing in the boat and to our surprise and luck big flock of flamingos came flying and landed nearby. What a site was that. We will always remember the view of hundreds of Flamingos. Very beautiful birds, with baby pink colour, shades of pink, red and black on wings, dark pink legs and different beak shape. Their flight was also very beautiful to watch. We watched them and other birds like open bill, painted storks, gulls and various ducks for some time , had some photos and returned after ½ hr. Here is the photo log.

After spending some time there, we proceeded further to watch birds from close proximity. We took right turn after some distance, and continued on very small road, which took us very near to water. We spent some time there watching birds and enjoying surroundings. I will list down the birds we watched.

• ·         Painted storks
• ·         Black headed Ibis
• ·         Grey heron
• ·         Little egret
• ·         Greater Flamingo
• ·         Ruddy Shelduck
• ·         Northern Shoveler
• ·         Mallard
• ·         Pochard
• ·         Garganey
• ·         Asian openbill
• ·         Glossy Ibis
• ·         Indian Cormorate
• ·         Slender billed gull
• ·         Black winged stilt
• ·         Marsh Harrier
• ·         Black winged stilt
• ·         Ruff
• ·         Black tailed godwit
• ·         Marsh Sandpipper
• ·         River turn
• ·         Common kingfisher
• ·         River turn
• ·         Rosy starling
• ·         Red Avadavat
• ·         Scally breasted muniya
• ·         Black headed muniya
• ·         Paddy field Pipit
• ·         Spotted dove

 Overall the experience was very nice and will be cherished in memory for long time.

                                                                                                                        

Lake city Udaipur

Hello everyone !! I will narrate my  journey to the lake city. Yes, you have guessed it right. It is “UDAIPUR”- Venice of east or Oasis in desert land of Rajasthan. Udaipur has various lakes in and around the city and those were built by then rulers of Udaipur.

In 1659, Udaipur was established as new Capital of Sisodia Rajput clan by Maharana Udaising, father of Marahana Pratap. The new capital was established near the small village called “Picholi” and people were encouraged to come and settle there. In the desert land, water was important and scrace, so Maharana built a lake, which is now called as Lake Pichola, the main identity of Udaipur. There are other lakes like Fathesagar, Doodh Talai, Swaroop sagar and these lakes were primarily created by building dams to meet the drinking water and irrigation needs of the city and its neighborhood.

In Udaipur there are a number of places of interest for tourists. However the most important is really magnificent structure which stands on the bank of Lake Pichola- The City Palace. Views of City palace from Lake Pichola at Sunset are awesome. The structure was not built at one stretch. Many Maharanas contributed in the construction, but the additions were made in such a way that from outside it looks like one single unit. The palace is considered to be largest royal complex in Rajasthan. In city Palace, we can see the foundation stone of palace, Mor chowk with beautiful working etc. to name a few. Guide service can be availed from the entrance gate near ticket counter. So with the information, we can admire the structure more. The view of City Palace at evening, with lighting is also worth a visit. The entry ticket of Rs.100/- at city palace allows multiple entries from morning 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. at night.

Lighting at City Palace

Foundation Stone of City Palace

View of Udaipur from City Palace

Mor Chowk City Palace

City Palace from Lake Pichola

Wall painting at City Palace

Boat ride in Lake Pichola is also really good experience. The boat ride starts from within City Palace, it takes one around Lake Pichola. We can watch Gangaur Ghat, Small Bridge and the world famous Taj Lake Palace hotel from close vicinity. This boat drops you at Jag Mandir i.e. other lake palace hotel, which is favourite venue for big Fat Indian Weddings. At the entrance, row of elephants (made of stone) welcomes you on this JagMandir Lake Palace. This palace was completed by Maharana Jagat Singh. Prince Khurram had taken refuge here for some time, who later took title of Shah Jahan. It is said that, the design of world famous Taj Mahal is inspired by this Jag Mandir palace to some extent. Here you can roam around in the garden, can sit in restaurant and enjoy Coffee by the lakeside. In the evening, one can also enjoy the sunset from the Terrace. While returning back, watching the JagMandir Palace decorated with lights is also an experience to cherish. Boat ride to JagMandir was really memorable evening in my life.

Mohan Mandir, Lake Pichola

Gangour Ghat

Jag Mandir

Jag Mandir

Bridge on lake Pichola

Other important landmark in Udaipur is Maharana Pratap Smarak on Moti Magri. On top of small Hill, this smarak is located, where we can go in our vehicle. There used to be “Moti Magari” mahal built by Maharana Udaising. Light & Sound show is organised here every evening. The smarak has big statue of Maharana Pratap and a small garden surrounding it. The smarak also has one museum where different weapons and models of forts- Chittorgar, Kumbhalgar and battlefield of Haldi Ghati are depicted in nice manner.

The history of Mewar cannot be complete without the great Maharana Pratap, who never surrendered to the enemy, while other Rajput kings decided to surrender or established relation with Akbar by wedding their daughters to Akbar. But Maharana Pratap had taken oath not to live in Mahal, not to sleep on bed and not to eat in Utensils until he could free all his kingdom from enemies. He lived in forests, slept on straw bed and ate meals on hand for twenty six years. What I came to know here that Maharana Pratap used to keep two swords with him as he would never fight with anyone who did not have weapon. When local people tell the history of great Maharana Pratap, you can sense the proud feeling they have about their Maharana. Such a great feeling to witness the heritage!

Maharana Pratap Smarak, Moti Magri

One more place of interest is the splendid garden laid out by Maharana Sangram Sing II for the entertainment of Royal ladies and their maid of honour. Hence it is named as “Sahelion ki Bari.” It is one of the most beautiful gardens in India and gives the glimpse of bygone era life style of royal families. The water arrangement is made in such a way that by sitting inside this chatri one can feel the rain, though it is not raining out. It was told us by the guide there that earlier the water used to come from gravitational force from Fathehsagar lake , no motors were used run the fountains. But now adays this is done with help of motor and so the tourists can enjoy the fountains depending on availability electricity supply.

Sahelion Ki Badi

Sahelion ki Bari

Jagdish Temple is main place of worship in Udaipur .This is very beautiful temple of lord Jagannath, a form of lord Vishnu made in blace stone and it is very near to city Palace. This two storied temple is built on elevated platform and one has to climb 15-20 steps to reach the temple.

Jagdish Temple

From any place in city, one cannot ignore a structure standing on a small hill. This is SajjanGar, monsoon palace of Maharanas. It was built by Maharana Sajjansing. It is situated at a hilltop at a short distance of Udaipur city (around 10 km) inside the reserve forest. Entry ticket to the palace is Rs.20/- per person and if you go by auto, taxi charges to go up to top are Rs.80/-p.p., as autos are not allowed inside the reserve forest. We could spot a Barasinga and lot of monkeys in the forest. But overall the visit to Sajjangad palace was lovely experience. From here one can get beautiful views of Udaipur City. In the Palace some special arrangements are made to collect the rain water in the big underground tank, which can be used throughout the year afterwards.

Sajjangad

Udaipur and its surroundings have lot of things to offer to travellers. One should at least reserve two days to visit Udaipur city, then only one can really admire various places in the city.

Travel Tip:  Day 1:    Morning- Sahelion Ki Bari, Marana Pratap Smarak, Sajjangar

Afternoon –City Palace, Crystal Galary and Sunset boat ride in Lake Pichola, Jagdish Temple, Vintage car collection

                      Day 2:   Morning-Chittorgar / Nathdwara, Eaklingji,Haldighati (Please check the temple timings at                                                               Nathdwara, Eaklingji before planning)

                                      Evening- Karni Mata Temple and Sunset Point, Light and sound show at City Palace.

If time permits one can visit Neharu garden on island in Fatehsagar and can enjoy boat ride in the lake. The cultural and dance shows can be watched at Bhartia Lok Kala Manch and Bagro ki Haweli.

Udaipur has made special place in my mind and I would love to visit it again. That’s it for now. We will meet again soon.