As announcing sightings goes, Suren�s was a bit of a mix of anticlimax and irony, as a he turned towards us with a thoughtful expression on his face and announced he could have sworn he had just seen a tusker approaching through the bush as we whizzed past. Sumudhu and the tracker seemed a bit nonplussed by this casual announcement but we nonetheless backed up quickly to investigate. The heat hadn�t gotten to Suren�s head as he had indeed spotted a rather magnificent tusker coming towards the road. Silently one of the Kings of Yala emerged from the brush onto the road. Along with the leopard and bear, the tuskers of Yala are another iconic animal for the wildlife enthusiast. I was brought up on pictures, stories and very occasional sightings of the famous tuskers of the park such as the now dead (mostly from being killed for their ivory) behomeths such as Kublai Kahn and the Podi and Loku Pootuwas (cross-tuskers). This particular tusker was Gemunu, not a tusker with the most impressi...
It still seems strange but at the time I dived the huge wreck in Vakarai, it never occurred to me to question what the wreck was, what ship had gone down when to create this paradise? I guess at the time, I was still a relative neophyte, more concerned with fish and photographs. This wreck was the first that really woke my interest in wrecks as more than just fish aggregators and pretty sites. On our return to Colombo, DJ enrolled me inadvertently in his search for the name and origin of the mysterious wreck. As we scoured lists of sunken ships and coordinates it became apparent that there were two strong candidates for the wreck, both sunk during the Japanese attack in April, 1942 which also sank the world famous Hermes . The first candidate was one of the ships from the Hermes convoy, the merchant navy ship the British Sergeant which was an oil tanker that had put out to sea that fateful day before being sent to the bottom by the Japanese raiders. I found a rather thrilling story ab...
Relatively Untouched Getting away from the madding crowd seems nearly impossible in these crowded times. Most trails and treks are virtual highways with a line of 'trekkers' like marching ants going to and fro. Thus when I find a spot of seclusion I truly savour it, these are getting more difficult to find. In my constant efforts to get far from the madding crowd, in mid-March 2016 I did a week's trek to the Great Himalayan Park. The upper reaches of the Tirthan Valley The path to the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) still remain relatively untouched, possibly due to the fact that Manali nearby has a greater draw, also that reaching the Tirthan Valley is still only possible by State run buses or private transport. Gushaini - where the trek trail starts An overnight bus journey (aah the convenience of a Volvo!) got me from Delhi to Aut, about 60 kilometres short of Manali. From Aut it is an hour and a half by taxi to Gushaini, the place where the trail ...
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