Photo of the Week (06/04/2012): Green and Black Gem

A Green Pit Viper (Trimeresurus trigonocephalus) testing the air in Sinharaja.

Untitled

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The end of 2009 (Yala for 31st - Part 1)

Image
I have welcomed the New Year in many a different place, 5 star hotels in Colombo, a cold pub in Bromley, fireworks on the home street and on the streets of Vegas. 2010 however had most of those other times beat, as I returned to a place that has always had a hold on my heart, Yala National Park in the deep south of Sri Lanka. Yala has played a large role in my life, from the lore of family tales to my first memories of wildlife and nature. The dry plains and twisted palu and weera trees formed the back drop to most of my childhood photographs. The half glimpses of the elusive leopard and the lumbering bear and the old men of the jungle trackers formed some of the best parts of my childhood. Despite all this prior to August 2009, I hadn�t been into the park for well over a decade, the vagaries of college and working in the first world having prevented me from any trips on the mostly breathless visits back home. What I found when I went back in 2009, having moved back to Sri Lanka for an...
Read more

Who Says There are No Flowers in the Valley of Flowers?

Image
A sign at the Entrance to the Valley of Flowers (VoF) says it all The passionate forest guard at the gate told me that he had been scolded by a senior officer that the VoF had no flowers, and that he, the forest guard, should put up a sign warning everyone so.   The experience I had was entirely different, I saw a myriad flowers blooming and a tranquil Valley.  And I thought to myself that:  they are really blind those who  will   not see.  These flowers were very different to to those I had seen on my earlier trip in August 2015, view my photographs of the earlier trip at the link here  and my blog of that trip  over here Flowing water everywhere A kilometer after buying a ticket at the forest check post, I cross the steel bridge across the Pushpawati River and begin the ascent into the VoF. The ticket is valid for three days of which I will visit on two.  The mountainsides are striated with waterfalls fed by t he melting snow, whi...
Read more

Hemkund Sahib Revisited

Image
The Journey begins at Govindghat which is a 9-10 hour bus ride from Rishikesh. There are many ways to do it, by  taxi (expensive), shared taxi, small bus; and  one can break the journey or do it at one go.  I  spent the night at Srinagar and so had a shorter journey to Govindghat the next day., here I spent the night so that I could start my walk early next morning. I have been to this region before and both times have combined a pilgrimage to  Hemkund Sahib with hikes to the Valley of Flowers.  My blog to the Valley of Flowers this year is placed  here .  For a blog of my previous hikes please see  Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise  ;  the photographs I took are at  Valley of Flowers   , and at  The Flora Around Hemkund .   From Govindghat to Ghangariya is a journey that is now made easier by riding in a  shared taxi for 4.8 km until Pulna and walking 10 km from there to Ghangariya, whi...
Read more