Off beaten track

The first view of Tadianamol Peak from the walking path Tadiandamol?  Now where is that? It is only when I was atop this beautiful peak did the beauty of the Kodagu hills strike me. The highest peak in Kodagu (erstwhile Coorg), Tadiandamol stands proud in a cluster of hills near Virajpet.  It is not much of a climb, about two and a half hours from the road head, but the views around are breath-taking. Marsh Crocodile all eight feet him him My lightning trip weekend trip started in Bangalore the day prior, three photographer friends and I started by car at about 7 am, by mid-morning we were in Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary.  A bird photographer�s delight as the birds are close and the morning sun is behind one, beautifully illuminating the birds. It is wonderful to see many nesting birds including Open-billed stork, painted stork, herons and the ubiquitious spot-billed pelican.  The many marsh crocodiles we saw were huge, 8 to 10 feet by my estimation, and the jaws are ...

The Spectacular beauty of the mountains Every muscle is straining after six hours of ascent, at 3700 metres my oxygen deprived lungs are gasping, adjusting the seemingly heavy load on my aching back (where did all that extra weight come from?), in a final burst of energy I climb the final slope and in a sudden breath-taking moment a spectacular panorama unfolds, verdant mountains, veiled in clouds surround an icy lake with flowers in profusion.  Suddenly months of preparation and the cost of the trip become worth it. After I have absorbed the beauty of what I see, I reach for my camera to record for posterity what the eye and mind sees. This is exactly what I experienced when I trekked to the Valley of Flowers in Northern India earlier this year.  See  my earlier blog on the Valley of Flowers on this site and my site on Flickr for photographs for this slice of Gods own corner. Links below:  http://xerxespa.blogspot.in/2015/08/valley-of-flowers-and-hemkund-trek-to_30....

Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise The Valley of Flowers     Climbing the last kilometer is strenuous, I sweat despite the mild cold, the thin drizzle permeates my clothing with dampness and the wet mud is slippery.  As I round a bend in the mountain side rapt in my misery, almost theatrically a wide vista unfolds showing a wide lush green valley with patches of colour and Mount Rataban proudly at its head.  It is magical, the tiredness of the climb falls away and the spellbinding view makes the arduous climb of two hours so very worthwhile.  Angelica with cloud veiled mountains in the background My trek to the Valley of Flowers (VoF) has been a dream for many years, a dream that I was determined to turn to reality for a week in August 2015.  There are many travelogues of �how to and where to� on a trek to VoF so it is not my intention to replicate these. I will put together a kaleidoscope of thoughts and suggestions giving more of a flavor t...