TheXplorerGuide

Location: Arkavathi Team Members: Gautham N V, Ramakumar R S, M R Rajaram Date: 17th of April 2016 The trip was scheduled at 0530 hrs from Bangalore but as a known fact the early risers were able to make it only by 0630 hrs. Since it was a late start the earlier plan to visit the Vulture sanctuary at Ramanagara was dropped. Arkavathi, a river originating from Nandi Hills and flowing all the way to Kanakapura to join the Holy Ganges of the south - "Cauvery". I started out to write this blog with a lot of enthusiasm and fervor, but after reading the news article by Mr.Ganadhalu Srikanta in Deccan Herald (2011) and other reports, I have grown despondent and heartbroken. The write-up that follows will contain both trip report as well as some abominable acts of man that have unfolded after the visit. It is with a heavy heart I am penning that in the last few years in the name of the so-called development of the capital of Karnataka, we humans have left no stone ...

Location: Mullodi, Kudremukh Range, Chikkamagalur District Date: 2nd - 4th October 2015 Event: Camping and Trekking conducted by theXplorerguide and Adventure Trips Number of Participants: 17 including Organisers A place where any Naturalist would want to spend time understanding Nature that supports variety of life forms. The camping and trekking event conducted in alliance with Adventure Trips turned out to be a very good experience for theXplorerguide. Day 1: Journey to the Unknown The trip started out from Bangalore by around 7:00 AM as opposed to the plan which was to depart at 5:00 AM, because of several reasons. The pit stop for breakfast was at a restaurant named "Malgudi" near Bellur Cross. At this time all the participants were feeling ravenous. As soon as the order was placed, the registration process was done before the breakfast was served. The journey to the unknown (for most of us) started and we reached the pickup and drop-off point by about 2:...

Date: 11th - 12th April 2015 Team Mates: M R Rajaram | M A Seshachalam | Gautham N V | Srihari | Suchit Puri Location: Kalhatti Jungle Camp NOTE: The checklist includes birds seen along the way to and from the camp site. Route: Mysore - Gundelpet - Bandipur - Madhumalai - Kalhatti Campsite and back One of the preplanned camping trips executed successfully! It was all planned in the month of March when Gautham asked me if we could do a trip to the jungle camp when we were browsing through some of the photos taken by me during my first visit. I immediately jumped on my feet all excited as it is one of the places where I would like to spend my entire life. It was then decided that we will go on the 11th and the 12th of April and we did go as planned. Day 1: 11th April 2015 We all assembled in Mysore on the 10th night and wanted to leave on the 11th by 5:00 AM and by the time we left the house it was 6:00 AM. As it was summer, the sun was up and we had good light. Since it...

Date: 13th February 2015 Team Mates: M R Rajaram, M A Seshachalam Route: By Road from Devanahalli to Hampapura It was a cold and silent morning of mid February as we got ready for a long and exiting journey to the heritage city of Mysore via Hampapura from Devanahalli, a town close the crammed Bangalore International Airport. The three resident Spotted Owlets were making a ruckus as we assumed were hunting for field rats. We departed Devanahalli by 6:00 AM and were greeted by trucks on the main road to Doddabellapur. It was still dark and was quiet windy. At sunrise we got the glimpse of the commonly found Rose Ringed Parakeets flying at break neck speeds. We passed the Asian Highway 47 (Bangalore - Gwalior) and took the National Highway 48. As we passed several man made reservoirs, we planned to see one of them. We took a sharp left and landed at Mangala Reservoir. As soon as we stopped we were greeted by several Red-Rumped Swallows . Two Spot-Billed Ducks were enjoying ...

It was the first time that a preplanned trip was executed as thought. The trip to Bandipur and Madhumalai was planned well in advance for the 4th of December but we never planned where to stay. Our discombobulation was cleared when I suddenly recalled about the place owned by one of the friend's (Mr.Deepan) in Masanagudi (New Mountaina Resorts). I took a chance to find out if there was availability of r ooms from R amakrishnan (Associate of Mr.Deepan) for our stay and to our luck we found out that there was room for us. The day started at 3:30 AM we got ready and started our journey towards B andipur. The first 35 kilometers was like as we were on a game round within the city. We for sometime thought we were on the moon looking at craters and moving around them. By the time we reached the Bandipur check-post it was 6:30 AM and since it was a Saturday we understood that the first game was out of question. As soon as we reached the Bandipur center we immediately got the ticket s for ...