“A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” ― Henry David Thoreau
After a late night get-together which ended at 1 am, waking up at 6 am heading off to the wild seemed an impossibility! But then for a nature lover, it's just a matter of opening your eyes for a second, that gets you on the move. So when I heard Mourya park his bike, and Shivajee open the gate on Sunday, 25th Nov, I jumped out of bed, making a cup of tea for all of us.
After a nice cuppa, we got our war gear together, and off we went. It was a very cool morning, since the car was all frosty! We had idli and vadas for breakfast at Indiranagar, packed some more and continued our journey into the wild. I had some very good reviews about Thattekere Lake...and decided that I spend a good day there, birding! While we reached the spot, which was a little off the road, we had to go around in circles for a bit as we asked people in the village who seemed to have their interpretations of what we were asking for since we didnt speak Kannada. At last I saw a tourist bus going in and we followed since it seemed the logical thing to do. The setting inside was typical of how a path in any of the wildlife reserves is...weather beaten and stony paths, thick bush and undergrowth, and the fresh smell of the jungle. And in minutes, we saw the Mahadeshwara Temple, and the lake right behind it. With just a few vehicles there and the drivers washing their buses, we parked right up and were captivated with the beauty of the lake. We saw several birds like the Snake bird, Open Billed Stork, Black Cormorant and several black kites in the vicinity. The silence which would have been awesome was broken withone of the vehicles playing loud music, which irritated us immensely. We knew it wasn't going to help talking to the drivers there, so camera in tow, off we headed into a path to the other side of the lake. We were informed that Elephants do visit the place, since it's on the periphery of the Bannerghatta National Park, and the boards did show pictures of elephants, bears, wild dogs, leopards etc. I captured some good pictures of this wonderful lake, nestled between the hills. It seemed a scene from "Mackenna's Gold", blue skies, pristine blue water in the midst of hills...aaahh...Nirvana!!!
Satisfied that I got some very nice pictures, we decided to head to another part of the lake! As we walked there, I captured pictures of the Brahminy Kites, Bee-eaters, a Pied Kingfisher, Snakebirds etc! And suddenly Shivajee pointed to the tell tale signs of Elephant dung and their foot prints on the bank. This excited us, with the faint hope of seeing some. As much as we knew the bloody music playing earlier on, would have alerted the pachyderms of human presence in the area. Nevertheless we stayed put in the area for a long time, absorbing the peace, calm and solitude of the area, the pristine beauty of the lake and birds around. We saw some Pied Kingfishers dive into the water and catch small fish, but capturing the moment was difficult since they were a real distance away, and even my 150-500 mm lens was struggling to catch the little fellas. We instantly decided that we'd come here in a couple of weeks time, spend the night in the car in the nearby village, and catch the action by 6 am, since no one would probably be there. Now that's a million dollar plan, I'd agree. We sat for several hours hardly talking, and completely mesmerised with the captivating surroundings, before we headed back to the car, grabbed the idlis, vadas and chutney, and headed back home.
I got a few more pictures of the Aria, to send to the Aria FB forum, as we went up the small ghat in BNP, and kept cursing the horrid Bangalore traffic on a Sunday, as it took 2 hours to do about 30 km.
An early dinner, and then tiredness taking over, I crashed out at 7 am, and waking up 12 hours later started penning down the memories! Outstanding to say the least.
After a late night get-together which ended at 1 am, waking up at 6 am heading off to the wild seemed an impossibility! But then for a nature lover, it's just a matter of opening your eyes for a second, that gets you on the move. So when I heard Mourya park his bike, and Shivajee open the gate on Sunday, 25th Nov, I jumped out of bed, making a cup of tea for all of us.
After a nice cuppa, we got our war gear together, and off we went. It was a very cool morning, since the car was all frosty! We had idli and vadas for breakfast at Indiranagar, packed some more and continued our journey into the wild. I had some very good reviews about Thattekere Lake...and decided that I spend a good day there, birding! While we reached the spot, which was a little off the road, we had to go around in circles for a bit as we asked people in the village who seemed to have their interpretations of what we were asking for since we didnt speak Kannada. At last I saw a tourist bus going in and we followed since it seemed the logical thing to do. The setting inside was typical of how a path in any of the wildlife reserves is...weather beaten and stony paths, thick bush and undergrowth, and the fresh smell of the jungle. And in minutes, we saw the Mahadeshwara Temple, and the lake right behind it. With just a few vehicles there and the drivers washing their buses, we parked right up and were captivated with the beauty of the lake. We saw several birds like the Snake bird, Open Billed Stork, Black Cormorant and several black kites in the vicinity. The silence which would have been awesome was broken withone of the vehicles playing loud music, which irritated us immensely. We knew it wasn't going to help talking to the drivers there, so camera in tow, off we headed into a path to the other side of the lake. We were informed that Elephants do visit the place, since it's on the periphery of the Bannerghatta National Park, and the boards did show pictures of elephants, bears, wild dogs, leopards etc. I captured some good pictures of this wonderful lake, nestled between the hills. It seemed a scene from "Mackenna's Gold", blue skies, pristine blue water in the midst of hills...aaahh...Nirvana!!!
Satisfied that I got some very nice pictures, we decided to head to another part of the lake! As we walked there, I captured pictures of the Brahminy Kites, Bee-eaters, a Pied Kingfisher, Snakebirds etc! And suddenly Shivajee pointed to the tell tale signs of Elephant dung and their foot prints on the bank. This excited us, with the faint hope of seeing some. As much as we knew the bloody music playing earlier on, would have alerted the pachyderms of human presence in the area. Nevertheless we stayed put in the area for a long time, absorbing the peace, calm and solitude of the area, the pristine beauty of the lake and birds around. We saw some Pied Kingfishers dive into the water and catch small fish, but capturing the moment was difficult since they were a real distance away, and even my 150-500 mm lens was struggling to catch the little fellas. We instantly decided that we'd come here in a couple of weeks time, spend the night in the car in the nearby village, and catch the action by 6 am, since no one would probably be there. Now that's a million dollar plan, I'd agree. We sat for several hours hardly talking, and completely mesmerised with the captivating surroundings, before we headed back to the car, grabbed the idlis, vadas and chutney, and headed back home.
I got a few more pictures of the Aria, to send to the Aria FB forum, as we went up the small ghat in BNP, and kept cursing the horrid Bangalore traffic on a Sunday, as it took 2 hours to do about 30 km.
An early dinner, and then tiredness taking over, I crashed out at 7 am, and waking up 12 hours later started penning down the memories! Outstanding to say the least.
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