Digitally Exploring the world

It had been a year since I took a longish break away from work into the wild and several places came to my mind.. I have always been fascinated by tribes and nature  and one of them has been the birds of paradise . I got thinking of BOP(Birds of Paradise) over the years ,after some of the articles I had read and documentaries I had watched from Sir David Attenborough's vast collection. The first reaction is of surprise and disbelief when you say you want to travel to PNG(Papua New Guinea) that too solo. A search on internet will surely dissuade any sane person, leave aside a solo woman wanting to head out there. Another thing was the expense involved. I was surprised to see how expensive it would be to get there. Thus, started some research on how to go there what places to visit and talking to my mum and sister about it.After all the work was done had to get in touch with few companies who would take me trekking into the deep forests of PNG in search of some of the birds.

Another solo trip to the blue mountain to find some peace far from the madding crowd and also see some winged beauties.. I found the painted quail and lark for the first time.. More Bird pictures here

Drove out of the city to River Tern near Shimoga for a break from the chaos .. It was really hot and humid and even the Jeep Safari I took in the afternoon didn't come across any animals or birds except a gaur and languar. However, the next morning was very nice on the boat with River Terns breeding on the banks.. Here are some pictures from the trip and more here

Had driven down to Naguvanhalli few weeks back and as I was out doing some work on a Saturday morning, the same friends called me mentioning they were heading to the spot again . After some thought I left the errand and got back home and headed straight to the small village by the side of Cauvery.  The Saturday afternoon traffic was terrible and google maps took me round the destination location for over an hour but I guess overall it was worth the effort. Here are some pics from there and more here

It was a month or two since I drove out of town and getting in touch with some friend lead to a quick trip to a small village next to the cauvery river just 140kms away from home. Some folks may think it to be crazy that one would go with no sleep for close to 24hrs since I started driving at 3:00AM to meet friends on the highway couple of kms away and to reach the village before sunrise.  We pitched tents and hide inside for the birds to come out in search of insects. The morning session ended after few hours and after some food and rest we waited for the afternoon/evening session..  This turned out to be even better and saw some really nice migratory blue-tailed bee eaters. More pics here

Spent some days at my second home enjoying the blue mountain and the weather and also going on treks/walks for some winged beauties. Here are some bird pics and also more here

More here Tried to take few shots of the magnificent big birds in the sky and the sheer grit and courage of the brilliant pilots ..