Category: Hill


Nandi Hills

Filed under: Hill, Mountain, Photography by mohanrajendra — 2 Comments
February 6, 2013

After seeing photos of nandi hills from my frens album had made lot of plans to visit Nandi hills & finally we made it on one of the sundays (11/09/2011). 6 of us sat in Lohith’s car & we(vaibhav, ganesh,chandu,deepu, me & lohith) started our journey at 5.30 Am, At last point we took a opp route & we roamed some10-12 kms extra. Finally at 7.30 Am we reached the hill start point & we were feeling hungry already :P , So we thought of having some food we couldn’t get any break fast instead we had bread omelet. So finally we reached the top at 8.20 am.

We paid 80rs for car parking & we parked the car on the top next to Mayura hotel. Took out the gears & started our photo walk.

Got the below info from,http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/bangalore/nandi-hills.html

Nandi Hills is a famous picnic spot and tourist attraction, as well as a temple site. The Nandi hill is about 4851 ft. (1478 meters) above sea level. It is famous for the huge Nandi statue on top of the hill.  Because of its proximity to the Bangalore International Airport and the NH -7 Highway, this location with its rich greenery and natures paradise has become one of the hot spots for tourists & trekkers.

Nandi is the name of the bull that is the vehicle of Lord Shiva. There are actually two Nandi Temples here. One is in the village at the foot hills and the other is at the top of the hill.

The beautiful Nandi Hills, popularly known as Nandi Betta or Nandi Durga for the locals and the people of Karnataka. This hillock is situated about 60 km from Bangalore City, about 24 kms from Chickballapur town.

View from Nandi village !!

During the Chola region, Nandi Hills was known as Ananda Giri, Hill of Happiness.

A beautiful view from top of the hills !!

We started our shoot with this snake, Shield tailed snake. Ganesh was very happy after sighting this snake & he thought this was more than enough for him for the day….

Shield tailed snake

And then continued with few landscapes & some flowers etc…

Landscape view

Village view from top,

Village view from Top

I could get only 2-3 bird pics,,,,

Orange headed thrush

Dont know the ID

Fungus looked like a baby elephant

Bokeh

Mothers Love

Maruti on Maruti 800

Lonely watcher

Green snake

Butterfly

Looks like a small baby

Finally it ended with Monkey Smile !!!!

A big bye smile

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Sultanpet and Nandi Hills…Parichay by INTACH

Filed under: Architecture, Bangalore, Hill, Historical, Nature, People, Photography by deponti — Leave a comment
June 17, 2011

NTACH Bangalore invites you to the  next Parichay, which will take place on 26 June 2011, at Nandi and Sultanpet, near Nandi Hills. A heritage walk here gives you the chance to walk through 1000 years of history and architecture! There is plenty to see including a temple dating back to the 9th century, a tiny 200-year-old cemetery from the days of the Raj, and a ruined but beautiful mosque attributed to Tipu Sultan. There will also be a visit to a potters’ community.

 

There is a fee of Rs. 120/- for this Parichay. There are limited seats so please email ahead to register. INTACH will respond to you.

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Old and older…

Filed under: Bangalore, Bird Watching, enviornment, Hill, Historical, Life, Photography by deponti — 2 Comments
April 30, 2011

TBannerghatta Zoo area always lets us see a lot of interesting stuff Here’s one from this morning:

diatom bgz 300411

Isn’t that really beautiful…and doesn’t it look like the prismatic effect of an oil slick on the puddle? Well…it does, and though it IS an oil slick in a way, it’s far more complex than that.

Diatoms

( here

is the Wiki link about them)

are a type of phytoplankton, which originated during the Jurassic period. Now, they ooze out on to the rock, and the debris forms a slick upon the water…and that’s what I’ve photopgraphed.

Remember, the sheet rock in and around Bangalore (Peninsular Gneiss) is among the oldest exposed sheet rock in the world, at about 3 billion years….so we were standing on the ancient past, and looking at the light reflecting on something from the Jurassic period…enough to awe anyone into wonder, awe…and silence!

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Nandi Hills…people and scenery

Filed under: Bangalore, Bird Watching, enviornment, Hill, Historical, Photography, Resort by deponti — 4 Comments
April 26, 2011

Vaibhav has posted his pictures of the birds…I thought I’ll feature the people and the scenery!

Having had to postpone our trip to Nandi Hills due to torrential rains on Saturday, we decided to make the trip on Sunday morning, and Anand, Kannan, Priyanka, Sushil, Vaibhav, and I left at 4.30am on Sunday morning.

I rarely post black-and-white photos, but this view of the ramparts of the Nandi Hills wall, the trees and the clouds…and that monkey sitting there…needs bnw!

slhte nh 240411

Here’s one of the things that’s special about Nandi Hills:

ndi hls monolith 240411

Here we are, having stopped on the road up, to see what we could sight:

on the climbnh 240411

I used the little Fuji camera to capture the beautiful view of the hills rising out of the mist:

mntns nh 240411

I tried to get the spectacular effect of the sun’s rays through the clouds:

sns rys 240411 nh

We walked down the sheet rock:

rock slps 240411

and enjoyed the view:

on the slps 240411 nh

The villages below smiled in the slowly emerging sunshine:

view nh vllage 240411

But most of the time, we were avidly looking into the trees, spotting and observing birds!

bdwtcng 240411 nh

By the afternoon, the tourists had started arriving (I think the prospect of heavy rain kept them away in the morning, which was good for our birdwatching!) Some of them, obviously, had their hearts flying!

hrt blns 240411 nh

I cannot take enough pictures of this old pavilion, shaded by the timeless, majestic trees:

old pavilion nh 240411

Have posted some of the birds we saw to my Facebook album,

here

…but I’ll post a few pics here, too, for non-FB people!

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God…and animal worship…

Filed under: Animal, Bangalore, Bird Watching, Hill, Nature, Photography, Transport by deponti — 4 Comments
March 26, 2011

If God is great….

Photobucket

then, this is animal worship…of a different kind!

Photobucket

Both taken today, on our wonderful trip to Nandi Hills.

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Manchanabele Dam, Bangalore – Amazing Birds Part 2

Filed under: Bangalore, Bird Photography, Bird Watching, Birds, Dam, enviornment, Hill, India, Lakes, Mountain, Nature, Photography by Sushil Katre — 12 Comments
March 25, 2011

After the excellent birding report from Vaibhav at Manchanabele Dam and my post on Manchanabele Dam without birds, here’s Part 2 for you completing our birding report. We started with a Blue Kingfisher and then another one. What a start it was. Starting your day with beautiful Blue Kingfisher.

Post this, as usual we got separated in no time, he was roaming near water, while I decided to check a little far away.

I saw a Pied Wagtail close by, infact two of them on the ground.

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

A little ahead and there was a Purple Sunbird. Very beautiful looking bird, singing nice songs. He offered one of the closest view.

Purple Sunbird - Male

Purple Sunbird - Male

Then it was my all time favourite, Little Green Bee-Eater.

Little Green Bee-Eater

Little Green Bee-Eater

Little Green Bee-Eater

Little Green Bee-Eater

After some time I spotted a bird which I first thought was a Babbler. As I went closer, I figured its something different, which I haven’t spotted earlier. To me it seems to be “Bristled Grass-Warbler“. You guys will have to identify and confirm.

Bristled Grass-Warbler

Bristled Grass-Warbler

Some more Bee-Eaters and Barn Swallows.

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

On a tree there was a Booted Warbler which was very active at that point of time.

Booted Warbler

Booted Warbler

On the other side, I saw some movement, this was Brahminy Starling.

Brahminy Starling

Brahminy Starling

Some lovely flower on the ground.

Flower

Flower

Red Vented Bulbul, its always good to see them around chirping.

Red Vented Bulbul

Red Vented Bulbul

Very far away I spotted a bird of prey, which was difficult to identify from naked eyes. I loved the lens and teleconverter combination which I use. Managed to get this picture. Looks like a White Eyed Buzzard.

White Eyed Buzzard

White Eyed Buzzard

Lovely Little Green Bee-Eater once again.

Little Green Bee-Eater

Little Green Bee-Eater

There was a Chameleon on a rock.

Chameleon

Chameleon

There was a Purple Rumped Sunbird and I call this a Bullet Shot. In fact Manchanabele Dam is full of Sunbirds, I have been there twice and both the time, I have seen a lot of Sunbirds.

Purple Rumped Sunbird - Male

Purple Rumped Sunbird - Male

Loten's Sunbird

Loten's Sunbird

 

Loten's Sunbird

Loten's Sunbird

And all of a sudden a very sweet bird call took my attention. It was hard to spot. But once I spotted, it was this beautiful looking Common Iora – Female.

Common Iora - Female

Common Iora - Female

Following her was a Common Iora - Male.

Common Iora - Male

Common Iora - Male

Common Iora - Male

Common Iora - Male

After some time they left us and I saw this mysterious looking bird on the same tree. I guess its Common Crested Lark.

Common Crested Lark

Common Crested Lark

Vaibhav has already shared the story of someone demanding money from him saying photography is prohibited here and after watching the lark I joined Vaibhav and then a Purple Heron trying to share the stone with Cormorants incedence happened.

Purple Heron

Purple Heron

Purple Heron

Purple Heron

Some Red Wattled Lapwing were also spotted.

Red Wattled Lapwing

Red Wattled Lapwing

A Rufous-Backed Shrike was also spotted.

Rufous-Backed Shrike

Rufous-Backed Shrike

After some more time we decided to head back to Bangalore. On the way we spotted Indian Roller. Offlate, we have started spotting Indian Rollers.

Indian Roller

Indian Roller

Overall, excellent birding for us. Worth travelling to Manchanabele Dam for birding. Give it a try!

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Misty Morning….

Filed under: Bangalore, Health, Hill, Uncategorized by deponti — 1 Comment
December 23, 2010

As I went for my morning walk, the mist closed in, and when I returned home, I could hardly see the buildings opposite my balcony:

Winter Morning!

Winter Morning!

I love walking on winter mornings; I can walk as briskly as possible without perspiring, and a piping hot cup of chai or coffee tastes even better with the morning newspaper and crosswords! On such mornings, I feel that I am living in a hill station…and the beauty of the morning keeps me going the whole day long!

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