[thedreamcatcher]

Despite being a bird sanctuary, what really drew us there was the hope of us getting up close to the behemoth crocs. Which we knew were aplenty but fairly shy of making there presence felt openly. Despite being elusive, we managed to spot quite a few, floating around like a log of wood, until the boat drew fairly close to them.

A few more surprises came, when the boat man was very polite enough to point out a massive croc (as though saying 'hey look, there's a mosquito on your hand..') just when we came close (fairly close) to an island, sitting there with its mouth open, and we floating along just a few feet away.



I guess I could say I felt fear, excitement and surprise all at the same time. Normally on land one would have probably teleported themselves a few feet away, but being in a boat meant teleporting into water. And then I guess it would be fear that would end up killing me.


This other living example of the prehistoric era was to our left. Not so much surprise here, as we saw this log quite some distance away.




The key element of this park





The journey that lay ahead of us. Oh and by the way, the small piece of rock that you see in the middle of the frame, had a croc resting next to it.





Rewind to the beginning.

When we rolled out of our usual Mysore road meeting point, it was just three cars. SChoudhary, Chikku and Me, myself and I. Was quite pleased to have even three cars, considering it was planned with a timeline of just 4-5 days.

We set off at the break of dawn, and began rolling at around 0700 in the morn. We did a quick halt for Breakfast at Kamat. Cant get the second part of the name, its the one on the right on Mysore road. Once there, we were quite early for the breakfast buffet, which meant the cooks were fresh into the day, their moods were good and size, quality and serving reflected that.

Once we downed the buffet breakfast, off we scooted to our destination and after some spirited driving, we reached at around 0900 ish, I guess. Perfect setting, as we were the early there, had the entire park to ourselves, and just a few more cars in the parking lot. The Crowd was yet to come!!! Which meant awesome for us.

Welcome to Ranganathittu



Chikku in action and halt at the ticket counter





The usual alighting and leg-stretching and happy to reach the destination ceremony





The Autobot has landed



The Map of the place: For reference to all those who plan to go




Inside paradise. No crowd at all



Remember that piece of rock I referred to earlier, and the croc next to it. Well the macro pic is the one below it, as a matter of fact.





Chikku in Action



Bats Galore





Awesome kiddo Schoudhary. By the way guys, apparently for him ABC goes like this. A for Audi, B for BMW, C for Chevy...




They were discussing the 2g Scam



I am speechless to this guys expression and stance





Wow. Let me take a breather, before I commence again.

Done. Here goes again


Leather is back


More of em birdies

[inder_s1]

Nice teasers and Narration , Brandon

Waiting for more super duper pics

[mpksuhas]

Great pics. Nice to see even in this so called 'off-season' for migratory birds you were able to spot lots of birds.

[rk_sans]

Wow !! i believe you guys had a great weekend drive. Looking forward for more pics and the meet report.

[Subrat Seet]

Wow, it's a treat to watch these birds and crocs. Nice start.

[vshetty]

Love Ranganathittu, as a kid was warned so many times not to put your hand into the water while on the boat since a croc would pull you off it!! The croc's though are used to human presence, there have been very few instances of them trying to attack boats or bite the oars.

[supertinu]

nice pics dreamcatcher, i have been there once and had a great experience in the lake with all the birds and the crocs around . Are these pics very recent? If there are birds in this season then i might plan a visit soon.

[IronH4WK]

nice narration and pictures Brandon. waiting for the rest.

[Fordmanchau]

This is one place I would like to visit again. Been there in August last year but couldn't spend much time. Didn't do a boat ride too. Also no good pics with my canon P&S. Have to go and visit this place.
Am anxiously waiting for more pics from your side!!

[thedreamcatcher]

Thanks for the comments guys. Will post more pics later today and the next part of the story.

@supertinu: We went there this sunday (A quick and mini teambhp meet basically)

[GTO]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing your travelogue with the community.

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[thedreamcatcher]

Continued from earlier post

Finally one group shot, sans me. We just finished with the boat ride at this point. And by the way, boating costs Rs.50 per person, and they take you around with a bunch of other people. To have more fun, which we realized later, one can hire a smaller boat for about half an hour.

But the smaller boat, the rate at which it can capsize will be faster, in the event that a croc decides to play tag. So, for those with a weak heart, take the bigger boat. So, if it does capsize, more people there ahead of you and longer time to fall in the water




My kid gave SChoudhary a decent migrane I believe. I was bird watching and he was kids watching (his and mine)



Got back from a late night show of Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. After effects



Ahem. Ahem





Through the muddy terrain we went in search of crocs



Look Ma. No hands




Now, at one point, the birds were screaming like there were on a dose of prozac. Something was up. Until we spotted this champ. He was stalking the birds that were on the ground for a long time, and we were hoping he would come up, camera ready and all. We felt, at that time that there were a bunch of eggs on the ground above and the crocs was targeting it. We waited there for almost half hour and then he made his move in a flash. That big thing literally flew out of the water and perched itself on top. And we got the pics







decided to give 4 legs here some importance as well and some meaning to his existence



So there ends my narration ladies and gentlemen and that also brought an end to a great trip.

And finally, the icing on the cake was at the end. Feast your eyes on what I clicked on Nice road on the way back. At first I drove behind it and didnt realize what it was. Then my wife asks me if I saw that, and I was like 'saw what...?' and she said 'that TANK'. Super cool. I immediately drew up to the side of the road, took out the SLR and began clicking

[GTO]

Thread moved to the Travelogues forum. Thanks for sharing!

[kaushik_s]

You guys seems to have a nice trip. Nice photographs and thanks for sharing. Been to Ranganathittu many times but it seems never enough.
BTW, that Kamath is known as Kamath Lokaruchi.

[brraj]

Well written travalogue there. could'nt attent as i was busy playing with my kid in balmuri.