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Old 30th December 2011, 16:59   #16
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

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Originally Posted by Digital Vampire View Post
Is that a Number Plate slot mounted Light bar (sometimes called UniBar) that you've used for mounting the off-road lights/Fogs/Driving Lights? If yes, could you please link me up to the website/seller?

Any issues of "dancing" lights due to vibrations?

Which lights are you using?

BTW, Excellent pictures!!!
Yes, that is a Unibar made by Lightforce. I have LF Blitz spots mounted on the bar, but didn't use them on this trip. The spots vibrate a little bit on rough roads because the bar is adjacent to the plastic bumper, which shakes a bit. I had bought them from the LF dealer in Bangalore - Kumar's if I remember correctly. Don't have the numbers, but if you search the forum you will get. They do charge a hefty premium for LF products.

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Originally Posted by MileCruncher View Post
Some good snaps there Nilanjan. Looking forward to the remaining bit of the story.

BTW do you have any video's of the climb/descent that you had to do in 4LL.

Cheers
Thanks. No videos - I was the sole occupant and driver + photographer.

@ Guderian: I used the LL to mainly slow down the vehicle while going over rocks and depressions in slopes. I could have (should have?) used it more, but since I was going over ground with good traction, I wasn't comfortable using it beyond 1-2 minutes at a stretch. 4H can handle the terrain (grunt + Fortuner's 221 mm ground clearance), but crawling speed at 4H 1st gear was too fast for certain sections.

It is a breeze crawling over the ground in LL - one can relax and enjoy (i.e. take in the sights and sounds) a lot more instead of worrying about speed etc. in normal 4H. The ground requires LL in some places e.g. while descending a rocky, steep hair pin bend. One can of course use the clutch and negotiate the terrain, but that is not so good for the vehicle.

The terrain is a little more challenging than it looks e.g. the slope angle and the ruts haven' come out properly. But I didn't take pictures of the more interesting sections (where LL was required) - I stopped the vehicle for photo shoots where the ground was relatively flat. And I usually forget about shooting the vehicle and terrain when I see interesting fauna (exception: Bison & Bisons).

While offroading on rocky trails I was a bit apprehensive about tyre pressure - they were +2 higher than the normal (for high speed highway driving). I hadn't bothered to lower the pressure for the trails (like I should have) since I was also driving on tarmac a couple of times during the day. But now that I have the air inflator, I will adjust the pressure depending on the terrain.

Last edited by nilanjanray : 30th December 2011 at 17:22.
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Old 31st December 2011, 19:32   #17
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Beautiful photographs of my favourite place in all the world - the place I grew up in - The Nilgiris or The Blue Mountains!
I love your passion for wildlife and nature - God must have been having a "Michelangelo" or "Van Gogh" moment when He was designing that part of India - truly!
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Old 1st January 2012, 06:14   #18
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Excellent pictures as always, the tea estate looks serene, and Bison looks completely at home.

The boar picture is interesting especially this (once roused, he charges and fights till he or his opponent is dead). Is this really true? cos i think we had a story about a boar getting into a fight with the tiger in some school textbook (may have been something to do with Jim Corbett, don't exactly remember), never thought it was really the case.

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Originally Posted by nilanjanray View Post
OT: I will probably end up making the drive in early March. Idea is to roam around the Kaladunghi forests on foot – same forests where Corbett grew up – the ones described in Jungle Lore. Anyone interested in joining me for such a drive/trip (with another vehicle or in my vehicle), let me know. But it will be a total fast drive + nature immersion trip.
Any guess on how many days would be needed? Any are you planning all alone or with family? Kaladhungilooks interesting to explore need to work out the logistics. I am thinking of a longish trip with family.

Last edited by mayankjha1806 : 1st January 2012 at 06:23.
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Old 2nd January 2012, 17:31   #19
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Superb pics Nilanjan, specially of the Black bird & the Boar!
Have you got any post processing done here? Absolutely spot on focused Pic of the Bird (which looks black to the naked eye) .

Wondering, instead of the LL, why didnt you use the HL mode?
As far as I know, the HL would give you the a fair control over the crawl, rather than the heavily torqued LL.
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Old 3rd January 2012, 12:41   #20
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

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Originally Posted by shankar.balan View Post
Beautiful photographs of my favourite place in all the world - the place I grew up in - The Nilgiris or The Blue Mountains!
I love your passion for wildlife and nature - God must have been having a "Michelangelo" or "Van Gogh" moment when He was designing that part of India - truly!
Thanks Shankar. I love the Nilgiris...one of the reasons why I moved t Bangalore. The combination of jungle, mountains, estates, the wind, the smell (especially Eucalyptus and Oil of Wintergreen), trails and roads for interesting drives is heady to say the least. Then add campfires in the night and animal sightings and calls...

P.S.: First love is still the Himalayas though

Quote:
Originally Posted by mayankjha1806 View Post
Excellent pictures as always, the tea estate looks serene, and Bison looks completely at home.

The boar picture is interesting especially this (once roused, he charges and fights till he or his opponent is dead). Is this really true? cos i think we had a story about a boar getting into a fight with the tiger in some school textbook (may have been something to do with Jim Corbett, don't exactly remember), never thought it was really the case.
Thanks. Yes, wild boars are very dangerous when they get angry. In the jungles in the South, people stay away from elephants, bears and boars - not so much from tigers and leopards.


Quote:
Any guess on how many days would be needed? Any are you planning all alone or with family? Kaladhungilooks interesting to explore need to work out the logistics. I am thinking of a longish trip with family.
8-9 days I guess. 5 days of leave (Mon-Fri) if you work 5 days. Combine 2 weekends, you have 9 days. I am not sure my wife + daughter will be willing to accompany me to Kaladunghi, though my wife is game for Ladakh.

I reckon I can do Bangalore - Kaladunghi in 2.5 days one way when there is no fog and as long as I am fit. So that leaves 4 + 0.5 + 0.5 days for hanging around Corbett country.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Monaro CV8 View Post
Superb pics Nilanjan, specially of the Black bird & the Boar!
Have you got any post processing done here? Absolutely spot on focused Pic of the Bird (which looks black to the naked eye) .
No...whatever little PP I do I use Picasa - mainly for cropping, or turning into B&W etc. I shot those pictures with the 70-300 mm lens, and adjusted the focus so that I could catch them properly. You should be able to get such pics using a decent zoom lens and patience.

Quote:
Wondering, instead of the LL, why didnt you use the HL mode?
As far as I know, the HL would give you the a fair control over the crawl, rather than the heavily torqued LL.
I used the locked mode not because I needed to lock (the normal 4H gives good enough traction) but because I needed to reduce the speed and increase the torque. If I had used 4HL, the speed and torque would have been the same. I needed the additional torque and reduced speed to tackle some of the sections. Once you lock - whether 4HL or 4LL - you can strain the transmission/misc parts if you are driving on hard traction ground. That is why I was careful and also a bit apprehensive since I was driving over rocks and hard ground.

Last edited by benbsb29 : 11th January 2012 at 15:22. Reason: Removed bold from the entire post + formatted quote tags.
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Old 3rd January 2012, 13:06   #21
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Thanks for those awesome pics. The shot of the elephant looks splendid. Even though I have been to the nilgiris as it has been our fav spot from college days haven't seen her in her full glory until I saw your snaps. Waiting for the remaining snaps as well.
After seeing the snaps planning for a trip in a couple of months.
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Old 3rd January 2012, 15:01   #22
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

A monster male...I could not get a proper photo, but he is one huge guy
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Old 3rd January 2012, 15:51   #23
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Ehephants

Some more photos of the gentle giants captured during the trip. Note: I wasn't the one shining the torch at the elephants. Someone did, and I had the camera with me, so just clicked because I had the opportunity..

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Old 6th January 2012, 09:34   #24
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Enjoyed the narration and photos Niranjan, i have become a fan of your Fortuner escapades, i enjoy wild life photography in an around Nilgiris , you can find some of my photos in the Palaniappa estate thread. I have booked my super white Fortuner last month, awaiting delivery and soon will share the same travelogues space as you (offroading/wildlife).

Keep posting
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Old 7th January 2012, 18:46   #25
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

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Originally Posted by smrtdvl View Post
Thanks for those awesome pics. The shot of the elephant looks splendid. Even though I have been to the nilgiris as it has been our fav spot from college days haven't seen her in her full glory until I saw your snaps. Waiting for the remaining snaps as well.
After seeing the snaps planning for a trip in a couple of months.
Thanks. Nilgiris are beautiful...I think that the smell of the Blue Mountains make it unique compared to some of the other ranges in the South.

Quote:
Originally Posted by redrage View Post
Enjoyed the narration and photos Niranjan, i have become a fan of your Fortuner escapades, i enjoy wild life photography in an around Nilgiris , you can find some of my photos in the Palaniappa estate thread. I have booked my super white Fortuner last month, awaiting delivery and soon will share the same travelogues space as you (offroading/wildlife).

Keep posting
Thanks. I saw your booking posts in a Fortuner thread. Congratulations! You will have a great time with the beast.

Last edited by nilanjanray : 7th January 2012 at 18:49.
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Old 9th January 2012, 15:22   #26
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

Absolutely stunning pictures Nilanjan. Rated 5 stars. The photos and accompanied narration, inspire people like us to really unwind amidst nature and "spend" quality time, just being with the natural ecosystem.
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Old 11th January 2012, 14:47   #27
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

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Absolutely stunning pictures Nilanjan. Rated 5 stars. The photos and accompanied narration, inspire people like us to really unwind amidst nature and "spend" quality time, just being with the natural ecosystem.
Thanks Rahul!

Some more pictures coming up...not taken during Christmas, but around that time. Offroading/nature/wildlife: all themes covered.
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Old 12th January 2012, 16:38   #28
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Some more pictures taken during the last few weeks in and around the Nilgiris

The landscape pictures were taken with the Galaxy S2. The elephant pictures were taken in Bandipur.

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Last edited by nilanjanray : 12th January 2012 at 16:46.
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Old 12th January 2012, 17:20   #29
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

I was keeping a close look over my shoulder to make sure that I don't get ambushed from behind. Need to calculate how much it will take me to run to the other (steering) side of the vehicle and dive inside, and how much time it takes for a mad Gaur to charge and reach me.

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Last edited by nilanjanray : 12th January 2012 at 17:23.
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Old 12th January 2012, 17:35   #30
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Re: Christmas Offroading in the Nilgiris

The beauty of Team-BHP is further enhanced by threads like this one. Take a bow, Nilanjan, creator of this thread. Truly wonderful photos capturing the serenity of the Nilgiris!!! Love the fact that you and your beast had a lovely time up there! Thanks again for the pictures and notes!

PS: what's up with Leh plans?
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