So its going to be New Years eve and we got to go somewhere, well that was the general atmosphere in the house. The situation got a shot in the arm when we learnt that my sis-inlaw may not be able to come to Bangalore due to some training tests in Infosys. So the plan was finalized then, that we would pick her up from her campus and go to Bandipur or Nagarhole for a stay.
Yes, we started hotel search very very late so it was obvious that we didn't find any accommodation for 31st. So another change of plan and it was decided to stay in Mysore, have a grand dinner on new years eve and come back on 1st Jan. Booking was done at
Shree Guru Residency. Had stayed in the hotel long back and the service was good but this time the service benchmark has gone down.
A couple of shots of the Hotel
Price for a double room on 31st: 2000 bucks
So here goes a Photolog of Ranganathittu, Mysore, i always wanted to do a photolog so i was carrying our old PnS camera as well.
Early morning (by my standards
) NICE road, slight drizzle was there but nothing too much to worry
Breakfast stop at Shivalli Restaurant, few kms before Maddur town.
For early morning burger lovers you will also find a KFC in the same complex
Beautiful SH-17, this is the only 4 laned SH i have ever traveled but i hate it a lot as its too much traffic. But early morning its relatively easy sail.
For folks in favor of Kamat or the big M can choose to stop a few kms ahead of Shivalli. In our last trip to Ooty, we had stopped to have hot hot idlis in Kamat, pretty good i must say.
Cross Maddur and you will find Adigas restaurant on the right, this one is good for lunch, have not tried the breakfast but i guess it would be similar to Kamat's or Shivalli's. Its interesting to see so many eateries in this short stretch of 120 kms. I think we also have some 3 CCDs and 1 Barista in Maddur, wow! travelers are really spoiled for choice.
After cross Srirangapatna, you need to keep on the right as there will be a sign board for the same. Cross a railway line and you will arrive at the gates of the bird sanctuary. You need to buy the tickets and pay for the car & camera at the gate itself.
Since we had come pretty early, i think it was 9'ish so there were very few crowds.
As soon as we park our car, my spotter (my wife
) sees a KF and i just barely manage to capture it in the disturbing background. I was still learning the trick of using this len's so it was taking time.
We started to walk towards the boating place and saw these lovely National Flower of India
Got a boat with an additional family, but thankfully they were pretty decent and no small children to cry and disturb the birds on the ride
Our first sighting of the migratory birds was this
Spoon Billed Stork.
PS: If i mention a birds name wrongly please do correct me, i am still learning
On a distant rock was perched a hail & hearty
Common Indian KF
Next we saw an
Open Billed Stork
In the distance you can see a few more of the spooney storks
This one was so beautifully camouflaged it was very hard to spot it,
Great Stone-curlew
There were very few Croc's around, maybe because the sun was still not completely out and it was cloudy.
Then saw a
Pond Heron sitting on a branch, it was pretty close
Next saw this
Night Heron, this one was sitting very very close to the path that the boat took, thats why could get a good image.
An
Open Billed Stork i guess thinking,
Here comes the first lot of idiots to see me!
The
Indian Cormant were in great numbers
The
Open Billed near its nest
A sleeping
Indian Mugger or croc
The
Snowy Egret
We were finally done with the boating and were walking upto the parking lot as we needed to go and check in to our hotel as there were lengthy plans for the day. Near the parking lot i was finally able to capture a bird shot that i am proud of myself.
Sorry dont know the name but still trying to find out