[MBond007]

Thanks for sharing your journey. It was a great read.

Which camera and lens did you use to capture the birds?

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Aum

Great Tlog Nilanjan, have been following your tlogs for some time and loved this one. When did you move to Gurgaon from Bangalore. beautiful location and it has been amplified with your photographs, please share the location details.
waiting for Binsar Tlog.

Thanks. Moved middle of last year. Busy with work, will share the Binsar one soon.

Originally Posted by MBond007

Thanks for sharing your journey. It was a great read.

Which camera and lens did you use to capture the birds?

Thanks. Nikon D500 + 200-500mm.

[SaGa]

What a Tlog! Short and sweet!
Great wright-up. One can actually visit the place while not being there physically. Superb!
Corbett is really close to my heart. A trusted caretaker, a decent place to rest, simple but great mountain food. Voila!
Human-animal conflicts have increased in that part of the region lately. Probably because the color of the place is turning grey from green!
Bison looks ever ready. And yes

[Prav_Panther]

What a travelogue. Location and surrounding combined with weather is just mouth watering. You have great skills of writing. Thank you sir for sharing this lovely Travelogue.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by SaGa

What a Tlog! Short and sweet!
Great wright-up. One can actually visit the place while not being there physically. Superb!
Corbett is really close to my heart. A trusted caretaker, a decent place to rest, simple but great mountain food. Voila!
Human-animal conflicts have increased in that part of the region lately. Probably because the color of the place is turning grey from green!
Bison looks ever ready. And yes

Thank you. Human-animal conflict is less where I went, compared to places in Garhwal and Eastern Kumaon. Number of animals has been increasing, and there is an embargo on cutting trees. This was a densely forested area.

Originally Posted by Prav_Panther

What a travelogue. Location and surrounding combined with weather is just mouth watering. You have great skills of writing. Thank you sir for sharing this lovely Travelogue.

Thank you!

[Uthappa]

Stunning stuff, I could literally feel the back of my neck tingle reading your words and looking at the images, from the dusk walk. Happy trails!

[JoshMachine]

Superb stuff, thanks for sharing.
Loved the unique style of writing. The empty chair pic was my fav

[vjsarathyin]

Publish this as a book, it would be categorized under Fantasy... because that is what this is...Not a travelouge... a fairy tale...wish it was longer...

Sitting at office, reading this travelogue amidst conference calls and approaching deadlines.... it froze time briefly and truly refreshed my mind.

The pictures perfectly captured the beauty of the place and the write up going along with it, truly transports the reader to the place..

[ashikthomson]

Waahh! What a write up, felt like immersing myself in a jungle fiction rather than a travelogue. To the point, yet hiding a bit to allow the reader to do a little guesswork.
And I was really stunned by how easily you are expressing the desire to meet with a leopard
I would have easily stayed back, thinking the possible dangerous outcomes. I'm still not out of the shock of confronting a rogue elephant unnecessarily, near to mettupalayam, a few years back.

[alphadog]

Those photos are truly surreal. I could almost feel the cold, damp, misty, silent ambience on my skin. Not to mention the eerie feeling that a
wild beast could jump at you at any time. I love your style of narration too.

I too am one of those kinds who can survive in the wilderness without much creature comforts, as along as the place is soul stirring. So, I totally understand that bit.
I have looked up your instagram link, as suggested and I am feasting on the amazing photography.

Thanks for sharing the experience. Looking forward to your next write-up.

Cheerio!

[shashanka]

I'm a bit late coming to this thread, Nilanjan, but that's because I have had to, reluctantly, curtail my visits to this favourite site.

Lovely, evocative photographs as always and the narration - particularly the night-stay in the tent - is fascinating. The growing leopard population in the region (habitat encroachment) has indeed led to them turning into cattle-lifters as well as preying on domestic dogs & cats.

And that brings me to my friend Arjun who opened a Bengali eatery (cutely named “Elaichi”!) on the Bhimtal-Bhowali road. On the opposite side of the road to the eatery lived one of Arjun’s local friends (Arjun being a gregarious & amiable character) who had a small dog. This chap had taken the dog out for its nightly round and when it did not respond to repeated calls he called it a night, deciding to wait till daylight to continue. To make a long story short, the dog’s remains were found next day in the valley below. The interesting thing being that neither the leopard nor the dog had made a sound during the attack – and the man had not heard a sound either.

The attached photo shows Arjun when he had called on us at the Naukuchiatal KMVN TRH. The last I heard of him was that he had wound up Elaichi & had moved on to greener pastures elsewhere.

I'm looking forward to more of the same Nilanjan - I'm sure the Pandora's box still has many unseen treasures! The woods are indeed lovely, dark & deep and that crested kingfisher in flight makes one's day!

[OneLifeToDrive]

Wonderful travelogue. Nilanjan your photos are simply breathtaking and forcing me to venture into some hill forests soon. Which FRH you had stayed? Couldn't make out the name from your post. See how eager I am to visit this place

[gearhead_mait]

How on earth I missed this travelogue! Popped up in my facebook feed from the forum page and it was a wonderful 15-20 minutes read.
Underneath those words lies vital information regarding wildlife that can only come from a true wildlife adventurer with first hand experiences. The track of direction of winds and undergrowth - I learnt it from Tigers of Kumaon by Jim Corbett. But I am puzzled a bit on your saying that you are comfortable with snakes more than scorpion or earthworm?

Many thanks. The travelogue made my day and Pangot went inside my wish list.
Rated 5*

[Karvel]

Very good writeup, Nilanjan. These split moment travel decisions are more fulfilling than long term planned ones. Keep travelling.

On a side note, how is the road from Hapur to Nainital. Planning to do a trip with family to Nainital from Gurgaon, in an Octavia.

[Unavowed_X9]

Buddy, loved the narrative. Did read it with rapt attention, and felt myself getting into memory lane. Equally superb pics.