24th May 2020, 17:30
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| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| A Nature's Trail in Hampi So. Here we are again. Managed to upload the Hampi Photographs to the drive so that I can finally compile the blog. Fact: The Hampi trip for me was the first one after a long long time and was only the beginning of what the year held ahead for the wanderlust. The travels which happened were: Hampi- Aug 2018 Tadoba- Nov 2018 (link to the travelogue here: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ba-3-cubs.html (Impromtu Tadoba & the 3 Cubs)) Goa- Dec 2018 Kolkata- Jan 2019 Bhubneshwar, Puri, Konark- March 2019 Agra - April 2019 Wife's home near Melghat (drive) - June 2019 Yeracaud - July 2019 Valley of Flowers: Aug 2019 (to be blogged) And this does not include any of the bi-monthly trips to my home in Mumbai or my monthly office trips to the NCR region. I worked in the automotive sector up to 2015- a dream job as a vehicle development guy. I called it quits for further studies. Got into a 51-week management program. Being in the best of the country humbled me to the core and the 51 weeks were a hell of a roller coaster ride. Tried to get back to automotive but fate didn't want me back yet. Struggled with placement and the offer came from a least expected sector-Cement. Traditionally a guy who is not good with people, my interviewer sold me the job to try out sales with the promise to move me internally if I am not at all comfortable in the first year. One of the reasons why I took the offer was the fact the group was the manufacturer of the HM Ambassador & Contessa. Both dream cars.  And thus from a Vehicle Development guy, I started my career as a Cement Sales Guy. Comfort was lost. It took me a nice good year for me to actually settle down and regain my confidence. My family was extremely supportive esp my wife, who understood the discomfort & the frustrations day in and out. Over time, she convinced me to get back on the road, something I really loved. In June we started planning where to go. The weakest thing about Hyderabad is that there no "getaway" like Mumbai/Banglore/Nashik. You really have to make an effort to come out. We shortlisted a number of places we could go including Kanha. But to do it over 5 days, had to be drive, had to be in reasonable network areas (there is no holiday in sales), Hampi was shortlisted. I wanted a luxury trip, so we booked Heritage resorts (https://goo.gl/maps/PXbycXCFRpWQTG7K9) from Aug 11 to Aug 14 2018. And we made a promise that we will not cover everything. We will cover what we can, what we like, what we find nice. No pressure on seeing everything and doing everything. It was a to be a nice 7-8 hr, 400 km drive travelling via Mahboobnagar, Raichur, Sindhanaur. Someone gave a heads up of hitting lunch at an eatery called Hallioota (village food) at Raichur. So we planned to start at 730-8 so that we reach the eatery at lunch 4-5 hr drive till there. BTW. Lovely Place. Lovely Food. We stopped on our way back as well! https://goo.gl/maps/C67DL8Gyy72jvpMv8. Well, we started off at 730 and around 15 km later realised that we had forgotten our camera.  So took a U-turn and went home and got the camera on board!Being mid monsoon, the landscape was amazing! Customary salute to the now 6.5-year-old steed!  Drove for a couple of hours, crossed Mahboobnagar, and got down to switch the driving seat  Some of the greenery from the shotgun seat!    Found this wonderful colony of weaver bird nests, took a break to see whats around  Hard work in progress!  Residents of the colony  Jacobian's Cuckoo?  More of life around    Stopped again to catch this beautiful black-shouldered kite  Massive 1700 MW Raichur Power Plant  Greens again  Crossing the Krishna at Raichur  The close-up massive chimney looks straight out of Chernobyl  Stopped for lunch. We were famished so no photos of the lunch. And I took over the wheel again and so we reached the resort without many photos. Last edited by 1.2TSI7DSG : 25th May 2020 at 13:09. |
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24th May 2020, 18:11
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi We woke up the next day to find this lovely sunbird upside down of the bottle brush   Then we asked around what to do, got a schema map of Hampi had breakfast and set off to see the ruins of one of the most underappreciated dynasties of India. We started off with the Queen's bath, then moved around to the Kings side on Day 1. The inner side   Wifey being Cleopatra  Another temple in the horizon  Ruins being picturesque  A guy hanging below the tree  Was very pleased by seeing one info board in braille  Detusked even in stone  A pattern on the wall  Curvatures  Palm Beach anyone?  The picture on the wall... Imagine this being the Facebook of that era     A pandal in nature  A tree in the grounds  Wind in the sails  Symmetry in the well  Wifey being wifey!  All paths lead to the well!  Patterns  Wifey trying to blend in  Day 1 to be continued... Last edited by 1.2TSI7DSG : 24th May 2020 at 20:04. |
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25th May 2020, 13:26
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi Caught a couple of butterflies on the grounds    The King's Seat  A trip of school kids climbed on the pedestal. With their uniforms, it felt like we were looking at minions  Some more of the legacies  Wifey trying to fly!  Foundations or what is left of it  Reminded me of childhood days and lagori  The backside of the stairs  Balance!  A squirrel came really up close!  The lotus temple  A watchtower  Symmetry  A gymnast  A parakeet  Another view of the watchtower  The elephant's stable- the garages for their trucks  Straight out of a flashback  Parrots!  Talk about streaks in fashion!  The new amongst the old!  The larger views   The temple below the ground   We then moved to the Tungabhadra Dam at Hospet. Man the dam was full & the roar was amazing!!   On the way to the dam  There was a small park nearby which we quickly moved around and called it a day |
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25th May 2020, 17:58
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi While all this was being done, we did not plan the next day. We had marked a spot where there was a pond and a huge nesting colony of egrets. So we decided to start the day there. On the way we spotted a raptor high in the sky. Could not make out whether it was its kid or a raven  The picturesque pond  A trail nearby  The colony  A very very angry bird  Breeding colours and in full grace  Cormorants?  The three stooges  12 angry men!  A drongo   the flowers no the wall of a hut  Camouflage  A mountain of boulders nearby  |
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25th May 2020, 22:38
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi We then went to a bridge over the Tungabhadra which also was close to an Otter Reserve. We managed to spot an otter but it disappeared before we could click it. We first walked over the bridge and back. See how moody the weather can be  The bridge!  A cute doggie came running as soon as I whistled  Got to be with the flock  A few ponies rolled past us   Got churned by the flock  Monkey Do  The river  A purple heron  Monkey Come  A purple moorhen   Ducks  Tokris  Catching a break in the middle of the river  A tern   The view from the bridge   An eddy  A shrub in the river  A parrot flyby  Darter?   A long way from where we had parked!   Then we went lower right up to the bank of the river |
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25th May 2020, 23:00
| #6 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi We are used to seeing the rivers from the roads. It was different to walk up and down the bridge. Even more so at the banks. A birdie  River up close. The birdie did a photobomb  The views  The bridge  A few delicate shots at the banks    Flora    This wild one was a beauty   |
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26th May 2020, 11:18
| #7 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi we then wandered around and found a deserted road. It was with rocks on one side and farms on the other. We parked the car on the side and took a walk in peace. Tri-Coloured Munia  A monkey posing as Samba from Sholay  A bee-eater  A weaverbird's home  Banana banana banana  Well, peace was not for us. Wifey spotted something moving and voila a bronze back. it was slithering on the road but by the time I could snap it, vertically climbed the bushes. See if you can spot it  It had caught a frog/toad for lunch and wanted to have it in peace  A wildflower  More Munia's  A slithery colourful lizard  At the end of the road, we found a monkey having lunch. I snapped it. It got angry and snarled. We then decided to go back inside the car and let people have their lunch.  |
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26th May 2020, 15:43
| #8 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi We went to see the famous 50 rupee chariot. I was impressed by the arrangement of the electric vehicles to take you to the temple from the car park. Close to the entrance. It felt we were enjoying Greece  And then Bali  The first look at the sculpture  There was a huge crowd and it was impossible to get a full shot without anyone bombing   Some of the other sculptures in the campus   In Team-BHP's words, the lights on the wall look an afterthought and could have been better integrated  No crowd behind the main area  View of the Tungabhadra over the wall of the campus  A slithery friend keeping eyes on us  Some more of the ruins    A kingfisher  After the ruins overload, we decided to grab a quick lunch and head out to Daroji Bear Sanctuary. |
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26th May 2020, 16:33
| #9 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi We spotted this lovely sunflower patch on the way and stopped to take a few pics      Reached Daroji, paid for the entry. The guard told us that a mama & her cub had been sighted form the viewing point. The viewing point itself is at a strategic location on top of a hill which gives breathtaking panoramic views.  Looked around for the bears. They had gone into hiding and the guard told us that they may not emerge. But like Tadoba, luck was on our side. They emerged on the rocks.  And they ascended even further up (for some reason they were continuously licking rocks- Bachpan yaad aagaya when we used to lick walls for chuna taste or mitti)  The guard told us that these bears descend from their dwellings in the mountains opposite. Almost 100+ bears lived in the campus  A shot of the sky  They were going all the antics over the rocks going up, down round and round  The baby getting stuck  There emerged one more.  Spotted a peacock on a tree  More of the mama bear and the baby bear  They came down in some time to lick new rocks  and then decided to head home  And then the other bear came to the same place to lick rocks alongside a peacock. Notice the ignorance  A few fowls came out and sparked an interest. Possibly envisioning dinner  It was sunset by then and we headed to back to the hotel. Last edited by 1.2TSI7DSG : 26th May 2020 at 16:34. |
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26th May 2020, 17:04
| #10 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi Next day we started back to our home. Some of the sights on the way A black-shouldered Kite- looks eerily similar to the one we spotted while going  A smart looking sparrow?  Asian Openbill  An Ibis & Egret   Work in progress!  A kingfisher  A lakish pond  The long way back home  So did we see everything- No Will I go back to Hampi- Definitely yes but nothing will beat the monsoon season. Next time I will delve deeper into the dynasty origins. Also, a lot of restoration work was in progress so will see how it has turned out now Thanks for reading guys! Last edited by 1.2TSI7DSG : 26th May 2020 at 17:07. |
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27th May 2020, 07:57
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31st May 2020, 06:50
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31st May 2020, 17:01
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| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: MH01/TS09
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| Re: A Nature's Trail in Hampi Quote:
Sure... will research accordingly thanks | |
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