[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

Ramkya
I am really enjoying your travels. I would love to see the pics of the Seshasayee and the Charanganga source. I found that area very serene and peaceful in the middle of the jungle.
Sudipto

Sudipto,

The area cannot be explained in any photo or narrative, serene or any other words cannot also really depict the
soothing calm it can give if you sit there for 10 minute.

I have 6 GB of pictures and want to finish this off. Right now neck-deep in work, will get time tomorro to finish this off.

Parvath,

Thanks a ton man for the PM of how to upload pictures and give captions and all the tips.

--Ramky
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[given2fly]

Ramkyji, Dhanyavaad.

I have near those jungles all my pre-work life and yet never explored it this well. Been to Kanha once and that is distant memory now. Since I am basically from MP/CG area, I now must go back to my home state soon and explore these lovely places you have captured in your pictures so beautifully.

Phirse, Shukriya.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

The area cannot be explained in any photo or narrative, serene or any other words cannot also really depict the
soothing calm it can give if you sit there for 10 minute.

wah bhai. and therefore you skip both. lol. but i can understand the feeling. specially the pain of resizing. that area has a kind of ancient and prehistoric feel about it. if you don't mind and if it's not seen as a hijack of your thread here is my pic of that place

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team

wah bhai. and therefore you skip both. lol. but i can understand the feeling. specially the pain of resizing. that area has a kind of ancient and prehistoric feel about it. if you don't mind and if it's not seen as a hijack of your thread here is my pic of that place

Absolutely not, pl. share whatever you have. I have similar photos, will upload tomorrow.

The portion where the lady and the child are climbing, 100 mtrs of skill testing ground for for any 4x4 driver / car, that's the tougest pat of the climb to the fort. In about 100 mtrs, it uturns and climbs 75 feet, the incline must be 50 to 60 degrees and the road very bumpy now, can't take it fast.

Another related information, nobody is allowed to be there alone near that climb, a tigress with her cub chased a firangi some time back and backed off when it saw a crowd of people. This area is strictly to be visited with a crowd.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

In December 2006, when we went there, jeeps used to go only upto Seshasayee and the rest of the journey to the fort had to be on foot. For the benefit of others that's the entry to the fort where my wife and child are climbing up. The actual fort is a bit far away from here. I cannot imagine jeeps being driven on that track !!! You are lucky to get that experience.

[ramkya1]

Tribal man heating up his drum for the tribal dance that followed.

The charges table at Tala entry gate.


First marshalling point for gypsys.
It's a great confusion to get the entry slips, not very well organized, might is right!!!
The entry gate to the fort, the section drivers dread, steep u turn and grind up. A tigress with her cub are seen often here.


Bandhavgarh temple and some scenes from there.

[ramkya1]

Only one temple is preserved, the rest of the many are closed down and off limits, snakes and tigers are believed to have staked out the area...... generally permission to go up here is not given, only when the gypsy path is cleared from time time time... again we were one of the 5 cars allowed thro. there.

[ramkya1]

On the way down, you can see another Gypsy coming down above us.

A thirsty monkey, a rare sight, all stop to watch and shoot.


Lord Sheshshaiya, 1000 years old, still going strong, the place was immensely soothing, the place medieval, you'd feel you're back to 10th century in a time machine. The Charan Ganga starts from the feet of the statue.



On the way down, we spotted another peacock and a wild boar too.

[ramkya1]

[SIZE=2][SIZE=2]02-11-2008: While checking out we met John from Norway with his Bazooka. Actually this is a Nikon D700FX on a tripod he's going[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]to use in the next 5 days for tiger shooting, luck to him. Its interesting to know that he has rented it at about 12500/-per month for 12 month and has the option to buy it at 5% of the sticker price after 6 months, what an offer, that wouldmean in INR you can get the whole contraption for about INR 60-70K!!!!!! [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]There’s as much confusion about Bandhavgarh to Khajuraho as the one from Jabalpur to Bandhavgarh, details sketchy, no first-hand-account about roads, so many suggestions, so many alternatives. The best bet is to ask the local taxi drivers who do the stretch from Delhi to Bandhavgarh taking Firangis thro the regular circuits, the owner of the property, Mr.Kamal was available, an ardent traveller himself, he had just brought 15 Greek inbounds and said the shortest route and the best route is thro. Kithouli, Maihar, Unchehara, Dhanera, Nagod, Bhimmitda, Khajurao; that was useful info, [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]the GPS could not find the section from Maihar to Nagod, this is a new section.Drive from Bandhavgarh till Kithouli junction, 31kms, too about 1 hour, check out from the forest post. Good surface, lots of turns, unmarked bumps on the thick forest road, when you slow down, you can see hoof marks of deers and other animals on the road edges, night driving could be tricky, exciting during day time. Barahi is a busy village town here, after the toll plaza, the road for 5-7 kms takes a turn for the worse, they’re building 2 new bridges over rivers, one can see it has been a difficult task thro difficult terrain, the beauty of the landscape was stunning, had to stop for 10 minutes just to see this temple on the side of the river, animals grazing all around and children playing all around; reminded me of the feature sections of National Geographic, felt lucky to be able to travel, see and enjoy Incredible India.




We have some much domestic, I sometimes wonder why people spend so much more money to go abroad, without finishing what’s available at the door-step. There’s Athirapally in Kerala, one of the biggest in India, the marble rocks in Jabalpur, Rane Falls in Khajuraho (own grand canyons) many tiger resorts in MP, lovely country sides throughout and other innumerable marvels waiting to be seen. This is just one strain of thought, I respect those who travel out, so don’t jump on me ?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]We pass the Miahir Birla cement factory gates, enter town and take a couple of confusing right, left turns and somehow miss the Unchehera –Nagod road, reach inside Satna, loosing 45 mts and doing 15-20 kms. The locals say, this whole section roads were just single road tracks some time back, the road thro the Ghats before Maihar has opened up the country [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]to tourist traffic from North down. Nagod to Panna, 60 kms is one of the flattest country, sprinkled with forest and a very different experience than anything we have done before. There’s sparse local traffic, only long distance taxis with tourists, the road has a red hue everywhere in this region; the mud and gravel has a red tinge everywhere, giving it a [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Mars-like tinge!!! [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]We reach Bhimita, 253 kms @ 130 pm, take right turn for the 13 kms run to Khajuraho on the 4 track road. The railway station is ready, the airport work going on, signs of things to come. Once these are operational, tourist traffic is bound to gallop, charters would fly in and rates would go up, anyone want to visit and finish this would be [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]wise to do ASAP. [/SIZE]


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[RSimonS]

Very nice write up, lucky that you saw the tiger in its habitat.
D700 or rent, nice to see. Procuring an SLR with live view is in my list for long, but resources are not enough :(.

[gd1418]

John's bazooka seems to be a 600mm. Did you find out the lens size?

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by gd1418

John's bazooka seems to be a 600mm. Did you find out the lens size?

I think it was 800 mm, he had a kit with a whole lot of goodies, actually a suitcase full of lenses, this guy was rigged to the gills, all rented stuff

[ramkya1]

02-11-08: I am goung to quickly finish this and allow the pictures speak.
We reach Raddison, check in, relax till 5 and go watch the Big Temple light and sound show. It's so good, we watched it the next day too. If you're going, go early, take the ticket early, stand in queue and sit on the first row. It gives you clear picture of the temples around and also gives you real sourround sound effect. If you want to take pictures, that's the best place, you'd need a tripoad, officially not allowed, we smuggled on in and managed to shoot some stunning photos, the 2nd day they caught us, used the chair handle to steady the digicam to shoot, you need night shots, a couple of shots to experiment and then you're home. This is a must see show.





Raddison is one of the best there, a 5 star we got at a discounted rate of Rs.2500/- AP, what can I say?


If you are eating out, there's a hotel opp. the temple, Siddarth hotel, have decent rooms too at an economic rate.

03-11-09: We take a guide to show us around the West and East temples, the main set of temples need a registered guide Rs.600/- ( we skipped it). What can I say about these temples, simple spell-binding in the architecture.

Something about the erotic ones on the temples, there are plenty of them in most of these, you imagine it, you'd find it in some form or other. Some of them are very explicit, very tricky to see it with family, our guide was enthusastic to explain each and every pose and action, I took him aside and told we know about sex and what the statues are doing, told him to skip explaining those sections!!!!!!!!

Here's a link to some of those pictures I found on the web, for all those erotic pictures at close range.

www.travelblog.org/Photos/84614.html

The temple visit is a whole day job, very tiring, lots of walking to do if you want to see them all

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[ramkya1]

Some more pictures of the temple.




Something else I found interesting, the spellings on the board are worse than my typhos



Parting shot of Radisson Pool, water was too cold, my sun jumped in, caught a cold and had to be on anti-biotics.

[ramkya1]

Actually rushing thro to finish, sorry this has to end today.. tied up for the next 7 days..

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04-11-08: We head out back to Panna route, exactly 24 kms from Bhimit junction, you have the entrance to Pandav Caves, another must see sight. You need to pay for the car and guide too, forest rates, but would be worth it. We pack, its desolate, NOBODY out there, we were a little worried. Use the gear lock, one of the few times we had to pack out in
the open and go down to the huge lake like structure, actually a big pond. The water level coming down is a trickle now, the whole setting again was jungly, soothing and quiet, except for water sound and nature sound. We found the guide emerging from a small building there, he's a naturalist too. The huge lime stone / kimber wall on one side is drippin with water, it's as if someone has cut off the forest with a buge buldozer and one side of earth face is left open.







The guide says Panna has rich jungle life, tigers rare but plenty of leopards and other animals. There are caves, a small temple for the Pandavas who spent abotu 40 days during the Vanvas, another family from MP join us and the silence is shattered. They leave after taking photos, we sit there till 1, one can spend an entire day doing nothing, its therapy for the soul, you can relally loose the world if you have a good book to read or a decent MP3 player to listen to music.

I sit and mostly talk with the guide, gather lots of information for future trips; this area is an el-do-ra-do for camping, Out Bound Trianing and any out door activity, they also organize a night sifari for special requests!!!!! We head back to town around 1, have lunch and straight leave for another must see place, Rane Falls.

4 kms from the big temple gate, you turn right, 17 kms you reach the forest check in point, again pay in for the car and the guide, drive another 3 kms to the observation point. The guide took us to the Croc watching point, another 5 kms ride thro forest to the dam, there's a boating facility We catch a croc. with the zoom, plenty of them on thsi river, the guides say.










What need to be seen is the Ken riven falling into a buge crator gouged out of the earth by an extinct volcano. The river flows thro this gorge, like Marble rocks and is a sight to see. In the rainy season this would be another eyeful, a great sight, those nearby, plese visit during rainy season, you'd remember it for the rest of your lives, saw some photos of the fall in full bloom, awesome is an understatement. The rock formation itself is something seen to be believed, the photos will show only a portion of what it is.

We head back to Raddison, our tour is complete as far sight-seeing is concerned, now its the journey back to Ahmedabd.