Fire in Binsar WLS

 If you cannot handle the heat, stay out of the flames.

It is allegorical, but forest fires are the same, intense heat  burning all before it. Forest fires can leave scars forever.

It could be a carelessly thrown cigarette (who smokes bidis now?); it could be deliberate, the viilagers feel that sweet grass always grows when the old dried grass and pine needles are burnt away; it could be a lightning strike…. any of these for starting a fire. But once it catches it spreads like, well, wildfire. 

The forest, especially where pine grows, is one great tinder box; waiting for that spark. The smoke obscures everything, particularly in the distance, it kills wildlife and birds as they have nowhere to go.

Building walls around properties; planting other trees like kafal, rhododendron, oak and other species; are all done in an attempt to inhibit forest fires. 

The pines are beautiful to look at, they grow in groves, but the resin is extremely flammable. they were tapped for resin (chevron shaped cuts, as above) till 1988, when Binsar became a Wildlife Sanctuary. And where the resin is exposed the pine trees are much more susceptible to catch fire. 

Pines have a great affinity to live, a shred of bark and they grow, the flame attacks the pine resin but the tree doesn’t die. The pines are almost fire-retardant, but they pass the fire on to small bushes and grass.

Stumps of old pine trees are completely burnt. One personally feels that the endemic growth of these forests is better than those trees and bushes brought by colonists for other purposes. The endemic growth is often visible in water courses, presumably where pine doesn't grow  or is difficult to access.

The scars caused by these fires are difficult to heal.

 

Partners on the lake - a Bhigwan experience with a difference

Bhigwan is not a place, it is a feeling that one is there.  A serene spot on the Ujjani Dam, normally Flamingoes, both Greater and Lesser, arrive here in flights.  And along with them the Great Indian Tourist.  All ethics goes out of the window and entitlement comes in.

Many of the fisherfolk are partners, presumably husband and wife, brother and sister, Mother and son… They take it in turns to row, lay the net, start the engine. Had the women heard of “emancipation”, or rights?  Did they even care? An honest day’s work is all that the team cared for.

An unpaid worker, nay, a labourer? Or was it a labour of love? Maybe it was neither, keep the money in the family, one less pair of hands to be paid for?

There is no gainsaying the dexterity of the duo, thin or portly, often a little boat but the two of them would change places, lay out the net, row, catch fish and perform all the tasks in the netting of fish.

The occasional bird catching fish, stealing it, from the fisherfolk. Though competing with the birds big and small, the fisherfolk respect the space of the birds.  Though I think there is enough for all.

Out before dawn, midday back home, and out in the evening again. Round the clock, seven days a week. Till the dry season when the lake became considerably smaller.  

And so, it goes on…

Ladakh - In Search of the Snow Leopard

 

Prayer Flags
Disbursing prayers in the wind

The primary purpose of my Ladakh trip was searching for the Snow Leopard. 

Their thick white-gray coat, spotted with large rosettes, blends in perfectly with Ladakh’s steep and rocky mountains.  The soft thick pads, the long bushy tail (a natural scarf) all serve a function. This perfect camouflage renders them all but invisible, earning them the name: the “Ghost of the Mountains”.

Blue Sheep (Bharal)

Another Bharal

We paid obeisance to the prayer flags and set out to find the Snow Leopards. We saw a Eurasian Magpie, Woolly Hare and a lone Bharal, at various times during the expedition.

Eurasian Magpie
Found at these altitudes only

Ladakh Urials
A one horned ram stands guards over the herd 

The Blue Sheep (Bharal), Ladakh Urials, and Ibex (too distant to photograph); all put on a show, and what a show it was.  Any one would have been a treat, all three…

Woolly Hare

These are the prey of the Snow Leopard, and it is the reason the Snow Leopards descend from the high mountains. They follow prey.  Humans are not the prey of the Snow Leopard, in fact they have become quite used to humans, coming quite close.

Snow Leopard
The distance at which it was normally seen

We were lucky in that a Red Fox, decided that the Snow Leopard’s kill was a tasty meal.  In order to protect its kill, the Snow Leopard stalked the fox and chased it away. This is the closest I have seen a Snow Leopard.

The Snow Leopard chasing the Red Fox away
The fox is in a quandary, one one side is the Snow Leopard
and on the other is us humans

Snow Leopard...

...stalks the Red Fox

The same Snow Leopard which came close

I wonder if our children, or their children will see the Snow Leopard, or will it become a historical myth?

Ladakh- a homestay away from home

…the breathtaking beauty of high passes, raw, snowy landscapes, serene monasteries, and unfortunately, the Great Indian Tourist.

Woodgrain
even the most mundane had a beauty
about it. Because of it?

I went to Ladakh and I spent 8 days in a homestay and a week on a Snow Leopard expedition. This photoblog tells the story of the homestay part of the trip. I stayed in a village called Hemis Sukhpachan, I would love to call it quaint, but quaint it isn’t, every other house is a homestay of sorts. From the lowest cost, bathroom outside; to a fancy hotel and everything in between. I stayed at Zinglo Residency, as I wanted an attached bathroom and three meals a day.

Winter's breath
a stone blocks the cold wind from getting in 
through a window

It had snowed for about two days and all was covered in white. It was white everywhere till the snow melted, became ice and disappeared.... till the next snowfall.

White and snow chains

Snowflakes crystallise against
a window pane

On the way my driver and I passed Sangam, this is where the Indus and Zanskar rivers meet. The Great Indian Tourist has been here (in summer of course). There are many “adventure” activities here, zip-lining being amongst the most prominent. Thereafter we turned and drove the remaining 8 kms to Hemis Sukhpachan.

Sangam: from the top of the picture flows the Zanskar,
from left to right is the Indus

Ground Zero in Hemis Sukhpachan

On the first day my host and I went to a huge Buddha statue, the stairs were slippery as they were polished granite. For such a small village such a large statue was an anomaly, and huge it was. On the way up and down my host showed me where his mother used to live.

The Buddha looks out over the valley...

...And blesses all who seek his blessings

On subsequent days I walked for about four-five hours, there were three roads leading into/out of Hemis Sukhpachan and I walked them all.  Preferring to do an uphill climb at the beginning and downhill at the end of the walk. On one of these roads the downhill came first, getting back was difficult.  

Another Brick in the Wall

I carried my camera whenever I went out, trying to take arty-*arty pics whenever I could. Though I did sneak in the normal image now and again, mainly as a record.

A more effective window block

Magpies soak up the morning sun

The mountains are calling, and I must go… 

Ganeshgudi - A Land Of Birds

 

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Someone sent me a bird call of a tiny bird that is supposed to reduce BP, lower cholesterol, release endorphins… and do everything that is good for humans.  Be that as it may, it also prompted me to write this blog about a birding trip I had recently been on with a friend.

Brahminy Kite

We had gone to Ganeshgudi, and before you ask where that is, if you don’t know you don’t need to know. A twelve-hour car ride from here, coz we got stuck in traffic jams, and a ten-hour drive back coz we didn’t. We spent two days there, doing serious birding the first from about 7 am till about 9 pm.

Black Drongo

Though we were invited to go birding on the second day, we decided to go on our own. After a half a**** attempt at bird-watching we just chilled, sleeping our way through the day and a large part of the night, remember that we had to get up early the next morning and drive back.

Green Bee-eater with a moth

On Day One we started birding at the Timber Depot, under an able guide called Rajni Rao. She seemed to have all the available species buttoned down, “look, there is a Blue-bottomed Bunting” she would say and there it would be, just where she indicated.

A brace of Imperial Pigeon

 In the Timber Depot a family, two kids, the elder all of about four, the younger, an infant, would begin crying on cue just when we saw that Blue… the mama and papa; and husband and wife joined us.  The only cameras were with the husband and wife. After a while they were shooed off by Rajni saying that the kids frightened the birds.

Hill Myna

And so we went from place to place, including a water-body where the waders, and birds staying close to water were. Then we went to a mud embankment where we saw a Tarantula spider, as big as my hand with fingers; a pair of Scops Owls a little further on and so it went, a full circle.

Malabar Pied Hornbill

We went to river (being the Christmas week) where the Great Indian Tourist was out at his destructive best and the resultant traffic jams.

Malabar Grey Hornbill

One couldn’t get in edge-wise into the homestay where we were staying, the car-park was full of cars, and many people were in a hurry to go somewhere, the cars and buses were fast.

Tarantula spider

In fact, there were many who stayed one day in Ganeshgudi, one day elsewhere, and so on. We met a couple with a little kid who having arrived that evening said that they’d go rafting in the morning and drive on the to the next place in the afternoon, and the next place wasn’t close.

Ashy Drongo

The birding with Rajni as guide was, of course, the highlight of the trip; the chilling came next!

A pair of Scops Owls