Bihar

This article was initially published on Ghumr.com. To read the article with photographs please click on the following link
http://www.ghumr.com/bihar-gaya-nalanda/

Hidden Beauty of Bihar

Last year (2016) we were travelling to Assam by train. It was a very-very long journey (Kamakhya Express duration 55 hrs!!). We crossed many states including Bihar. We all were amazed by the beauty of this state. It was green almost everywhere we could see. Even month of March which is a season of harsh summer, its agricultural fields were full of crops. Located in Indo- Gangetic Plain, the state is blessed with most fertile soil of our country. The land appeared so beautiful that we decided to arrange one nature camp during next year to explore her natural beauty. After an extensive research and planning, here we were in Bihar in the month of June, 2017.

Bihar is visited by most of the tourists for its Temples – Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples are in plenty. The most famous is in Bodh Gaya. This is the place where Lord Buddha got ‘Enlighten’ under the ‘Peepal’ tree – ‘Bodhi Vriksh’. This is a why scientific name of ‘Peepal’ is Ficus religiosa - due to its importance in religions. Our first stop was Bodh-Gaya. It is always suggestible to take a guide who is approved by ASI (Archeological Survey of India) at such historical places. Off-course you can explore on your own but having a guide will always give an additional knowledge. Our guide shared many interesting facts about this place. Gaya also has sacred Hindu temple – ‘Vishnu Paad’ (Vishnu’s Feet) temple and is visited by many devotees.

Very few people must be aware about first man-made cave in Asia. D you know where it is?? No, it is not in Gaya. It is located at about 2 hrs drive from Gaya in Barabar hills. This was second stop of the day - Barabar caves. This is Asia’s first man-made cave also known as Lomas Rishi cave. Not much of the carving can be seen inside but what got our attention was the extremely smooth and reflective surfaced inner wall of the cave. At places it appears as if you are looking in the mirror. It has two chambers. Insides being very dark is ideal for ‘Dhyana’. Since we were on a nature camp, we could not resist ourself from looking for some lesser fauna in the cave. We saw some rock geckos here. We heard few Lapwings on while climbing on the way to caves and some Kestrels flying in sky.

Next stop was the world famous Nalanda University (Ruins). It is only after when you visit such places you gain more knowledge about our rich heritage and above all we realize the kind of knowledge that our ancestors had in-terms of architecture, nature, teaching methods, preserving knowledge and off-course respecting knowledge. Our guide said there were about 2000 students studying at a time in this university and each student was given a separate room to stay. The library of Nalanda was once so rich and full of documents that when Gazani attacked the university and burnt is library, it was burning for 2 months! The black fire marks are still visible on walls of Nalanda. Although the place is ruined now, it speaks a lot about the glorious past that it had seen. Again here, while our guide explaining a monitor lizard, Rufous woodpecker and hoopoe still got our attention. It seemed to be a good place for birding.

Now it was a time to stop our exploration for the day. We stared our day at 9 am (which was supposed to start at 7 am but, one of drivers came late by two hours). After having a ‘chai’ we moved to our night halt located another historical place - Rajgir which is about 30 mins drive from Nalanda. We reached Rajgir at 7pm. After having dinner we took a small stroll nearby and had an ice-cream. One year before form now I didn’t even imagine that I would be roaming somewhere in Bihar enjoying my ice-cream as late as 9.30 in night!

Rajgir was the first Kingdom of Magadha Dynasty. It is originated from ‘Raj Griha’ (King’s home). The capital was later shifted to Patliputra (today’s Patna). One can visit Gridh Kuta, it also has ‘shanti stupa’ and lots of historical structures. There are cab cars available. Rajgir also has a sanctuary which is spread over 35.845 Sq.Kms. Ghoda Katora site is a part of the same. It’s a 7 kms dust road that takes you to the lake inside. There are horse cart available. We could see some birds and on our way back we got to see Nilgai, Sambar deer and Hanuman Langurs. Then we moved towards Nakti and Nagi Dam Bird Sanctuary (NNDBS). The Forest Department of Bihar (RFO & WL warden NNDBS) helped us a lot during this visit. RFO briefed us about the sanctuary, its bio diversity and current situation. The area is hardly visited by outside tourists as this area was once infected by some illegal activities but now Bihar Government and forest department is trying hard to improve the situation and they have succeeded well. Their efforts are highly appreciable. We were taken on a boat ride.  Saw some interesting birds there such as Eurasian openbill, painted storks, common pochards, fulvus whistling ducks etc. Satisfied with our visit we went to Semultala our place for night halt.

Next day morning we took a small stroll in nearby area. There was small forested area. As we walked inside the forest we could see that soil contains Mica. We were amazed to see that. Then we remembered that we were in Bihar that too near to Jharkhand. The area is rich in Ore of Mica. India stands on first position in production of Mica. Bihar, Jharkhand and Rajasthan are main areas where Ore of Mica is available. While we were wondering and wandering in the forest we came across a local lady. She was gathering leaves for making ‘Pattal’ (Leaf plates). She appeared hardworking and confident. W had a word with her. She demonstrated how she makes these plates. We came to know that they get Rs. 30/- for a pack of 100 leaf plates! But she seemed happy and busy so we didn’t troubled her much with our questions. After wishing her good-luck, we kept our exploration going on. The forest was beautiful with all the strata of vegetation and relatively thick. That day we left for most awaited destination of the camp – Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary.  June being a good season for Dolphin sightings, we were pretty excited to visit this place.

We reached little late by (2pm) to our place for night stay. Luckily, we got some good food at local food joint. Then it was time for trying our luck for a Dolphin sighting. Our local resource person a researcher from Vikramshila Biodiversity Research & Education centre had tremendous knowledge about Ganga, her people, all her biodiversity; the problems the sanctuary is facing. The forest department too helped us a lot for this visit as well. Next day early morning, we took another round of this sanctuary. Both the times we got to see a totally different aspect of The Ganga. We saw lots of birds including river lapwing, little tern, cotton pygmy goose, blue tailed bee-eater etc. Walking on the sandy deposits of the river was fantastic experience. We learned a lot from that visit.

The sanctuary was designated in 1991 for the protection of the Gangetic River Dolphin (the national aquatic animal of India). These are locally called as ‘Soons’ and are categorized as ‘Endangered’ by on 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are several threats for it’s (and ultimately our) survival. Threats such as - Multiple dams and barriers disrupting free movement of the dolphins, Pollution by fertilizers, pesticides and industrial and domestic effluents, which are responsible for the death of many fish and are likely to have a negative effect on dolphin population. Also, its hunting and poaching are majorly affecting its existence. As a matter of fact we saw the river getting polluted by domestic sewage being directly released n the river. Local NGOs and Government is trying to change this situation but it is impossible without people’s participation. On this note we ended our visit to the sanctuary.

It was time to get back to Patna for our return journey. We also visited to other important historical places such as Vikramshila university ruins (where we saw Flameback woodpecker and Common Hoopoe), Ruins of Vaishali (for lion emblem) and Remains of old Patliputra in Patna city itself.

We ended our OikoEssence tour to Bihar. But, the thought kept on coming to my mind - till today the Dolphins have survived but their number has drastically reduced and it applies to the rest of the plant and animal species as well. The nature will surely take its own course and ultimately it will bounce back on us. I really don’t know when we will learn from our mistakes OR Whether will we ever learn from our mistakes or not?

Chhattisgarh

This article was initially published on Ghumr.com . To read article with photographs please click on the following link
http://www.ghumr.com/chhattisgarh-bastar-sirpur/

Dakshin Kaushal – Full of Surprises - Chhattisgarh

There are many reasons for us – Indians to feel proud upon our country. Some of them are her natural beauty, her culture and heritage. Due to her varied landscapes and climatic zones variety of cultures nurtured and flourished here. All were (some are still) sustainable and designed according to the surrounding landscapes and biodiversity.  Talking about cultures and sustainable lifestyle some of our tribal friends are really doing a great job.

The State of Chhattisgarh, India is an excellent combination of tribal, rural and modern lifestyles. We (our venture OikoEssence along with our participants) have been planning to visit this state from past several years but, it kept on postponing due to several reasons. Ultimately got to visit this state in last year. It was a nature camp to Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. Since it was far a very short duration we couldn’t spend much time in exploring other destinations so there was a need to explore it little more.

I will slowly take you to the wonderful journey that I had in Chhattisgarh.

We reached Raipur station at 5pm in the evening which was supposed to reach at 4pm J (all that I can say is the reputation of Indian railways remained undisturbed). Our first stop was at Gariaband. It is at about hours’ drive from Raipur. We had dinner on the way at Aman dhaba as per the suggestion of Mr. Javed Memon – owner of The City Regency Hotel, Gariaband. He and his team were very helpful and offered us absolutely comfortable and hassle free stay at the hotel. The rooms here are clean, big and comfortable. Next day we started at around 7am. Our plan was to reach Jagdalpur via sitanadi & udanti wildlife sanctuary. This sanctuary plays a crucial role in saving Wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) which is listed in IUCN red data of species as an endangered. (more readings : http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3129/0).  This species has fall prey to the habitat fragmentation and seen in few places in India and less than 4000 individuals are considered to be surviving throughout the world. Which is a real worry when it comes down to the population of an herbivore (that are supposed to present in large number in food chain). Well, we could not see the water buffalo anywhere during our ride through their forest but, we enjoyed it very much and continued our journey to the destination – Bastar. We reached here in the evening.

Bastar is a very important social , commercial and cultural place in Chhattisgarh. It is considered as an original place of Tribal culture in India. One must visit to its anthropological museum to get an idea of how rich their culture is. The way they use/used surrounding flora and fauna for food, shelter, and clothing as well as their fishing nets, agricultural equipment, kitchen utensils and musical instruments is simply amazing. Yet, not disturbing forest on large scale. Their lifestyle is so simple and so close to nature! Another important destination to visit is Kutumsar caves. These are excellent examples of stalactite, stalagmite and column formations of lime stone. Although the column formation of limestone can be seen in various places but it takes hundreds of thousand years to attend a considerable diameter. The columns of Kutumsar caves are very broad. This indicates the ancientness of this cave and forest in which it is situated. We saw a crested serpent eagle sitting leisuly on the tree branch and we spent good amount of time in photographing it. While doing that we saw a giant squirrel as well. The guides there were watching us with the curiosity as we were the only group actually looking and admiring these forest components. The guides although trained by forest department don’t come across tourists that are interested in forest. They are used to “general touristy” crowd. All the national parks and sanctuaries are less visited by the ‘wildlifers” as these are almost devoid of their favourite characters – ‘Tigers’. One has to hire an open gypsy for forest department as the road goes through Kangerghati National park. We saw few birds while going to the cave but, couldn’t spend much time in birding as the driver had to take his jeep back to the main gate to collect more visitors. On our way, he mentioned that this was under ‘naxal’ influence few years back but, now completely out of danger due lots of efforts taken by the Government. There is a waterfall nearby which is a famous tourist destination – Tirathgarh waterfall. Another famous fall is Chitrakote.

Bastar was one of 36 princely state of the state. The name Chhattisgarh itself is derived from 36 garh (kingdoms). Bastar too has an interesting origin. It is believed that when first king was planning establish his kingdom, he worshiped a goddess. The goddess was delighted by his prayers and offered him a piece of cloth which was tied at very high level from the ground. She mentioned that that entire land will be yours from where you will see this ‘Cloth’ – ‘Vastra or Bastra’. Hence name ‘Bastra’ which later became Bastar. Well, this is all what I understood from the guide who accompanied us in barsur- a heritage place which we covered while travelling to Kanker from ‘Bastar’. Basrur is located at 75kms from Jagdalpur. It is a smaal sleepy village and happened to be throwm of power during the tenure of Gangavanshi rulers in as early as 840AD. Barsur is situated on the banks of Indravati River and known as city of temples & ponds. It is believed that it had 147 temples and equal number of ponds in those glorious days. Although Barsur has lost all its glory but, still it four temples – one that has two interesting, huge Ganesh Idols carved in single stone. There are three more temples here Mama-bhanja, Chandraditya & Battisa. Both are less decorative but interesting. Battisa has thirty pillars (battis) and two shivlings inside. These two were established by two queens of King – Banasur. All these temples are from 6^th century. All these temples are ruined and have simple carvings. Only Mama-bhanja temple looks complete from outside.

We left from barsur at about 6.15 and as per our knowledge our night halt at Kanker was about 3 hrs drive from here. But, the road is pretty narrow, under repairs and goes through the nice, dense forest patch in the beginning. All of this made our journey interesting, lengthy and exhaustive. We reached kanker at 12.00 in the night! But, we saw our first wild mammal –the Wild Dog followed by a wild cat in forest at beginning. Our Kanker hotel – Bafna lawns was really nice and we had a very comfortable stay. Next day we started late as our next destination - Sirpur was actually 3 hrs drive from here. Our stay was at Hieun Tsang resort – a nice place to stay.

Next day was dedicated to Safaris in Barnawapara sanctuary. This name is a combination of two villages Bar and Nawapara – two villages near sanctuary. The animals here are very shy. We saw spotted deer, Sambar deer, Gaur, Neelgai, sloth Bear,  Langurs and Macaques here along with good number of birds. We saw forest owlet for a very long time. It seemed it quite liked our presence and allowed us to take good number of photographs. Here in this forest I had my very first sighting of a Gaur calf. It was around 3-4 days old! Even the fawn of the spotted deer was the youngest of all that I had seen so far. We enjoyed this day the most as there were very less tourists here. The forests in Chhattisgarh unlike other forests of India attracts less “wildlife lovers”. So there was no one to run here there in search of tigers and desperately waiting to shoot them with the camera. So the forest is how it should be - less disturbed. That day we reached the resort late evening but with the beautiful memories of Barnawapara.

Our last day was spent in visiting heritage sites in Sirpur. Sirpur of Shripur as it was known in ancient times, is a small village on the bank of Mahanadi. It was the capital of Dakshin Kaushal under the Sarabhapuriyas and Panduvanshis. Sirur has archeological remains associated with Hindu, Baudhha and Jainism. What attracted me more was the construction of walls massive thickness with the help of bricks at time! The Laxman temple has carvings on bricks! I was amazed to the creativity shown on stone carvings at Buddha vihara. The stories from Jataka are carved here. A snake is shown entering in a hole from one side and comes from other side of the pillar. The bricks prepared in those times are still algae free whereas at certain places where modern bricks are used by the government to hold the structure properly has got algal attack. Barsur also has remains of bazzar of that time. The Mahanadi was used as trade route and lot of trade used to take place here. Now the Mahanadi flow has reduced and it has gone little away from this bazzar leaving only stories of that golden era that this place has witnessed once.

I really hope that the Land of Chhattisgarh soon gets its glory back and attract more enthusiasts that actually respect her natural beauty and rich heritage. Somewhere in my mind I feel that I will make a visit here again through my venture OikoEssence to quench my thirst of experiencing and learning more places, its culture and admire the heritage.

Gujarat Off-beat travel (This was innitially Published on Ghumr.com)

Gir Forest area of Gujarat is state’s most popular national park and wildlife sanctuary. It is Asia’s only region providing natural habitat to Asiatic lions. But, did you know that state of Gujarat also has three other wildlife sanctuaries. Jessore Sloth bear, Balaram-Ambaji wildlife sanctuaries and Thol bird sanctuary in Gujarat have been instrumental in conserving lesser known wildlife species.

Jessore Sloth bear wildlife sanctuary provides protection to Sloth bears and their habitat. It was our first destination during our nature camp to Gujarat. We also visited Balaram-Ambaji Wildlife sanctuary and Thol Bird Sanctuary. These are accessible from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar as well. Despite of being in the same state – Gujarat and located not very far from each other, all three Sanctuaries have their own characteristics and landscapes. Jessore and Balaram Ambaji wildlife sanctuaries are located on the border of Gujarat and Rajasthan states. Both of them act as a barricade protecting the land of Gujarat from getting covered by the sand from Rajasthan.

Jessore Sanctuary

Our train reached Ahmedabad early in the morning but we reached Jessore in the afternoon as we spent some time on small lakes that are present on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Jessore is in Banaskantha district.  Evening is a good time to go for trail in the forest. The exotic and invasive species Prosopis juliflora is in abundance at Jessore along with few indigenous plants species such as ber, acacias etc. We could not see the sloth bear but saw droppings and scratch marks made by bears (while climbing the tree). We sighted Sambar deer, wild boar and mongoose during the trail. Also, we spotted reptiles including monitor lizard and skink. Jessore has a huge lake which attracts water birds. One can even see good number of land/scrub forest birds here.

The wife of the caretaker prepared food for us during our one night stay at Jessore and no need to say, it was yummy.

Balaram-Ambaji Sanctuary

Next day early morning we left for Balaram-Ambaji wildlife sanctuary. On the way one can feel the noticeable difference in the vegetation. Balaram ambaji sanctuary shows a growth of big indigenous trees such as palash, mahua, beleric myrobalan etc. but, Prosopis juliflora still occurs. The staff of the forest department in Ambaji range was very helpful. Couple of them joined us for the forest trail. We started our walk little late in morning. Still we could see some forest birds and mammals like –  Neelgai, Wild boar, Hanuman langur and three stripped palm squirrel. It was refreshing experience to walk in forest. We also saw a forest calotes. After having an interaction with Regional Forest Office, Ambaji (which was very informative) we left for Balaram range.

Hanuman Langur feasting on Palash Flowers

Balaram temple is very near to sanctuary and many devotees visit here to offer their prayers. One thing really important – there are no restaurants/dhabas nearby. So one should carry the lunch or eat whatever snacks available on the small stalls here. We choose the second option as we had heavy breakfast in the morning. After this we went for stroll in forest. The forest department staff here was very kind and helpful too. The discussion between Forest Department and us was really interesting one and gave us lot of information.

Here we got to see one interesting phenomenon. This forest has only two rhesus macaques. The wildlife conservation team rescued and released them in this sanctuary long time back. These macaques stay with a group of Hanuman langurs. It was really intriguing for me. I haven’t heard of any macaque staying with Langurs before. (If anyone has any records of such associations/s then please feel free to share). Here too the staff of Forest department accompanied us and gave us some valuable information about its biodiversity.

Thol Bird Sanctuary

Then we continued our journey towards Thol Bird Sanctuary. We opted to stay in Kalol which is about at 45mins driving distance from Thol. Next day early morning we visited Thol bird sanctuary.

Grey Lag Geese, Stilt Pochard Shovellers

Thol is an amazing wetland. We got busy in clicking bird photographs before actually entering the official boundary of the sanctuary. Painted storks, egrets, spoon bills etc were busy in having their morning breakfast just outside the sanctuary. When we started walking along the lake we could see lots of birds. It was like a collage of different bird species placed in one lake. One can spend hours and hours observing, photographing and documenting the various bird species that use this lake. Majority of them are listed under either ‘Near-threatened, ‘Threatened’, ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’ status of IUCN’s Red list. Almost all of them are schedule one or two species as per the government of India’s rule.

This lake is also a nesting site for many birds and Saras Cranes are one of them. In fact some of us were lucky to see the courtship dance of Saras Cranes and I was one of those. It was something that I will remember throughout my life and feel blessed to witness such a wonderful creation of nature.

The memories are too many and I can go on and on… But, no matter how much I describe here it will not do the justice to the beauty of this place. One must visit to experience!

Brahmaputra’s Kaziranga

Sharing my article based on Kaziranga, gibbon and nameri - Assam published on ghumr.com

to read with photographs click on following link
http://www.ghumr.com/assam-brahmaputra-kaziranga/

Awesome Assam

Brahmaputra’s Kaziranga

Wildlife doesn’t necessarily be seen only in forest ecosystems. Different pants and animals are adapted to different habitat such as fresh as well as marine water, marshy lands, grasslands, alpines etc. Each habitat has its own beauty. We Indians are really very lucky to have almost all types of ecosystems in country and it is surely one of the many reasons why we should be proud of her. She has plenty of rivers - some huge some small but, they all support great number of biodiversity. Brahmaputra is one of the massive rivers that our country has.

We decided to experience this different habitat in the month of March, 2016. Although many people prefer taking a flight to Guwahati and continue from there by road but, to save cost one can take a train to Guwahati and continue the further journey by road.  We decided to take the second option. It was 58.5 hrs train journey (two nights) from Mumbai. The train passes through the varied and interesting landscapes of country. We reached third day morning to Kamakhya. Kaziranga is about 210kms away from this station. One of the three and half ‘shaktipithas’ (places of Goddess Shakti) - The Kamakhya temple is on the way to Kairanga.

We reached Kaziranga in the afternoon. Our hotel was near central gate of the national park. There are five zones of the park. We booked our stay near central gate and did five safaris from 3 gates – the central, eastern and western. We had one elephant ride, three jeep rides and one boat ride in the national park.

Kaziranga is located near Karbi Anlong Mountains/hills and also listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. It won’t be totally wrong if one says that Kaziranga has got its landscape from the river Brahmaputra. It holds ecosystems such as grasslands, forests, lakes etc. The area gets its fertile soil from this river. There is a particular species of grass called as Elephant grass grows here and it is a favourite food of one of majestic animals – the Greater One Horned Rhinoceros. Elephants, Swamp deers and hog deers are some of the few commonly seen animals here. Earlier, India was home to all the three species of Asian Rhinoceros – Javan, Sumatran and Greater one horned. Now only one species is surviving here that too comes under ‘endangered’ category of ‘IUCN’s Red Data List’. Rhinoceros are majestic creatures. When I first saw them I just kept on looking and forgot that I was carrying a camera. But, I was satisfied as I could admire the animal very well. Its skin folds across its flanks and tubercles give it look of armour-plated body. The horn that they have is actually a thick hair. It grows throughout the life and can be regrown if broken. It is considered to have medicinal properties. That is a reason why they are poached and it is a reason behind them getting endangered. As a habit they follow regular paths and defecated as the same place creating piles of dung. This makes it easy for poachers to find out their location and hunt them down. We also saw a mother and baby (one month old) while we were having an elephant ride. The baby gave us demonstration of how perfectly his mother was teaching him to grow. One of the safari elephant went too close to mom-kid pair. Immediately the kid took an attacking position, warned the elephant to keep the distance and managed to shoo him away.

Elephant sighting was another remarkable moment. When we first saw, it was only one male elephant with tusks and it looked disturbed. We thought it might be because of us and we kept a very safe distance from him. But, we were wrong as immediately we saw a group of another four elephants that were trying to shoo him away from them. That group had two females, one immature female and one Makhna (male with no tusks). We still kept a safe distance as none of them looked in good mood. We observed them nicely for about 5-10 minutes. If you are wondering how come earlier we missed the group of four elephants? Then the answer is the grass here grows really tall. Elephants can easily get hidden in this grass. Only tops can be seen.

If you have plenty of time in hand then a visit to Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary or Hoolock Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary – an area created conserve the only Ape species found in India the Hoolok Gibbon. The very distinct difference between other primates and apes is the lack of tail in apes. Apes can walk on the hind limbs for a considerable distance. It takes 3 hrs to reach there from Kaziranga. It has dominance of Hollong trees (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus) hence the name Hollongapar. Hoolock Gibbons got theier name from regular calls they make that sound like ‘Hoos’.  If you here their ‘hoo’s ‘ then you will remember it for ever. The protected area of the sanctuary is currently surrounded with tea plantations but it was once the patch of huge forest that continued till Nagaland. So, one can imagine the kind and intensity of the pressure on the forest and the life within it. We got to see many primates as well like – stumped tailed macaques, northern pig tailed macaques, eastern Assamese macaques, rhesus macaques and capped langurs. We saw one family and one more adult pair. The males have black fir whereas females are brown. The white eyebrows of males are very distinct. Observing hoolocks is a great experience. They hold and hang to a smallest twig with such an ease as we walk in gardens. This place is also good sight to good number butterflies that one can find in North-East part of India. The Variety of arboreal ferns such as bird nest fern is remarkable too. We were supposed to stay here for 2 hrs. However we spent about 5 hrs in roaming here and observing the diversity. It is advisable to keep the entire day free for this sanctuary. After this we returned to Kaziranga in the evening.

One should not miss the chance to experience the vastness of River Brahmaputra. She appeared almost like a sea to me. There is also a chance of freshwater dolphin sighting. Apart from these the water birds like herons, egrets, adjutant storks, openbill storks are seen in plenty. We also saw Great Hornbill. It nests there. We had initially planned for only three rides but after looking at this place decided to have two more jeep rides and we are really glad that we did it.

We visited orchid gardens before we left for Nameri. Orchid garden is another nice place to visit. But please keep about 2 hrs in hand to see this place properly. Nameri is located at about 5 hrs drive from Kaziranga. Nameri is another beautiful place. It has a really good forest that holds good amount of biodiversity. People come here for observing birds and butterflies. We reached here little late and it was a cloudy day so we decided to visit the nameri village. It was worth having a stroll in the village. The houses are built in unique. There is a different kind of satisfaction and calmness I have always observed in any village that I have been. I am not saying that villagers don’t have problems but there is still one can get peace here. After enjoying evening stroll, we came back. Our stay was in tourism department approved hotels at kaziranga (namdang house) as well as here in Nameri. The food that we got at both these places was too good. 

Next day we went to Pakke tiger reserve which is in ‘Land of the rising sun’ – the state of Arunachal Pradesh. It was decided to visit here as it is very close to Assam and all other sanctuaries in Arunachal Pradesh are far away from this. So the best way to visit here is through Assam. If you are not staying overnight in Pakke then it is advisable to carry packed breakfast and leave early in the morning for Pakke. There won’t be any shop open at that time. We started at 4.30 in the morning and reached Arunachal border by 7am. After some time we had breakfast the we carried with us and had chai at local tea stall. Surprisingly here too no one was in hurry. Even women from villages were having their morning tea from the same tea stall. People are very friendly here. All of them have a sweet smile on their faces. Pakke has few villages nearby and really good and thick forest. We did birding for some time and decided to return as we had booked for river ride in Nameri. We had our lunch at a local lunch home. It was Rs. 40/- for a full-fledged thali. River ride on raft was another fun. We saw many raptors and water birds on the riverbanks. Next day early morning we left for Guwahati airport. We wanted to save on time so we opted for flight. On the way we halted to see birds at Pobitara Sanctuary. One must keep about two hours extra to enjoy birding here. We too enjoyed a lot and did some bamboo baskets shopping at the roadside shops on the way. Overall it was a memorable trip. Looking forward to make another visit to Assam as six days are not enough.

A Walk in the Woods

Radhanagari & Dajipur - Originally this article was published on Ghumr.com. To read this article with photogrphs please click on following link
http://www.ghumr.com/a-walk-in-the-woods/

Radhanagari, Dajipur Wildlife Sanctuary

Sometimes I wonder how beautiful our country is! She holds treasure in terms of variety of languages, cultures and of when it comes to biodiversity; she is stands in top ten in the World.  I have a dream to visit and re-visit the maximum of its wonderful places. Especially those ones that are well known for their biodiversity, culture etc. Luckily through my profession I get to visit such places. Through nature camps it the world of various plants and animal opens in front of us. Then it is up to us, how much energy/knowledge to absorb from this. We (me and my friend along with campers) go for nature outings to various places. One of such outings was the Dajipur and Radhanagari wildlife sanctuary. It is located in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra region. The area of this sanctuary is about 351.16 sq kms. Generally, people approach this place from Kolhapur. But, we thought it will be great if we could cover both the coasts and forests of Western Ghats. Hence, we decided to visit this from Kankavli, Sindhudurga of Maharashtra state. Tasting Konkani food and exploring Konkan region were amongst the other intensions behind choosing this route.

The Western Ghats of India are blessed with natural beauty. Its rich species diversity adds up to it beauty. It covers western coastline of states – Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. It is home to about four thousand species of plants and thousands of faunal species including 325 globally threatened species (as per IUCN). Unfortunately , due to so called ‘development/progress’ Western Ghats (WG) is losing its species diversity and ultimately the forests and clean coastlines. Due to this the natural wealth is under threat and the WG is also listed in the 25 World Bio-diversity hotspots. However, some regions still hold rich flora and fauna. 

A new tiger reserve has been declared in Maharashra – Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. Dajipur and Radhanagari are part of it. (Sahyadri mountain ranges run parallel to the western coast; start from Nasik and merge in to the Nilgiri ranges of Tamilnadu). One requires a prior permission from The Kolhapur Forest Department of Maharashtra. It is famous for Indian Gaur (this animal is by mistake sometimes referred as ‘bisons’ that are not found in India). The other species diversity is worth watching too.

We reached to Kankavli in the morning and after sometime we went to Mithbav – a creek nearby.  The site was suggested by one of the Sr. Scientists in SACON, Tamil Nadu (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History). His students showed us the project site and gave information about their work. Then we went for a nature walk with him. Fishermen were busy with their fishing boats ready to catch the day’s fish. It had a small patch of mangrove. Good number of waders and other land birds were seen even though it was June – the onset of monsoon. We spent lot of time in looking and clicking the fiddler crabs – well adapted species for mangrove ecosystem. It was wonderful to observe them. The male of this species has two claws (like other species) but one of the in far bigger than another. The function of this claw is to attract female. It does that by waving their bigger claw. After having a good walk and clicking pictures we realized that we all were hungry. Our driver Mr. _____ was a local person from kankavli and he knew the about place where one can get the home cooked food. After having a good meal, we headed towards another Dhamapur bird sanctuary. There was an old temple and next to it was a huge lake. We just sat upon the staircases on the bank and searched for birds. Common kingfisher, a pair of marsh-hawk gave us a chance to have a look at them for a very long time. We still had some time in hand so we went to Kunkeshwar temple situated right next to the sea. The waves was breath taking. Roaring of sea really takes charge of one’s soul. While returning, it was getting dark. And we got to see a pair of quails making their way near road or probably trying to cross the road. They hid behind the bushes and we did not disturb them. If somebody else had seen those then, there was chance of these quails getting killed by villagers/ truck drivers as quail meat tastes good. By this time Mr. _______ got used to us and he used to stop the vehicle as soon as he spots any bird while driving.

Next day was a day for Radhanagari and Dajipur. On the way we halted at many places to see various trees like oroxylum indicum (Tetu), Erythrina indica (Indian coral tree) and birds like the commonly found in konkan – Malabar pied hornbill, Kestrels, parakeets etc. Radhanagari forest department provided us a guide for nature walk inside the forest. He explained us the forest and its species. Radhanagari is a catchment area of Shahu Sagar and Laxmi sagar. The forest has three types: Southern semi evergreen, Southern Moist deciduous forest and Southern evergreen forest. Since it was first week of June (not a peek season), there were no tourists at all inside the sanctuary.  So, it was only us and the forest. We clicked many insects, birds, plants… simply trying to absorb the forest as much as we could and linking ourselves with it. There was small house of a farmer and both of children were very pretty and curious about us. They offered us some water. Elderly people had a quick chat with us as they were really busy in plaughing their rice fields.

Last day we decided to visit costal side starting with Sindhudurga fort. On the way we spotted a brahminy kite sitting on a coconut palm. It appeared as if it was sitting in peace. I don’t know from when it was sitting but we spent around half an hour in clicking it and it did not move. Ultimately we had to move as there were few other destinations we wanted wo visit. When we reached the fort, iIt was closed due to wave actions and it was declared as dangerous to enter in that water. SO, we went on exploring places like Kudal, vengurla etc. We came across a very interesting well. That was built in Chhatrapati Shivaji’s time for Horses. It was step well. A gigantic ficus tree was standing next to the well. We also got one nice birding spot on the way. It was full with waterlilies and other reeds. Reeds provide nice shelter and feeding area for water birds. There were coots, Purple moorhens, bronze winged jacanas, brahminy ducks, grey herons and few dabchicks. After spending about an hour here , we decided to move and catch the train.

This visit had really given us a lot in terms of peace, calm mind, energy, natural beauty, sightings, understanding people and their well adapted life styles and off course a very good food. I really wonder when people say I finished Konkan sightseeing in three days where as we could not finish even a 1/10^th of it in three days. To understand any place properly one should sufficient time to observe its people, their lifestyles, geography, climate, nature and biodiversity basically everything. And try to relate them with each other after. After doing you may realize that nature rules upon us really.

Thanks for reading.

The Emerald - Panna National Park, Madhya Pradesh

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The Emerald

Gemstones are one of those things that have been fascinating human beings from ancient time. They are kind of extracted from earth through in mines and there are different types of gems exist. One of them is The Emerald. India has Panna (local name for Emerald) mines in Madhya Pradesh. The place is named after the same – Panna. Earlier, tourists were allowed to have a look at limited part of the mines but, later due to some reason it was banned for tourists. Still we visited Panna because our interest was in looking for real gemstones - the forest and its biodiversity is not less than any gemstone for us and Panna National Park has plenty of them to offer. Wildlife enthusiasts visit Madhya Pradesh (MP) for its natural wildlife and forest landscapes. The state of MP has some of world renowned National Parks – Kanha, Pench, Bandhavgarh. Luckily, as compared to these national parks Panna is not crowed with tourists – another reason why we chose it. We went there in the month of May. During summer the occurrence of ground vegetation is very less due to which the visibility increases and so does locating the animal becomes easy. Hence it’s preferred to go there in such months. However, the temperature is extremely hot and the air is very dry during this time of the year. If one has problem with the heat then it is advised to go there in winters that is from November to February.

We reached Satna railway station and from there proceeded to Panna in hired vehicle. We passed through nice agricultural fields, hillocks and some forest patches. Ultimately, we reached our hotel at night; had tasty dinner and went to sleep. Next day was the early morning safari inside the permitted area of forest (generally the buffer zone of any national park or sanctuary). As a government rule for protection of wildlife, nobody is allowed to stay overnight inside the National Parks boundary hence all hotels and lodges are outside the protected area but, nearby forest entry gates.

Finally, there were we out for a safari ride in Panna. As we entered we saw herds of spotted deer being shy and alert animals, they started running away. Another deer species we could see were Sambars; they don’t roam in larger groups. Sambar deer is listed in ‘Vulnerable’ category of IUCN red data list and is also a favorite food of Tiger – the top most predator of this forest. We clicked some pictures of Langurs while they were busy in daily routines such as cleaning each other’s fir, jumping here and there. Since it is a protected area, no one is allowed to get down of the vehicle. These vehicles are open safari jeeps. One has to arrange its own vehicle and it is compulsory to have a forest guide per jeep. They are well aware about the biodiversity of the area and are trained to explain it to the tourists.

We had five rides in the park and every time some or the other new species was added in our list of sightings. Some of the mammal sightings include Wild dogs (Dholes), Jackals, Indian Gaurs and Nilgai etc. Nilgai are largest antelopes of India and are easily differentiable from Sambar deer with the hair-like structures on the middle part of the throat. Nilgais being antelopes have permanent horns where as Sambar being deer has antlers and shade them almost every year.  We were told that out of these The Wild dogs are one of the rare sightings. We saw lot of forest birds too. It including Paradise fly catcher and Savanah nightjar. Observing them is a treat to the eyes. The adult male of paradise flycatcher has absolute white feathers except at the head region they are black. It is rightly called as Dudhraj in Hindi (Milk-king). It is also a State bird of Madhya Pradesh. Savanah nightjar being a nightjar is a master of

camouflage. It sits firm to the ground. One may feel as if it is part of stone it is sitting upon. A very good eyesight and observation is needed to spot it. We were lucky to have a forest guide who was able to do so. There is Vulture census that occurs every year in the National Park. It has about 2-3 species of vultures.

Rive Ken add up to the beauty of Panna National Park. Every time we stopped our jeep, I admired the landscape. Being situated in Vindhya mountain range it offers a spectacular view. There is a confluence of Teak forest (from Southern part of the Country) and Anoigessus spp forest (from western side of the country) and they blend perfectly here in Panna. I considered myself lucky to actually witness the beauty of Panna. There was another reason why we all were lucky. ‘Vatsala’ the oldest female elephant lives in Elephant camp of Panna National Park and we got to see her. We also saw her great grandson (yet to be named). Vatsala is about 96 years old and manages to roam around the forest with other trained elephants.

It was during the last safari that we saw a Leopard. First we saw the single leopard and after some time two cubs. I was amazed to see the size of first one – the adult male leopard. It was quite big as compared to regular leopards. The reason was cleared later. Panna had good numbers of tigers before. Later due to some un-natural reasons (hunting, poaching and habitat loss) there was not a single tiger left in the forest. So, ultimately the second top-most predator (leopard in this case) became the top one and it had good amount of food and ample of space to live. It proliferated and became really very healthy. In recent years (since 2009) there was big project carried out of re-introducing tigers to Panna. Now Panna National Park has good number of tigers. With the area of 1645.08 sq kms Panna provides ideal shelter to Tigers and ultimately the entire ecosystem. The adult male tiger requires area of appx 200 sq km as its territory. The Panna NP so far has 3 adult males. The total number of tigers reaches to 20-30 so far including adult males, females and cubs and they have fare size of area to live within. Since the area is vast they can roam around anywhere and the chance of sighting them becomes less. I was happy not to see the tiger as I knew somewhere they are leaving the way they want without any ‘Clicks-clicks’ of cameras and many jeeps running behind them to take a best picture shot. Perhaps this is the reason why people visit less here as compared to National Parks nearby. But, it will not be same scene after few years. As the number of tiger increases, the chance of sighting those increases and it increases the number of visitors. Too much of tourism in such area is harmful too. It puts pressure on nearby ecosystem. If every visitor follows the rule of forests safari and respects nature then the harm will be much less.

It was the time to leave Panna. We left it with happy minds, visited Khajuraho group of temples nearby and headed for railway station. I have been to Madhya Pradesh lot of time before and every time I have noticed the trains are always late! This time is was late by 10 entire hours!! It was only because we had spent last 4 days in Panna National Park with nice forested / natural surroundings; we managed to hold our patience and returned back to Mumbai.

Gulf of Khambhat - Abode of birds and stones!

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Gulf of Khambhat - Abode of birds and stones!

Agates, Blackbucks through Saras!!

It was December, 2015. We were nearing to the year end and packing our bags for a nature camp to Khambhat and Velavdar. Both the places have unique identity and both are located in Gujarat. Khambhat is known for Agates business and Velavadar has a Blackbuck National Park.

Vadodara is the nearest station for Khambhat. We reached there in the morning after having a cup of tea at the tea stall nearby station and waited for bus. Finally the bus came. Here we saw a strange thing; the last seat of the bus was removed and there was a broad bed fixed in-place of the seats. I guess at least four people could seat there and play cards or have a chit chat session. When we enquired to the driver it was said that this is a common practice and this way we can accommodate more people than regular seats. However, it was strange and not acceptable for us as we require proper seats. So, after a lot of struggle and arguments for the entire day we made the vehicle agent to change our bus and provide us the proper vehicle.

On our way to Khambhat from Vadodara station we got to see some birds like Francolins, Rose-ringed Parakeets, Egrets, Herons etc along with an Antelope – the Neelgai. This patch is very rich agriculture. One can see tobacco farms everywhere while driving on this road. Since we started from station early morning and only had a cup of tea before leaving the station, we all were eagerly looking for some food joints. The breakfast of Papdas, Gathiya and Bhajiyas is the peculiarity of this region. Every local food joints will serve you same things and it is tasty.

We reached khambhat in about 3hrs from Vadodara. It was earlier known as Cambay. This place attracts marine scientists, historians, archeologists and geology experts as well.   Khambhat receives local tourist flow but, very less tourists actually stay within Khambhat. If you are interested in architectural designs then Khambat can make you happy to certain extent. One can see a combination of Gothic and Islamic architectures in some of the old monuments and buildings of the town. Tourists come here for Agates. This city is the largest seller of agates. Scientists have ‘excavated’ remains of ancient Indian civilization deep down inside the sea in Gulf of Khambhat. This area is of historical and geographical interest. Tidal fauna (crab, molluscs etc.) here attracts the scientists. Tourists cannot go that deep to learn ancient civilization but, if you are interested in archeology then, Lothal is the must place to visit. Which is at about 2hrs dive from Khambhat.

What brought us here was tremendous variety of birds – migratory, local, water and land – all sorts of birds that one can see nearby khambhat. One can visit Dhuwaran sea/creek shore near thermal power plant.  On the banks of Mahi River. The Pariej is another place reserved for bird.  It is water logged area. There is a watch tower and observe many wetland species of birds such as painted storks, cormorants, herons, dabchicks, lapwings, stilts etc. Just about few meters ahead there is a water body where we saw lots of Dalmatian pelicans, Painted storks, Northern shovelers, Pied avocets, Brahminy ducks etc.

Next day was for Lothal. We have been looking pictures of this ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan civilization) site in our school textbooks. It was time to actually see them on the site. Our guide Mrs. Swati Pancholi explained us details of each and every thing present in the museum as well as on the site. Lothal in local language means ‘City of Dead’. However, when we learnt about the those people and their lifestyle, the architecture, the trade sense and perfect use of natural resources available , I thought that they still live in time with their tremendous knowledge and we – the modern people have a dead mind. It will take a really lot of time for us to actually understand their intelligence.

Since this drive too has lots of birding opportunities as there are wetland/ponds made by Mahi River. Normal drive takes 3hrs but, people with birding in mind, we decided to start early-a little before sunrise. The road was a treat to eyes. Openbill storks, Pelicans, Paited storks, woolynacked storks, shovellers and many more water birds made our morning a really memorable one. The sighting of Saras cranes in the fields was something amaizing. These huge birds have specific diets and they pair for lifetime. Due to construction on agricultural lands, wetlands there is a question mark on their survival. On our way back from lothal we saw a family of Saras crane – two immatures guarded by their parents with adult male walking in front and adult female behind.

We headed for velavadar next day. On the way decided to visit the largest protected area for birds- The Nal Sarovar bird sanctuary. There was a huge crowd and we were part of it. Forest guides and boats (private boats but government approved) are available here to take you inside and give information. One irritating and absolute unscientific thing we saw there was – ‘feeding birds’. There were venders selling ‘Gathiyas’-a local snack and it is not for your consumptions. Tourists offer them to birds and lots of Gulls get attracted towards the boats. We off-course didn’t buy any such stuff and informed the guide about how bad this habit is to the birds. Sometimes I feel that a day should come when these birds feed us with their food – raw dead lizards, insects, fishes etc. The correct way to conserve them is to protect their habitat instead of giving them wrong as well as readymade food.

After finishing our Nal-safari we continued our journey to the Blackbuck National Park’ in Velavadar. Blackbuks are antelopes. Male is dark black fir and female has brown fir. This place is also a largest roosting site for Harriers. Even foxes and jackals can be seen here. We were lucky to see them. There created another question in mind about the survival of these ones as well. There were property boards displayed near-by the sanctuary. Blackbucks require an open grasslands to survive and the area allotted for their protection is just about 38.08sq kms!! There was no doubt that we had lot of sightings in this regions of birds of prey-Shikra, falcons, harriers, eagles, mammals –blackbucks, Neelgais, Foxes, Wolfs, Wild boars etc. but, it is necessary to control the rapid urbanization that this place is going to face in near future. Unfortunately, wastelands and grasslands are treated as wastelands and are given to builders but these habitats are crucial for the survival of such open land flora and fauna and ultimately for our survival too.

Bhavnagar is the nearest station to the Velavadar so we headed towards it to catch our train. The drive goes through amaizing landscape. The sea is about 30kms away and on every full moon day and No moon day the high tide reaches till here and leaves wonderful landscape and biodiversity. We visited Bhavnagar palace. It came as a nice surprise that there are paintings of birds put-up on walls of this palace. O the trip that started with birds ended with birds too. And we were really happy.

Mandapeshwar caves - Silent witness

Mumbai has lots of surprises in store for everyone. Its people, its biological diversity, the places etc keep-on making me wonder. Like any other city it has seen lots of changes - some rapid, some slow. I really wonder how this city was looking like about 60-50 years back?? In the name of "progress" we (citizens) have managed to "Kill' its natural beauty and ultimately its natural resources. The forests are converted rapidly into urban landscapes or some human-made landscapes, all our rivers and streams are now almost converted into nallahs. Yes, I do agree that things will change and they have been changing from past. But what really matter are the impacts of that change, isn't it so? In ancient time as well human tried to make use of resources for his own benefit but, it was all created with keeping the nature in mind and not by "manipulating" it. One of the examples of earlier/ancient human creations are caves and the city of Mumbai still have them in its municipal limits.

I had a chance to visit Mandapeshwar caves in borivali (West), Mumbai. There are BEST buses available from Borivali station that take you to IC colony. The caves are in IC colony itself. One need to fill the stomach before reaching this place, positively near station as there are very less option available near by Mandapeshwar. We too had good breakfast near the station itself. 

when I first looked at the caves a thought came in mind - these caves to are a silent/unfortunately silent observers of degrading natural resources of the city. I had earlier seen Kanheri caves that are in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. Kanheri are still surrounded with a patch of greenery since it is a protected area under Indian forest protection act. But, the Mandapeshwar caves are really unfortunate as far as natural greenery is concerned. I was shocked to know that earlier Dahisar river used to flow in front-of these caves. Currently, one can see a continuous patch of concreted roads and buildings! It is now managed by Archaeological Survey of India. The area of the caves is much smaller as compared to Kanheri. They were carved in the parent rock of Maharashtra-The Basalt about 1600 years ago. It has lord Shiva's temple in middle which is in worship. On both the sides of temple are empty chambers with few carvings in it. One on the left side has shiva's marriage carved on a wall. Some of the other carvings and even some pillars are not in good condition. Since we (myself and my friend) had lot of time in hand we spent  pretty good time in observing the sculptures and tried to look everything from our point of view and discussed a lot.

On top of the caves are many broken walled chambers. This part was utilized by Portuguese as Christian University. After capturing the place they removed/broke/covered some sculptures of the caves and put a Holy cross in place of one (covered) sculpture (probably Lord Shiva's). The church was funded in 1544. Maratha defeated Portuguese in 18th century and opened the temple for worshiping again. Later British took over and started church (Our Lady of Immaculate Conception - IC church) practice once again. Finally after independence it was open for lord shiva's worship and it is in practice till date. Now caves have open ground in-front and locals use it as playing ground. This cave also has rain water harvesting tanks (still in usable condition). Since we visited this place in monsoon this small was green. When we went on top I saw few trees, herbs and shrubs. It is also suggestible to visit here during the night of 'Tripurari Pornima' which is held in the month of 'Kartik' (Indian lunar calendar) as during that time this cave is lighted with 'Diyas' (ghee lamps) and is a pretty good site to see. After this we went to the church which is just next to it. 

We left the place in afternoon. I am sure these caves must have seen a 'lot' and witness the human greed and madness. Hence-forth hopefully they see some good part of humans' mind.

 

A mouse like!

Trekking – yet another thing that I am not fit for.  So when, a friend of mine invited me for a trek to Khanderi and Underi forts I was not sure about attending. But, then I was told that being Sea forts there won’t be much trekking involved. It will be an easy trek. It was easy indeed and that gave me some time to admire the biodiversity of the region. This is difficult in case of in medium and hard  level treks.

The name Underi is derived from – Mouselike (probably because of its small size and made up of black rock i.e. basalt) and Khanderi is derived from the God – Khanderaya.  Earlier they were also called as Hennery-Kennery.

Prior permission is required from maritime board to visit these forts. A better option is to join some trekking groups that take care of such permission. I went with Youth Hostel Association - India’s Mumbai Unit.

'Thal Jetty'

We started from Mumbai at 6.45am by private bus and it took us about four hours to reach the Thal jetty of Alibaug district. 'Thal' jetty was full of hustle bustle of fishermen and fisher-women. It was a huge tamarind tree that grabbed my attention. It was standing in the middle and looked very old. It has nice sitting area surrounding it which must be used by locals as common place for chitchatting. There on an electric wire above were sitting nearly 8 Drongos devouring the leftovers of fish catches. There was a huge pile gathered of varieties wasted dried fish (fish manure) and it was a ‘fishy feast’ time for Drongos. There were gulls too but they preferred to stay closer to the water (sea).

Getting in and out of boat at Underi

Underi Fort

A motor boat took us ahead from here to Underi fort first and then to Khanderi fort. Since there is no accessible jetty for this fort one has to jump on the boulders from the boat. The experts tried to maintain the minimum distance between fort and the boat. Underi is built up by making walls of huge quadrangular rocks kept on each other and gaps in between them filled up with smaller rock pieces. Almost no binding material used to hold them. It’s simply a matter of trigonometry and perfect timing while fixing/piling them together. This fort was built by Siddhis. The fort like many other forts in Maharashtra is in ruined state but, whatever is left is worth watching. Here again my attention was grabbed by a Fig tree first and then the fort. This fort has three fresh water tanks, few escape routes. Afterwards when I did some referencing it has cave with carvings and an underground prison that was used earlier. I didn't see any of these personally. There are few cannons scattered here and there.

Walls of the fort

Cannon @ Underi

Arch. No packing material can be seen

Fig tree

Khanderi fort was built by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It is now re named as Kanhoji Angre Island. Kanhoji was a Naval Chief in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's time. Khanderi has a light house that was built by East india Company in 1867. (Ref.:  https://books.google.co.in/books?id=k59aVCIlFB8C&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=Khanderi+underi+name+derived+from&source=bl&ots=VOLmVOmDgw&sig=KMfckmKnbfjLcyA3n9d7ScmC4ww&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fzwAVfalLMTHmAWT7IDYCQ&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=khanderi%20light%20house&f=false)

Before visiting the lighthouse we saw a huge rock (probably basalt) giving out a metallic sound when hit by another small piece of rock. It could be because of metal content or it may be having some pores. But, I really don’t know if basalt shows such characters. I will be glad if someone could explain it to me. This fort campus also has few temples with ‘Vetal’ being the most famous and still in worship by fishermen of nearby areas. This fort also has a Christian Cross ad Buddha temple. There are many cannons scattered like that in Underi fort. Three of them are with the carriage. There is a grain storage area too. There was a pair of kestrel flying in the sky, few trees of Indian Jojobe and grass species. One should not expect a great variety from such places but, one must visit these places at least once.

Lighthouse

Cannon @ Khanderi fort

Few more scattered

There are two things that one would notice strongly immediately after entering these forts. First is huge amount of garbage scattered all over including thermocol, plastic plates and to make it worse the beer bottles. The second thing is - useless names marked on rocks. These “souvenirs” must have originated from the visitors who come here to “admire” the beauty of the area. These hopeless habits are ruining the discipline of the forts. A visit to such places should help in making the visitor a better disciplined human being and not to show how bad a human can be. There are lots of things going around in having ‘Chhatrapati Shinaji’s' statue in the sea but what’s the point in having/supporting Chhatrapati’s statue anywhere in the sea when we cannot maintain the dignity of his history? Cleaning and maintaining his forts will be a better tribute to this great hero. Think about it…

Contribution of 'Civilized' people

Some more contribution

Thank you for reading