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Ladakh - Planning The Trip

Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out!  Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
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Indian Roller

The Indian Roller is a bird which is quite common all over India, especially Southern India. It is the State bird of Karnataka, and we saw it quite often on our visit to Hampi, Aihole, and Badami.





However, I never managed to get a decent photograph. On my recent trip to interior Maharashtra, we were surprised to see the Indian Roller all over the place. So often, in fact, that Samhith now prides himself on being able to identify it from a distance!!!



We spent much of our time in the bus looking out for birds, even though we couldnt always identify them... and every time we saw a Roller, it was nice to see Samhith excitedly pointing it out. I wonder what the other passengers thought of us!!!



I did manage to photograph the bird finally, when we were travelling by auto. And each time, the auto driver appeared surprised that I was stopping to take photos of birds!!!! The last one said, "Mumbai might be a big city and life there might be wonderful, but I guess you don't see birds there, do you?" How right he is! 


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Comments

  1. MridulaNovember 24, 2012 at 1:38 PM

    A perceptive auto driver and lovely pictures of the bird!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarNovember 24, 2012 at 8:08 PM

      Thanks Mridula! and such perceptive chaps are really rare

      Delete
  2. Rebecca SawNovember 24, 2012 at 4:14 PM

    Hi hi! I have sent you an email Hope you received it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. DietmutNovember 24, 2012 at 9:56 PM

    Indias roller, this is a very nice bird. A beautiful day for you. Greetings Dietmut

    ReplyDelete
  4. Airport Limo ServiceNovember 25, 2012 at 7:10 PM

    It's rare to find at our place. Nice to see the pic of this beautiful bird. Thanks for sharing. ~ Tariq Mehmood

    ReplyDelete
  5. R Niranjan DasNovember 26, 2012 at 3:04 PM

    Lovely clicks!!

    http://www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
  6. SanandNovember 27, 2012 at 6:57 PM

    Superb clicks and useful info.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bindhu UnnyDecember 4, 2012 at 11:19 AM

    Nice shots! Didn't know it's the state bird of Karnataka. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Manu PonnappaDecember 4, 2012 at 3:31 PM

    Nice photos.. Thanks for sharing..:)

    manuponnappa.blogspot.in

    ReplyDelete
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