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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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White Browed Wagtails

It was at Tirunelli Temple in Wayanad that we saw the White Browed Wagtail, strutting about on the temple roof. Waiting for the temple to open, I had plenty of time to click photos....





And then, on my recent visit to Jog Falls, we saw the bird again, this time, a pair....



I wondered if the brown one was the female..



but a bit of reading tells me that its a juvenile.



The bird is quite a common one, and is frequently seen near water bodies, and is known to nest on roof tops. Interestingly, the scientific name of the bird is 'Motacilla Maderaspatensis', derived from the city of Madras, now called Chennai!


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