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...
The Common Kingfisher is, in my opinion, anything but common! I see its cousin, the White Throated Kingfisher, almost all the time, at home, as well as on my travels, but it took me a trip to the Satpura National Park to see the Common Kingfisher for the very first time! And then again, we didnt see it in the sanctuary, but spotted it while waiting for a boat to take us there!
The Common Kingfisher is also called the Eurasian Kingfisher, or a River Kingfisher. I only understood the significance of the name on my visit to the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal when, once again, I saw the bird while waiting by the river for a boat!!! I wasn't able to click a decent photo though, thanks to my loud fellow tourists, but seeing the bird once seemed to have turned the luck, for I saw it once again at the Baranawapara Wildlife Sanctuary, during my trip to Sirpur in Chhattisgarh. The first spotting was when Mridula and I were driving to the Tourist Resort in the sanctuary...
Later, at the resort, we spent a pleasant couple of hours sitting by the side of the river which flows past the property, watching the bird sit patiently on the fence, diving at just the right time to pluck out a fish from the water. Sitting idly by, we even wondered just how many fish it would need to eat, to fill its tiny belly!
All these years, when people told me about all the times they had spotted the Common Kingfisher, I wondered why the bird eluded me. Now that I have had all these encounters with the bird, I can tell them my own stories too!!!
She looks beautiful. Sharing it with some avid birdwatchers in my family.
ReplyDeleteThank you Tulika!
DeleteEnchanting encounter !
DeleteThank you, Delhi Gopal!
Deletehe looks great .. beautiful clicks
ReplyDeleteand you said one of the hardest birds to photograph, very elusive
Bikram's
Thank you Bikram!
DeleteWell, this is the bird that got me interested in bird-watching. I saw it fly by and went looking for Salim Alis' book; quite literally in that order!
ReplyDeleteI didnt know that, Usha! i guess this was at home?
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