Tag: Travel Bug

We are with the 2018 April AtoZ Blogging challenge and its my fifth attempt. For those who missed it, here is the link to my Theme Reveal post. Do the alphabets still stand for the same things we learnt about in Nursery school? 

Its day twelve and the alphabet is L.


Today I will go with the traditional, age old teaching of L for Lion. 


The Asiatic Lion whose sole home presently is the Gir National Park in the state of Gujarat in India. According to the 2015 census mentioned on the website, there were 523 lions which was said to be a comfortable figure. 

Spot the lioness sitting behind the trees in the distance

We were lucky to see this pair walk right past our vehicle. To tell the truth, I was a little scared too!

And here is video of the same pair 

Panthera leo persica (which is their scientific name) is smaller than the African lion and has a longitudinal fold of skin along stomach. Further, ears of the male lions in Gir are visible as they have a less thick mane compared to their cousins from Africa! Here is wonderful National Geographic article about lions. 


They face threats as their habitat is slowly breaking up (as jungles are cut off) and poachers. Several efforts are on to help protect this great animal! 


Have you visited Gir? Have you seen the Asiatic lions? 


The next alphabet is M and and Is M still for Monkey? I think not… Hope to see you again tomorrow. 
🙂

Welcome! 
We are with the 2018 April AtoZ Blogging challenge and its my fifth attempt. For those who missed it, here is the link to my Theme Reveal post. Do the alphabets still stand for the same things we learnt about in Nursery school? 

Its day eight and the alphabet is H.



H is for Horse. 


These days, the only horses we see in Pune are the ones at Parks that take kids on joy rides. Or the pedigreed ones that are raced at the Race Course. I am going to take a liberty and extend the word Horse to Khacchar or Mule.

A Mule is the offspring of a male donkey and female horse (wisdom from Wikipedia). I have never really given much thought to this animal till I went on the Hampta Pass trek. On that trip, the mules were the most important part of our support team as they carried all our bags, tents and other logistical materials. 

The unsung heros

In fact, our trek was amazing because of these silent mules that plodded along never protesting. Here are some images with my thoughts …

Every morning, the mules were assembled and then sacks loaded up for the journey

The mules always started after us and easily overtook us every single day. They could easily and quickly navigate the moraine unlike us two-legged creatures!

At the end of the day, they were left free at the campsite.

This glorious looking place was a very challenging descent from the Hampta Pass to Shea Goru campsite.  These silent hardworking heros made our trek the wonderful experience that it was. I simply had to dedicate a post to them! Cheers!

We are almost at the end of the first week of AtoZ. How are you holding up folks? A holiday is coming up and I plan to use it to catch up on blog hopping. 
Cheers!

Welcome! 

We are with the 2018 April AtoZ Blogging challenge and its my fifth attempt. For those who missed it, here is the link to my Theme Reveal post. Do the alphabets still stand for the same things we learnt about in Nursery school?


Its day five and the alphabet is E.


E is for Elephant. The first thing that will come to our minds (especially those from India) is the Elephant God Ganesha.


But today I want to share some images of elephants that we saw on a trip to the famous Corbett National Park. Here it is possible to view them living in free and in the wild. Its a common site to see herds of the gentle giants walking in the plains…
              

Obviously the elephants have right of way in the forest!

Going by the scientific name of Elephas maximus, the Asiatic elephant now lives free and in the wild only in specific protected forests. SInce 1986 the IUCN Red List, has listed it as Endangered. They live in matriarchal society led by a cow. Males (called Tuskers) generally leave the herd when they become adults and often spend  time alone. In fact, one must be very careful when a tusker is sighted especially if he is in a state of musth.

The above clip is of a lone tusker walking on the edge of some trees. Here is close up of the same guy

Same tusker, that’s about as close as we could safely get. Naturally, the vehicle driver had the engine running incase we needed to make a quick get-away

These animals are herbivores and consume up to 300 kgs of grass,herbs,leaves everyday.


That’s right. Everyday. 
The figure itself tells us the reason why elephants are constantly on the move- to search for fresh food. One herd will quickly exhaust available plants in a particular area and all have to keep moving to get sufficient food to eat. 


Intelligent as they are, they avoid consuming mud that clings to uprooted plants. How? Simply by just swinging the tufts and tapping it on the ground!
Watch it on the video below. (Video Credit : Mr Alhad Lele)

In summer, they also ‘spray’ themselves with the soft loose mud using their trunks. Strange as it may sound, this is said to keep them cool! Obviously, the animals love to take a dip in the water too!


Have you seen elephants out in the wild? Have you visited Corbett?
If not, add this place to your bucket list ASAP. Its wonderful!