Travel Tips

Last week we went back to see the flamingos. Was greeted by this fanatastic sight. Don't know if the census for the flamingos has happened this year. But my gut feeling is that there are more flamingos this year as compared to last year. I had carried along my HDR-HC7 along for taking the photos. Not an ideal option, but still got some good pics of flamingos + other birds Spotted some other birds as well. Indentification underway (courtesy DK) Common Sandpiper Indian Pond Heron Marsh Sandpiper Eurasian Curlew Common Sandpiper Common Sandpiper Lesser Sand Plover Sea Gull Little Egret

View Larger Map About 90 kms from Mumbai, this is a great place to relax over a weekend. This is a big resort and has a good tree cover. We booked this resort through our travel agent and the room cost us Rs. 2,200/- per day. Gaurav (GD) got a 10% discount on direct booking. Rooms are fairly big and clean. There are lawns attached to the rooms which are ideal for having your morning cup of tea. The resort has a good swimming pool (2 1/2 feet to 5 1/2 feet). It also has a Lawn Tennis court as well as Table Tennis tables. Food here is fairly good, though a bit on the spicy side. You have an option of taking a package for the food. For a cost of Rs 350/- you get breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. There are a couple of good spots that one can go to during our stay at the resort. Pali Ganapati: One of the Ashtavinayak Ganapati's is just 15 kms from the resort. Karkarni Devi Temple: This too is at a distance of around 15 km from the resort. It is opposite to the IPCL townshi...

We visited Goa in the second week of June. We stayed at the Royal Goan Beach Club at Monterio. I have put up the review for the resort here . Couple of good spots which we discovered (had missed in all our previous trips) were Goa Kala Academy: This is a great place to spend your evening. The place is very clean, has lots of benches available for sitting/relaxing and a continuous cool breeze. We reached the place at around 2 in the afternoon and still enjoyed it. Candolim Beach: The thing that strikes you immediately when you come to this beach is an old boat that has got washed ashore during a storm. This is a quiet beach in North Goa. Saw very few people here. Saw a lot of kingfishers in Goa. Below is the best photo that i could manage.

We had decided to go to "God's own Country" in Diwali vacations. After doing some search on the internet, we came across the KTDC site which had various packages. Check link below. http://www.ktdc.com/packages/season-packages-oct-2013-feb-2014.html We had opted for Package III which was a 7N/8D tour covering Cochin, Munnar, Thekkady and Kumarakom. We could not get hotel bookings for Kovalam. Hence the package was tailored for us to include additional days in Kumarakom. We had a Scorpio for the entire duration of the trip.  All hotels offered were prime properties. Specially loved Waterscapes at Kumarakom. It is situated on the banks of the Vembanad lake and has stunning views of the same. A complementary trip to Bird Sanctuary on Vembanad Lake was provided by the hotel. Was not much into birding then. But got lots of bird sightings thanks to our boatman. Below are some photos from that trip. Purple Moor Hen Small Cormorant Drongo Cuckoo Purple Her...

All of these photos were taken at the Flamingo Watch Point in Sewri, Mumbai. The best way to reach the Flamingo watch point is by taking the train to Sewri Station, from where it is at a walking distance. Check out the route here . Rock Pigeon Black Headed Ibis Indian Pond Heron Juvenile Lesser Flamingo Small Egret in breeding plummage Sea Gull Intermediate Egret Common Sandpiper Eurasian Curlew and Black Headed Ibis Western Reef Egret Yellow Bittern