Tuesday, July 26, 2016

First exploration of the 'Untouched' nature: Amboli

     It has been a long time since I have been exploring the regular and some occasional spots in and around Mumbai and most of the time the sightings turn out to be the regular ones with occasionally sighting some interesting beauties with almost no record of reptiles and interesting orchids. After hearing and checking really interesting sightings, and photographs in various forums, I was very keen to visit Amboli.
     Situated in the Southern part of Maharashtra, along the Sahyadri ranges(Western ghats), this area treasures one of the most extensive range of Flora and Fauna. Well as per the internet database and journals, this area used to be a completely untouched wild area unfortunately with increased awareness, thru social media, about the vibrant Bio-Diversity, this area has become one of the Eco tourism hotspots leading to unconditional encroachment of the wilderness for building hotels and resorts. To make matters worse Amboli also houses several spots like waterfalls, panoramic locations which is being exploited as weekend destinations, by people in and around the area, and violating the essence of the purity of nature by open boozing and dumping of trash post eating and drinking, open air DJ dance floors and what not. To make matters worse, atleast in few areas, had witnessed these activities happening right in front of the local police who took no interests in stopping nor opposing such activities. I wish the local authorities do take up some serious steps to curb all the nuisance and aid in conserving and nurturing the nature's creations. 
     Well I guess thats enough of all the gyaan on conservation, lets get back to the exisitng beauty that we encountered. The weekend trip was organized by MidEarth group and the timings, itinerary and the cost seemed right for my budget so decided to join in with the visit in the second half of June. The trip started off by a train journey to Kolhapur/ Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj terminus from where we headed towards Amboli by a minibus thru Nipani(Pune- Bangalore highway and then a smaller route towards Ajara)
    We reached the location by noon and stayed at a simple and comfortable accomadation at Sailee hotel near Amboli Bazaar. The weather was really awesome with overcast skies and eventually a blow of clouds covering the whole place with eventual bursts of rains. Though the weather wasnt ideal for photography but wasnt painful enough to sweat out in the humid weather of the forests. In the next 24-26 hrs we had explored few areas near the hotel and the trail to Parikshit point, a night trail in area around the Pariskshit point, a waterfall point which lays along the road to Sawantwadi, Hiranyakeshi temple and its neighboring flora rich plains and finally Kawleshet point, one of the most beautiful yet highly abused area of Amboli.
     Following are the list of sightings we could experience:
- Malabar pit viper
- Green Vine snake
- Shield tail snake
- Cat Snake
- Keelback


- Bi-coloured frog
- Amboli Bush frog
- Malabar Gliding frog
- Bull frog
- Tiger centipede

 
- Malabar Pied Hornbil - Crimson Sunbird

- Malabar Giant Squirel
- Monitor Lizard

- Porcupine(No pics)
- Mongoose(Giant size, no pics)
- Three striped squirrel
And a series of Orchids and Spiders


Following are the few selected images from the trip, you can find the full set of images at the following links:
Amboli Monsoon 2016 



A refreshing sight near the Waterfall spot

Almost a waterless waterfall, monsoon had just started resulting in very less water

Serenity



An interesting sight of a troop of monkeys well perched on top of the tree

A curious yet restrained Monitor Lizard

Khaire's shieldtail, a newly recognized specy of shieldtail, endemic to Amboli region?


Vine snake with a Gecko catch
 
That posture, a Malabar Pit Viper(Juv)

The complete shot of the posture
Another beauty, this time a full sized Viper, spotted during the Night trail

Close up shot of the Cat snake

Almost a face off with the Cat snake
A hatchling/ limbless tadpole

A sleeping giant, Malabar Gliding frog female

Balanced sleep, Male Malabar Gliding frog
Close up shot of the beauty
A Bi-coloured frog, blends well in the dried leaf bed
Those red eyes
The Type-writer noise maker, Bush frog, male

Was fortunate enough to encounter this behemoth, and to top it this beauty seemed lethargic to creep us out.
ID: Tiger centipede

The hind side of the beauty
Close up of the front

H. Prashadi/Bombay Leaf toed gecko, seen on a slippery tree branch

H Brookii, this one was spotted under a rock, well camouflaged with the surroundings
Close up shot of the gecko
 
     Some beautiful and less common flora seen all along Amboli and neighbouring areas
 







A sight from Kawleshet point
The beautiful valley shot @ Kawleshet point
Hiranyakeshi Temple

The plains behind the Hiranyakeshi Temple

     Overall a very interesting place with amazingly unique experience and loads of sightings, a great way to explore photography as well as understand and appreciate the biodiversity of the heaven that is located in and around Amboli. Would love to visit this place time and time again to enjoy the same form of enthusiasm.
    
    A special thanks to MidEarth group for introducing this beautiful abode of nature and even a special appreciation for Nihar Shrotri and Akshay Onkar for being a great guide and sharing great amount of knowledge within the short time span. Also am very grateful to all the participants for making the whle experience a very enjoyable one. Do visit their website and FB page at the following link
    
     Few things I feel like sharing, essential ethical habits to keep in mind while exploring nature or any open parks and rather whenever outside of our house:
 - Never dump any waste in the open, carry a spare plastic bag and accumulate them in it and dump them in any garbage disposal bins, whenever you come across
 - Never disturb the nature, dont pluck flowers or fruits or handle any amphibian, birds or invertebrate
 - Try to maintain silence along the jungle trails to avoid disturbing the nature's beauties and scaring off the fauna around
  
As usual would like to end this blog with request for your valuable feedback and comments on improving the quality of my blogs and do share it with your friends in case they are interested in exploring Photography or nature...
    
      Couldnt leave this particular photograph, as it would have left the blog incomplete
The Colourful Group, Three Cheers MidEarth for the awesome experience

  

Friday, July 22, 2016

Mumbai's Nature Photography Spots: Nagla Block

     Continuing with the Nature photography spots of Mumbai, this post is about one of my favorite spot to spend the early morning, especially in the monsoon season. A pure treasure for macro lovers with a HUGE variety of butterflies, insects, flowers and loads and loads of caterpillars. It also houses range of reptiles and several birds too including the jewel of the jungle Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, though I havent encountered it yet.
     Nagla block is an extension of Sanjay Gandhi national park but geographically separated off naturally with the Vasai Creek and artificially by the Ghodbunder road. Situated along the NH-8 this paradise is very well isolated from the hustle bustle of the urban jungle, apart from the noise off the highway traffic, especially the new age, show off, monster bikes speeding off the highway.

A Satellite view of Nagla area
Timings: 7:30a.m. to 6p.m.
(Have seen few people entering the trail early in the morning and paying for the ticket while returning)
Access:
- Reach till Fountain hotel via B.E.S.T./ T.M.M.T/N.M.M.T bus either from Thane or Borivali and walk towards the Vasai bridge and reach the destination(15-20 mins walk)
- Drive all the way towards the Vasai creek bridge and take the first right post the petrol pump, there is ample parking space available for 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers

Charges:
44 for single entry(updated from 2016)
₹ 133 for 4 wheeler parking(2015 rates)

     I have explored the area in almost all seasons, not very regular visits, but I have just enjoyed the occasional trips that I had, most of them during the months of July to September, one in winter and one in summer cum pre-monsoon. The location is so rich in nature's beauty that in one of the trips I could encounter 40+ varieties of butterflies(including 4 lifers for me), several moths, innumerable varieties of bugs and beetles and spiders. The area is also rich with a variety of snakes like vine snake, bronze-back and many more while also there has been sightings of chameleons too, unfortunately I havent been lucky to spot them in the expeditions I had. The sightings during the post winter/pre summer season was neither that disappointing with close to 30+ varieties of butterflies, even during the dry season, along with a variety of interesting insects and huge varieties of winged faunas like the Grey Hornbil, variety of barbets, orioles, leaf birds and many more rarely sighted birds.

     Following are few samples of the beauties I have encountered in the multiple trips, hope to have a few more till the end of the monsoon.





An Owlfly, a rare beauty generally spotted in this trail regularly


A Harvestman, an interesting form of arachnids commonly spotted along the trail
Close up shot of the beauty(Harvestman)





Baronet butterfly, commonly sighted along the Nagla trail


A mating pair of Grass Demon, also a regularly spotted beauty(not necessarily in mating form)


A rarity, Indian Skipper, made a rare appearance in July 2015



An interesting stick insect type mantis, Have sighted Boxer mantis alos in this area but the rarest and elusive one has been the Violin Mantis(Gongylus)


Probably a spittle bug, it acted dead when I tried to touch it


One of the master craft of the spittle bug
Katydid, this was a strange pose the Katydid took when we approached it for some frames
Parasite infested bug, a usual sight amongst the bugs, due to some reason most of the insects. Right from spiders to caterpillar have been infected with these parasites


One of the beautiful caterpillar with killer patterns


Another caterpillar beauty, Tussock Moth Caterpillar


Signature spider with a catch
Some interesting variety of moths
Master of camouflage, another Moth


Train of  Grasshopper nymphs
Intricacy of the nature
Master of disguise, a bug which seems like an ant


This is the most favourite flower for the insect, have spotted a variety of butterflies, moths and flies on it
Michelin boy,  Fruit piercing moth caterpillar


Huge grasshopper


Tiger beetle, love this beauty, but is highly active and sometimes a real pain to frame it.


Caught and angel, A spitting spider with Plum Judy
Caterpillar fiddling with water droplet


Mutli-coloured and vibrant Common Mime butterfly's caterpillar

Though I have a whole stock of images but couldnt share it in this blog, so kindly check the other photographs in the following link:

Nagla Recent set 

Earlier sets - 1 

Earlier sets - 2 

Earlier sets - 3 

Earlier sets - 4 

Earlier sets - 5 








Hope this Blog highlights the amount of beauties in store and enchants you to give it a visit. Do share your thoughts in the comments and also share your valuable feedback to improve the quality of the blog