Sighting of the day: Malabar pied Hornbill.
The much delayed family outing with Ganesh Rao and family came to be on Sunday. The destination chosen was Sathodi falls. Incidentally, this was the second time this destination was chosen for an outing. The first time, the trip was canceled due to the ill health of a family member. This time around we had planned to start after lunch and leave sathodi falls after sunset.
Was it Robert Burns who wrote "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray". With all respect to Burns, with the way the trip turned out, the "go astray" part can well be "led astray".
We started out at about 14:45 and had an uneventful drive till the cross road that breaks up into Dandeli and Yellapur. It was at this point that Ganesh Rao decided to make his so called first wrong turn in all his driving. Apparently he was looking for an Sign Board in English that even the locals have not heard off. If anyone knows anything about this sign board plz drop a line and educate us.
The wrong turn lead us to Dandeli and since it was already about 1640 hrs, a couple of phone calls latter we decided that we will head to the Kulgi nature camp and go birding on the Kulgi bird trail. My suspicion of Ganesh's intentions that this trip should be a birding trip was getting stronger.
During the drive Ganesh Rao was praying Hornbill Dhikhade Bhagwan i.e GOD show me a Hornbill.
So we hit the bird trail at Kulgi Nature Camp. We were not able to complete the trail due to an uprooted tree blocking the trail. The birding was poor even though we could hear calls all around us. We spent sometime at the watch tower on the trail. As it was getting dark fast, we decided to turn back.
At that precise moment it happened..... A Malabar pied Hornbill chose to favor us with an appearance. It was a magnificent sight. It perched itself on a nearby tree giving us a clear view of its glory. We were gaping at it open mouthed forgetting that we had a camera in had, not even a record short was made. Then it leaped into the air, one flap of its wings and with out stretched wings it made soared in a semi circle over us and moved on to a tree about 25 meters away.
For almost a minute there was a stunned silence and then we were all speaking at once :) PURE JOY. At once, I could understand the joyous expression that covers a birders face on a sighting such as the one we had witnessed. After all had such an expression over our face.
So Ganesh Rao, got his wish after all. The turn he took towards Dandeli finally made sense. But i do not think that anyone will pass over the chance to pull his leg over the turn, which he still maintains was the right way to Sathodi Falls.
When we got back to the car, it was almost 1900. We started towards Hubli, with a prayer that we do not get caught in the rain. Our prayers were answered and we got back to Hubli at 2130.
What a day, good people, some laughter, lots of teasing, the smell of the forest at dusk , a wrong turn leads to the right spot hmmmm there is my Title.
Here is to more days such as this.
The much delayed family outing with Ganesh Rao and family came to be on Sunday. The destination chosen was Sathodi falls. Incidentally, this was the second time this destination was chosen for an outing. The first time, the trip was canceled due to the ill health of a family member. This time around we had planned to start after lunch and leave sathodi falls after sunset.
Was it Robert Burns who wrote "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray". With all respect to Burns, with the way the trip turned out, the "go astray" part can well be "led astray".
We started out at about 14:45 and had an uneventful drive till the cross road that breaks up into Dandeli and Yellapur. It was at this point that Ganesh Rao decided to make his so called first wrong turn in all his driving. Apparently he was looking for an Sign Board in English that even the locals have not heard off. If anyone knows anything about this sign board plz drop a line and educate us.
The wrong turn lead us to Dandeli and since it was already about 1640 hrs, a couple of phone calls latter we decided that we will head to the Kulgi nature camp and go birding on the Kulgi bird trail. My suspicion of Ganesh's intentions that this trip should be a birding trip was getting stronger.
During the drive Ganesh Rao was praying Hornbill Dhikhade Bhagwan i.e GOD show me a Hornbill.
So we hit the bird trail at Kulgi Nature Camp. We were not able to complete the trail due to an uprooted tree blocking the trail. The birding was poor even though we could hear calls all around us. We spent sometime at the watch tower on the trail. As it was getting dark fast, we decided to turn back.
At that precise moment it happened..... A Malabar pied Hornbill chose to favor us with an appearance. It was a magnificent sight. It perched itself on a nearby tree giving us a clear view of its glory. We were gaping at it open mouthed forgetting that we had a camera in had, not even a record short was made. Then it leaped into the air, one flap of its wings and with out stretched wings it made soared in a semi circle over us and moved on to a tree about 25 meters away.
For almost a minute there was a stunned silence and then we were all speaking at once :) PURE JOY. At once, I could understand the joyous expression that covers a birders face on a sighting such as the one we had witnessed. After all had such an expression over our face.
So Ganesh Rao, got his wish after all. The turn he took towards Dandeli finally made sense. But i do not think that anyone will pass over the chance to pull his leg over the turn, which he still maintains was the right way to Sathodi Falls.
When we got back to the car, it was almost 1900. We started towards Hubli, with a prayer that we do not get caught in the rain. Our prayers were answered and we got back to Hubli at 2130.
What a day, good people, some laughter, lots of teasing, the smell of the forest at dusk , a wrong turn leads to the right spot hmmmm there is my Title.
Here is to more days such as this.
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