My Foray into Web Sports Journalism

I stumbled upon this very cool Web 2.0 based sports website that allows people to register and then contribute, share opinions etc on all kinds of sports. I did sign-up for an account and also opted to write articles and post reviews on my favorite sports (Cricket, Formula1, Soccer and Tennis). The very first article I posted was on my favorite sportsman, Sachin Tendulkar.

Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/exqys

I wrote up another article too on my favorite F1 driver, Kimi "The Iceman" Raikkonen. Available here

A Hot Summer Morning and Cursed Luck in Blackbuck Country

The lure of photographing the majestic Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) got me off my bed at 4:30 am on Saturday morning when the rest of the city was still lost in its dreams. The ride up-to Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve was about 145 kms through Tumkur (National Highway 4) and then a State Highway (via Madhugiri) for about 60 kms. I wasn't expecting too much traffic but as usual Bengaluru threw up a surprise. I was caught in an early morning jam just before turning into NH4. There were about 60 trucks, all fully loaded waiting in front of me. The first thought that struck me was why my favorite magazine The Economist keeps insisting that India's infrastructure is at best pathetic. After 15 mins I managed to make it to the highway towards Tumkur only to be met by a 100 diversions on the road. The first impression anyone would get looking at the construction work going on at NH4 would be a total breakdown on planning, coordination and execution. The Indian in me has just taken off cribbing about everything without doing anything about it so I shall stop.

The NH4 opens to an excellent 4 lane stretch after about 20 or 25 kms after entering the highway. The toll station collects Rs 23 for a one way ride. One takes a right towards Siri just before hitting Tumkur town. Another right after 4 kms into the Siri highway takes you towards Madhugiri which was about 40 kms. The document I carried said that the roads were bad but I was surprised to see that the road was recently tarred and the Swift didn't have too many problems except on couple of minor stretches. I reached the unpaved road that leads into the reserve area at about 8 and was pleasantly surprised to see the landscape. It seemed to be more like an African Savannah. A kilometer into the stretch and I spotted the first herd of Blackbuck. The females grazing and ever watchful while the males were busy fighting each other. I realized into the first shot from the camera that getting a close-up of these magnificent animals would prove to be extremely tough. A little further into the road, a male Blackbuck in all his splendor seemed to be posing for the camera and by the time I could get hold of him in the frame he jumped and ran! It was the closest I would get a fully grown male all day. Sigh!

I managed to catch up with the forest watcher, one Mr. Murthy who was heading home for his breakfast. I was told to call the Ranger at Madhugiri to get permission to photograph and roam around the reserve. I did make the call and Murthy promised to be back after his breakfast which reminded me that I had a cheese sandwiches packed (by dear mom of-course) for breakfast. There are several trails that go into the reserve which one could traverse by car or jeep and I was brave enough to take the swift into these tracks and the experience of driving though jungle track was the only fun part for I never got to spot any herd. I managed to spot a lone male in the plains in front of me and decided to track him on foot and after gingerly stepping through the scrub and grass vegetation I thought I had come close only to find the male realize my presence and bolt! Darn! I walked back to the car and found Murthy waiting for me. We drove to a patch where he had seen a herd a while ago and we began tracking on foot. I spent the next 45 mins tracking a herd, creeping, crawling, hiding or trying to in the midst of the undergrowth to get closer to the guys only to come up short every time. I wasn't too disappointed for I was enjoying the entire exercise. Nature you beauty! The only annoying part was that Murthy kept insisting that my Canon EF 70-300 mm zoom lens was not up-to the task when I told him that I couldn't get a closeup shot! Rub it in dude! I kept saying to myself.

As I mentioned earlier, I was fascinated by the landscape. Here I was, in the middle of the plains of Karnataka, a 700 acre piece of land that looked right out of Africa. I imagine the entire area was once covered with these grasslands before Homo sapiens decided to usurp it from Nature for their greedy (and needy) needs. We wen't off to another location and this time I spent another 15 mins tracking a male only to be denied by this wonderful creature whose sensitive hearing capabilities always gave me away no matter how hard I tried.

I finally said goodbye to Murthy at about 11 and headed back towards Madhugiri. I managed to spot a couple of males on the way and took a few photographs. When I reached the tarred road, I decided to head back to make one last attempt. This time I decided to use a track that would its way into the park just before the main gates. I spotted a huge banyan tree that housed hundreds of Mynas. I spent a few minutes listening to their chattering before heading into the grass and shrubs vegetation to track another herd. This attempt went in vain too and I realized that the heat was draining me completely. I headed back towards the gates and took another track and this time I met a bigger herd of about 15 bucks and I decided to track them on car and this turned out to be a whole lot of fun! I managed to get close to two male bucks that seemed caught in their own world but before I could get a good shot they went behind a few rocks and I missed out getting a nice clean shot. I went in further and managed to snap a few female bucks only to find that I had run out of film. I din't bring extra rolls as I did not expect to shoot more than a roll. Disappointed I was about to turn back when I spotted two males coming towards the car.

Darn! Damn! &*#*!@!#&#(#()#&*#(#(@!$$&&&&!!!!!! Both the males stood about 10 feet away from the car and were posing away and I was using the all the swear words I knew in the dozen or so languages I knew (only the swear words unfortunately) on myself. Damn! Lesson learned - Always carry extra film rolls.

I spent 5 mins watching the males fight using their beautiful antlers to perfection. I turned back promising to come back after the monsoons with more rolls and hoping for better luck!

For those wanting to visit this unique place http://maidenahalli.googlepages.com/issues offers all the information you need. The forest department has almost finished constructing a guest house that will allow people to stay overnight.

I reached the outskirts of Bangalore at 2 pm and it took me an hour and half to reach home thanks to our wonderful politicians who have managed to fuck this once lovely city beyond repair!

Now for the visuals:

Photograph 1: Female Blackbucks
Place: Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve


Photograph 2: Adult Male Blackbucks
Place: Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve

Photograph 3:Landscape
Place: Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve


Photograph 4: Adult Blackbuck (Male)
Place: Maidenahalli Blackbuck Reserve

All Ye Men! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Never thought it was so simple but then again I should have looked more closely at the Blogger dashboard settings!

nilgiritahr.blogspot.com can be reached via www.ganeshraghavan.com! Sweet!

In the Land of Biligiri Rangaswamy

It's a boring (as usual) Tuesday afternoon at work. Yes, I have to do minutes from the call yesterday but it's a tad too boring. Speaking of boring, the past weekend was anything but boring. We (Mom, Sujeet and Supriya) set off to the K.Gudi Wilderness Camp located in the Biligirirangan Hills, about 250 kms from the claustrophobic confines of namma Bengaluru.

The journey took us a good six hours (we of course made the mandatory stop at Kamat's on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, had the usual Maddur Vada etc etc) and not surprisingly the roads after Chamrajnagar were pretty bad and I have come to expect this from most roads in Karnataka (If I ever have the kind of money Vijay Mallaya has, my first act of philanthropy would be to gift the Government of Karnataka a couple of road rollers).

We reached the gates of the BR Hills Wildlife Sanctuary at about 12. We moved slowly through the 10km section towards K.Gudi in the hope of seeing some wildlife. I was pretty amazed the the type of vegetation that grew in the area. The lower reaches are mainly shrub vegetation but I as we went up the vegetation changed to dry deciduous, grasslands, sholas and then to tropical evergreen at some parts. Truly wonderful and unique. We din't have any luck with wildlife considering the time of the day, but Supriya seemed horrified seeing a snake cross the road (managed to only get its tail). We spotted a couple of drongos, a few white crested kingfisher and the spectacular Paradise Flycatcher (no snaps unfortunately).

We reached K.Gudi at about 1:20 PM and were blown away by the place. There it was, a nice little resort tucked away right int he middle of a wildlife sanctuary. The tented accommodation we opted for was superbly done. The very first statement of bravado I made was to promise everyone that we would come here once a month. (Realizing what I has just said, I dint bring the topic up for the rest of the weekend).

We grabbed some lunch at the camp and needless to say it was good. I had some spasmodic bouts of depression when I saw some of the guys carrying their the digital SLR's and flaunting it. Someday I kept saying to myself (been saying that since the Rupee/$ exchange rate was at 35). The first thing I noticed when we reached the camp was that ominous clouds that hung over and I knew rain was not far away. True to my word, the rain came promptly at 1:30 and lasted an hour and a half. Reminded me so much of the Nilgiris.

We had tea at 4PM and got ready for the evening Safari. Our guide, Mr.Narayanan was a local tribal who is now employed by Jungle Lodges. With the gang of good luck charms I had, I was hoping to get a glimpse of a leopard this trip and the the entire group was hoping for the same. This was only made stronger by the fact that the previous evening the groups had spotted not one but two leopards. I even went to the extent of uttering the Gayathri Mantra before we started off. The photographic equipment that some folks got along was truly amazing (a lot of them had the huge telephoto lenses that I can only get to see on TV when they broadcast cricket matches). One of the jeeps broke down in front of the forest gate and we had to accommodate an extremely talkative gentlemen who would keep throwing random comments for the next 2 hours. But I've learned to live with such folks during a safari and concentrate instead on just admiring the natural beauty of the jungle. My friends on the other hand couldn't tolerate talkative folks (at least it gave us something to bitch about on the way back).

The group in front of us managed to spot a pair of wild dogs (Cuon alpinus- aka Dhol) and this information was communicated to the rest of the party through wireless but by the time we reached the spot, the dhols were long gone. We however managed to spot the elusive Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) and the regulars (Bisons, Elephants, Spotted Deer, Sambhars etc). We even had a female elephant give the jeep a brief charge which got everyone excited. Enough of text. Time for some visuals.

Photograph 1: Whitethroated Kingfisher
Location: BR Hills

Photograph 2: Bos Gaurus Herd
Location: BR Hills


Photograph 3: Elephas maximus
Location: BR Hills


Photograph 4:Trees at a Water Hole
Location: BR Hills

Photograph 4: Female Gaur (Bison)
Location: BR Hills

I managed to stand up throughout the safari and inhale the fresh air that somehow always carried a strong smell of herbs and eucalyptus . Each breath I drew seemed to have a magical effect that was soothing the mind and I was on my own trip (a very enjoyable one I must say and one that's done me a world of good). The only gripe I had was the sight of a large number of eucalyptus trees that the forest department has planted in the midst of all the other trees. I can never quite understand the purpose of doing this given the fact that blue gum eucalyptus is notorious for sucking the water table dry. Education for the forest department anyone? I also made it a point to tell mom and my friends how lucky they were to spot a sloth bear. Its not often you see one in the jungle and these creatures are known to be very shy. It seemed that they still had their beginners luck going (which Sujeet will vehemently deny and counter argue by saying that they had planned all this all along and strategized etc etc).

We made it back to the camp at 7:30 and were treated to a nice little video on the Indian Wild Dog. The whole thing was shot in the Nilgiris. We headed back to the tents and settled down and had a few pegs of nice Bacardi rum. Sappad followed and we hit the sack at 9:30 and the lights were off. I could hear the grunts of wild boars just outside the tent and the calm was broken at times by the call of a barking deer nearby.

We were ready by 6:15 next morning and were kept waiting for ages by this couple who ambled towards the jeep at 6:40 am (the other groups had already left much to our chagrin). A customary sorry followed and we were off. Unfortunately the safari turned out to be a damp squib for everyone. We only managed to spot the same elephant herd from the previous evening, barking deer, a couple of bisons and the usual spotted deer. Still I managed to take a few good snaps. The one below has managed to some rave (OK I'm going overboard) reviews from friends.

Photograph 5: Early Morning
Location: BR Hills


Photograph 6: Early Morning in the Forest
Location: BR Hills


Photograph 7: Male Barking Deer (Muntjac)
Location: BR Hills


We checked out at 10 making a promise to return soon. We headed towards the Biligiri Rangaswamy temple that was about 20 kms from K.Gudi. Sujeet and I opted to stay in the car and let mom and Supriya go to the temple and we busy appreciating the scenery from the temple when I noticed that the left front tyre had suffered a puncture. We spent the next hour or so trying to replace the tyre and managed to draw hearty giggles and laughs from passers by and with the help of a taxi driver we managed to replace the tyre. Mom and Supriya firmly believed that the puncture was caused by the almighty himself since we did not go and visit him at his abode. I felt a strange sense of guilt of not doing so and quickly made a trip to see the lord who was in all in glory (decked with ornaments and flowers). It was a truly remarkable sight that made me all humble. No one messes with the almighty.

We made the trip back to Mysore through an alternative route and car took a severe beating on the roads (if you can call them that). We reached home at about 6 but my thoughts were still at the abode of the almighty who rules the Biligirirangans.

Still Expensive...

I had this brilliant idea of getting a domain name registered and moving my blog to my own hosted website. The problem seems to be that web hosting charges still see to be expensive especially when it comes to providers giving you space on the their servers. I looked at a couple of these domain registration sites and they seem to charge a bomb for a measly 500 MB space (something like 1500 bucks a year). With the commoditization of hardware, I was hoping that renting disk space on the web would be a tad cheaper. If Im going to use my own hosted website, I would love to put (like everyone else or at least the majority of us) pictures, videos and stuff on the website and I was hoping these guys offer like at least 5 to 10 GB of space. Maybe I'm wrong?

28 hours - 670 kms and a Broken Wheel Rim

Impressed with the number of posts I seem to be churning out this March? That my friend is partly because I'm pretty jobless and partly because of my renewed enthusiasm for doing something constructive during the weekends.

The weekend was spent road tripping across Talakad (well almost went there but the horrendous road condition prompted me to cut short the trip), Mysore, Bandipur, Mudmalai, Ooty and Lovedale within a span of 28 hours! I got back from Chennai on 6th morning and was all set to hit the road at 2pm with a childhood friend. My car must have been cursing me (if cars can even do that) for I was about to take it on another arduous journey. Its been 8months since I got the thing and its already clocked up 13000 kms.

Halfway towards Mysore, I decided on taking a diversion near Maddur to Talakad, the scene of an ancient temple complex that was buried in the sands on the Cauvery riverbanks before archeologists managed to dig it out. Talakad is about 53 kms from Maddur and it was about 4:30 and we imagined that we could cover the distance and watch the sunset at Talakad. Wah, I was becoming a romantic. Well plans were plans and we were halted about 25 kms before Talakad due to the pathetic condition of the roads. The front and rear suspensions of the car were literally begging for mercy. We stopped by a lake and decided to explore the bird life around the lake and the surrounding fields. I am not an expert on birds but I can guarantee that an ornithologist would have had a blast at this place. There were storks, eagles, pond herons, kingfishers, hornbills and plenty more. The sunset was beautiful and we managed to take a couple of good photos.

Photograph 1: Buffalo Lazing Around in the Water
Location: Lake near Talakad

Photograph 2: Watch the Birdie!
Location: Lake near Talakad

Photograph 3: Whatay Sunset!
Location: Lake near Talakad

Photograph 4: Reflections
Location: Lake near Talakad

We headed back towards Maddur after sunset only to find ourselves in New York! Hard to believe? Well that's what the milestone said:

We reached Mysore at about 8 and checked-in to the Ginger Hotel (www.gingerhotels.com). I'd highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to stop over at Mysore. The rooms are neat and comfortable and the price tag isn't too high (1700 for 2 persons per night all taxes inclusive). A chilled beer and dinner later, we hit the sack. We left for Bandipur at 4:30 am and the roads were pretty good till Gundlupet (Watch out for those unmarked speed breakers. They are chassis killers I tell you!). The stretch of road from Gundlupet to the entrance of Bandipur is horrendous to say the least (for about 12kms or so). You'd think you've been space lifted to the moon!. Wonder why Karnataka roads are so damn bad! Yeddy's gotta have a look at this road to beleive it. We reached the Bandipur Forest Department office at 6 am and had to wait for an hour or so before we could get on the safari bus. The forest guards warned us that there was very little wildlife to be spotted and that we ought to take the Rs90 safari by bus and not use the Jeep (Rs 400 per head).

The safari true to the guards words, wasn't spectacular. Large stretches of the jungle seemed to have fallen prey to the forest fires and all we saw were a couple of kingfishers, wild boar, chital (plenty of them), a male and female sambhar and a peacock. So much for all the excitement!

Photograph 1: Black Faced Monkey
Location:Bandipur

Photograph 2: Early Morning (Fanghorn forest anyone?)
Location:Bandipur

Next up was a drive through Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (the roads are ofcourse so muhc better once you cross over to Tamil Nadu (Tamilian pride? No sireee, just stating the facts)), to Ooty via the Sigur Ghat. I had traveled by this ghat road just once (when I was in 9th standard) and its an absolute thrill to drive. Forest on both sides, a good road with 36 hair pin bends. Breathing the fresh air of the Nilgiris was thrilling as always and as nostalgic too. We reached Ooty at about 10 and went around town buying those lovely home made chocolates, having fresh bun and butter at National Bakery (I'm glad that I am beginning to enjoy these small yet immensely pleasurable delights that brings be back to my childhood in the Nilgiris) etc. We decided to go to Lovedale and have a look at the school but all we could see was the Lovedale station. We were denied permission to enter the school because the frigging asshole of the Deputy Headmaster thought we would disturb the boys and girls who were preparing for their examinations. What a son of a bitch! I met Mr. Mani, my old Tamil teacher from school after almost 14 years and he hasn't changed one bit! (There a touch of gray hair here and there, the belly is gone but other than than the man hasn't aged a bit!). Disappointed, we left Lovedale cursing the DHM. We stopped by a one of my favorite places in Lovedale, Granduff Road and took some photos of the Ketty Valley. Floriculture seems to have taken off big time in the Nilgiris.

Photograph 1: At Lovedale Station
Location: Lovedale

Photograph 2: At Granduff Road overlooking the Ketti Valley
Location: Lovedale

We headed back towards Mysore at about 11:15 and on the way gave a life to a forest guard (who's number I stored) who apparently works at Vazhaithoppu (Banana Grove). This place was made famous by Kenneth Anderson who shot a man eating tiger here 30 or 40 years ago. I should probably plan on a trip here some day. On the way back we did spot a herd of 5 female elephants trying to salvage some food.

Photograph 1: Elephants
Location: Near Mavanhalla


We reached Mysore at about 1:15 and broke journey for an hour to have our lunch. I asked Shibu to take over the wheels till we reached Bangalore. The journey was uneventful till after Maddur when our man fell asleep on the wheel of the car for a second and luckily we only lost the wheel cap to the divider. There was silence for the rest of the way. We stopped over for a quick cuppa chai and reached Bangalore at about 7. The odo read 650 kms. Whatay weekend!

Lapakshi - Feb 2008

I'll probably remember this trip for 2 reasons. Firstly I did not have a clue as to where Lepakshi was and ended up going half the way to Kolar before realizing that I was in a totally different direction and ended up biking an extra 2 hours before getting there. Secondly, when I found out that there were no places to have food. I had to make do with a packet of Good Day. The architecture at Lepakshi is outstanding and remains one of the few places where once can marvel at architecture from the Viajayanagra empire. Lepakshi is a small village located in the Anantapur District, in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is 15 km east of Hindupur and about 120 km north of Bangalore.

Here we go with the snaps

Photograph 1: Temple Corridor
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 2: Nandhi (Lord Shivas Vehicle)
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 3: Carving on a pillar (Closeup)
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 4: Pillar in the main temple hall (Closeup)
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens



Photograph 5: Main Temple Complex
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 6: Lord Shiva (depicted as a Lingam)
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 7: Lord Ganesha
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens


Photograph 8: Mandapa Ruins
Location: Lepakshi
Date: Feb 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85mm Lens

Western Catchment - October 2008

Next set of photographs from my trip to Western Catchment in early October (2008). I had heard a lot about the place but this was the first time I got to go but only after some major sqabbling with the forest guard (courtesy my friend Balvinder). But in the end it was all worth it.

Photograph 1: Pugmark of a Tigress
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 2: Porthmund Dam and Lake as seen from Western Catchment
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 3:Another shot of Porthmund
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 4: Shola Grasslands
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 5: Nilgiri Langur Silhouette
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 70-300mm Lens


Photograph 6: Another Shot of the Shola Grasslands
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 7: Shola Tree
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 28-85 Lens


Photograph 8: Indian White Eye
Location: Western Catchment,Nilgiris
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300, ISO 200, Canon EF 70-300 Lens

Enchanting Nilgiris - Trip to Pandiar

I was down in the dumps in October when I decided to take up my friends offer to visit him at Kotagiri in the Nilgiris. I realized that I hadn't been to Ooty in almost 8 years! The next couple of days were unforgettable. Not only did I experience the amazing splendor of the Western Ghats but the trip helped me reconnect with my passion for nature/wildlife.

Photograph 1: On the way to Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 28-85mm


Photograph 2: Nilgiri Langur (Trachypithecus johnii)
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 28-85mm


Photograph 3: Pandiar Landscape
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 28-85mm


Photograph 4: Nilgiri Peak ( (height: 2,474 metres (8,117 ft))
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 28-85mm


Photograph 5: Mukurti Peak/Ridge View from Pandiar (height: 2,554 metres (8,379 ft))
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 70-300mm


Photograph 6: Silent Valley from Pandiar
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 28-85 mm


Photograph 7: Herd of Nilgiri tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius)
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 70-300mm


Photograph 8: Close-Up of Nilgiri Peak
Location: Pandiar
Date: October 2008
Equipment: Canon EOS 300 ISO200 Canon EF Zoom: 70-300mm

Wildlife/Nature Spotting at Bheemeshwari - March 2008

Just noticed that I hadn't put up pictures from my trip to Bheemeshwari and Mekedatu in early 2008. I'd remember the trip for the fact that it gave me my first opportunity to photograph wild elephants. Of course I had seen them several times in the past but never had a camera to shoot these majestic creatures.

Photograph 1: Young Adult Tusker
Location: Bheemeshwari
Date: March 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 300 ISO 200 70-300mm Canon EF Zoom Lens


Photograph 2: Female Elephant with Calf
Location: Bheemeshwari
Date: March 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 300 ISO 200 70-300mm Canon EF Zoom Lens


Photograph 3: Sunrise
Location: Kanakapura-Bheemeshwari Road
Date: March 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 300 ISO 200 28-85mm Canon EF Zoom Lens


Photograph 4: The Cauvery In All Her Splendor
Location: Bheemeshwari
Date: March 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 300 ISO 200 28-85mm Canon EF Zoom Lens


Photograph 5: The Cauvery At Mekedatu
Location: Mekedatu
Date: March 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 300 ISO 200 28-85mm Canon EF Zoom Lens