Travels

The Deodhani Festival is a traditional religious festival of Assam, India, known for its spiritual trance dance performed in honor of the serpent goddess Manasa — the goddess of snakes and fertility. It is believed to date back several centuries, rooted in ancient Shakti (goddess) worship traditions of Assam. This is celebrated at Kamakhya Temple,…

Pobitoro wildlife sanctuary is around 30km away from the Guwahati which is the capital city of the state of Assam. This is located in a small town called Mayong. The park remains closed throughout the monsoon however on my visit I was fortunate enough to spot some rhinos from the side of the road. Near…

Keoladeo National Park is not visited by many people during the monsoon months. The purpose of my visit was to observe and photograph the rookery of herons and other birds such as spoonbills, storks, and cormorants. This is when herons and other birds breed on small islands in lakes or ponds within the national park….

Assam State Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the Northeast region of India. The zoo is located in the Hengrabari Reserved Forest in Guwahati. The zoo is home to a large number of animals, birds and reptiles however on my two visits to this zoo, I only focused on photographing only a handful…

The Bhadraj nature festival was held in the Bhadraj area of Mussoorie on the 26th and 27th of April of this year. The festival was organized by Mr. Ajay Sharma, a renowned birding expert from Dehradun. This video captures the highlight of what took place in those two days and the various birds that had…

The Ambubachi Mela is held annually at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam. The mela is celebrated in June and this year it was held between 22nd June till 26 June. The significance of the Ambubachi Mela is to celebrate the yearly menstruation of goddess Kamakhya. It is therefore believed that Goddess Kamakhya goes through…

I had again visited the Mohand zone of Rajaji National Park just last month in May. I had opted to do 2 safaris on two separate days, one evening and one morning safari. During my first evening safari, I was able to observe three different leopards. On my 2nd morning safari, I did not get…

After Chambal, I had spent an additional two days exploring Keoladeo National Park. This was late in the season as most of the migratory birds had left. However, the best time to visit the park for maximum sighting of migratory birds is from the second week of January till the third week of February. Each…

Here I am sharing a selection of images which I took when visiting the city of Vrindavan during the Holi festival. Here Holi is celebrated over a span of two weeks however these photos were taken on the main day of Holi also known as Dhulandi Holi. I started slightly late from Bharatpur and by…

I had taken the overnight train from Dehradun to Bharatpur and on arrival at Bharatpur, I headed to Kiran Guesthouse which is run by Tarun Singh who is also a well experienced naturalist. After taking a short rest, we decided to head over to Chambal which was around a 2 hour drive. One needs to…

I had also made a visit to the Himalayan Zoological Park which is located around 3km from Gangtok. This was setup in 1991 and is a great place to observe Himalayan wildlife. The park is surrounded by forests all around and gives one a sense of wilderness. I had spent almost a full day here…

I had travelled to Gangtok just last month in January. Gangtok is located in the state of Sikkim and it was my first time here. I had travelled from Patna junction to New Jalpaiguri junction and from there got a cab that took me up to Gangtok. The road trip took just over 4 hours….

I had visited Lucknow city just before the new year of 2024. The city is crowded and polluted with lots of chaos and traffic especially near the historical sites. The only decent place was the British Residency. The Imanbara was chaotic with lots of tourists and extremely noisy with some nonstop announcement of warning visitors…

I first visited Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve this year in the last week of of June, and I had been planning to go here for quite a while now. The reserve came under Project Tiger in the year 1995. The main aim was not only to photograph tigers but also try to capture the…

Nainital is a beautiful hill station in the state of Uttarakhand. I had come here in the month of March after a gap of 14 years. In my younger years, I had attended Sherwood College which is one of the prestigious boarding schools in North India and my main purpose was to meetup with old…

Mangalajodi is a great place for birding from the months of December to March mainly for migratory birds. I had visited this place during the month of February. It is less than two hours drive from Bhubaneshwar which is the capital city of Orissa. Mangalajodi is a village located at the Northern edge of…

Nandankanan Zoological Park in my view is the best zoological park in India that I have visited so far. I had visited this place on 2 different days while in Bhubaneshwar and I feel it is a great place to capture great wildlife moments even though it is a zoological park. Even though it requires…

The images showcased in this post are from my 2 safaris which I did this month. Mohand zone is part of Rajaji National Park and is the best location to spot leopards. I had previously visited this area back in June and you could read about here. I was able to get very close up…

Sundarbans is a mangrove forest located a few hours from the city of Kolkata in West Bengal and is the largest mangrove forest in India. I had visited both Kolkata city and the Sundarbans forest in the month of July. I had taken an overnight train from Patna Junction to Kolkata Shalimar via Duronto Express….

I had been planning to visit Rajaji National Park for quite a few months and was wanting to do 2 or 3 safaris before the park closes. I came to know that there was a small group of wildlife enthusiasts organizing a safari at Mohand range that comes under Rajaji National Park. This is the…