Ladakh : Amazing land where mountains meet heavens

Ladakh , a peaceful ,serene and pious region of Jammu and Kashmir state of India , is a natural destination of any travel or photography enthusiast. Situated between Kunlun mountain range and the Himalayas ,the word Ladakh means " Land of High passes". True to the literal meaning Ladakh has many mountain passes all around the region and some of the highest motor able roads in the world pass through Ladakh.


  Historically, the region included the Baltistan (Baltiyul) valleys, the Indus Valley, the remote Zangskar, Lahaul and Spiti to the south,Aksai Chin and Ngari, including the Rudok region and Guge, in the east, and the Nubra valleys to the north.

Contemporary Ladakh borders Tibet to the east, the Lahaul and Spiti to the south, the Vale of Kashmir, Jammu and Baltiyul regions to the west, and the trans–Kunlun territory of Xinjiang to the far north. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it has been strongly influenced by Tibetan culture.

Ladakh being a strategic location from military angle was closed to visitors till 1974. Ladakh region includes the districts of Leh and Kargil. Ladakh is a high altitude cold desert . 

Leh town is the hub of all activities in Ladakh. Leh is connected by air to Delhi,Jammu and Srinagar with daily flights to and from Delhi. By road Leh can be reached by two routes one from Manali and other from Srinagar via Kargil. Both these places are around 440 Km s from Leh and need two days of travel through high mountain passes. These roads open only during summer and peaks receive snow fall even in summer. Leh is at an altitude of around 11500ft above sea level. The co ordinates of Leh are 

34° 8′ 43.43″ N, 77° 34′ 3.41″ E. The main tourist attraction of Ladakh are the beautiful landscapes ,historic and pictursque monasteries , High altitude lakes with crystal clear waters, snow peaks , vibrant culture and religion of Ladakh. Leh town has an ancient palace belonging to Numgyal dynasty and a monastery . Thikse monastery and shey palace are about 10 km from Leh . The sangam of Zangskar and Indus river, Sindhu ghat,  a museum of Kargil war at Hall of fame Gurudwar pattar saheb, Spituk monastery ,Shanti stupa are the places worth seeing at Leh. Nubra valley is a region to the north of Leh with the Nubra river and has famous Diskit monastery.  Nubra has a landscape with white sand dunes and snow capped mountains the combination of which is unique to Ladakh.While drive to Nubra valley invoves excursion on world's highest road at Khardung La (18380 ft) . Ladakh has several high altitude salt water lakes .Famous few are Pangong lake ,Moriri lake, Kar lake.

Pangong lake is around 140 km from Leh while Tso Moriri is around 220 km. .

Ladakh is a beautiful place ,dark blue sky,white clouds, blue water, colorful prayer flags , monasteries atop tall hills, Snow capped mountains, sand dunes, curving serpentine roads, smiling Ladakhi Budhists, prayer wheels ,stupas all make this land serene and Gods own place. If you are a photography enthusiast and want to make all forms of photography in one go Ladakh is the place. You can have great landscapes, beautiful birds, amazing wild life ,portraits of some of the smiles which you will ever remember , action, night and time lapse photos , structures and monuments everything in one trip Ladakh is undoubtedly the place. 

Of the several places I have travelled in India and abroad Ladakh is the place which has left an indelible mark in my memory. Ladakh is not just about photography ,it is not just about holiday travel ,it is beyond all these which makes it special. It is about a place which has stood all adversities ,it is about a human race which stood against time,. against all difficulties and yet bear an inimitable ,genuine smile on their face.

In the following few photos I have included a glimpse and divided my web album into different segments and given link to them separately.Please visit all the albums and in every picture I have included some small details.

Ladakh is too big for any camera to capture. 

Every inch of the land is photogenic and most of it is best enjoyed by our eyes and it will be indelibly recorded in your memory.Photos are only to show to others a glimpse of our journey into this great land of Lamas.

Pangong Lake

Sand dunes

Himalayan Mormot

Khardung La road

Shanti stupa at Leh

Thikse monastery,


Click on the image below to visit my web album Ladakh Landscapes

Ladakh landscapes

Click on the image below to view my web album Ladakh Monasteries

Ladakh Monastery

Click on the image below to view my web album Ladakh birds and wildlife

Ladakh birds and wildlife

Click on the image below to view my web album Ladakh trivia

Ladakh trivia

Asian paradise flycatcher

Asian Paradise flycatchers are birds native to Asia. They are seen widely in India and inhabit forests and well wooded areas. They are winter migrators to Asia but in south India a resident breed is commonly seen.
Paradise flycatchers are beautiful birds and the male birds have a characteristic long tail about 25- 30 cms long and females have a short tail. They feed on flies,insects and small worms,butterflies etc.
The breeding season is from February to May ,these birds are monogamous and both participate in nesting and feeding activities. the nest is a small woven tuft on a very slender twig of a tree or small plant often not easily detectable. They lay 2-3 small eggs
these pictures were taken at a nesting site in a farm near Honnali on shimoga- Honnali road.

Male Asian Paradise flycatcher

Female bird feeding chicks

Hornbill nesting and feeding

Indian Grey Hornbills and Malabar Grey Hornbills are the common type of Hornbills seen in India. There are nearly ten types of hornbills seen in India but the Indian grey hornbill,Malabar grey horn bill, Malabar pied hornbills, Great Hornbills are the common types seen. They are wide spread in the western Ghats, and also eastern Indian forests. Hornbills are charecterised by their horn like beak and pied hornbills have a casque on their upper mandible. The beak is coloured and the bird is blackish grey  .

 Hornbills Have a unique breeding pattern. They are monogamous, and select a cavity in a tall tree for nesting.They make their nest and then seal the cavity with mud,fruit pulp,its droppings etc and when complete has an opening for the female bird to just squeeze inside. After the female enters the nest, the male completely seals the nest and there is one small opening for feeding the inmate bird. Now the male feeds the female and female lays 4-6 eggs. Once inside the nest ,the female undergoes complete moult by shedding all its feathers and it incubates the eggs and then the chicks. At this stage it is totally dependent on the male bird. If something happens to the male bird  and if  it dies, then the  entire family dies. This female   bird cannot fly and cannot feed the chicks also. When the chicks are sufficiently grown the female breaks open the nest and comes out and both feed the young. Some opine that the female cannot break open the nest on its own and when it is time to come out the male bird breaks the nest from outside.  The cycle lasts for 60 days. In this period they fight several adversities including predator attacks, snakes, poaching humans (and Photographers of course).

During the nesting the male bird feeds the female and the chicks with a  variety of fruits, estimated to be more than 30 different types  and also small insects,lizards etc. It travels long distances in search of food. The fruits are held  in its throat and when it reaches nest it regurgitates the fruit one by one from its pharynx to its beak and feeds the inmates. The female do not come out except putting its beak out .

These birds use the same tree and nest for the future breeding also and come back to same point in their next breeding cycle.

This picture shows a malabar grey hornbill feeding into its nest.

A malabar pied Hornbill at Dandeli forest

Few other photos taken at Dandeli can also viewed here by clicking this link or the photo below.

Dandeli

Ranganathittu and Bandipur

Last weekend we had a wonderful trip to Ranganathittu and Bandipur. Ranganathittu bird sanctuary is now bustling with activities of painted storks, spot billed pelicans, eurasian spoonbills, open bill storks ,night herons and egrets. While painted storks are busy building nests and mating open bills have already into feeding younger ones and so also are many pelicans. River tern which has no nests and lays eggs on stone has already chicks and busy feeding them. You can see many juvenile night herons,pond herons and greater cormorants . As usual in ranganathittu pied king fishers are always around . Ranganathittu is one sanctuary which always calls visitors every year and always has something to offer for visiting photography enthusiasts. Here are some of the pictures I had there :

An Eurasian Spoonbill

Painted Stork

Pelican with its nesting material landing on water

An openbill stork

Chick of River tern demanding food from mother

Painted storks with spoon bills

From Ranganathittu we proceeded towards Bandipur .The deciduous forests of Bandipur have now shed their leaves totally and though Bandipur is  well known for the Tigers it is a good place for birding too. We could sight spotted deers ,Sambar deers, Barking deer,Stripe necked mangoose, elephants, but the big cat eluded us again. On both the days I was unfortunate not to sight the tiger though our friends in other vehicle were lucky to sight tigers and cubs. Our vehicle was either a bit late or little early to meet the tiger and we missed it on all safaris. But it was a good birding opportunity to see Peacocks in full colors, Jungle fowl, Common Hoopoe, Serpent eagle, Parakeet,Woodpeckers, Myna, Brahminy Starling, Rocket tailed drongo,spot billed ducks,Indian roller, sunbirds, Indian tree pie,Indian pitta, and some more bird which I couldn't identify and was not able to get pictures also.A visit to anti poaching camp to get first hand knowledge of untiring efforts of forest dept in protecting animal habitat especially tigers was a memorable part of trip.

Crested serpent eagle

Sambar Deer

Spotted Deer

A breath taking view of Mayar Gorge ,a deep valley with Mayar river

For a full picas album to pictures of these place click here or on the image below

Click on the image below to view complete album:

Bandipur/Ranganathittu

Birding Tour of Thattekad and Munnar ,Kerala

Thattekad ia an important destination for birding in South India. Thattekad ,in Sathyamangalam district of Kerala is located about 60Kms north east of Kochi .The sanctuary ,Salim Ali bird sanctuary of Thattekad is between two branches of Periyar river. Dr Salim Ali described this as the richest bird habitat on peninsular India comparable to eastern himalayas" .The sanctuary is a relatively small place with about 25 Sq.Kms in area and nearly 250 species of birds inhabit this sanctuary.The literal meaning of Thattekad is flat forest, the region is an evergreen low-land forest. 

I chose to go on photo tour of Thattekad and Munnar conducted by Toehold,Bangalore between 26th and 29th January. The tour had 12 participants and led by Mr Giri Cavale of Toehold. Thattekad is about one and half hour drive from Kochi airport and the camp site ,Horn bill resort, a serene place facing the  sanctuary and the gently flowing Periyar river  separates the horn bill camp from bird sanctuary.A morning coffee at the camp is complimented with scenic beuty of Periyar with sweet calls of Malabar Whistling Thrush. Unfortunately ( or rather fortunately for the birds ) the sanctuary is not open for public for last few years. But the birds move around in surrounding forest areas and offer a good birding opportunities in surrounding places as well. 

We chose to do birding at three places nearby with the help of a guide and  on one of the days covered Munnar also.  Munnar a scenic place better known for its land scape and tea gardens is also a good place to see endemic birds species of Nilgiri range.

Birding in Thattekad is a different experience.  We could sight so many birds in a short span. Though it may be technically difficult to photograph them considering their size ,distance and height of trees and camoflouge it is possible to see good number of birds species not seen earlier.. I have seen Brown Hawk owl,Collored scops owl, common hawk cuckoo , Blue cheaked barbet,white cheaked barbet, chestnut headed bea eater, blue tailed bea eater, malabar parakeet,plum headed parakeet, parrot, Malabar trogone, whistling thrush, Scarlet mini vet,small mini vet, yellow browed bulbul, ruby throated bulbul, black bulbul, red whiskered bulbul, shrike, wag tail,Robin,magpie , Oriental dollar bird, Hill maina, common maina, white eye, gold finch, black and orange flycatcher , Nilgiri fly catcher, Malabar grey Horn bill, Pompador green pigeon, Nilgiri wood pigeon, flame back woodpecker, indian scimitar babbler, Baza, fairy blue bird, drongo, rocket tailed drongo, drongo cuckoo , ashy drongo, velvet fronted nuthatch,, rusty tailed flycatcher , jungle fowl, treepie,golden oriole,black headed oriole, bushchat , nilgiri pipit, Indian pitta, and the most unique of this tour Srilanka Frogmouth. 

There are many other birds which are common in other areas but one visit to Tattekad will make us add at least 30-40 birds not seen earlier.
Some of the pictures in the web album are for record purpose only as the size of the birds and distance make our equipments inadequate for a good image.

A view of Periyar river and on the right bank Dr Salim Ali Tattekad bird Sanctuary:

SriLanka Frogmouth in its nest. The nest is a small tuft and a solitary egg. It is a nocturnal bird and sits on small bush very well camouflaging

SriLanka Frogmouth male and female roosting . They are so named due to their resemblance to frog mouth ,they have good binocular vision and remain in same roosting place until disturbed by human or other birds.

Malabar Parakeet

Yello Browed BulBul

Plum Headed Parakeet

Collored Scops Owl

NilGiri FlyCatcher

Malabar Grey Hornbill

Chest Nut Headed Bea eater

Common Hawk Cuckoo Juvenile

Black and Orange Flycatcher

Oriental White eye

Scarlet Minivet male 

For more pictures form Thattekad click on the link here or on the image below:

Tattekad