300mm birding @Bhigwan...

Date : 20th  Feb 2011 ..

Bhigwan is a small town located on the Pune-Solapur (NH9) highway.. the main attraction of the town is the birdwatching sight at backwaters of the Ujni dam..

It takes atleast 2.30hours to 3 hours to reach bhigwan from Pune..

I made a halt at pune overnight.. started at 5.30am and reached Bhigwan at 8.00am..
Earlier the better.. more chances of spotting the birds..
Once you reach the highway at bhigwan take the first left which will take you to the Diksal area..backwaters of Ujni dam..ask locals for directions..
At Diksal  short boat rides are avaiable.. We paid 100 per head (expensive) for a short ride in the backwaters to spot Flamingos.. This year there are only 2 of them as per the villagers..

Also made me realise that 300mm is not at all enough for birding :(

I couldnt visit other areas coz of lack of time on hand..

here are some of the photos from the Diksal region..

Dajipur Bison Sanctuary...

did a short trip to Dajipur recently..
Dajipur is a bison sanctuary situated very close to Kolhapur..Around 80kms from kolhapur..
the only problem there is no stay is available close to the sanctuary..one has to come back to radhanagari where lodges are available or has to go ahead to phonda for stay..
radhanagari is 25 odd kms away from dajipur.. and phonda is 13kms ahead..
tank up at radhanagari or phonda as no petrol pumps in dajipur..

Cars are allowed to enter the sanctuary.. but make sure that the car has good ground clearance as the whole 21kms is kaccha rasta..

KAAS Information

How to reach KAAS :

One has to go through Satara city to visit Kaas..
On the highway.. riding towards satara.. when you see stone quarries on the right side.. slow down.. this place is called Limkhind..
there will be a board which says .. Satara City to the left..
take the left to the go downwards and take the first right.. keep asking locals for MolachaWada..
From here ask locals for Rajwada.. here on there are no problems to reach Kaas..

Distance between Mumbai and KAAS:
KAS is exactly 300kms from Matunga, Mumbai. 
Its 23kms from Satara.


How long does it take to reach Kaas :
If you are traveling in a car, it would take around 4-6 hours depending on the speed and number of breaks in between.

What to expect from KAAS :

River rafting at Kolad..Kundalika

date :  25th July 2010

This place was on the mind for quite sometime.. but dint get like minded people to do it..
finally my office team comes to the rescue and we decide a weekend to be spent at Kundalika..

Kolad is just 150kms from Mumbai on the NH17. Take a left at the board written Mulshi 78kms and you are on right track..
There are a lot of farm houses which can accommodate as well as make the arrangements for river rafting..
We had made prior booking through junglelore.net.
We had booked for a stay as well..
Accommodation was provided at Pooja Farm House which is around 8kms from the rafting site..



some clicks of the farm house..

Touching Grandfathers feet...

date : 26th June 2010

who: Tejas, Samit, Sudhir and Me.

where : Ajacha dongar also called Aja-parvat or Ajoba which means Grandfather..

how : Take the NH3 from mumbai towards Nashik.. Ride till Shahpur and then take the diversion to Dolkhamb.. The base village for the trek is Dehne which is another 10 kms from dolkhamb..

road conditions : awesome to good.. even the internal roads from shahapur to dolkhamb are in great condition.. the rains has still not slashed away the tar.. only a few kms at the end were not in good shape.. else it was a bliss..

what did i do : just ride.. we dint trek as it was blazing hot.. monsoon was actually MonSun with no sign of rains in sight.. We reached the base of the mountain at around 1.00pm with all the stops for photos and eating and timepaas in between..
stayed there till around 1.45 and started our way back to a river that we had seen in between.. Had a relaxing time in the river for over an hour and a half..
Went to check the Ghatghar project.. but we dint have prior permission had to suffice by just looking at the dam wall in the distance..

Reached back home at 7.00pm with 270kms on the odo..

Some memories to cherish ::