On my previous post, I had blogged about Dudhsagar waterfalls. After leaving that area, we decided to head over to Panjim before arriving at Vagator as there was still time. Here I just had to time to get a quick tour of Panjim and its historical churches and monuments.
On my last day in Goa, I made a plan to travel to Dudhsagar waterfalls which was just over 90km drive. The waterfall is located in Bhagwan Mahaveer sanctuary within the Western Ghats. This area is rich for birds and wildlife.I had booked a cab a day earlier to travel to this place. We had left early morning by 8am and reached the location by midday. On the way, we had made a quick stop for breakfast somewhere in Panjim. On arriving at the destination, I had to pay the entry fees for the jeep safari which cost Rs.400 as well as camera fees which I think was around Rs.300. The jeep ride was quite bumpy.
I had gone to the state of Goa back in February of this year. This was mainly for work as I was involved in creating behind the scenes content for the production company’s social media channels on Facebook and Instagram. The prime location was however in the Vagator area and this is where all the cast and crew were staying. After filming had commenced, I had decided to stay an additional 5 days before returning back to Dehradun. I had planned out which places I would visiting in the next 5 days so how of these 5 days, 4 days were spent in Vagator itself and on my last day, I had decided to go to Dudhsagar waterfalls and Panjim. Even in the month of February, the afternoons were quite hot and humid but by evening, the weather would become pleasant.
For a while I had been planning to purchase a new camera. After researching online and by watching a number of youtube video reviews, I decided to go for the Canon EOS R which is a 30.3MP mirrorless camera. This has almost the same specifications as the Canon 5D Mark IV but where the Canon 5D Mark IV is a DSLR camera, this Canon EOS R is a mirrorless camera. The camera was purchased from Canon Image Square here in Dehradun.
Here is a showcase of landscape captures taken in and around Dehradun and Mussoorie. For these shots, I had used the Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon 17-40mm L f/4 lens.
Here as previously mentioned in my last post, here are some landscape captures of Assan Barrage. Most of these images were taken under harsh light which can sometimes create haze. Overall even though this is located at a short distance from Dehradun, I feel this is not the best spot for bird photography. This is based on my experiences as I have been here around 4 times.
Assan Barrage is a small dam located around 40km from Dehradun. The dam is 287.5m long and has water all year round as it is fed water from the Asan river. This dam is responsible for creating of the Asan reservoir or also know as Dhalipur lake. This lake is a good location to view a number of water birds and migratory birds that arrive here in the winter months. The best time to visit between October and December as this attracts a lot of migratory birds to the lake.
My winter visit to Rajaji NP in terms of seeing much wildlife was very dry. It was not much of an exciting trip. I had done few safaris in Jhilmil Jheel conservation zone in the month of November and had then covered Chilla and Ranipur zones in the month of December. Even though, this particular trip to the national park was not all that great but we were still able to capture some wildlife. We did come across fresh paw prints of various animals such as tiger and sloth bear but to no luck, we were unable to spot them. Anyhow here a selection of images taken from the various safaris I done on those two visits.
Here are some photos of the common mormon caterpillar seen in the garden area where I currently reside. The common mormon is a common species of the swallowtail butterfly. These are found all across Asia.
I had recently visited Patna after 11 years and was there mainly to visit family. We had flown in from Dehradun to Patna with a stop in Delhi. Anyway I was there for three weeks. There were alot of other places that I could have visited near Patna but maybe in next trip but during this trip, I had made two visits to Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park. It is also know as Patna zoo and is located off Bailey Road in Patna. The zoo houses over 800 animals and birds but it was not possible to photography every single animal there.
