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 the gate, there is a small trail which is okay for some bird watching. Here are some shots which I took.
Photography
Wildlife Photography at Assam State Zoo
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 of mammals and bird species making it seem as if the photo was taken in a natural forest with no or hardly any manmade elements or structures.
Bhadraj Nature Festival in Mussoorie
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 been spotted.
Chambal River Boat Safari
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 arrive at Dholpur to get an experience of doing the Chambal river boat safari. Safari costs are on the high side. We opted for a 4 hour boat safari. We were able to get good sightings of Gharials, Skimmers, Crocodiles and various other rare birds and amphibians. It was a bit late in season however despite that, we were able to get some really good sightings.
Sightseeing in Gangtok
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. Anyhow I had spent a full week here and I am sharing some of my photos. This would give an idea of which locations to visit if one has very less time.
Birding at Mangalajodi Wetlands
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 Chilika Lake.
Thoughts on the DJI Osmo Action Camera
This is not a review on the DJI Osmo action camera or I am not going to be discussing the various settings within the action camera. There are other detailed videos on youtube. I am just going to talk about the things I like about the action camera and the things I don’t like about it. Here I had created a fun video of myself cycling at Sandwell Valley Country Park.
Testing the animal eye AF on the Canon EOS R6
Since I purchased the Canon EOS R6, I had taken a few nature photos at Sandwell Park which just a walking distance from my home in West Bromwich. The main intention was to try out how accurate the animal eye auto-focus was and I was quite happy with the way the camera would focus on the eye of the animal or bird even when moving. Here are some samples of what I had captured over the past couple of days.
Purchased the Canon EOS R6 at the Photography Show
I had recently attended the photography show at the NEC which usually is held every year at the NEC in or around March but due to covid, the event took place after a gap of two years and that too in the month of September.
It is an event catered to photographers of any kind from professionals to amateurs and the venue hosts various exhibitors displaying their products or services. One can go there and test out various equipment before making any purchase plus a lot of other activities take place during the show.
Buffalo photograhy at Jhilmil Jheel
Before arriving back in England, I had decided to do an overnight safari at Jhilmil Jheel. I was in the hope of actually photographing elephants and possibly sighting of leopard which are residents of the area but rarely seen. Anyhow after a morning and afternoon safari session, we were not even able to sight Chital or Sambar. This was a very disappointing trip in itself but even though I had decided to atleast make the most of it. We saw plenty of water buffalo which were either domesticated or feral or a mix of both. However even though they were also somewhat residents of the forest, it was great to observe them within this environment. The main difference between the domesticated and wild water buffaloes is that the wild ones have larger horns and weigh more than captive or domesticated ones.