Sacorda - Bondla - Bison

The road from Darbandora to Sacorda is  a very nice stretch and one of the

best routes we have walked on. It runs right next to the Bondla Wildlife

Sanctuary. While walking, we saw he back gate of the wild life park and were

tempted to explore. We walked in and tried to look sharp in the hope of sighting

some wildlife. About two kilometres deep inside, we were very happy to meet a

herd of Gaur. But the moment one of them stood still and stared at us, we realised

that we were trespassing on their property, were on foot and vulnerable if they

decided to take us to task. Fortunately they watched us for a moment, turned

and kept to their track and we hastily retreated.

Posted some pictures of the walk ( apologies to friends Pramod Sawant and

Shankar Naik, who had expressed interest to join us. Could not inform them in time )

on www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com    I am keeping a record of our activities

( for whatever it is worth) through my blog.

The video and pictures of Giant squirrel and Me are courtesy my friend Triambak. In

my excitement on seeing the animals, I forgot to click on the 'video on' button!

My friends Rajaneesh and Praveen are just two spots, way ahead, followed by Rajesh, Viren and Triambak. I am slogging slowly behind. 

 

Unguarded entry to the wild life park, welcoming us !

Path passing through the park 

A stream, dried up in summer. 

Triambak 

A green arch on the road, made by the branches.

Wild flowers on the road 

Indian Giant squirrel - A beautiful animal but just a blurred image here. 

I think we can call this a forest. 

The dark blotch in the centre is the Bison, Majestic in stature, looking at us. 

Sunrise In Loutolim and the Dogs.

I got these pictures while passing through

the village of Loutolim, on my way to Ponda

from the airport.

Loutolim is a beautiful place, with the river

Zuari on one side - next to which, the road

passes - and the slopes leading to Verna

plateau on the other. In between we have

backwaters, green fields and coconut groves.

I love the place and invariably stop at one or

two places whenever I drive through.

I would have lingered on a bit longer, walked

around and enjoyed the sunrise from few more

spots if the dogs of Loutolim were not very

keen on having me for breakfast.

The last line is with apologies to my friend Annie

Sengupta and his wife Anjali, whose heart is full

of love for street dogs. All dogs, rather. I

understand that these dogs do not mean any

harm, nor they harbour evil intentions when

they bark at you but that’s what it seems to

me! Something wrong with me, not the dogs.

I wish my blood had some of the constituents

which make up Annie’s blood but it doesn’t.

It is made up more like Bill Bryson’s.

Recently I read these lines in his book ‘Down Under’.  

He says this while writing about an unexpected

encounter with dogs in an urban wood.  

I quote, “Dogs don’t like me. It is a simple law

of universe, like gravity. I am not exaggerating

when I say that I have never passed a dog that

didn’t act as if I was about to help myself to its

Pedigree Chum. Dogs that have not moved

from the sofa in years will, at the sniff of me

passing outside, rise in fury and hurl themselves

at shut windows. I have seen tiny dogs, no bigger

than a fluffy slipper, jerk little old ladies off their

feet and drag them over open ground in a quest

to get at my blood and sinew. Every dog on the

 face of the earth wants me dead”.     

Anmod on a summer morning.

It is two months since the Anmod Ghat on the Hubli - Goa route is closed for
traffic. Some major road work is being done. To walk on the Anmod Ghat road
when the traffic is on is probably just short of suicidal. The trafficless Anmod
was a temptation. So we took the opportunity to go walking on the ghat road
this morning. Anmod will be a green paradise during rains. Summer is not the
time to see the place. It is mostly dry. But some of my friends decided to go
there for a walk/run today. The walk on the empty road in the early morning
was very pleasant. I walked half way up - 17 kms up and down.
(feet are still aching). Those who could, ran the full length of the ghat road. Since I had my phone with me, I took some pictures and posted it here.

It was still dark when we started 

Morning sun lights up the eastern slopes

The empty ghat road, which prompted the walk

The dry slopes of summer

Triambak, Rajesh, Self, Sandeep and Praveen - from left to right.

Triambak at Molem Check post, the point where we started.

Different hues of the summer greenery.