Doddamakali outing
After a series of 6-day work weeks, I was excited when I got to know Sudhir had a one day outing planned, added to it, he was thinking of one of the three JLR camps along the Cauvery. I had commitments to work on Saturday and was not sure of making it till evening when I called Sudhir and found out that it was still possible to join. This outing has been one of the most memorable short visits I've done in a while.
M&M Scorpio rides very well on the rustic roads of India, I discovered that within an hour or so of starting the trip when we reached a shortcut to the Doddamakli camp near Shimshapura town. The drive to our destination was adventurous, we even drove along a river bund which people only use as a walking track. Sometimes, getting lost can be fun!
Just before reaching the check-post to enter Doddamakali, I spotted raptors starting to soar at a distance and as we got closer we discovered that it was a group of 5 Oriental Honey Buzzards warming up to the day to start their quest for food. I was enthralled by two aspects of the sighting, one - they were calling out to each other as they started to soar - the resonating calls could be heard far and wide and two, the sun was right on top of them, producing some magical natural moments, the entire span of each wing was lit up with golden light passing through the translucent wings, and clearly forming the silhouette of the body. It was a pure coming together of elements that brought so much joy.
A few minutes later they glided away into the distance; we were on the road again and reached the doddamakali forest entry-gate. One has to drive for about 8 kilometers to reach the camp, but, with the kind of wildlife one is likely to encounter at this stretch, you could spend all your time looking around, especially at dawn or at dusk.
Our progress to the camp was very slow, we stopped at every possible opportunity to study subjects, conditions and try photographing various subjects and scenery as the indefatigable Sudhir tirelessly explained the optimum setup, study of conditions, of subjects and various approaches one could take.
The clear perspectives and the highly common sensical tips he was giving out was invaluable, especially for a person like me, who has been doing this for a couple of years, it is so much easier to know where you are or could go wrong, or how you could improvise on the situation. It was a tremendous learning experience.
We reached the camp by 9:30 AM and immediately set afoot to the banks far from human habitation, to reach there, we had to cross mountains albeit smaller than the usual challengers. Through our 3 km trek, we stopped at every opportunity to try different compositions of landscapes and to capture the local fauna we could manage to spot. A lot of fishing eagle calls were heard through out, a good indicator that the population in that region is quite good.
We returned to the camp just in time for lunch and followed up lunch with discussions on processing digital images; yet again, Sudhir shared a lot of tips and techniques to process images for both web and print media.
The post lunch session was a game of waiting, we spread out on various parts of a hillock with the hope to spot the fishing eagle. Although several calls were heard around nesting trees far off, not one ventured out. About 30 minutes later, we decided that it was time to drive back to the main road, having seen the area in the morning, we were sure of good sightings as dusk was nearing.
Our experience on the drive back to the main road from the camp was beyond expectations however. It was a Doddamakali master show that was put up for us. In the hour or so we spent to drive through, we were treated with a variety of wildlife which amazed each one of us so much, that there is no question of not going back there and scouting the area at dawn and dusk, I'm sure that any visit to Doddamakali road early in the morning or late in the evening will pay rich dividends to the nature enthusiast.
We spotted a rich variety of birds including the elusive painted Sand grouse (three perched together), among mammals, the four horned antelope - which no one would have expected to see there and among reptiles, two snakes tailing each other speedily as the vibrations of our vehicle shook their world. The mud baths of the bee eaters was a treat to watch as well.
By the time we hit the road, we were all uniformly elated and as we were indulged in discussions about the outing, photography, lenses, investment on equipment and future trips - two hours had passed, and Bangalore beaconed.
Images are here - if an image has an impact on you - please leave a comment. Thanks for reading.
