A weekend trip to Manchanabele which is located around 50 km from Bangalore was a sort of picnic outing. The place is known for different species of birds in that region.

This is separate from the water birds which are seen in huge numbers in Ranganthittu. There are more land birds seen in this region and the country side along with the villages just attract them more.

The once commonly seen sparrows in city were seen in abundance in this region. The cellular phone usage has ensured that these sparrows find new places for themselves.

ROUTE: We took the NICE road and then onto Mysore road, we took the right just after Rajarajeshwari Dental college. After taking a right if you hit a railway track, it means you are on the right track. The road seem to have been newly laid(as of April 26th 2010) and the drive is a pleasure. Keep driving further and you will reach the famed centuries old banyan tree. Continuing further on it you will reach a junction from where a right turn needs to be taken.

Keep going straight and you will see the reservoir at distance. On the way you will find a small village which is the last one before this dam reservoir. You can take your vehicle right near the reservoir but this last stretch of 2-3 km is little bad and bumpy ride. The people were really helpful in guiding us to the final destination. A rough idea on distance is that the dam is around 15km from Banyan tree.

A funny incident Read more about the funny incident!

An unexpected trip to Ranganthittu again on Sunday. It was a total surprise to see myself traveling to the bird sanctuary again 2 weeks in a row. This time
we started early and reached there before 7 am.

The custom boat ride for 2 hours was the best I have had till date. It provided us with the opportunity to see more than 30 species of birds in the lake and surrounding region. It was a visual treat to so many birds in a small concentrated place.

The photos will take some time to be posted but for avid birders below is the list of species we witnessed. I hope the photos are good quality for some of them.

1. Purple Heron
2. River Tern

Remaining 28 species

Mysore palace, Ranganthittu, Sriranganpatana and Mysore zoo!

There were the places we covered in the last trip and the travelogue can be found here. The image gallery is now up and live of this trip. Visit the link below to see the complete gallery in action.

CLICK TO VIEW THE GALLERY

A long weekend was the ideal time to spend some time with family and taking them around Mysore. My sister was visiting the historical city of Mysore for the first time and I organized a little hectic trip to cover many places in a single day.

First we headed straight to Srirangapatana for Tipu Sultan’s tomb. It is created in the typical mughal style of tomb with a circular structure on top.A short stop here with fresh coconut sip breather, we headed to the Mysore palace.

Then we went to Ranganthittu bird sanctuary reaching there by around 10 am.It was quite a busy time as many people had come over for picnic time and spending the entire day there.We tried to get an exclusive boat for 5 of us but finally had to settle for a shared one. It turned out to be decent as the sightings were very good this time.

Many different species of birds were witnessed which were missed last time.We took the boat ride for 30 minutes and then walked around the sanctuary for some time.

We decided to have lunch at Hotel Ramanashree which was a big mistake. The order took about 45 minutes to arrive. We had to shout to get our orders and the taste was really bad. For any tourists reading this entry, please stay away from Hotel Ramanashree.

The palace again had a lot of people and there seemed to be mad rush.We managed to get the tickets and submit our footwear to enter the palace. The palace was a good place to spend more than an hour admiring all the grandeur and luxury on offer.

It was hot and the sun was directly above our head before proceeding to Mysore zoo. It is supposed to be the best zoo of India. The zoo held its reputation after we roamed inside for almost 3 hours.

We were very tired by now and sun had set. We decided to head back to home which meant another 3 hours of driving. On way we stopped at Cafe Coffee day for a different than typical south Indian food the whole day.

A great day with a very good sleep anticipated.Another 2 days of the long weekend awaited with much plans and excitement.

The next blog entry should have the trip photos. Stay tuned!