Travel Bug - On the wheels !

An African wildlife safari had been a long dream of mine, growing stronger each year with my journey into wildlife photography. While searching for a good budget-friendly tour package during the quieter months of January and February, I found the perfect itinerary for the world-famous Maasai Mara National Reserve with Share Your Safari group(One of the finest tour organisers I have worked with). After a quick discussion with some of the wildlife enthusiast friends, the three of us decided to grab the opportunity and done the bookings well in advance. It was a five-day tour, featuring three full days and one half-day game drives across the vast savannah landscapes of the Mara. It was going to be totally different and lifetime experience compared to indian jungle safaris and all of us were thoroughly prepared and exited for the adventure. On 17th February, we (Myself, Anup and Anuradha) began our journey from Pune and met our fellow photographer, Mr. Harjeet at Mumbai airport. We flew o...

I still remember the Gujarat tourism advertisement where Mr. Bachchan says " Kutch nahi Dekha toh kuch nahi Dekha " and that's the time when Rann of Kutch caught my attention and, since then, it has been sitting at the top of my travel bucket list. I planned for this a few times earlier but for some or other reasons it did not work out. Recently, when I saw it trending like anything on Instagram, I thought it was high time to plan and execute, otherwise the place might lose its charm in the coming years due to overpopulation.  After doing a bit of research on the internet, I have finalized the 5-day itinerary from Ahmedabad where the main attraction was the famous Rann Utsav at Dhordo white Rann, and then we would explore other parts of Kutch like Dholavira and Bhuj, Mandvi etc.  Day 01 - Ahmedabad to Dholavira On 26th Dec evening we took a flight from Pune to Ahmedabad and stayed there overnight. The next day, early morning, we started our journey from Ahmedabad towards ...

Kanha National Park is experiencing a rocking season this summer with some great sightings. Every day, some exciting news is coming from Kanha and sightings are happening across all the zones of the park. As expected,  Our trip in the middle of April also started with a bumper sighting of a sub-adult male cub of MV3 who was just separated from its mother and trying to establish his territory in the Kisli zone. He already started looking like a young and dashing male tiger who was quite bold and comfortable with the vehicles around. We spent a good amount of time with him and he gave us some fantastic photographic opportunities.  After such a perfect start to the tour, it was time to visit our all-time favourite part of the park which is  Mukki zone and   of course,  there is a reason why it is special for us. In April 2017, we visited Kanha National Park for the first time and we fell in love with this magical jungle and its mixed landscapes of evergreen canopie...

काही वर्षांपूर्वी कुटुंबियांसोबत पावसाळी ट्रीप साठी पन्हाळगडावर गेलो असताना तेथील बाजी प्रभूंच्या पुतळ्याजवळ खूप गर्दी बघायला मिळाली, थोडी चौकशी केल्यावर समजले की त्या दिवशी (१३ जुलै), बाजी प्रभू देशपांडे यांची पुण्यतिथि होती आणि त्या निमित्त काही ट्रेकिंग संस्थांनी पन्हाळा ते पावनखिंड हा २ दिवसाचा ट्रेक आयोजित केला होता आणि त्या साठी सर्व ट्रेकर्स मंडळी तिथे जमली होती. मुळातच ट्रेकिंग ची आवड असल्यामुळे या ट्रेक बद्दल जरा अधिक चौकशी करून संपूर्ण माहिती मिळवल्यावर समजले की, हा फक्त एक ट्रेक नाही तर ही एक ऐतिहासिक पदभ्रमंती मोहीम आहे. १६६० साली आषाढ पौर्णिमेच्या रात्री, छत्रपती शिवाजी महाराजांनी बाजी प्रभू आणि त्यांच्या ६०० मावळ्यांसोबत पन्हाळ्याचा वेढा फोडून एका रात्रीत पन्हाळगड ते विशाळगड हा जवळपास ६० km चा पल्ला गाठला. या दरम्यान त्यांनी कसा अनेक अडचणींचा मुकाबला करत, पाठीमागून येणाऱ्या हजारो च्या सैन्याला चकवा देत डोंगरदऱ्यांमधून हा खडतर  प्रवास केला असेल याचा एक अंशतः अनुभव घेण्यासाठी आणि या सर्व वीरांना श्रद्धांजली म्हणून दर वर्षी जुलै आणि ऑगस्ट महिन्यांमध्ये अनेक ग्रुप्स ही मो...