03 Mar

Visit to the Batu Caves

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For example, the rarest spider in the world – the Trapdoor spider (Liphistius batuensis, the scientific name). Even there are species still live in these caves since some 100 million years!

Of course, you cannot see of them, because of these species are mostly tiny, and the cave is literally dark. Because of the fragile ecological atmosphere inside the cave, you are bound to follow some important rules.

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Crowning glory of Shekhawati: Haveli of Nadine Le Prince (Fatehpur)

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Then Lia brought us to the cultural center. It had mainly three sections. The first section was dedicated to paintings and the tribal art. Each frame was magnificent. Nevertheless, two pictures really attracted me. The first was the paining on goat skin, depicting of “Ram hunting”. The richness of its colour was excellent. It was done by an unknown tribal artist.

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Winter Drive to Snowy Dhanaulti

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Few days ago, one of a reader asked me that why have I stopped writing on Ghumakkar. I had no particular answer. She told that I should again start writing.

So here I am back again to share few of my short travel tales. Starting with one of the trip which I remember was Dhanaulti which I visited in Feb’14.

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Rain Fury in Chakrata, Uttarakhand in June 2013 (Part III)

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By 7:30 in the evening the passage got cleared by JCBs, and as soon as the vehicles started to enter Damta the police authorities started announcing: Aap sabhi yatriyon ka Damta gaon mein swagat hai, apke bhojan ki vyavastha school aur mandir dharamshala mein ki gayee hai, kripya ghabrayein nahi aur bhojan grahan karein We were overwhelmed with this gesture of the authorities of this small village who were offering free food to stranded travellers. The local villagers also offered places for night stay to travellers at very nominal prices, and all the shopkeeper were warned not to overcharge any travellers for any food items. After having dinner at Sharnarthi camp, we also took the shelter in the house built over local Police Station.

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The Waghdoh Male: The largest male tiger in India

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We clicked her at a short distance while she oblivious to the attention she was getting continued with her innocent play.  Then we heard some grunts form the bushes behind her and the cub vanished behind them, probably her mother was hiding in the bushes and called her back. Next visit we saw the mother and cubs again from a short distance and the cub entered the waters to cool down in the April heat while the mother lurked from the bushes behind her.

All this while I was longing to see the ruler of this kingdom, the Wagdoh male who  is considered the largest male tiger in India. Though I wonder who would have dared to go and measure his size or of other tigers to compare them ? When I enquired with Mangesh our guide for all the safaris, if we will get a chance to see the Wagdhoh male he simply said, “Sir, he is the king of this jungle he holds durbar only once in a week, so you can see him only if he wants you to see him”. On further query we learned that the elusive king was last seen almost 8 days ago, so we had a good chance to see him.

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