Gir National Park, Gujarat
Bird of the Day: Crested Hawk Eagle
Gir National Park, Gujarat
Meeting within Periyar Tiger Reserve
photo credit: Sudhir Shivaram; Barnawarpara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh
Just a few days ago, I went for the first time to the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Thekkady, which is one of the most important national parks in Kerala. For sure, luck was going our way! We saw so many things: different monkeys, awesome birds, multicolored frogs … but the most amazing and unexpected meeting in this dense forest was one with an animal that I would never have imagined seeing: a leopard! Even if it was obviously fleeting in one sense, it was also a timeless moment that I will remember. None of us had time to take a picture of the animal, which is why I’m using a photo by Sudhir Shivaram taken in Barnawarpara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh. The photo is also much closer than the scene that we experienced, where the leopard was fifty meters in front of us.
Sudhir’s quote below is a good way to show how fast it was and how lucky we are to have looked at the right time in the right place.
I keep saying – In Wildlife Photography you get 0-3 seconds to make your image, otherwise you have missed the opportunity. That’s exactly what happened to me in this case. Continue reading
Becoming Insta-Ready
In one of my previous posts I mentioned the importance of always being camera-ready in Xandari. Now, having learned my lesson, I make sure my camera gets charged everyday because Seth and I have created an Instagram account for Xandari. The idea to make an account for the hotel had been stirring in my mind for a few weeks. However, it wasn’t until I was about to take another breathtaking sunset picture and a dreaded “memory full” warning sign popped up on the camera screen that I realized the concept could no longer remain dormant; it had to become a reality!
If You Are in DC…
The Capitol stones at Rock Creek Park in DC. PHOTO: Bill Lebovich
When the dust settled after 9/11, shipbuilders recycled the Twin Towers’ steel into the USS New York. And when the United States Capitol got a face-lift, the old stones were destined for an almost forgotten existence in a Washington, D.C. forest. Save for the occasional runner who veers off his usual trail and the rare visitor with ample time to explore more of the Rock Creek Park, not many have chanced upon and delved into the history of the pile of moss-covered stone columns. Obscura Society is headed there this week, and you may want to join them.
Bird of the Day: Grey Wagtail
Nandi Hills, Karnataka
A Fitting Anniversary Surprise
Leopard Paw Prints, Periyar Tiger Reserve
Five years ago last week several of us moved to Kerala, India. Sometime in the first year one of us took a photo of a huge tiger paw print while trekking through the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Two of us had the briefest of brief sightings of a tiger, back then as well, with the tiger leaping across the trail we were on, doing its best to avoid us and move on…
Now, exactly five years in, we had what anyone would describe as the ideal nature encounter. Continue reading
New York, Have a Sunny Day!
With New York packing so many buildings into a small area, the rooftops offer seemingly limitless potential to take homes off the grid. PHOTO: Business Insider
For the average homeowner, there’s more benefit to going solar than ever before. With the sun being a consistent source, of energy, those investing in photo-voltaic panels can be assured of seeing returns. There’s bound to be questions about feasibility, yes. About how much space is required, the type of structures involved, whom to contract for setup, etc.That’s where Mapdwell, a spin-off company from MIT that is creating incredibly detailed maps of the solar potential for each and every building in various cities, comes in.
“Solar energy has all this baggage, in a way. Solar panels have been out there for 30 to 40 years, but most homeowners still believe panels are “complicated, expensive, not-for-me kinds of things,” says CEO Eduardo Berlin, an architect and designer who is based in Cambridge, MA. “Solar is a real possibility for many people now, but somehow that got missed. It never got rebranded. The idea that you can put something on a roof and create energy from the sun, it’s pretty amazing.”
From Behind the Wheel: Romantic Rickshaw
Parade Ground, Fort Kochi
The Decision is To Bee
Researchers are using micro sensors to learn about the problems bees face. PHOTO: BBC
Around here, we understand the importance of bees. That explains the numerous posts on these winged creatures. If you must know right away, bees are guardians of the food chain and keepers of biodiversity, thanks to their super power of pollination. Precisely why it’s a cause for worry when we hear of their numbers dwindling. Now, an international group of scientists, beekeepers, farmers and technology companies is using cutting-edge technology to help find out why honey bee populations around the world are crashing.
Bird of the Day: Rock Bunting
Mandal, Uttarakhand
Whale Shark Encounter
In celebration of International Whale Shark Day, which is August 30…
I’ve posted previously about ecotourism ventures focused on iconic marine species such as sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles and how such ventures can be linked to protection of the species involved. From a natural capital valuation standpoint, the link is based on the recognition that the revenue generated from wildlife tourism associated with the animals far exceeds the revenue that would be earned from their capture for meat and/or body parts. In a nutshell – they are worth more alive than dead!
One species that has been the focus of wildlife tourism in various parts of the world is the whale shark. The largest fish in the sea, whale sharks grow up to 40 feet in length and more than 45,000 pounds in weight. Continue reading
The Disappearing Cajun Culture
A shrimp boat heading out to fish on Bayou Lafourche. PHOTO: BBC
Cajuns are mostly descended from French immigrant ancestors. Their name comes from Acadia in Nova Scotia, Canada, where they originally settled – they were expelled by the British in the 18th Century, and many eventually ended up in southern Louisiana. What was once home to several hundred families now only counts a few permanent residents. Where there were cotton fields, there’s now open water. Where a cemetery once stood, a few last remaining tombstones are sliding into the bayou.The people here have survived hurricanes, including Katrina in 2005, and the BP oil spill in 2010. But their resilience is being tested again by a less dramatic, but no less dangerous threat – the long-term erosion of the marshes and wetlands that run all along Louisiana’s coast.
Drawing Inspiration from Paper Folding
The flat-pack design could reduce energy demand drastically compared to a standard canvas structure. PHOTO: CoExist
It has long been known that origami has many benefits like developing eye hand co-ordination, sequencing skills, attention skills, patience, temporal spatial skills, math reasoning etc. And now a structure design inspired by the Japanese art of folding paper may help the military significantly reduce its energy demand.
Bird of the Day: Malabar Whistling Thrush
Valparai, Tamil Nadu
The Wettest Place on Earth
New Zealand-based photographer Amos Chapple captures a “living bridge” deep in the forests of Meghalaya, India.
Perched atop a ridge in the Khasi Hills of India’s north-east, Mawsynram has the highest average rainfall – 467in (11.86 metres) of rain per year – thanks to summer air currents gathering moisture over the floodplains of Bangladesh. When the clouds hit the steep hills of Meghalaya they are compressed to the point where they can no longer hold their moisture. The end result is near constant rain. Even the world’s biggest statue, Rio de Janeiro’s 30m tall Christ the Redeemer, would be up to his knees in that volume of water.
Watching the Waters
Scientists believe ocean currents and natural cycles are temporarily offsetting a sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean. Photograph: Ray Collins/Barcroft Media
Over the past century, the burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities has released enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These emissions have caused the Earth’s surface temperature to rise, and the oceans absorb about 80 percent of this additional heat. As per a recent update from a panel of NASA scientists, sea levels worldwide rose an average of nearly 3 inches (8 cm) since 1992, the result of warming waters and melting ice.
Bird of the Day: Brahminy Kite
Photo credit: Pawan Ranga
Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, Bangalore, Karnataka
From the Soil to Homes and Hearts, this Onam
Vamana, an avatar of Lord Vishnu, places his feet on King Mahabali.
Kerala was once ruled by Mahabali, who was an asura (Demon). Now being a demon, evil and sinful practices were expected of him, but he was completely the opposite. Mahabali was a mighty king who worked for the prosperity of his people. During his reign, everybody was happy and prosperous. But the Devas (Gods) were jealous and felt that he may surpass them and so they urged Lord Vishnu to help them. Mahabali was about to perform a ritual and he had announced that he would fulfill everyone’s wishes. Vishnu decided to use this opportunity and disguised himself as a dwarf, poor Brahmin called Vamana and went to Mahabali. He asked Mahabali to give him a piece of land which he could measure with three footsteps. Generous Mahabali granted his wish. But everybody was in for a shock when the tiny Vamana grew into a giant. He then took his first step and covered all land, and in his second step he occupied the whole of the sky. He then asked Mahabali where should he keep the third step. Unable to find any more land, the noble king then asked Vamana to keep the third step on his head. Lord Vishnu was pleased with Mahabali’s dedication and so he granted him a wish. Mahabali, who unconditionally loved his people, asked for permission to visit his people once a year. And so Onam is celebrated in his honor and people believe their Mahabali visits them on the day.
The European Who Gave India its Railway Book Stalls
A vendor attends a customer at a railway platform at Mumbai, India. PHOTO: Reuters
You remember railway book stalls as being there since eternity. Being in the business of making arduous train journeys a pleasant affair in the company of books and newspapers. It’d be easy to assume a well-meaning civic body put them up. But as far as India goes, the country and its people owe their reading on trains to Emile Edouard Moreau, a European businessman.
Bird of the Day: Greater Flamingoes
Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat
Organikos 