Nandi Hills, Karnataka
Nandi Hills, Karnataka
Charles C. Mann, Come To Kerala!
Magazines are increasingly opening their archives, and the Atlantic has been at the forefront of sharing centuries’ worth of great writing. This particular great piece of writing is one whose author would no doubt appreciate the 1491-ness of Kerala. He joins a list of others we have already invited, for one reason or another. Click the image about to go to this writer/editor’s website and here for the 2002 article that begat the book:
1491
Before it became the New World, the Western Hemisphere was vastly more populous and sophisticated than has been thought—an altogether more salubrious place to live at the time than, say, Europe. New evidence of both the extent of the population and its agricultural advancement leads to a remarkable conjecture: the Amazon rain forest may be largely a human artifactCHARLES C. MANN MAR 1 2002, 12:00 PM ET Continue reading
Periyar Sightings – October 15th, 2013
Photo Credits: Manoj Vasudevan
Mr. Manoj Vasudevan, the leader of a visiting tour group, joined the nature walk last week at the Periyar National Park. We love it when our guests share their shots with us ! Continue reading
High Tide in New York City
(all photos ©Ken Brown)
In India, as with the rest of the world, sometimes life gets the best of us and we miss out on the cyclical events that have marked time for millennia. Once again we have Ken Brown to thank for both bringing this event to our attention and documenting it so well.
I know it sounds like something from the Discovery Channel, but a truly remarkable event takes place each year when a 460 million year mating ritual is enacted on the beaches of New York City during a full moon high tide. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Bicolored Antbird
Pipeline Road, Gamboa, Panama
Parents, Kids, Travel
Whether it is to India or somewhere less far afield geographically, culturally, culinarily this advisory essay is well taken:
Taking a child out of the country is no small feat. Heck, taking a child to grandma’s house for the holidays can be exhausting! Not only is it important to prepare logistically for your trip—plane tickets, passports, itineraries, etc.—it is important to prepare your child emotionally, physically, and awesomely. Your mini-me is about to become a citizen of the world, and you are already nailing it.
Disconnected
A usual day in States starts out with me waking up to the ear-drillingly loud alarm on my Samsung Galaxy, checking my email and Facebook, surfing the web and reading the news. Then I soullessly get out of bed and proceed to breakfast, during which I also constantly fidget with my phone, jotting down everything I need to do for that day and texting my friends, usually to vent about how tired we are and who has gotten less sleep. Then in class, I take notes on my laptop as I constantly browse through my email and simultaneously type things I don’t understand into the Google search bar. As soon as I get out of class, I go back to staring at my phone, browsing through Instagram and Facebook, walking to my next class or lunch. (I have once literally run into a door because I had my head in my phone and didn’t see the door at all.) Bottom line, I am always connected, always online, and always ready to access everything on the Web. A ridiculous amount of my life is consumed by my phone and my laptop.
However, on my second day in India, I went on a houseboat—my fellow intern Jake has written about it a few posts back—and it did not have Wifi! I felt disconnected and nervous. I cannot even remember the last time I didn’t have access to Internet or my phone. After a couple of hours, I simply didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t even have music to listen to since I always stream it from Spotify or Youtube. In hopelessness, I lay down on the cushioned sun deck, hoping to take a nap, which would kill some time. So I sat there, directionlessly looking into the backwaters, the rice farms, and the tiny villages clustered up in the narrow grounds next to the river. I watched little naked boys taking a bath in the river and running away in embarrassment as they saw me staring at them on the boat. I also watched the birds hover right on top of the river surface, meticulously and gracefully snatch the fish out of the water, and fly away gobbling it down. I watched the sun slowly setting, painting the whole sky orange and pink with its radiance.
Before I knew it, it was pitch black outside and we were called down for dinner. Continue reading
Thenmala – Ecotourism
Photo credits: R R Renjith
Thenmala is India’s first planned ecotourism destination. Located 500 metres above sea level in the foothills of the Kollam district of the Westeren Ghats, Thenmala’s 10 satellite ecotourism attractions create a colourful canvas of diverse flora, fauna and vast tracts of forests. Continue reading
Shark Basks In Glow Of Recovery
Mystery creature: basking sharks are increasingly seen in British waters during the summer, but little is known about where they go in the winter. Photograph: Alex Mustard
Not everyone will be uniformly happy, perhaps, but we count ourselves happier upon seeing this news:
This summer, on the western edges of Britain and Ireland, was a time of gentle monsters: great black fins parading sedately off the beaches, leviathans floating in warm sea as docile as Granddad on a lilo. From Cornwall to Donegal, local papers ran stories of swimmers’ and kayakers’ encounters with sharks “Bigger than Jaws!” “The size of a bus!” But most of the reports went on to say that the fish – which can indeed grow to 11m, a double-decker’s length – were strangely blasé about the panicky, flapping humans. In fact, they didn’t seem interested at all. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Northern Harrier
Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin
Photographer + Professor + Himalayas = Collaborative Book
The blurb is enough to get our attention, but the images on the book’s website (click the image above to see) make the journey palpable:
The Eastern Himalaya—land of Gods, of ancient mountain kingdoms, of icy peaks and alpine meadows—is like no other place on Earth. The life and landscapes of the region are as diverse, spectacular and fragile as the mountains themselves. Even today, these mountains hold many mysteries: unnamed species, primeval cultures and the promise of magical cures to heal all of humanity. Himalaya—Mountains of Life takes us on a journey of biocultural discovery, from the great canyon of Yarlung Tsangpo and the Siang Gorge in the east to the Kali Gandaki Gorge in the west. Along the way, Himalaya demonstrates through breathtaking imagery and words, why the preservation of this heritage is so important—not just for us, but for the future of all life on Earth. Continue reading
Understanding Animal Behaviour
Elephant in mock charge at Bandipur Tiger Reserve; photo credit: Sudhir Shivaram
If you want to be a good wildlife photographer, you need to be a good naturalist first. Understanding your subject’s behaviour and knowing the natural history is even more important than good equipment to make good images.
Elephants commonly make a mock charge when they have calves in their group. During a photographic safari in India’s national parks the drivers and guides are knowledgable about this behaviour and know how to react. When a jeep enters the vicinity with elephants they understand that a mock charge is likely.
After the mock charge the elephant relaxes and moves within the family group naturally. This is the opportunity for good behaviour shots. Continue reading
Common Rattle Pod Flower- Crotalaria retusa
Common Rattle Pod plants are frequently found along river banks and fields as well as in the hills up to 1200 meters. The flowers are showy and large, and favored by carpenter bees. Continue reading
Pachydermal Bliss Courtesy Of Cambodian Camera Trap
Bird of the Day: Rufous Sibia
Pangot, Uttarakhand
Dakshina Mookambika Saraswathi Temple – Panachikkadu, Kottayam
Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor
Dakshina Mookambika Saraswathi Temple is dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi, the patron Goddess for learning and arts. The major festival of this prominent Saraswathi Temples is the Saraswathi Pooja that takes place in September or October, depending on the annual Malayalam calendar. Continue reading
Life as a House(boat)
Our house… boats
This past week the new intern (EJ) and I got the chance to try out Raxa Collective’s collection of overnight houseboats (River Escapes for those interested) on the serene backwaters of Kerala. With an influx of water hailing from the Ghats, these backwaters are the lifeblood of a significant portion of Keralan rice farmers; generations upon generations of these farmers have mastered their craft in a terrifically unique environment , and thus, a magnificently odd community unlike anything you would ever see state-side has emerged upon the banks of these backwaters.
If You Happen To Be In Middlebury (Vermont, USA)
Mostly, when we have been thinking of Middlebury lately, it has been in relation to the College there, and one of its favorite sons. But there are plenty of other reasons for a visit:
InSite is a home for local living. Our design was inspired by our hometown of Middlebury, VT where the community is friendly, approachable, and engaging. Team Middlebury believes that towns such as ours can contribute to social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Hepatic Tanager
Huachuca Canyon, AZ
If You Happen To Be In Sydney
Fruit of Banksia aemula
Tomorrow, at long last, the latest greatest seed bank in the world is opening:
The Australian PlantBank
The Australian PlantBank is a science and research facility of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust and is located at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan. It houses the Trust’s seedbank and research laboratories that specialise in horticultural research and conservation of Australian native plant species, particularly those from New South Wales.
Visiting PlantBank
The Australian PlantBank opens to the public on Saturday 12 October, 12 noon to 4 pm.
Organikos 