mademytrips

Move on...

2008-05-18T17:12:00.000+05:30

This blog is coming to an end here.

We are now writing at www.travelwithacouple.com.

The journey continues...

Prabalgad 2.0

2007-08-16T10:21:00.000+05:30

Prabalgad is a distant and forgotten cousin of Matheran. At 2300 ft above the sea level, with a forest atop with a variety of birds and animals, it has all the ingredients for the making of a hill station. Thanks to the lack of resident water sources, this forest remains pristine and an ideal destination for true nature lovers and adventure seekers. The gigantic V shaped mountain (which is to the west of the fort) cannot be missed while traveling through the Mumbai Pune Express way of high way. It is also visible from the Matheran Sun Set point.

Prabalgad is accessible from the Konkan by taking a turn at the Poinje Phata. This road branches out from the Panvel road, just six kilometers short of the Panvel crossing. From Poinje, you can trek to the top of the fort, passing Thakarwadi. The fort has some ruins of stone walls and ramparts. There is a small water tank and a Ganesh temple. Still, it is wise to take the help of a local guide at Thakarwadi. This way, you can be assured of finding your way amidst the wild tracts of Karvy. The only traces of humans are cowherds who take their cattle and goats to graze in and around the fort. A tiny lake also provides these animals with drinking water. There are few records mentioning the historical or geographical importance of Prabalgad, save that in 1826, the freedom fighter, Umaji Naik, along with his companions, had made the fort his home for a brief period. The fort is close to Mumbai as well as Pune, making it an excellent place to go for a weekend trek. With its misty monsoons and cool summers, a trek to Prabalgad is adventurous and memorable.

See Prabalgad Photos from 2005 Trek

The Journey, is the Reward

2007-07-18T08:51:00.000+05:30

Fast cars, super sonic planes, chartered flights, packaged tours... ! are we missing out on the real travel. So thinks travel writer Ed Gillepsies and his partner Fiona. So they set out on a Slow Travel. To enjoy the transition of landscape, culture, people and language. By travelling in train, cycle, camel and ferry. Savouring the rich experience of real travel. Making true sense of the Taoist saying that 'Journey is the reward'.

Read the story here

Take a walk!

2007-04-25T14:45:00.000+05:30

City walks are the latest buzz with travel lovers. Most of us are even unaware that there are a lot more to see in our backyards. A lot on heritage and culture. A few entrepreneurial travel lovers have found an interesting way to take us through the history of our cities. I took part in a walk in Mumbai with one such group. It is simply great.

Here is a quick guide:
Mumbai -
The Bombay Heritage Walks, www.bombayheritagewalks.com

Bangalore -
Bangalore Walks - www.bangalorewalks.com

Delhi
Nigel Hankin - The 87 year old British, settled in India for many years have been conducting tours in Delhi for the last 20 years. With no telephone or internet contact, Nigel's service is known to outside world only by word of mouth

INTACH - intacdelhi@rediffmail.com, Ph: 011 - 2464 5482 extn:105

Calcutta -
Akhil Sircar, Conservation and Research of Urban Traditional Architecture
ARCH - Manish Chakraborti, archeritage@hotmail.com

Goa
Heta Pandit, heta.pandit@gmail.com, 098221 28022

Chennai
V Sriran, srirambts@gmail.com, 098400 24200

Matheran
Terence D Lima, 094233 67739

(Information Source: Mint Lounge)

More on Rail Trail

2007-02-04T21:53:00.000+05:30

Many would remember the story of RailTrail, an eco trail through the thick forests of Parambikulam which appeared in this blog earlier. (Parambikulam - A 100 year old forest tramway turns trekking trail). Discovered or re-discovered by railway historians Devan Verma, David Churchill & Marc Reusser, this eco-trail traces the path of the now discarded Cochin State Forest Tramway through some of the thickest forests in western ghats.

Devan Varma has recently shared some interesting photos with us. Click here. and enjoy!

25 Wild Life Sanctuaries to experience

2006-11-11T16:54:00.000+05:30

Sanctuary magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The issue dated October is a collectors issue (infact every issue of Sanctuary Magazine is a collectors issue).

Some of the interesting features in this issue are 25 best wild life photographs, 25 select articles from previous issues, 25 key environmental issues/battles, 25 wild species that share our cities, 25 species we must not lose, 25 birds of a life time, 25 people who are fighting to save natural india and 25 wild life destinations one should not miss.

Reproduced here are that 25 wild life destinations.

Here is the list:

Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttaranchal)
Habitat: Northern most deciduous dominated by sal, northern tropical dry decidious, Himalayan subtropical pine forests
Wildlife: Elephants, Tigers, Gharials, birds
Closest Town/City: Nainital (85 km)
Best time to visit: November - April

Gangotri National Park (Uttaranchal)
Habitat: Himalayan moist temperate type vegetation consists of chirpine deodar, fir, spruce, oak and rhododendrons
Wildlife: Lammergeirs, bharal, Himalayan black bears
Closest Town/City: Dehradun (210 km)
Best time to visit: February - May

Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttaranchal)
Habitat: Moist mixed deciduous forests, temperate moist coniferous forests, sublpine birch, fir and spruce forests and sub-pine pasture and scrub
Wildlife: Goral, birds, butterflies, leopards
Closest City/Town: Almora (25 km)
Best time to visit: September - March

Valley of Flowers National Park (Uttaranchal)
Habitat: Alpine meadows and sub alpine forests shelter about 500 species of flowering plants. A large portion of the park is covered with glaciers.
Wildlife: Flowering plans and butterflies
Closest City/Town: Joshimath (33 km)
Best time to visit: July - August

Great Himalayan National Park (Himachal Pradesh)
Habitat: Confluence of temperate and alpine forest types with a mix of oak and conifers
Wildlife: Musk deer, Himalayan black bears, snow leopards
Closest City/Town: Kullu (55 km)
Best time to visit: April - June & September-October

Gir National Park (Gujarat)
Habitat: Semi-arid and deciduous forest, stunted deciduous forest interspersed with grasslands and scrubland.
Wildlife: Asiatic Lions, leopards, birds
Closest City/Town: Junagarh (58 km)
Best time to visit: November - March

Little Rann (wild ass) Sanctuary (Gujarat)
Habitat: Predominantly Saline Desert. Some areas are semi-arid
Wildlife: Asiatic wild ass, chinkara, wolves, striped hyenas
Closest City/Town: Ahmedabad (105 km), Rajkot (140 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Ranthanbhore Tiger Reserve (Rajasthan)
Habitiat: Dry deciduous habitat dominated with dhak trees. Three lakes form the life support system for the park.
Wildlife: Tigers, leopards, birds
Closest City/Town: Sawoi Madhopur (12 km)
Best time to visit: December - April

Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Rajasthan)
Habitat: Man-made wetland; semi-arid and thorn forest with small patches of grass land.
Wildlife: Migratory birds, rock python, Indian monitor, jackals
Closest City/Town: Bharatpur (5 km)
Best time to visit: November - February

Melghat Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra)
Habitat: Dry deciduous forest with teak and bamboo
Wildlife: Birds, tigers, guars
Closest City/Town: Amaravati (100 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Tadoba Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra)
Habitat: Southern tropical deciduous forest with teak and bamboo
Wildlife: Tigers, dhole, birds
Closest City/Town: Chandrapur (45 km)
Best time to visit: November - April

Netravali Wild Life Sanctuary (Goa)
Habitiat: Westcoast tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests.
Wildlife: Birds, reptiles, amphibians
Closest City/Town: Dabolim (55k km)
Best time to visit: August - February

Kanha TigerReserve (Madhya Pradesh)
Habitiat: Mixed deciduous on the plains and dry deciduous woodland on hilltops and slope.
Wildlife: Tigers, swamp deers, birds
Closest City/Town: Jabalpur (160 km)
Best time to visit: November - March

Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh)
Habitiat: Indus-Ganges Monsoon forest type mainly consisting of semi-evergreen sal forests mixed with Terminalia and mixed bamboo species.
Wildlife: Tigers, birds
Closest City/Town: Umaria (35 km)
Best time to visit: December - April

Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka - Tamilnadu)
Habitiat: Dry deciduous scrub, southern tropical dry deciduous and southern tropical moist mixed deciduous forests.
Wildlife: Elephants, tigers, dhole, guar, four-horned antelope, birds, reptiles, butterflies
Closest City/Town: Mysore (78 km)
Best time to visit: January - May, September - October

Periayar Tiger Reserve (Kerala)
Habitiat: Mostly tropical evergreen forests and semi-evergreen forests, occassionally broken by large areas of grasslands.
Wildlife: Elephants, guar, birds, reptiles, butterflies
Closest City/Town: Kottayam (112 km), Madurai (140 km)
Best time to visit: November - April

Silent Valley National Park (Kerala)
Habitiat: West coast tropical evergreen, semi-evergreen and secondary evergreen, souther tropical hill savannah woodland, southern montane wet scrub and grassland.
Wildlife: Birds, reptiles, amphibians
Closest City/Town: Palakkad (58 km), Coimbatore (90 km)
Best time to visit: July - February

Annamalai (Indira Gandhi) National Park (Tamilnadu)
Habitiat: Dry deciduous, evergreen, semi-evergreen and montane wet temperate forests.
Wildlife: Elephants, Birds, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies
Closest City/Town: Coimbatore (80 km)
Best time to visit: September - April

Mahatama Gandhi Marine (Wandur) National Park (Andamans)
Habitiat: Mangrove forest; tropical evergreen and moist deciduous forests on the sorrounding landmass. Majority of the water dominated by coral reef.
Wildlife: Corals, tropical fish, molluscs, salt-water crocodiles, birds
Closest City/Town: Port Blair (29 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary (Orissa)
Habitiat: Mangrove forest along creek and estuaries - an amalgamation of sea and freshwater habitat.
Wildlife: Turtles, king cobra, water monitor, crustaceans
Closest City/Town: Bhubaneshwar (190 km), Cuttack (77 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (West Bengal)
Habitiat: Dense mangrove forests with several rivers, creeks and estuaries. Most of the area consists of inaccessible swamps.
Wildlife: Tiger, mangroves, water monitor, crustaceans
Closest City/Town: Jorhat (98 km), Guwahati (230 km)
Best time to visit: December - April

Kaziranga National Park (Assam)
Habitiat: Alluvial grassland, deciduous woodland scattered through the grassland, semi-evergreen forest and tropical wet evergreen forests
Wildlife: One-horned rhinoceros, swamp deer, common otters, gangetic dolphins
Closest City/Town: Kolkata (160 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Manas Tiger Reserve (Assam)
Habitiat: Tropical semi-evergreen forests, tropical moist and dry deciduous forests and extensive alluvial grasslands.
Wildlife: Birds, hispid hare, pygmy hogs, golden langur
Closest City/Town: Guwahati (180 km)
Best time to visit: December - March

Eagle's Nest Wildlife Sanctuary (Arunachal Pradesh)
Habitat: Wet temperate evergreen dominated with bamboo. Heavily logged regions - with pine, birch broad leaved oak and rhododendron.
Wildlife: Birds, reptiles, amphibians, yellow throated martens
Closest City/Town: Guwahati (328 km)
Best time to visit: October - April

Namdapha Tiger Reserve (Arunachal Pradesh)
Habitiat: Wet evergreen rainforests, moist mixed deciduous forests and temperate alpine forests. Namdapha has an astounding diversity of forest types.
Wildlife: Reptiles, amphibians, birds, small cats
Closest City/Town: Digboi (85 km)
Best time to visit: December - April

Parambikulam - 100 year old forest tramway turns trekking trail

2006-11-05T22:26:00.000+05:30

Parambikulam in Kerala - Tamilnadu border and part of the Anamalai hills in the Western Ghats is a nature lovers' dream come true. Though it is in Palakkad district of Kerala, it is accessible by regular roads only through Pollachi in Tamilnadu. Or the other option is the forest tracks from Chalakkudy, in Kerala. I visited Parambikulam almost 20 years back and all I could spent was a couple of hours. It was one of those quickie one day trips organised by my school to Parambikkulam and Valparai. It is now one more addition to my 'To do' list.

The latest issue of Outlook Traveller tells the story of a long forgotten (or unknown) story of the Cochin State Forest Tramway. Built in 1903, the 80 km meter guage line connected Parambikulam to Chalakkudy. The track passes through dense jungles and past 254 bridges and culverts. Parambikulam was a favourite destination of the renowned ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali. He had identified over 100 species of birds along the tramway. He infact spent his honeymoon at the tramway resthouse and named a species of bird he found there after his wife.

The tramway was discontinued sometime in the 1950s. The good news now is that the State Forest department has converted this into a trekking trail. This eco tourism venture integrates the tribals, who organises the trek along with the forest officials. There are three treks on offer. A short trek of 1 day, a medium trek of 2 days and a long trek of 3 days.

Till I get a chance to plan and do this trek, all I can do is to marvel at the pictures in the magazine, read the article again and day dream. For the detailed story, one needs to pick a copy of the magazine, since I do not find the article online.

(Text in italics suggests that most of it is borrowed from the magazine)

The Changing Face of Goa

2006-07-30T23:14:00.000+05:30

“Ugly con-crete structures, huge crowds and barren mountains have destroyed quaint hill towns like Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala, favourite places to have holiday homes. Goa, on the other hand, has lush green paddy fields and blazing yellow crotons”

That seems to be the reason many Indian businessmen from other cities and foreigners are finding Goa attractive. Doesn’t that mean that a few years down the line Goa also will meet the same fate that Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala met with? For, all these places were attractive a few years back.

A place attracts people for a variety of reasons. If the those reasons do not remain with the same sanctity, the place is bound to loose its charm sooner or later. Who would want traffic jams and garbage piles to destroy quaint little towns and villages?

“Goa’s civic infrastructure isn’t keeping pace with its changing needs. In December, the busiest month, there are four-hour long traffic jams everywhere”

But then, once the ‘civic infrastructure’ is in place, will the Goan streets be the same? Perhaps it will reflect the streets of Bandra and Pali in Mumbai. Cities in Goa should look for an approach that integrates its cultural heritage to its tourism development plans, rather than constructing some flyovers, widening the roads and building vertical structures to add more room-nights. For instance why not ban cars to the city centres, like in Amsterdam?

Story of Goa’s changes in Indian Express.

MTDC introduces House Boats

2006-06-18T16:43:00.000+05:30

Not to be left behind by the houseboats of magnificient backwaters in Kerala and the Dal lake in Kashmir, Maharashtra Tourism Board (MTDC) is set to launch its House Boat Service by October. These 80ft boats are equipped with central airconditioning, fully functional kitchens, bed rooms and sundecks. The two routes identified for the initial launch are Tarkarli-Nerur Par and Aronda Creek.

Tarkarli is known for its clean, narrow beaches with pristine clear waters. On clear day one can see the sea bed unto a depth of 20 ft. Tarkarli is 546 kms from Mumbai and is at the confluence of Karli river and the Arabian Sea.

Volunteer Tourism

2006-06-04T23:18:00.000+05:30

Eco tourism, spiritual tourism, agri tourism and now it is ‘volunteer tourism’. Move over star hotels, luxury cruises and guided tours. If it is inner peace and harmony that you are looking for in your travels and holidays, volunteer tourism is the new way for self-actualisation. Travel to distant lands. Stay with local people. Participate in local community activities and make a difference to the community, place and people whom you are visiting. There are already a few such destinations in India. In Varkala, Kerala, Travels Interserve has intoruduced Lullaby@Varkala, where tourists actively participate in pre-school education in anganwadis for children below the age of five. There are some packages which include community work with NGOs like Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal.

Read the full article in The Sunday Express

Paradise Forests

2006-06-04T23:07:00.000+05:30

Read the story of Paradise Forests, the largest intact rainforest in the Asia Pacific region, which supports hundreds of indigenous cultures and creatures found nowhere else in the world... The story of destruction and Greenpeace’ and local community’s efforts to fight it. Check the amazing wild life photos…

See the Greenpeace Story
Check the website of Save Paradise

Will you fund my trip?

2006-06-04T23:00:00.000+05:30

Kidding, eh? Why should any one fund my trip? Charity? Altruism? Or out of your mind? But strange as it may seem, there are a few people, who just fund other’s travelling dreams. Or that’s what TravelPod says. And there is a patent pending technology ‘Support My Travel’

TravelPod, RealTravel, and TravelPost are some of the few popular travel blog sites I came across recently, while looking for travel stories. Given that all are about travels across the world, all are interesting. However, I liked RealTravel and TravelPod. Among the two, TravelPod had this interesting section called ‘Support My Travel’, which allows friends, family or just anyone can donate to fund one’s travel. All one need is to put the ‘Support My Travel’ link on the blog page, a PayPal account and loads of luck and fortune, for some one to be actually kind enough to fund their travel.

More on Travel dot coms

2006-05-23T23:30:00.000+05:30

The online ticket/travel/hotel booking market has no dearth of new players. The newest one is www.xplorz.com. Waiting in the wings are www.arzoo.com (due shortly), and www.cleartrip.com (though the announcement came as early as in Aug’ 05, it’s yet to go live).

Industry buzz is that www.travelocity.com is also a few months away from launching in India. And the king of all, www.expedia.com is yet to make any announcement. While most of these are full service travel operators, with an operational team, there are a few dot coms that offer only the search services, while the booking has to be done with the actual airlines or on those portals appear in the search results. Thus, we have www.mobissimo.in, which started their India operations, recently. A search for a ticket in Mobissimo will perhaps land you in www.makemytrip.com. Mobissimo claims to have one of the most advanced search engines. www.kayak.com is another player in this segment, though they have not yet launched the Indian operations. One can still search for a Mumbai – Hyderabad ticket in Kayak, book it on Indian, except that the payments will be in dollars.

Xplorz.com claims that they are the only one in India that offers P3, ie, Pick, Pay and Print. (A not-so-clever marketing gimmick, like the XD3 technology your washing powder uses to extract dirt or the Mx2 technology used in your toothpaste that fights germs!)

Arzoo can claim some lineage. Promoted by Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail fame and supported by some Silicon Valley techies, Arzoo is set to storm the market by offering the largest variety of packages – international and domestic.

Leisure and Lifestyle Information Services (promoters of www.Indiaresorsurvey.com ) is running www.iyatra.com (beta), for online booking of holidays in hotels and resorts in the country. It is quite possible that this portal will evolve into offering services on flight bookings as well.

Small Island, Big Trip

2006-05-17T19:11:00.000+05:30

Srilankan tourism’s new by-line is ‘Small Island, Big Trip’. Not merely a marketing gimmick. Considering the rainforests with rich bio diversity, historical and heritage places and a long coast line, all in this small island, ‘Small Island, Big Trip’ is very apt.

Check out the website www.smallislandbigtrip.com to get what Srilanka has to offer.

Travel Fare Wars

2006-05-13T20:13:00.000+05:30

travelguru.com is the latest entrant in online travel booking. But it is not the last. cleartrip.com is on its way. Sify has recently acquired a travel portal and Sify services are due to be launched in June. So, as consumers are we going to have it all? Not sure!

Most of these portals offer the lowest fare (*Conditions Apply). But the fact is that these portals cannot offer you rates lower than that offered by low-cost carriers like Air Deccan or GoAir.

A couple of days back, out of curiosity I compared the rates in travelguru and makemytrip, for Mumbai - Coimbatore for 30 May. travelguru offered Rs 3200+ as the best rate, while makemytrip offered Rs 3800 as the best rate. Then, I checked Air Deccan for the same date in the same sector. And the offer was Rs 1200.

Interestingly, both travelguru and makemytrip says that they book tickets for Air Deccan. But both did not list Air Deccan in their offer. I do not know what arrangement they have with Air Deccan. But the bottom line is that for domestic travel (without hotel bookings, etc), it is better to approach the low-cost carriers directly to get the best rates.