After making this trip by Shatabdi that left the New Delhi Station at an unearthly hour of morning but got us to Bhopal around 2 pm the same day, I’ve concluded that to be the best way for Delhites to get there. Post-Agra, the train traverses some really green landscapes of the country

and Shatabdi’s nice, wide windows give a clear view of this greenery. The ride is interspersed with a flow of food and drinks, making the experience of looking out of the window akin to watching a pleasant movie in an audi with a constant refilling of the food tray in hand. Really, what more could one ask for from one’s mode of transport? Except, may be clean toilets for no matter what the level of our trains or the place of our journey, the cleaning of Indian train toilets always leaves much to be desired. However, the landscapes outside and the airconditioning inside made up for that irritant.

If one has a choice, the right way to experience Bhopal is by hopping into an auto from the station and heading straight to the Jehan Numa Place. We did just that, and the ride gave us a preview of this busy city with not just water-logged and broken roads, but also a lot of character in the form of its Upper Lake and Moti Masjid that showed up on the way. The hotel at the end of it all though gave a bigger visual relief. The Jehan Numa Palace hotel is not only famous for its food, it’s also located on a hill and possibly in the cleanest and greenest part of Bhopal. Its location is ideal also if one is out sightseeing as several important sites are in close vicinity. Be open to getting fleeced by the 2-3 autos parked outside its gate though!

This trip being short, we knew that we won’t be able to cover all the sites listed on the MP Tourism website but it helped to have the Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya close enough and accessible by an auto. This tribal museum kept us fascinated for 2 hours with its wealth of tribal tools, artefacts, vessels, paintings and craftware in its multiple galleries. On stepping outside after this careful scan, however, I was aghast to learn that there were at least 50 showcased dwellings strewn around a 200 acre hilly  terrain and  formed part of the museum. Sadly, we didn’t have time for those so we promised ourselves to revisit the place on our next travel. A few sobering words on the museum – it was clear that it could do with some sprucing up, plugging of several leaks in its roof, fixing of seepage on its ceiling and walls, and most certainly with a more sensible layout in grouping of various regions – it just didn’t make sense to have Tibetan tangkas, Nicobar installations and Maharashtra’s wedding mandap all together in a single hall — granted that it was all lovely to take in and offered a great experience.

Another high point of the visit was a drive to Sanchi – a world heritage site. The drive took about an hour in an SUV and was worth the effort and expense. The main stupa, its toranas and temple ruins around it were well connected through pathways and green expanse of manicured grass. The place had a serene feel with its clean grounds, monuments, painted metal benches, and it sure helped that the afternoon was breezy and cool for walking around. On the way back, our crew stopped to capture the Tropic of Cancer through its collection of 4 cameras. It was quite interesting to stumble upon such an important landmark of our globe without making a special visit to see it.

The prime event of our stay in Bhopal—the total eclipse—turned out quite different from our collective expectations…as the overcast skies prevented the sun or moon to show their anticipated magic. What was beautiful to witness from the rooftop of Jehan Numa though was the transition between light and dark and light again, the quiet of that moment and the delayed bird activity after the light resurfaced. It was also inspiring to meet Philip Ransley and Jeeta Dhillon on the hotel roof. They called themselves ‘the Eclipse Chasers’ and had made a special trip from London to witness this event. It was marvellous to learn that it was Philip’s 11th eclipse experience — going by that, most of us felt truly enthused about covering the next total eclipse expected on 11 July 2010, wherever that may take us!

No travel of ours is complete without figuring the food of the region. Our walks around the old Bhopal market, Chowk on the very first day introduced us to Bhopali chaat — which I found too sweet for my liking. In contrast, all the Indian dishes at Jehan Numa’s highly popular restaurant Under the Mango Tree were spicy and worth all the calories they amounted to. Jehan Numa’s buffet breakfast was also fantastic with its fresh dosas and an array of food options. We missed the kababs and biryanis from the Chowk, giving us yet another reason to plan our next visit to Bhopal at a slower pace.

Our exit out of Bhopal was expected to be smooth what with my organising skills, finding out about radio taxis well in advance and booking one to take us to the station. Except that the booked taxi never arrived, and our group of 5 loaded ourselves and our luggage in 2 autos at the tenth hour and chugged along to the station — when that unhurried drive through Bhopal’s roads wasn’t a luxury we could afford. We made it to the station and inside the departing Shatabdi just in the nick of time, making this trip memorable for more reasons than one

Food Experience of the Trip

Our day meals used to be rushed but we did manage some leisurely dinners. Among the busy places, we liked the baked goodies and deals at Infantaria on Baga — 6 pints of Budweiser for Rs100 were unbelievable even for Goa; pastas and grilled fish at Capricorn and Electric Cats at Calangute; the atmosphere at Anthony’s on Baga; but most of all, the fish thali at Ritz Classic in Panjim, that was great value at Rs70! Fish thalis in most restaurants offered a great combo but Ritz took the prize with its spread of rava fried pomfret, mackerel curry, prawn curry (with two tiny pieces of prawns but lots of coconut based curry) and vegetables. Down all that with fresh lime soda and you’d enjoy being in Goa even more. Also, we were pleasantly surprised to see so many vegetarian restaurants in Goa, and one particular called Navtara at Mapusa offering a wonderful veg thali. Its fresh Shrikhand and an array of daals that had both the south Indian and Gujarati influence was great at Rs65.

In Arpora itself, a couple of restaurants called All Spice, Fish Land and Appetite were doing sluggish business but modestly decorated Starlight was popular among locals for its prawn masala fry and fish curries. We also had a meal at Lagoa Azul’s Tabla and it was nice to meet the Manager, Prem who specially arranged Pois to go with our Fish Ambotik and Sausage fry. The food was okay but the service quite attentive. We could see more restaurants being set up in Arpora ‘for the season’ so the next visit should show us many more options.

Also, we were fortunate in being part of Goa Linux Users’ Group’s (GLUG!) informal meeting on a Saturday evening when the group introduced us to awesome Rechade/Rava Fish/Feni at a place they referred to as a Hole in the Wall! I don’t think we’d find that place on our own so would simply seek their company when we want to revisit it, and would remain grateful to the GLUG team of Stanley, Edgar, Arvind and Ashley for their hospitality.

The highlight of our food experience though was the humble Poi – a high-fibre round bread that is sold by Poi-men all around residential areas in Goa. Poiman’s distinct horn warns people of his visit (twice a day as far as I could tell) or otherwise the sight of a polythene-covered big basket on a bicycle is welcomed by many. We used to have the complex guard pick up one Poi and one Pav @ Rs2 each every morning at 6:30 am, and in the absence of a proper cooking gas stove or oven, came up with a couple of ways to consume them – sliced, toasted, buttered or toasted with Nilgiris cheese inside and downed with sips of tea. Used to be a great way to start our tough day!

Homeware shopping in Goa

Homeware shopping in Goa is unsatisfying for a Delhite. For light fittings, kitchenware and some appliances we focused on Mapusa. For bigger appliances and some hardware, we sought out dealers in Panjim. Appliances are sold mostly on MRP or at best at 5% discount. Light fittings were limited and prohibitively priced. But furniture was the most disappointing aspect of our shopping. Furniture shops in Shantinesh brought out tacky stuff, and some options existed in the form of road-side ‘antique dealers’ who would show dirty, unpolished pieces at phenomenal prices. Even their finished items didn’t seem well-finished. We were sure thrilled to see Fab India in Panjim and Calangute but their products were limited and big items expensive. We picked up some light shades and a familiar library stool from there, and were otherwise comforted by its quiet, peaceful atmosphere that we as Delhites have grown used to. Then, we chanced upon a big store called CMM Arena in Merces and heaved a sigh of relief when a Malaysian rubberwood bed agreed with our sense of décor and price. These guys were professional in the way they took the order and delivered/assembled the product onsite. I also liked the look of a small bric-a-brac shop called Casa Goa on Calangute-Baga road but found their items limited and prices high. Surely, there should be more such places in Goa selling traditional looking furniture but they didn’t appear on any of our several drives through North Goa. We saw a lot of bamboo cane furniture in restaurants and beach shacks but came across only a couple of shops selling some usual stuff at unbelievably high prices. People mentioned that come November, all roads will be lined with cane furniture sellers but prices may still remain high!

Tiles: We were keen to finish one of the sitting room walls with red/ochre coloured rough tiles. With an abundance of Mangalore tiles everywhere, I’d hoped to find some sort of acceptable coarse tiles but that wasn’t meant to be. After much scanning of Panjim, all we saw were the usual shiny, glazed branded tiles and although one small shop tucked away near Geeta Bakery in Panjim had some sample tiles of the sort we could have accepted, they asked for 12-15 days to arrange most designs.

Netlon: Interestingly, we discovered that Goa shops and people advocated the use of Netlon on windows in a big way, and it seemed to be a widely offered service there. Although we did see some mosquitoes there regularly, and they appeared bigger in size than those in Gurgaon (!), we noticed that they were decidedly fewer in numbers than Gurgaon. Still, we went along the trend of installing Netlon and got ours in place with the help of A La Mode (phone 2235042) in Panjim. Their person came over to measure up the windows and did a rather hurried but acceptable job of putting up velcro and black coloured fibre Netlon sheets. The sheets are hardly visible and keep Mosquitoes at bay.

Mapsua Friday Market: We’d read much about Mapusa’s Friday market for homeware but found little in the place other than spices, kokum and dried fish. All the same, it was a scenic, smelly and memorable experience! A fish-seller’s picture below would give an idea.

Goa – Our Second Home

We got to spend 11 days in our flat on this trip and they were taxing, busy and noisy 11 days – taxing, because we shared space with painters who took 8 days to paint the flat and later 2 days with carpenters who had us worried when they wouldn’t finish the contracted job within time. Busy, because of above and all the trips Kishore and I made to Mapusa, Panjim, Porvorim and Calangute markets looking for house stuff. Noisy, because the neighbour’s bossy rooster made his presence felt all day and sometimes called out at night too! The neighbour’s backyard offered an unkempt but lively sight (pic below) from the bedroom balcony – a fruiting cheeku tree full of noisy brown-headed squirrels, a pair of White-cheeked barbets busy drilling a nesting hole in a coconut tree (one of the pics below shows the male examining his effort much the way Kishore or I would be looking at painters’ efforts!); the rooster surveying the backyard with 3 fat hens in tow; and a lazy mamma cat snoozing on the roof while its 3 kittens would be running about all over. It was a fairly animated backyard to watch.

Around Las Palmas in Arpora, what came as a complete bonus was the feel of the terrain beyond Hotel Lagoa Azul. The road showed parts of Baga river on the right side, and once we found a small pathway to get close to the river, it was great to see a Stork-billed Kingfisher, few egrets and possibly a few stints — all at walking distance from our complex! The premises of the defunct Falcon hotel along Baga river lent a spooky and adventurous feel to our walks but even though full of trees, other than a Golden Oriole and Black Kites circling above, we didn’t see many birds on two of our morning walks there…

Finally, a message at the end of the story -

We’ve been asked by some friends and family about our plans for our flat and whether we would let it out for short or long stays – so here’s an offer and a clarification: please come visit us while we’re in Goa and discover the joys of Goa with us…please do not ask for our flat keys for use in our absence as we won’t be able to ensure its upkeep during or after its use and it’d sadden us to see it in any state other than the way we left it.

And, do remember that we’re now partly Goans – better still, Bhargoans – and would love to help you know Goa as much as we do.

Manali/Vashisth – June 08

This was our first self-driven trip to Manali and Naggar. The drive was expected to be longer than any we’d done on our own so we timed it with our friend Amit Kalra’s visit and had him for moral support. In his school/college years, he’d frequently camp in Manali hills so we knew that he was going to help us experience Manali unlike ever before.

Kishore drove our Scorpio all the way through as Amit drove his. We were 4 adults and one child in ours, and Amit’s vehicle looked good enough for a Scorpio advert with 6 adults and 2 children. He drove ahead and would get really far ahead – Kirti from his side and I would constantly call each other and synchronise our paths. The rest of the time, I kept Kishore awake by playing music of his and my choice from my Zen. With 20 GB of music and audio plays, this little gadget is godsend for long drives.

One of our concerns was possible road sickness by not just me/Kabir but also Uma who was traveling with us with her 18 month old son Param. We took the usual precautions before setting out but made at least 4 stops for Uma to take in fresh air in the first hour itself. Later, a stopover for breakfast of aaloo-puri/idlis/dosas at Karnal and a round of Avomin ensured sound sleep for its consumers for most of the ensuing drive. Uma also didn’t complain of sickness after taking it and that was one big worry off our list.

After making a couple more short stops during the day, at Amit’s recommendation we finally made a longish halt for an early dinner at Valentino’s just short of Manali. An all-veggie Italian fare that took rather long to arrive, it was excellent with its flavours and ingredients – full of mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs and cheese – albeit as heavy as Delhi restaurants on our pocket. Kabir is a serious devotee of Italian flavours and even though he lamented an all veggie menu, later he agreed that this round of bruschettas/pastas/pizzas was a great way to begin our food experience of the trip.

Soon after, the sight of our hotel Sunshine around 10 pm, with pitch darkness around it, the process of getting small and big pieces of luggage into its 4 rooms on the Ist floor, its toilets with blue enamel-painted walls and rarely-washed floor or pot were part of an interesting experience that will remain etched on my mind for times to come! As will the natural beauty surrounding the hotel that became noticeable only in the morning – a large expanse of untended greenery peppered with roses, dahlias and fruit trees and therefore birds. While I was trying my best to not let my skin touch the bedsheet or quilt in the semi-wakeful hours of morning, I could hear Kishore marveling over Red-whiskered -Himalayan bulbuls, and trying to recall the name of Streaked Laughing Thrush that he remembered seeing the first time in Pangot.

After a quick consultation, our two days of planned stay at Sunshine was changed to one night and we slipped into something decent to move to Amit’s other haunt – Bhrigu in Vashishth. Bhrigu didn’t have valley-facing rooms so Amit kept 3 inside rooms for Swamy and his own family and we checked into Arohi next door. Both our rooms at Arohi were river/valley facing that made up for its sad breakfast and the noisy street on the other side. As for Bhrigu, while it can’t be recommended for its rooms, I’d whole-heartedly encourage people to use its rooftop restaurant Basho for its totally cool ambience and river-facing sitting area on the outside. Food at Basho would take a long while to show up but it would be great. Grilled trout, thukpa, grilled chicken, pasta and even mughlai items were good.

Thanks to Amit, two days at Vashishth introduced us to some memorable flavours – breakfast of pakoras, grilled sandwiches at Rainbow café; thin crust pizzas and saucy penne at Freedom café; most food at Basho; and our own discovery-Vishal’s Kitchen that operated from two tables on the Vashishth road and offered Maggi in a soupy incarnation with a healthy supply of sliced veggies, green chillies and fresh coriander…

The small Vashishth road is famous for its little Shiv temple, hot spring bath area, small eateries, some silver jewellery and woolen shops and ubiquitous German bakeries. Two more interesting items to be tried there are : cream rolls that cost Rs5/Rs10 depending on their size and that I remembered from my childhood in Neemach, and Juice made of absolutely any pulpy fruit – from mangoes, chikoos, papaya to the usual apple and anar. Kabir took to Mango juice in a big way.

Amit took us on two trails ending at waterfalls on both the days. One took about 20 min of walking through the back of Vashishth village – we shared a narrow forested path with cows, dogs and villagers, and finally landed up at a beautiful old temple, a distant Off-White cafe and a scenic waterfall. I settled down to admire these stone containers filled with water and a pair of Plumbeous Water Redstart jumping in and out of sprays of water. Uma also settled down amid greenery and made a pretty picture with Param sleeping on her lap. Amit took the more daring ones higher up where they walked through the chilled river with their shoes off…ooohh.

The next day we drove to Palchan that was about 30 min away from Vashishth. On the way Kabir and Aashna did bungee jumping at a makeshift facility but with good looking trampolines and firm cables. That was Kabir’s first time with jumping that high and after the first few min of worry, both the kids appeared to love it.

At Palchan, some of us settled down at the pretty complex of Whispering Rock Resort and the rest followed Amit to his ‘secret waterfall.’ Another 20 min walk through wheat fields and slippery slopes got us to this picturesque waterfall.

Naggar – June 08

For the last two days of our stay we moved to Ragini at Naggar while Amit and family stayed on at Vashishth.

Ragini is a small hotel next to HP Tourism’s Castle, with clean rooms/toilets and a fairly good view of mountains from its rooftop restaurant. Its owner Manoj divides his time running this place and taking his tourist guests to Rohtang and other challenging drives. This was my second stay at Ragini, and all three of us had some things on our list to re-experience. Kabir wanted to taste Ragini’s lasagna, pizzas and apple juice; Kishore wanted to taste the trout with beer and apple juice, have coffee and cake at the downstairs bakery and lots of ginger-honey-lemon tea everywhere else; and I wanted to taste the food, revisit the earlier identified spot for Spotted Forktails, and take Kishore to the Roerich Art Gallery.

Ragini was pleasant to stay as earlier. This time round the neighbour’s cow didn’t cry out as frequently as previously. Its food had somehow lost its earlier flavours but we still had lots of apple juice made from apples from Manoj’s orchards; Kishore enjoyed filtered coffee at the bakery; we walked up to the nallah that I’ve now named as Forktail Creek and saw beautiful Spotted Folktails on each visit; I liked walking through the Roerich Gallery gardens, bought 4 lovely coasters with Nicholas Roerich’s paintings on them; and for the first time I ate an unforgettable meal at Gillou’s. Kishore had mentioned an interesting variety of red rice and simple but delicious hill food at Gillou’s so we went and warned him about visiting for a meal the next day, and on that visit were treated to fantastic rajma-chawal, mixed vegetables and aaloo paranthas with home-made peach pickle on the side. Gillou’s wife, Hira gave us lots of pickle to take home that I’ve since shared with others in family.

Our Forktail Creek is just before the board of the Mountain View Café when walking from Ragini to the Roerich Gallery. The trail on the right would very likely show Yellow-billed Blue Magpies and certainly our stars Spotted Forktails. On an evening, around that road we saw Black Bulbuls in good numbers, some Grey-hooded Warblers, one Verditer Flycatcher and Grey Bushchats at many places. Great Tits and Streaked Laughing Thrushes could also be seen commonly. On the previous visit in Oct 2007, I’d walked up to a trail right in front of Ragini and seen Eurasian Treecreepers and Pygmy (or Grey-capped) Woodpeckers. I couldn’t cover that trail on this visit.

One small place in Naggar that requires a special mention is Tutu’s Teastall. It’s located just short of Ragini. Its owner, Tutu is a resourceful chap who whips up besan in a jiffy and produces delightful bread-pakoras, and serves them with ginger-lemon-honey tea that is so popular everywhere in Manali-Naggar. On Kishore’s first trip to Naggar, when he and his gang of guys were snowed in and Ragini didn’t have its restaurant to feed them, it was Tutu who kept the guys alive on bread-omlettes and nothing less than mutton curry!

Yet another place that shouldn’t be missed by food seekers is a small restaurant called Nightingale that we couldn’t visit this time but remembered it for its thin crust pizzas and a healthy supply of tomatoes and herbs in most other food.

Naggar is a place I can visit every year – it has much happening in the form of its Forktail Creek, Roerich Gardens, Ragini’s apple juice, Gillou-Hira’s rajma-chawal and Tutu’s bread-pakoras that I’d like to remind myself of each year. Wish it wasn’t so far to drive up to.

Goa – July 2008

The 5-day trip to Goa was a culmination of 6 months of labour on a property survey and follow-up with several people for purchase of an identified apartment. On this trip, Kishore and I spent most of the first 3 days on the formalities of buying the apartment, and later on a griha-pravesh puja and in making the apartment usable for the remaining 2 days of stay in it. Kishore has put some of its pictures in his gallery with his recent post.

This time round, Goa was remarkably different from March — with fewer people, regular rains, green fields, some socializing and some scanning of Mapusa and Panjim markets for houseware. The stay at Cavala was different because we’d insisted on a room overlooking the Baga fields instead of their swimming pool. Just gazing from the room balcony on 3 days gave us good views of White-browed bulbuls, an Alexandrine Parakeet nesting nearby, Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Baya Weavers in breeding plumage, Magpie Robins all around, Waterhens, Asian Koels, Brahminy Kites, many White-throated Kingfishers and one unidentified pink-beaked bird (pic below). Also, Cavala’s rock-n-roll Saturday night had brightened up most of the otherwise sleepy Baga and had most of the hip crowd of Goa attempting to be part of it.

In the past, Goa has been beaches/beer/shack food or forests/drives/birds to us but from now on it’ll also be a home away from home. Look forward to knowing this place better and helping others know it more.

All the same, we did see some lifers and saw parts of Goa that we wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for our interest in bird-watching.

North Goa

Baga Fields

Much as we’d heard adverse reports about the Baga beach being crowded, expensive and excessively tourist-oriented, I planned 3 days for it because of Baga hills, Baga fields and Arpora forests in its close proximity. The afternoon we reached, Baga fields yielded surprisingly close views of Black Kites and a White-cheeked Barbet from Cavala’s balcony. All other birds seen in the fields were common to us and the species count stayed under 20. The fields were difficult to walk through and devoid of any birders or farmers so it was hard to tell if they were indeed the famous Baga fields we’d heard so much about.

My biggest disappointment about this area was that we missed Baga Hills altogether. I’d fixed up with a guide named Raymond to accompany us to them but he ditched us for the first afternoon costing us this loss.

Fort Aguada

Raymond did turn up the next morning to drive us to two sites. I’d heard about good possibilities of sighting Indian Pitta in this area and one birder on birdlist.co.uk had even mentioned Raymond’s name as someone knowing exactly where this amazing bird could be seen.

We clocked 16 species around the Pitta site and then 8 more near the Lighthouse but the main star eluded us. Out of our 40 min or so near the Pitta site, Raymond spent good 20 min crouched under a canopy of branches, attempting to flush out the bird but it stayed loyal to its label as a shy bird! This is when Raymond even played a bird call cd, interestingly while holding a small speaker separately, to lure it out of its hiding!

Our short walks around showed us multiple Orange-headed Thrushes, one White-browed fantail, Black-hooded Orioles, Golden Orioles, our two lifers in the form of White-browed Bulbul and Tawny-bellied Babbler and some other common birds. It was clear that this site should be explored on multiple visits for a better species count.

Later, on a walk towards the lighthouse, Raymond pointed out the beautiful Blue-faced Malkoha, a Stork-billed Kingfisher and a few other common birds. Kishore spotted the magnificent White-bellied Sea Eagle quite some distance away and with that we were pleased to have seen a new raptor on this visit.

Saligao Zor

We chose to visit this site with Raymond over Maem Lake as it was closer and its forest was reported to be full of birds. True to the reports on the region, we had comfortable sightings of a juvenile male Asian-Paradise Flycatcher. Brown-cheeked Fulvetta and Black-naped Monarch were our two lifers here and Malabar Whistling Thrushes could be heard closely. The site didn’t yield much beyond that and Raymond explained that an unusual shower the previous day had kept the birds in hiding.

That finished our first guided-birding morning in Goa and while I’d hoped to sight much more, I’m glad in retrospect that we did manage to see some amazing flying creatures.

Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and Tambdi Surla Temple

The drive to Molem took under two hours from Baga with the Mandovi stretch offering a lovely view of egrets, herons and stints on the river.

Dhudsagar Resort at Molem was still going through some construction activity but the complex was full of trees and some common birds, notably White-throated Kingfisher were all over. Dhudsagar Falls required a highly bumpy ride by a jeep that had to be paid for near the checkpost, followed by a hopping walk through rocks and rivulets. The falls were beautiful and the walk enjoyable but the surrounding area offered no shelter against a drizzle so it didn’t make much sense to stay there. The area was full of trees but no birds of interest were spotted.

We paid up at the Forest office that afternoon for an early morning entry into the Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary the following day. Interestingly, the Sanctuary gates are kept locked, and keys can be taken from the Forest office guard in the morning on showing a paid entry ticket. It becomes that individual’s responsibility then on to open and lock the Sanctuary gate! We insisted on the office arranging a guide to help us cover the Sanctuary and spot birds. After much thought by the lone clerk, we were provided the number of an individual named Bolimax who was labeled as a knowledgeable guide. After a few calls to Bolimax, we fixed up with him to meet us the next morning on our drive cum walk into the Sanctuary.

We used the early evening hours on the first day to drive up to Tambdi Surla that was about an hour’s drive from Molem. The drive was pleasant with a clean and narrow road lined with trees on both sides. The temple complex was pretty, and the trees around it showed a Malabar Grey Hornbill in flight, Common Iora and Small Minivet on very tall trees. We didn’t have much luck beyond that. The forest area around the temple looked promising but without a guide or any soul around, it appeared unsafe to walk into.

We’d heard about the site as an important spot on the itinerary of the Backwoods Camp’s nature walks, but the fading light and lack of help in covering the forest belt left us just one option – walk around as much as possible and return before it got too dark!

Next morning, the visit to the Mahaveer Sanctuary proved disappointing. We found our guide Bolimax at the Forest office gate, drove up to the Sanctuary gate where he opened and locked the big gate behind us and took us to the only spot he found promising to sight birds. We saw a lone Common Kingfisher there. We were earlier told that the forest was dense and without tracks for walking or driving so visitors were discouraged from venturing beyond the first 2 km or so. Soon, we turned around and spent 30 min or so at a clearing that showed us a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo in flight, Red-whiskered Bulbuls and possibly an Orange-breasted Green Pigeon. In addition, we managed clear sightings of the Giant Squirrel.

We’d high hopes from the Sanctuary to view varied bird life but beyond an hour, it felt pointless to stay inside. Our guide Bolimax appeared disinterested in birds and cited his main interest as wild animals – which he hadn’t cared to share during our chats on the phone – and he mentioned that the drivable part of the forest rarely showed anything other than the giant squirrel.

While planning this travel, I’d had positive reports from Delhibird members about bird-watching experience through Backwoods Camp but no one would share the costs involved. After some calls and messages, its leader, Leio informed of the per-person-per-day charge as Rs3500 which seemed high to us so we gave it a miss. Our unaided walks of Tambi Surla and Mahaveer Sanctuary however confirmed to us the importance of knowledgeable guides in seeing and appreciating the forests of East Goa, especially for visitors with limited time on hands.

Other than possibly one day with Backwoods Camps, on my next trip this side, I’d like to explore the option of covering the Wildernest Resort that has many admirers. Their own website doesn’t seem to be working right now, but they’re mentioned on many travel portals.

South Goa – Sernabatim

Our morning walks around Baywatch Resort showed us White-rumped Munias, Brahmny and Black Kites in good numbers, Golden Orioles, Grey Wagtails, Purple-rumped Sunbirds, one Spotted Owlet and other common birds.

Bird Guides

This trip to Goa reconfirmed to me that bird guides can make or mar one’s sighting experience in an unfamiliar place…

I’ve returned unsure about Raymond’s reliability as a guide. Sadly, there wasn’t much choice from those we found outside Beira Mer. The drivers hanging around the hotel were just that, drivers to take you to birding or other spots and letting you bird unaccompanied. A guide highly recommended in reports and on websites is Lloyd J. Fernandes (phones: 0832-2276711, mobile 09822149002). On a chat from Gurgaon, he’d mentioned that he was booked on all the days of our stay in Goa and that he charged Rs800 per person per day – and a birding day is supposedly the first half of a day!

One helpful guide recommended by a delhibirder was Uday (mobile: 09822583127) who mainly focussed on the area surrounding Charao river. I wasn’t interested in water birds so didn’t use his services but he was helpful in many ways and should be used for covering the Dr. Salim Ali Sanctuary.

Bolimax as a guide confounded us beyond belief. He spoke well on a couple of calls, rattled off impressive species names the region was known for, turned up punctually to lead us to the Sanctuary and once in the action zone, he showed a complete lack of interest in anything concerning birds and said that he didn’t see any reason in chasing birds! He was an utter waste of our precious morning!

Some informative trip reports on Goa can be read at the first 3 links and the Delhibird site has a repository of checklists of various regions in India:

http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=542

http://www.birdlist.co.uk/goabirds2008.htm

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/india/Goa-Index.htm

http://checklists.delhibird.net/internal/goa/goa.htm

Happily, the recent trip helped us experience Goa in varied hues. The objectives of the trip were many so the 7-day travel warranted careful planning. Goa’s potential in bird-watching had come to my notice through trip reports on Delhibird’s yahoo mailing list so that was an important item on the agenda other than experiencing the beaches, food and visit some residential construction projects that we’d learnt about through property exhibitions in Delhi. Being a firm believer of online and offline research before embarking on anything important, I read through hotel/restaurant reviews on tripadvisor.com and indiamike.com, consulted a friendly hotel reservation service and members of Delhibird and spoke to a few friends. The outcome was an impressive itinerary of 3 initial days at Baga (@ Cavala) followed by 1½ days at Molem (Dhudsagar Resort) and 3 final days of chilling at Sernabatim (Baywatch Resorts) in South Goa.

One of the wise decisions in retrospect was to have arranged a self-driven car for the first 6 days that made moving around adventurous, enjoyable and economical. Kishore drove us (Kabir and me) straight from the airport when he barely knew the roads, and Baga was a good 40 minutes drive from the airport. With a helpful tourist map collected from the tourist counter at the airport, reasonable road signage and helpful souls on the streets, driving on Goa roads felt like the most natural thing to do – especially for Indians used to the Indian driving rules! On later days, we did have some trouble with missing signage on critical points but generally the roads appeared clean, wide and certainly better marked than Gurgaon. The drive through narrow roads lined with Goan houses, filled almost invariably with red or yellow hibiscus flowers, used to be lively, and later the drive to Molem along Mandovi was even more beautiful…

A quick review of the 3 hotels (and a couple more) for people exploring stay options in Goa:

Cavala at Baga appeared to be a small, overly-used hotel that was stylish in a quaint way. An ordinary AC room wasn’t available so we’d to accept a suite at their annexe called Banana Republic that was rather large with its 3 rooms, an open kitchen, minibar/tea apparatus but airconditioning only in the bedroom. Without cooling elsewhere though, we barely used the other area and wondered if it was really that good value for our money – more so because they had restrictions on changing towels (possible only alternate days!) and the bathroom door lock was broken and had to be accepted with an indulgent smile. What did make up to an extent was their a la carte breakfast that was built into the tariff and was served nicely in their small garden. If I do stay at Baga again – Kabir was impressed with Britto’s pastries and food and it was a few minutes walk from Cavala – I’d be sure to check out La Calypso next door that appeared nicer and more organised. Birder members on Delhibird had suggested Ronil Beach but it was fully booked and more expensive than Cavala.

One curious aspect of Goa hotels was their penchant for arranging room towels in a certain manner each time they’re changed!

Dhudsagar Resort near Molem was a lovely find – thanks to its lead from a Delhibird member, Sharad Khanna. The hotel was spanking new, labeled as an eco-hotel, spread out on large area that was full of trees and cottages with ultra modern fixtures. For anyone interested in discovering the forest-side of Goa, it’d make a pleasant and reasonably-priced stay especially if one avails of their 3-night all inclusive package. Dhudsagar Resort reservation can be made on the phones 0832-2612238, 2612319. Talking to its Corporate Manager, Mrs. Kamath might help ensure the 3-day package rate (Rs2000/day) she’d mentioned to me. An email to the General Manager, Mr.Sanjay Naik, of Baywatch Resort could help even further. Baywatch Resort appears to own Dhudsagar Resort and the GM mentioned that he was planning various facilities for this resort.

Our third hotel was Baywatch Resort in South Goa that was a pleasant place for a 3-day holiday. The hotel was done up prettily in colourful cottages and rooms were plush with a sitting room preceding a bedroom and an attached balcony overseeing paddy fields of Sernabatim. The beach was a few minutes’ walk and quiet enough for enjoying a book at one of the shacks or frolicking in the waves. The hotel wasn’t easy to locate from the main crossroad (we drove there ourselves) but it was well-known around the place and most people described various involved turns to help us get there. We were on a 3-day all-inclusive package so meals were the highlight of our stay there – especially for Kabir who is a small eater but one with refined tastes in food! He took to bacon and sausages for breakfast, continental preparations of fish/chicken for other meals and at least 3 out of 4 varieties of dessert after all main meals. Kishore and I enjoyed the food but ate sensibly. The hotel pool was made in 2 levels and comfortable for a good swim. The restaurant stewards, however, looked bored most of the time – they used to be prompt with clearing plates but looked remote and unfriendly. On all 3 days, we were asked by the regulars our room number as they just didn’t connect to the guests. Restaurant managers, on the other hand, reached out to guests and checked on their food preferences.

All in all, I wouldn’t mind covering the last two resorts again…

Will cover our bird-watching experience in the next part with some useful leads.